Merry Christmas, and Fry Bread for You!

This week was INCREDIBLE!

We gave drunk people cookies, went Christmas caroling in Navajo, brought tons of new faces to church, and best of all, we found ourselves a shima sani!

A brief history of shimas.
Picture a 92-year-old lady. Now imagine she is just over the 4 foot mark.
Now put wrinkles all over her, and a TON of heavy turquoise jewelry on her wrists, ears, etc.
She is wearing a little skirt, and strap on Nike shoes so she can run faster.
If you are doing this right, you see a little oompa loompa lady in you mind.
She has a hunch back, and a cane, and she has about 2 teeth. She mutters random Navajo and smacks you with her cane if you don't reply fast enough.
Now if you have properly imagined this woman, you will be having feelings of incredulous wonder.
How could one amazing lady be so small?
How is this woman still alive?
Why does she have such impeccable fashion?
Why do I have the irrepressible urge to hug this lady?
All very valid questions.

This week I taught in my first hooghan (circular 1-room home, dirt floor, wood stove, traditional to Navajos). It was TINY and there were 4 kids, their grandmother, and their shima sani, Rose, living inside! It was crammed full of things, and they had no electricity, so we went and sat on the bed, and had to use the light of the fire from the wood stove to see.  We taught Joseph, who is 10, and he wants to be baptized! So they came to church on Sunday for the first time!  Joseph's grandmother agreed to help Joseph to learn and be at church. She is a member herself, in fact, but hasn't been for some time.  We gave Rose, the shima sani, a plate of cookies and immediately her wrinkled eyes opened wide.  "Baa likani!! Baa likani! Ayoo shil ya'at'eeh! Ahehee' Ahehee'! Aoo'! Ahehee' shiyazh!!!"  (Cookie, cookie!! I love cookies! Thank you, thank you!! Thank you sons!")  Then she proceed to munch away with her two teeth, as she sat by the wood stove in her own little world, eating away.  

It was THE BEST THING that I have seen on my mission so far.

Being in that tiny hooghan was so humbling. The family was so nice, and happy, and humble.  Even though I am around those kinds of things every day, it really gave me a reality check.

I love this mission. This week I learned a lot more about how to use Jesus' sacrifice for us.

The Atonement is so real.
It is the only thing that can heal a broken soul. The sacrifice of Christ allows for us to choose to return to our God. It gives us the opportunity to be with our families and friends in the eternities.  We all know the scripture that says: "we are saved through the grace that is in Christ Jesus, but faith without works is dead", claiming that it is all about our actions!  And that is right. Without choosing to follow Christ's footsteps, we have no chance of receiving His blessings.  But it is too often that we focus on the "works" aspect, and don't give credit to the first half of the scripture. It is too often that we forget the grace of Jesus Christ, and the enabling power of His love. Without His gift, we would never be able to return to God. Without His Atonement, we would inevitably fall, and even with our own "works", we would be in no position to redeem our souls. The laws of Justice would not allow for our redemption. Only through the Atonement is salvation possible.

So let's focus on Christ and His gift to us.

A lot of people feel like their sin is too great to be covered by repentance in Christ's name.
But that is not ever true.  When a mom pays for her child's piano lessons, she pays the price, willingly and happily.  She wants her child to learn to play, to perfect the instrument!  But it is not the child's job to pay back his mother. Practicing the piano does not make up for the debt! But when the mother hears the notes being played, she is happy! She is excited to see her child make progress. When the child messes up, misses notes and ruins scales, the mother does not become angry and expect her child to stop playing. In fact, she expects mistakes. In order for her child to become perfect, he must make mistakes! 

It is the same with Christ. We do not owe Christ for the cost of His love. In fact, we can NEVER repay Him. But what we can do is USE His gift. He expects us to keep trying, and He will ALWAYS be by our sides as we continue to grow and learn. We should never feel like He has left us. In fact, only WE can leave HIM. Letting Christ into your life is a choice. You can either accept Him or not. It is as simple as that. He is never angry at us if we try, He will never abandon us. Only WE can abandon HIM. 

So play the piano! Make mistakes! Learn! Grow! Make every note count! 
Ask Christ to aid you on your way. God will strengthen you, and He will be with you. 

You do not understand His grace if you feel separated from Him. 

So I challenge you all to work to feel close to Him. Stop worrying about whether or not He feels close by, and rid yourself of anything that separates you from your Savior. If something is between you and your happiness, then turn away from it, and follow Christ. 
I promise you will IMMEDIATELY feel His love as you follow His commandments. 
You will be happy, and you will have more light. 

Merry Christmas, everyone. 
Love,
Elder Hilton.

Scripture case! A Navajo lady made it for me out of fleece :D

  

Natural Bridge hike on P-day!

The sisters have two investigators who had this little guy. I held Julian on the hike to Natural Bridge. He is hilarious!

