Saturday Highlight...............

The Bussey's got to go with us to a baptism from Ganado (the Elders from there had 5 people baptized today.......two from our area and three being performed in another building in Steam BoatBranch) The ones here were a 13 year old boy and his sister who was 11. I got to play and Elder Hafen got a call about 1/2 hour before the baptism to give a talk.............he did so well. Chad and Lenita Begay. were the two being baptized.............

Busseys left by noon.................so it was a short visit - but sweet!!! We loved it - however it made us miss everyone else a bunch! We are SO grateful for our family..............and send our love to everyone! Bless your hearts!

Thanksgiving with the Busseys!

We were so grateful to have Phil, Cathy and Paydan come to visit on Thursday in time for dinner.............it was a blessing.........had the old traditional turkey and all counted our blessings!!On Friday we drove to Canyon de Chelly and walked down the White House trail to see the ruins......about 2 1/2 mile trek!!! It was an absolutely beautiful day and we had fun..........

All is not drudgery and work!!!!

Johanna Henderson is a joy to our lives....................she has become active - is ready to go to the temple and I spent last week "learning about the new family search program" and we got Johanna's work ready for 5 women and 5 men on her ancestral line...........she is SO excited.

Johanna is an excellent Navajo story teller and games...............they play the string games "only" in the winter and she learned them as competition in her little home with her parents and siblings..........her hands fly..............the Elders of course were caught in the game and learned two each...............go Elders go!!

Rose Johnson Tsosie

We had heard Rose Johnson Tsosie (you leave the T silent when is before an s).....when she came to speak to the Navajo Nation during the time of the Navajo Nation Fair in September. She is a motivational speaker, been in Toastmasters for 20 years, native American Genealogy Specialist and Storyteller and the author of "Finding Helen - a Navajo Miracle"................I just e mailed her and asked if she was coming this way and she told me she was flying to Gallup to speak at a big library there before Thanksgiving and that she would come and do a fireside on Native American genealogy in our ward if I wanted her to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course we jumped at the chance. She is an incredible woman. She lives in Portland now and travels to speak about 42 times per year all over the US. Her book "Finding Helen" is a wonderful book - you can buy it on Amazon.com and be uplifted by the read! She and her twin sister were born on the Reservation years ago to a little 13 year old mother and being premature the mother left them in a hospital in Keams Canyon, thinking that she would pick them up in about 3 months when they had grown past their 1 1/2 pounds.............they were adopted out during that time to an LDS family in Utah and raised.........the story goes to tell how she eventually finds her Navajo mother Helen.....

It was a fun evening.............I made "lots" of refreshments and they ALL disappeared quickly. She made us a CD to share with our people here on ways to do their genealogy more effectively.....

Kenny Baptism from Sawmill................

This was a beautiful baptism..................(I am privileged to play for all the baptisms from our ward, Sawmill Branch and Ganado Branch - so it keeps me busy)...........This one was President Kenny (president of the Saw Mill Branch) who baptized his daughter-in-law on the evening of 11/21/2009. His son (who is just 16) baptized the Kenny's grandson (the younger one) whose mother had died a year ago......the 16-year-old had fasted for TWO days so that he could do the baptism perfectly. We love the faith of these people. The little one told his grandmother after the baptism.........."Did you know that my mother was here?"................

Baptisms keep rolling on................

We are so grateful for the continual baptisms............the Elders work hard - we are busy supplying them with names and contacts from the office and then trying hard to keep fellowship ping the people as they come into the Church...............

We were so excited for the baptism of Regina Yazzie.........her husband is a member and he had talked to her a little about the church - but the Elders began teaching her and she made decisions quickly............she is a beautiful and polished woman and will add so much to the ward here..............we have come to love her from the first time we met her......... Baptism was on the 21st.....

Zone Conference in Tuba City 11/20/2009

Zone Conference in Tuba City .........................long drive..................Photos are of the awards being given......Elder Wilson reached the "highest level" today - we were so proud of him. We left about 2:30 so that we could get home for the ward "Thanksgiving Party" - lots of food and fun. Unfortunately I left my camera home. Played piano for a little for some spirit to the party and served food all night. Had a cultural hall FULL of people!! Hooray!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho............it's off to work we go!!!

Elder Hafen had a project................and when he has a project - it's watch out world!!! The baptismal font was desperately in need of cleaning...........so he involved the Young Women and Young Men of the ward and during one of their activity nights on 11/18/2009 he had them all scrub the entire baptismal font. Our baptismal font is in the floor of one of the rooms of our church.............they really worked...........and it was messy............and they were tired - BUT it was worth it to see it look so much better........

Relief Society (Women's Organization) Night Meeting 11-17-2009

The Women's Organization which is called Relief Society had their monthly evening meeting. We had "32" women there...............we have seen a great increase since we came and have loved being a part of that growth. The President is Sister Esplain, her counselors are Sister Livingston and Sister Brown (and yes they are all Navajo)............we notice the Navajo names are often more common names than those of our Lamanite students years ago from Lame Deer, Montana from the Cheyenne tribe - 11 year old "Ronnie FireCrow" and 8-year-0ld "Elroy Weasle Bear"....

The evening was wonderful - they served corn bread, two kinds of soup, juice and bundt cake and other desserts. They gave a long stemmed rose to each woman there and had a great program on making us all feel more worth as women! I was so proud of the presentations and felt the warmth of the women there as we bonded in a special evening together.......

Career Workshop 11-27-2009

Career Workshop this month was very small..............but the people were sharp and we were so excited with their progress. Arick has been in the navy for 5 years and is ready to pursue further education and job...........(In fact, we had a woman contact us from John Hopkins who is doing a research here on young fathers and need an employee to fill a position there - and she interviewed Arick last week.......) The young woman is furthering her education and is excited about that...........Fun day! This is a great and rewarding part of our mission......

Life on the Reservation............

Life is busy as usual.................we are finding that days fill quickly and fly by with even more speed. November has been rewarding in so many ways. As we reflect upon our gratitude lists we are amazed at how long it takes us to list ALL the blessings we receive. Our mission has truly opened new vistas and provided us with growth in ways we never dreamed possible. Obviously it is frustrating at times as we want so badly to change and make things "all better" for everyone that we have learned to love - and Patience (with a capital P) is one of the virtues that we have had to polish up as we slowly feel the benefits of our service here.....

Missed a shot of Jeanne, Sister Hafen, Johanna and Kay as they ended their visit here with us in October............

Kay, Jeanne, Elder & Sister Hafen - at Window Rock

Happy Halloween!

"Bishop Willie" - truly in his comfort zone!

Halloween on the Reservation!!

Halloween Party at the church.....................Just some photos to let you see the darling children here that we have in the church. Jeanne and Kay came down to spend a few days with us and so it was so fun to show them the people, land and the things that we love here!

"George" had on his body building shirt. George rides his bike to church every time we do anything and on Sundays. He's the one who only has a 4th grade education and herds sheep......we love him.....

We thought of all of our "trick or treaters" at home and missed being home to have you all come by..............