Homecoming Parade on the Rez

                                                            FLOWER OF THE WEEK
These flowers are seen all over the Rez this fall. They appear to be like the Black Eyed Susan which is a universal flower in North america.

HOMECOMING PARADE DAY

This is the Tso family. Brother Tso is in our Branch Presidency. The members here play an important role in the community. Sister Cambridge works at the school and was in charge of Homecoming Week.  I am not sure what all was going on but I know there were elections for things at school and lots of sports happening. Our Branch Pre.s wife was in charge of the parade. She is the music teacher at the High School.

We thought this a fun float. The blade was moving back and forth.

The Navajo Cultural class. At the school they have a class to teach the children the Navajo language and culture. As the floats went by we often heard someone call out"Hello Lybberts"

Elder Lybbert doing his job making sure the children get their share of candy. By the end he had quite a following.

                                                     The Homecoming King and Queen

The ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Core) is one of the credit courses in high school. Joining the military after high school is quite common here. We were visiting with an elderly couple a few days ago and they said their granddaughter is in the military a long ways across the ocean where she cuts on people. We assume from this that she is a doctor or is studying to be a doctor. This couple talk Navajo and some English and live on their farm herding the sheep and they have 14 cows. She said none of her grandchildren can speak or understand Navajo. Five of their six children went on missions and are all well educated. They have been alone since all their children live off the Rez but a daughter has come back to help take care of them.

Our Branch Pres. wife bring up the rear giving us the high sign meaning "Its done and all went well"

This week we have been able to meet with several people which has made it a good week. Sometimes the day seems long but then another month has gone by quite fast.  Conference time is here again. We now have a satellite dish here thanks to Elder Lybbert so we were able to watch Womens Conference last evening which was great.

Love to all,
Elder and Sister Lybbert

Electronic Media on the Rez

                                                            FLOWER OF THE WEEK

These little  Birdcage primroses have been growing rather prolifically along the roadsides for some time now.

We had a few brown bats visit us this week. I don't know how anything so cute can be so ugly. When Elder Lybbert tried to stretch his wing out to see the full wing he was offended and would snarl at him and bare his teeth.

PINON IS GETTING AN INTERNET TOWER!!

The exciting news on the Rez is that a new internet company is moving in and our electronics may improve. Internet here is very spasmodic and weak. We had a lady here a few weeks ago trying to fill out government forms for unemployment insurance and about the time she was finished internet would stop and everything was lost. Very frustrating.
Not many of the average people here have computers and internet. The schools have computers and the students are taught computers so the kids know how to work them.  When Elder Lybbert bought his ipad the young kids taught him how to use it.
Most people have satellite dishes for their TV and everyone has a cell phone. The phones are free for the native people  but they prepay for their minutes, about 20 cents a minute local calls only. They are always out of minutes so our phone is their next option. Their numbers are often changing also because they lose the phone and get another one so then they have several phones and its hard to know which one they are using. They also use each others depending on who has minutes so you never know just who you are phoning. Another problem is that in random areas there is no phone service. For example at Muzzies they can receive phone calls along their back wall of the living area and in spots outside. Needless to say communication isn't a strong point here.

Elder Lybbert mowing the lawn

The other day we were passing by a house and a couple of men were out digging up their mothers yard  to get rid of the weeds and make it tidy. Elder Lybbert decided that was a good idea. We did have a big blow torch that worked good when the weeds were dry but it and some other things were stolen from the locked shed. Elder Lybbert calls this mowing the lawn

Roxanne showing us her Pinon nuts

We haven't found very many people home this week because they are out picking pine nuts. The pine cones fall to the ground from the Pinon trees and the seed falls out. Trading Posts buy them for $7.00 a pound. A Bluebird flower bag full is $150.00 so it is a way for the native people to earn some money. We would like to go pick for the experience but its a long way on very rough roads.  Roxanne went out one day and picked her little can half full which was doing well since she is blind and does it by feel. For their own use the nuts are put in a frying pan with a little water and salt. They are then steamed and then set in the sun to dry. The nuts are eaten the same as sunflower seeds and are quite tasty.
Even though not many have been home it has been a busy week.  Yesterday was our gardening meeting which is the first here in Pinon so we had cooking and preparing for that. Today we have had people all afternoon and this evening is Standards night for the youth so we have been cooking for it.  

