Navajo 12 Days of Christmas

1. A pinon nut in a pinon nut tree. 2. pickup trucks. 3. bowls of mutton. 4. silver buttons. 5. yei-ba-chay. (good spirits that help out at Christmas time) 6. concho belts. 7. eagle feathers. 8. sheep a running. 9. coarser bracelets. 10. chubby turkeys. 11. saddle blankets. 12. wedding baskets. As recited to me by Fritz Buckinghorse age 8. We gave he and his mother and two little sisters a ride to the ward Christmas Party. These kids are usually a little shy but tonight they got all wound up and sang Christmas songs all the way home- some interesting versions of your favorites. We loved it. For the Christmas Party someone from down in the valley sends up a truck load of oranges, gloves, pants, coats, blankets, pillows, sheets and other stuff for the families of the ward-and a few others who drop in. We had chili, corn bread, cakes and cookies. Our stake high council representative played the guitar and sang (and I use the term loosely) Christmas songs. Then he put on a magic show. The kids were impressed and had a lot of fun. Have fun singing " The Twelve Days of Christmas" Navajo style. HA'COO'NEE

'sno-lie

Here we are with our other "Trainer" Elder Brady Parkin from Pocatello. He is a very fine young man and a hard worker. He just got transfered to "the valley" for a nice warm winter. We, however, are having snow and cold wind. The last two pictures are taken up on the south rim where they actually have trees-well, O.K. - bushes. We have a couple of our home teaching families up there-like driving to Idaho Falls to do your home teaching. We are doing well. The pickup, however is taking quite a beating. With 500 potholes per block- some large enough to wash dishes in and a few large enough to take a bath in- we end up driving on the side of the road or on the sidewalk. Sometimes we just have to bite the bullet and drive through. We are meeting some good people and having a good time. We have two new Elders- Elder Eaton from Iowa and Elder Cox from Preston, ID. Elder Cox is a cousin -his ever so great grandfather is Jehu Cox who is my great-great grandfather. Small world. LOVE YA'LL HA'COO'NAE

From the "Res"

Miscellaneous pictures from the reservation this week. Elder Taylor Wright (our zone leader) is being transferred. He has taken us under his wing to train us. What a great kid. Yes,Valon , he is Allen and Trish's little boy. Next is a picture of Lukachukai. The mountains are beautiful but the town is a little "thin". Next is suppose to be the largest "hogan" in the world. It is at the Dine' College in Tsails (pronounced say lee). Dine' is the name the Navajo call their people. Last of all the weather is nice enough here that your Dad washed his pickup on the first day of December. Today I went everywhere without a jacket, it was only about 60 degrees but the sun was shining and there was no wind. We are learning a little of Navajo culture. We went Home Teaching up on the north rim of the canyon (like driving to Rigby to do your home teaching) to visit Bobby and Lorene VanWinkle. Yes they are Navajo--well part Apache. He has a tour guide service to take you down in the canyon. He also does calf roping in the rodeo. They have a bunch of boys-a very nice family. We are doing well. Hope you are all doing great!
LOVE YA'LL

Up out of the canyon/ Spider Rock

The "Indian Cowboy" on the horse rides his horse up and down the trail a couple of times a week. Click on the one picture and you will see him riding up the trail. He use to ride in rodeos on bulls so I guess nothing scares him. The horse is a grand champion quarter horse. The tall rock is spider rock. Legend has it that spider woman came up out of the rock to teach the Navajo to weave. The rock is 800 ft. tall. I hope to get a better picture, there was too much shade when we were there. The last picture I have titled "Moses was here". Hope you enjoyed the tour. LOVE YA, HA'COO'NEE

The White House

YA TA HEY, This is the White House ruins of the Anasazi Indians. The Anasazi built their houses in caves on the cliff wall, probably for protection from their enemies. They are over a thousand years old, long before the Navajo came. The orange rock wall has pictographs on it. If you click on it and blow it up you should be able to see a holy man, a scorpion, a compass, a house foundation and something we thought looked like a fish. HA'COO'NEE

Down the canyon

This is a view from the "White House" looking down the canyon. The leaves are turning but haven't fallen yet. The canyon walls are beautiful everywhere you look.

