Painted Desert

Last week we visited the Petrified Forest on our "Escape from Pinon Day". It was very interesting. Huge trees from a forest several million years ago are petrified. In the visitors center they had a piece they had polished and it was like beautiful stone.

The most obvious bird everywhere we go are the ravens. Their main purpose is to clean up any road kill left by the dogs.

This is the most common bird around the world, the house finch. Under ordinary conditions he would rarely warrent to have his picture taken but he is special. At Christmas time our daughter Shawna and family sent us a birdfeeder since they new how much I enjoyed watching the birds. We bought some seed on our next trip to a city and filled it. We have been waiting ever since for a bird to find it. We  saw some birds in the area so we scattered seed on the ground under the feeder. The last few days they have started to come. Apparently feeders were totally foreign to the birds here. Among the house sparrows we have seen some Cassin finches and crown sparrows.
When driving in the area we have seen flocks of Pinyon jays.

Greg Ute and Elder Gochnour

Last Saturday the Elders quorum organized a service project. This is the ceiling of a Hogan they are dry walling for the Sonny family. The project was expected to take a few hours but it was more like six. As you can see it was all angles. The family had lived in Pheonix where the dad worked but he developed severe back problems and went on disability. They had started this hogan a few years ago on their land but were living in an old log cabin while they finished it. The cabin developed mold and then became infested with bed bugs so decided to move out.. To be sure they were rid of bed bugs they got rid of all their furniture etc. They moved into the unfinished hogan and have been camping. It is quite large and has a wood stove so is warm and cozy.

This week we have found things to do but have had a hard time catching anyone at home, in fact its been that way all month. The people here received a wood allowance and  some  tax returns so maybe that had something to do with so many being gone.
Friday was Zone Conference in Chinle for us seniors and we were asked to bring soup so we made chicken soup. It was a good conference and we came home ready to go back to work. We were given some training on teaching the Adiction recovery class which we needed.

Clay, Shirley and Morgan at Sarahs home beside the rug Victor is weaving.

The most exciting happening this week was when Clay, Shirley and Morgan arrived Sat. afternoon. We had a fun twenty four hours showing them the Rez. and having them attend church with us. We made Navajo tacos for dinner  which gave us an opportunity to improve our skills at making fry bread Navajo style.
Sacrament meeting was good today.  We listened to three good talks which were from the heart. Several members attended that we hadn't seen for awhile. The gospel of Jesus Christ is such a blessing.
Love to all,
Elder and Sister Lybbert

Addiction

Addiction is a problem in our home. As you can see, another Dutch Oven. Do you think that Elder Lybbert should be teaching the Addiction Recovery Classes or should he be a student? His excuse  is that he only had two ovens here and that he needed a deep 12 inch.

One thing Arizona has lots of is fascinating scenery.  A few weeks ago we visited Canyon de Chelly about an hour east of here. This is Spider rock which is 800 ft. high. The Navajos have a legend about it you can find on google. The canyon has been home to Navajos for centuries where they grow corn mellons, fruit etc. The public are not allowed to go into the Canyon unless taken there by a friend or family that live in the canyon or a guide who lives in the canyon. A less active couple we were visiting with this week said they camped with their family every year and we said thats what we like to do. They invited us to go with them and said they go to the canyon because one of the family married someone from there. It would be a great experience so we hope it works out.

This is our week day Relief Society. Our president, Sister Ute is on the right and two of our school teachers to the left, busy sewing aprons for the kitchen in the church.

This is what we got up to Tuesday morning. Some snow lasted till Thursday so it wasn't a good week for driving but we did some cleaning in the church and visited members here in Pinon.

Sketch by Victor

Since we have been here Victor has been working towards going into rehab. Last week he was with us and wanted money because he was worried about going to rehab and not having paper and pencils to draw. We do not give money because it often goes to appease the addiction rather than what it should go for, so we stopped and bought him some paper and pencils. On the way home in the van Victor drew this picture for me. On Monday his mother phoned and wanted us to go get him at Bashas, and thats a story in itself, but while he was with us he borrowed our phone to phone his case worker and ask when he could go to rehab. Wednesday his case worker phoned us to say she had a place for him, since thats the number she had. I phoned his mother to tell her we would come to get him but he was totally out, so we phoned the case worker and she sent a van to take him to rehab. We just hope everything goes well for him. He is such a tallented person and wants so much to do better but it is hard when family and friends all around him are encouraging him otherwise. Last week he gave a talk in church about faith that was very good. He wanted to give it before he left and has had a hard time getting everything together to do it so we were really happy when it all came together.

Time is slipping away faster so that is a good sign that we are keeping busier and becoming more involved with the work. The gospel is  such a blessing to those who will live it.