Love to All,
Elder and Sister Lybbert

A Grave side service or two

FLOWER OF THE WEEK

NAVAJO TEA

We often have different ones point out the Navajo tea plant to us but they are different plants. We were with Annie the other day and I asked her so she took us to her sisters place where she grows. They pick the plant, dry it in bundles and boil it up when they want their tea.

We had an interesting experience last Saturday. On Thursday a couple of people stopped by wanting the Elders to help with a funeral. The young Elders were at Window Rock helping out at the fair and none of the branch pres. would be here so Elder Lybbert offered to do it. Friday morning the common law wife of the deceased stopped by and we organized a graveside funeral. She also gave us a rough map of how to get there but told us to meet her at on the highway by the road where they turn toward Old Tree at 10:00 AM

We arrived and waited till 10:15 when a car drives up and asked if we needed anything. We explained we were waiting for the people going to the funeral and the hurst. She said she was on her way to the funeral and the truck with the body was coming so follow her. Sure enough a white suburban pulled in behind her so we followed. She led us to a farmyard full of people cooking so obviously a funeral was going on but we needed the graveyard. Elder Lybbert got out and asked the way to the graveyard. (On the Rez families have their own small graveyards)

The directions were to go back the way we came to the red hill and when you see a graded road to your right, turn off and it will take you to the grave sight.

Back we went but no road that looked graded and things just didn't feel right so back to the highway, no one there, so back to look for the road. We saw one that looked likely so took it and were soon passing a house where a lady came running out and called "Father, go that way down by the sheep corral those cars are going to the graveyard".  A little different but not unusual here to be called father. 

The graded road we could't miss but did. This is the good part. The rest still had sagebrush in the center.

Away we went off across the desert following a sheep trail. We caught up to the cars and followed them to a grave sight. We stopped and the car in front of us started backing up. Yikes! I honked the horn and he stopped, then moved forward, parked and got out. A Catholic priest all robed and ready to do the service. I looked at Elder Lybbert and exclaimed"We are at the wrong funeral." He got out and asked and yes, we were at the wrong funeral.
Away we went back down the so called graded road for three or four miles. Soon we saw dust in the distance. That must be our funeral. Elder Lybbert claims I was out of control but I claim angels were carrying us along. Eventually we caught up to the cars and dust. They stopped and once again Elder Lybbert asked if it was the right funeral, and it was. We followed at a more leisurely pace on trails thru the desert  for another 4 miles and eventually came to a grave sight up in a canyon. We were pleased to see our favorite funeral director get out of this white suburban because she always guides us on what to do when. I took the programs to the widow and she said, "We changed our plans and forgot to tell you".
Once the casket was placed we started the service. I said an opening prayer, the widow gave the eulogy, Elder Lybbert a short talk on plan of salvation and the rest of the prayers. Since I had no desire to sing a solo with my croaky voice we didn't do a song so the widow decided we could sing happy birthday to the deceased since it was his birthday in a few days. The pallbearers then lowered the casket into the grave and filled it in. Its hot, hard work so they change off with those present. Elder Lybbert  took his turn on the shovel.  By the end a light breeze came up and we were all covered in dust. We brought our lawn chairs so while this was happening I sat and had a good visit with the widow.  She asked if she could stop by our trailer and visit sometime. She invited us to the reception after but we had brought some food to a member in that area and ice cream was in the van so we had to leave It was a good day but we needed a rest when we got home.

The mortuary provides the shovels to fill in the grave. You can see the dust blowing. As we left we 'shook of the dust' (Mat.10:14) but it was not a testimony against them. They were such nice people and treated us so good.

As we were leaving the area we drove through a cloud of smoke. This is traditional with the Navajo which is a cleansing process. They have a fire going and when a car comes they put a green cedar bow on it to create smoke.
We have found that whenever we teach the plan of salvation which is quite often that the people except it and it brings them comfort and understanding.  We were asked by a mother to talk with a six year who was having trouble dealing with the accidental death of his older brother. As we taught the plan of salvation it seemed to bring the mother  as much comfort as her son. How grateful we are that we have been taught these truths from a young age.

