NATURE "HIKE" 1

So the pictures came out in backwards order again, but try to follow. The nursing students from BYU are down here for three weeks working on the reservation. They asked President Begay to take them on a "nature hike" to study the plants used in traditional healing. I volunteered myself to go with them. He took us down this trail (and I use the term loosely) to the bottom of the canyon. I tore a hole in my pants sliding down the trail. There we saw some ruins up on the cliff side. He also showed use some plants. Did you know the Four O' Clocks are used to cure canker sores? Then we crawled back up the "trail" to the top, just as it was getting dark. Good news! None of us were killed falling off the "trail". We had a good time. The students were great. I won't be going that way again.

NATURE "HIKE"

Just a few of the plants we saw on our hike. The white one is Sand Verbena. The scrawny yellow one is some sort of stinky root. The other yellow one is Evening Primrose. The green one with the interesting leaves looks to be some sort of lily but I don't know? The last little one looks like a Mariposa Lily but I've never seen a bright yellow one before.

PICNIC

Tuesday night we had a picnic with the missionaries from here and Pinon. We had to have it late, after the Elders finished their work. We were suppose to have it Monday night but a family from Oklahoma pulled in with faulty brakes. They were on their way to Nampa ID. So the Elders taught them the first discussion, the Sisters called the Bishop, tended the two little boys and fed the family. How's that for FHE.

Sister Dille - "Hero"

Sister Dille was visited by her bishop a few months ago. He told her he was impressed that she should serve a mission. Even though she had some health problems she agreed to go. She was sent to Ganado, AZ as a social services missionary. She had back problems that continued to get worse. By March she could hardly walk. President Beck sent her to a specialist in Flagstaff. He declared an emergency and operated on her back the same day. He said because of all the damage she would probably never walk again and told President Beck he should release her from missionary service. She was in the hospital for two weeks, then in a rehab. facility for another two weeks. She gave away cases of Book of Mormons and pass-a-long cards and brightened everyone's day. She had sold her home before coming on her mission so she had no place to go after rehab. so the doctor took her home with him. Last week she returned to her mission in Ganado, walking better than she did before coming. The Lord is mindful of all who are willing to serve Him.

RUGS

Spider Woman instructed the Navajo women how to weave on a loom which Spider Man told them how to make..... This girl, her sisters and sister cousins developed this pattern years ago as they used up the yarn pieces their grandmother would discard. They named it Spider Rock after the mythical home of Spider Woman. Next is one of my favorites. Next is one made by a CNA student of the Sister Missionaries. We went to the auction to see "this rug" ($1,200). What you see there is half the rug.

RUGS

Yesterday we went to the rug auction at the Hubble Trading Post in Ganado. Since I couldn't quite afford the $500 - $6,000 for a rug I just took pictures. Some rugs are named after the place where the design first originated like "Two Gray Hills". Some are picture rugs like the "Yei-Be-Che"(Spiritual Grandfathers). Some are more modernized or stylized.

We went to help Lena and Johnson Begay shear their sheep. We're getting pretty good at it. They had a new baby horse there also.