Love to all
Elder and Sister Lybbert

A day on da Rez

Thursday
We have  several appiontments on watertower road and the road gets rougher by the day. Most of the driving is in the ditch.  We start off quite hopeful for a busy productive day.
Half way to the first appointment the phone rings and we are informed that they are not home but they did phone so thats good.
We do a drive by to see if another family may be home. They are, but on the way to the hospital cause the Dad is sick.
On to the next home where we have a nice visit and discussed their garden project.
Go to check on our friend who has been planning to talk in church for a month but has a hard time making it there but he just left.
Decide to see if we can find a members house. Find a house but no sign of life. The cats home but lying dead in the driveway.
Get back to the trailer(home) and a truck drives up. Lady gets out and asks if we can go to the graveyard and help measure to see if there is enough room for a grave. A bit unusual but we say we will follow her since we have no idea where a graveyard is. They drive up behind our place and there is a graveyard about 200 yards from our back door. She explained that her son died and they wanted him buried next to his grandfather. We ask, "Who is responsible for the graveyard and what did they suggest." They tell us they asked at the Chapter House and they suggested we bury him on our land but we don't have room because our land bordersthe Hopi  reservation. So then they said to come here and look.
Thats where we fit in. Apparently they have something against entering a graveyard. They stood outside the fence while we went in and pointed out the grave of the grandfather. They wanted the son burried next to the grandpa. There were already people burried there. Then they suggested in front of grandpa in the roadway. In sympathy I asked how her son had passed, if he were ill. She said, "No, he was murdered or was at the wrong place at the wrong time. The bodied hasn't been released from the the medical examiner but when it is we may know." This was all said with little show of emotion.
About this time the gravedigger arrived whom we happened to know so we let him take over.

Do you see a graveyard? I don't see a graveyard but there is one behind that wire fence you can almost see. There are only about two headstones and a few recent ones have the plastic marker so the graves aren't very visable. Most Navajos bury their kin in a family plot on their land.

After this we rested and Wayne dreamed about what he was going to cook for the Elders at dinner.
The Elders phone, and they are at Bashas with a lady that needs a ride home but they can't give people rides so we go even though Wayne is worrying about getting back in time to cook his dinner.
We arrived at Bashas and this is what we saw. I couldn't beleive my eyes, Elder Orme, the guy that hates dogs, is standing there with two of the cutest lap dogs, one in a pink coat. I couldn't help but burst out laughing and haven't really quit.

Don,t you just love this picture. All you young ladies out there who love dogs don't beleive it when Elder Orme says he can't stand dogs. Actually he's just a great young man who cares about people and must have a soft spot somewhere for dogs.
We took the dogs, the moving boxes, the groceries and the lady home (about an hour round trip) and arrived home in time to get dinner.
After dinner we had an appiontment with a member we tracted out. So back to watertower road in the dark this time. Antonia is such a nice person, has nine children and works seven days a week as a PCA. She asked if we could come teach her children about the church. They live in a trailer with no utilities but have an extention cord running from her aunts trailer next door. When we arrived her and her husband were just getting home cause the aunty was sick and they went to get medicine. We had met the aunty a few days before. A delightful 86 year old who's eyes sparckled when we came in. She doesn't speak English but recognized our name tags and wants us to come back and read scriptures to her.
Most of the kids were gone to a movie (They must show movies at the school on Thursdays) so we rebooked for Monday evening.
We made it safely back home after our day on da Rez.
We can see such a difference in the members who through the placement program or as a family have been active in the church for a time. Even if they don't presently attend church their countenance and their abilitiy to handle life is improved. The gospel is such a blessing in our lives.
Love to all,
Elder and Sister Lybbert

Animals

The res. is an animal lovers paradise, especially if you love dogs and horses. There are dogs, dogs, and more dogs. Luckily the mean dogs are tied and the rest are either happy to see us or ignore us so we get along fine. The dog on the right is carrying a soft drink cup so we know someone picks up garbage here.

These are our sheep leaving the church yard. They come to visit often but when they see us they head out. The young missionaries have them well trained. The cattle guard doesn't slow them down but then it is a cattle guard and not a sheep guard.. They were here today with some new little lambs. Their owner says when they are missing she knows where to look because they love the church yard. We do have a few spears of grass growing here and there which is more than other places. The sheep here graze on sage brush and higher up there are pine trees that they eat on so if they can find a blade of grass they are after it.

Several farmyards have a menagerie of animals that reminds me of when I was growing up. One of the Navijo's told us they are about a 100 years behind the rest of the world but I told him I didn't think it would be any more than 50 years.

There are about a hundred sheep in this heard. It was interesting because as we were driving we could see them approaching the road to cross it. The dog you can see on the right came around in front of the sheep and wouldn't let them cross the road. Some dogs really do have a purpose. There are lots of sheep here and they are always hearded and put in an encloser at night. A lady about 70 years old we visited last week has about sixty sheeps (they always call them sheeps). She lives alone and rides her horse herding her sheeps 4 miles to a spring and 4 miles home every day. When we were there she looked so tired and said she wasn,t feeling very well because she had fallen from her horse twice in the last few months and her arm and leg on the left side were very weak. She told us that her daughter may be coming to stay. We plan on getting out to see her again shortly.

This little goat was chewing on some sagebrush next to the sidewalk on our street and posed for a picture.

A mighty fine steed. He was standing there this morning and he's probably still there. There are horses wandering most everywhere. Having horses seems to be popular with the people here. Many horses graze on what they can find but others are owned and fed some hay. They bring small hay bales in from Colorado and sell it here  for $12 for a two wire bale and $18 for a three wire. The Chapter house sometimes brings a whole semi load in and sells it to the registered voters for $10 a bale. Trucks are lined up for two blocks for several blocks when this happens. 

This week we haven't done much visiting with the members because on the first of the month they get their gov't checks so they are all gone shopping or otherwise. On Monday we knocked on several members doors that we hadn't met yet and they invited us to come back so this coming week we hope to meet with them. We have a lot to learn yet when it comes to teaching but I beleive we are improving. The gospel is so important in our lives.
 Friday we left for the day to Monument Valley and saw some great scenery which was a pleasant change.
Love to you all,
Elder and Sister Lybbert