Love to all,
Elder and Sister Lybbert

Gardening on the Rez

       
                                                      FLOWER OF THE WEEK
We see these pretty yellow flowers most everywhere we go. In poor conditions they are small but where they have water and better soil they are quite tall.  I like them because they remind me of the flowers my mother used to grow she called golden glow.



                      NAVAJO-HOPI PROVIDENT LIVING/FOOD INITIATIVE PROGRAM
This is the third year for the project sponsored by the Churchs' humanitarian program and the second year in the Chinli Stake. It is for members or non-members of our church. Next year will be the last year that materials for gardens will be provided. We as missionaries are working with the leaders in the wards and branches to organize the local people to run the program. There are ten couples in the mission who are gardening missionaries who come for six months. In the Chinli Stake(our stake)we do not have gardening missionaries so we do gardening plus all the other work missionaries do.  In our branch we have 35 gardens 12 of which have done very well and 9 that produced some.  Water is the biggest problem. Some have to haul water in tanks and they often don't have a running vehicle or gas to put in it. For some its a 20 mile one way run for water.

Gardening season is at its best with most everything producing. Here is one of the best gardens. This is its second year. Last year it did great so this year the three sisters that live near wanted one too. They all had producing gardens this year. You can see this Navajo is proud of his garden and he should be.

This is one of the sisters holding a squash. She has tomatoes, squash, watermelon, potatoes, carrots all being eaten daily.  When we visited Sarah she was roasting a couple of cobs of corn on a little grill over the burner of her electric stove.

These are two of our favorite ladies. They always have a smile and a laugh. We were visiting and they mentioned a beet was blooming. Looking at it I could tell there were radishes among the beet plants. They were quite delighted that they had radishes. These ladies haul water and then Alice uses a wagon and buckets to carry water and put some on each plant. They have about thirty squash plants and Alice delights in being able to give squash to people who stop by.

This is one of the gardens suffering because of lack of water. An Indian corn field is next to the garden.

This garden has clay soil and water needs to be hauled so it did not do well but there was still squash and some small watermelon in it.

Elder Lybbert in our demo garden. The watermelons and squash are ripe and the corn is on!

Favorites of the native people is corn and squash. The corn they like to roast. This is a one type of stove they use. A fire is built inside and when the coals are warm the corn is placed inside. Some have fields of Indian corn and when it is ripe they dig a big pit to roast it in. After roasting some is eaten and some is dried for stew in the wintertime.
Squash is usually cut up and fried and can be fried with some mutton or beef. It is also used in mutton stew.

This week as we go and visit the people we have been able to take produce to give them.  Those who do not have a garden are excited to get the corn and squash. Some who were not too sure about growing a garden changed their minds when things started to produce and they realized it really was possible.  Growing corn, melons and squash is traditional for the Navajo but not many of the younger generation have tried it. We are often told of the big corn fields the parents or grandparents had and there are still old fences where they were.

Love to all,
Elder and Sister Lybbert

Voting on the Rez

                                                        FLOWER OF THE WEEK
The Desert Paintbrush is blooming and makes a pretty splash of color on the desert.

Election day on the Rez.  We had never seen this before when the different candidates had booths where they offered  information and things to eat before the voters went into the chapter house to mark their ballot

We thought this an interesting name for a sheriff. Rather intimidating.

We haven't seen many of these colorful creatures so we welcomed this California Sister to our garden.

On Friday we decided to visit a few more of the sights in the area. We went down to Zuni on the Zuni reservation. Many homes had these ovens in the yard. They use them to make their Zuni bread.

This picture of the pool was taken at El Morro National Monument. This pool is the only water for miles so it was where travellers stopped to camp. While their they inscribed their names and some writing in the rocks. We saw writings in Spanish dating back to 1605 when the Spanish came to conquer  and convert the Zuni Indians. Also writing of the early pioneers after the Mexican-American war which ended in 1848. It was very interesting seeing the history written in the stone for centuries.

Its end of the month and beginning of month week so its a needy time and then nobody home time but we were able to have some good visits. We do find that as we study the scriptures and the gospel that we have greater understanding than before even though we thought we already had a pretty good understanding. The gospel is true.

Love to all,
Elder and Sister Lybbert