The big white wall is above and to the right of the "White House".

Hogan

At the bottom of the trail is a "ranch", a small hogan and some corrals for sheep. They requested no pictures so I moved a long way off and took one anyway. There is not a lot for the sheep to eat here but more than down around Chinle. I imagine the canyon walls would get pretty hot in the summer. They do have a stream of water running through for most of the year which is more than you can say for the valley.

The Trail

On Monday, (P-Day), we decided to hike down into the canyon at the "White House" ruins. It's a long way to the bottom, but if the sheep can do it we can too. This herd of sheep started down right before us. They said they take them down every day to feed. Then every night they bring them back up to protect them from preditors.

Canyon De Chelly (pronounced De Shay)

This is part of the canyon. One picture is the canyon walls. Another is the path from the canyon rim down to the bottom 600 ft. below. That is the only way down into the canyon that you can go on your own. If you go in through the mouth you have to take a Navajo guide with you. Next is a farm in the canyon as seen from the rim. Next is a wide angle view of the "White House" Anasazi Indian ruins. Can you find them? They're in the cave. Next is a

close-up of the "White House" ruins. The cliff walls are fantastic.

Lesson from the Res.

YA TA HEY!

This is a traditional Navajo hogan. It's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside---well it seems bigger . Almost every lot, if it is bigger than an acre, has a hogan on it. We have seen some really modern hogans with siding , metal roofs and porches. Last night I even seen a two story hogan. There is also has a regular house (usually a trailer house), corrals, and small sheds. The cattle are free to graze anywhere. There are a lot of horses, cows, sheep, and chickens here. I haven't figured out what they are grazing on. It looks like they're eating dirt. However, most of them look to be in great shape. We haven't seen much wild life here. We did see a big, beautiful, silver fox last evening. More to come if I can find time. LOVE YA'LL

We arrived

Home sweet home. This is our home. The church is just across the parking lot. They told us that the pipes from the baptismal font broke so the whole corner was pulling away from the foundation. There was a lake under the church. It cost them 3 million dollars to raise and level the whole floor. It was quite interesting how it was done. They drilled holes in the floor and forced in concrete until the floor was raised. They used a" water level " to make sure it was level. You notice the landscape is big rocks and little rocks and sand. No lawn to mow so your Dad is happy!

Southern Utah Drive

The drive down

October 25,2008 Saturday we loaded everything up and headed for Arizona. We followed highway 191 southeast. We were soon in no-mans-land and out of cell phone range. The country is very rocky with beautiful rock formations or flat, sand and sagebrush. Moab is the biggest town in the area ( a typical tourist town because of all the canyons). We stopped there for lunch. Then continued on to Monticello. We decided to stay the night there because they have a temple and we thought it would be easy to find a church the next day. We were not wrong. We were invited to church twice. The town is a little shabby and not much there but it does have a half dozen big nice motels. Monday morning we took off for our new "HOME".

MTC

October 18-19-- We drove down to Utah and had a good visit with Brian and Kristi, Jason and Michelle and all the kids. Monday we drove to the M.T.C and checked in. ( It's much easier to be the ones checking in.) We got there early so we got our room assignment and were all unpacked and settled in before we had to go to orientation. The food was good, plenty of it and a good variety so we never felt deprived or even hungry. We met a lot of really great people. About half the people were on their second or third mission. The couples in our group were Elder and Sister Tait from Utah. She reminded me of Faye Powell-the lady I studied with in nursing school. The other couple were Elder Smith and Sister Pauline Smith from California. They used to live in our ward back in about 1970. He was a school teacher. We had a good time studying the lessons and a good laugh trying to give the discussions. I think my favorite time was the divotional on Tuesday evening. Elder Mask of the Seventy was the speaker. He was from Mexico and told some wonderful stories about when his grandfather was a missionary and taught the president of Mexico. The young Elders were great. The Samoans were very friendly.

Formally known as...

Today was our "farewell" talks in church! The topic was being an example. I told a story about licking the grass on the other side of the fence. (I'll post the whole story later) and Sy talked about the examples in his life. One of the coolest things he said was that all of his six boys had been an example to him by serving missions, so now it's his turn! So off we go to Arizona!