Rivers on da Rez

These may look like large bodies of flowing water but in reality they are rivers which at some time were full of water but now are only sand. Many of the willows are dead from lack of water.  We have not had any significant moisture since December but they say that in June we generally get torrential rains that fill the rivers and washes.

                                                          FLOWER OF THE WEEK
I believe this is a Ragleaf Bahia but it definitely is from the aster family. There are so many pretty flowers blooming now even with no moisture and in the sand.

This is our messy kitchen on a Monday morning. The Elders come for breakfast and to do their emailing and its baking day and wash day so lots of action. Elder G offered to make the loaves of bread.
Looking back on our week nothing spectacular happened but we did have some good visits and did bits of service here and there. The people here really depend on the missionaries.We seem to be their security blanket so hopefully we can fill their need.  Our love for the gospel grows as we serve those around us.
Last evening we went to a grade five promotion ceremony at the school for Caleb Yazzie. It was quite interesting. Most all the girls were dressed in their native dress and much of the program was in the Navajo language which included "American the Beautiful" and the allegiance to the flag. Today we attended the dinner put on in Calebs' honour which included about 60 family and friends.
The down side of our week was knowing our daughter at home was sick and had ruptured appendices  and all we can do is hope and pray everything will be okay.
Love to all
Elder and Sister Lybbert

What's up on da Rez

If you are looking for an evening out these are some of your choices on the REZ. There is often a baseball game on also. Sports are a big deal here like in most communities.

We haven't experienced the local entertainment but we did see a cakewalk in progress at a craft sale. They would pay some money and then everyone walked in a circle with the music on and when it stopped someone won a cake.

                                                             FLOWER OF THE WEEK
These delicate little flowers are often seen growing in the sand. My identification would be that they are a Sacred Datura.

Tanaya and Isabelle

The highlight of our week was our daughter Kyla, her husband Adam and our four grandchildren coming to see us. After church kids usually come to our trailer for cookies(as you can see in Tanayas hand) This Sunday Tanaya was dressed in her traditional costume which I thought was pretty neat.
The dress was hand woven on a loom from yarn spun from wool.  We will have more about the Navajo weaving on a later blog.
The kids from the branch and our grandchildren had a great time playing after church. We fixed our usual roast beef dinner. They were changing the Branch presidency so by the time the afternoon was over we had fed 15 people. No leftovers.

                                 Our hike down into Canyon de Chelly. A beautiful day for hiking

Our highlight for this week was going to our Zone Conference in Polacca. We took the shortcut so had a half hour of very rough road on the way but saw some new scenery. It was good to visit with the other senior couples. We have 37 couples serving in our mission. Nine are service missionaries for the gardening project so will go home in the fall. This mission has more senior couples than any mission in the church.
President and Sister Jones gave excellent talks and we came away feeling encouraged and ready to go back to work. They will be leaving in July so this was their last meeting with us. Pres. Jones is a general authority but has been on special assignment as mission president here for the last two years. This mission was started two years ago on recommendation from Pres. Jone  s. Previous  the Rez. was split up among several missions, now its a mission in itself.
After our meetings Elder Lybbert and I went down to the Snowflake temple since we couldn't go on the Temple excursion because of Victors funeral. We will confess we went  a few miles  out of the mission to Show Low where Elder Lybbert served fifty years ago. It was great. We even saw tall trees, water in the river, and cattle gracing on grass. We hope to go again before we come home.
Love to all,
Elder and Sister Lybbert

Cactus

                                                        FLOWER OF THE WEEK

                                                          WHIPPLE CHOLLA CACTUS
This cactus is found most everywhere here. In years gone by it has been a food source for the native people. They would eat the blossom ends and the roots.

This cactus is now held sacred by the traditional native people and they use it in some of their ceremonies. Some believe that if they destroy it they will get sores inside and outside of their body. It has thorns over an inch long and they grab you if you get close so I call it just plain dangerous.
One of the Navajos wanted his garden on this spot but was unable to put it here because according to his culture he could not dig out the cactus. We offered the Elders assistance for the purpose  and with Elder Lybberts supervision and their enthusiasm and strength within ten minutes it was gone. They did break a shovel handle in the process but it was their own.

                                                       Heilly at the family burial ground
On Monday was the funeral for our friend Victor. This was preceeded by family and friends gathering at the Clark home every evening. Everyone brought food, visited and ate. When leaving they put money in the donation jar.  Victor went out in style with the best of both worlds. A new black suit, string tie, Navajo blanket rapped around him, turquoise bracelet, bandanna, little bags of something tucked around him, painted face, and a new wallet with cash in it.
This  is Victors niece, Heilly.  She sang a Navajo song called 'Donkey' at the funeral. After the burial they had a family dinner we were invited to so it was quite a day. I tasted Navajo mutton stew for the first time, note tasted. I would have to be very hungry before venturing further.

We had another funeral of a 15 year old on Thursday. He was in a car accident with three other 15 year olds and the car went out of control. Very hard on the family. We really hope this is the end of funerals for awhile.
Helped with another garden this week and find I can still use a shovel but was played out the rest of the day.
This morning we had an early start to the day with knocking on the door at 4:45. A couple had been here last night rather drunk but were taken to his mothers because the wife was not well. They got in an argument and the wife, Sandy, left and spent the night by the church on the cement(a cool 4 C) We took her to Chinle hospital 45 min. away and left her in emergency since we were not allowed to be with her anyway. Haven't heard how she is.
Our daughter Kyla and family are arriving today so we are excited.
Love to all,
Elder and Sister Lybbert

Turtle Doves

Bird of the week

We are enjoying the birds who visit us and enjoy our free handouts. These turtledoves or ring necked were very nervous at first but now they are feeling quite at home. They are not native to Arizona but were introduced from Africa.

                                                       FLOWER OF THE WEEK
We took the tiller out to Blue Gap so brother Tulley could till a garden for his mother. While the men were gardening I went on a walk over the hill and saw a variety of pretty little flowers.

This is Brother Tulley and his mother, a delightful lady who speaks very little English.  We were invited  to have lunch with them that her care giver had fixed. It was hamberger sausage baked in a pan, potatoes, gravy, peas, and tortillas. Very good. Brother Tulley said that every morning his mother is out with her sheep singing and talking to them. The Navajo Shimas have a great love for their sheep.

This is a somewhat common occasion at our trailer. The Elders finding a cookie in the freezer and a can of diet pop( known as unleaded, low octane pop) in the frig. Elder G from Idaho has been with us almost four months and Elder A from Hawaii three weeks,

This week has a lot of ups and downs. We have driven over  back roads that are going down into washes or up out of washes, over hills, down valleys. on gravelled roads that have wash board high enough there is an up and down to it.
We have also had some ups in our missionary labours.  A little girl in a family we teach has been practicing to say a prayer and was able to have the courage to do it this week. The down was that our friend Victor passed away on Thursday from liver disease. He has spent the last few months in and out of the hospital and it has been very difficult for him. The past few weeks he spent in Flagstaff. His family have no reliable transportation so could not go see him but were able to be with him the last few hours. Every evening the family have what we would call an open house for people to come and eat and visit and donate money to help with the expenses. The funeral is on Monday. It is also our mission temple day at Snowflake that we were looking forward to but we will go to the temple another day.

Love to all,
Elder and Sister Lybbert