6 people live in this tiny little hooghan. Dirt floor, no electricity, wood stove! The one on the left burnt down so they had to build a new one.

Christmas at the trailer consists of blasting hymns and shooting nerf blow darts everywhere.

Elder Livermont has a mean shot.

What we do with what little spare time we have.....
Elder Lind is a good artist!
I think we were all bitter that we couldn't see The Hobbit.

Shimas and Unicorns

Hey everyone!

This week was the fastest one yet!
I got to perform my first baptism too!

We had two big Christmas parties, one with the ward, and one with a couple zones of missionaries, and then the sisters and Elders from Fort Defiance went and sang at a huge Christmas bazaar at the museum. We have gone caroling and singing in Navajo a few times now, it's been so fun!

At Hashke's baptism was great. Her mom and grandmother were there, and they were so proud of her! We brought a bunch of investigators to the baptism as well, and they all really enjoyed it!

At church this Sunday, I was really surprised to see a ton of people there who I would NEVER expect at church! We have been working on this old shima for months and she finally came!! It was so amazing to see her randomly appear there! We also had 5 investigators there!

Mom and dad, that string trick book you sent me is AWESOME. I know a ton of cool ones now and all the Natives think I'm a pro >:))))

I've been learning a lot more Navajo and am starting to read and write better!

Overall, this week went by the fastest so far, because we really worked hard, and I focused on not worrying about home, and it FLEW by. The trick I found for myself is to really get involved with what is going on with the people we see. I love visiting them and feeling like they are my family! When I worry about them, and what we need to do to help everyone here, it is a lot more enjoyable. 

I am most excited for Brian, Arlinda, Audrey, and Kera. They have been our investigators for a few weeks and they come to church EVERY Sunday. Audrey (17) is so awesome, she asked us the other day about the Word of Wisdom. Apparently she had Googled it a couple weeks before and was already living it! Arlinda calls Elder Gwilliam and I her "shiyazh" or son's, and she is making us rugs!!! Rugs take hours and hours and hours and they are a really big part of the culture here! Brian is so fun, and there is always a HUGE grin on his face, he likes to joke around a ton. And Kera will give you a hard time but she is always just teasing you. These guys really do feel like my family. I am so happy to be here and serve them, and all the other people in Fort Defiance, Arizona. Keep this family in your prayers this week!

Thanks everyone for the letters, support, and good vibes.  I sent out a ton of Christmas presents so I hope they all get to you safely!  I'm starting to trust the mail less and less, the USPS here got robbed on the 7th! Luckily I didn't have anything in it. But still, what the heck!!

Keep me in your thoughts and prayers, and have an amazing week.

My challenge this week is to get off your smart phone and go out for a whole day noticing the people around you. Do something nice every chance you get, especially for people you don't know. Even a smile or a small conversation! If you are up to the challenge, then do it! And let me know how it went! Go one day without being selfish and just turn outward as Christ did and serve all day! Walk a day with Christ, and have God in your heart.  I promise if you do, it will be a fantastic day.
But that's only if you can deal with the iPhone withdrawls ;)

 

 

Love you all!

Until next week :)

 

 Sunset

 

Navajo Christmas Bazaar! Mom, you would go crazy for the stuff here. This guy had some amazing art.

Some of the coolest paintings I've seen!

This is me and Mrs. Navajo, she won out of everyone on the whole reservation!
They have to do a bunch of random stuff like play a Navajo flute, make fry bread, dance, etc.

  Baptism with Hashke!  She was so excited! The water in the font came out all green but nobody even cared, it was such a good day!

  Arlinda working at the loom

 So cool!

 

This is Arlinda!! She is so awesome! She is going to make me a rug :D

(Not sure wazzup with this, but Davis asked me to add these scriptures...)

 

Zechariah 5:1-2
1 Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll.

2 And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.

Numbers 23:22

22 God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.

Make every day a walk with Christ!

Ya'at'eeh!

How are all of you! Haven't heard from everyone all week!
This week was great!  We dropped all our non progressing investigators and less-actives, and really focused on helping the people who we can honestly help progress. So we have seen a lot of awesome growth with our families we teach. It has been really rewarding! 

Christmas is coming! I am sending a lot of you letters and presents so watch out for that!

The reservation is crazy! So many insane stories this week that I don't know what to share!

Hashke gets baptized this Saturday! And we have Dennis on date for 5 weeks away, which is awesome because we have been teaching him since I got into Fort. The family I am most excited about is Brians family. Last night we went over to share dinner with them for Audrey's 18th birthday. She got us souvenirs from Las Vegas where she had been with family last week, and told us she felt bad because all of the things she wanted to get us, her mom told her they were "inappropriate", which was hilarious! So we all gathered together in their living room, and sat Indian style (no pun intended) on their woven rug, and ate Navajo Tacos, which are fry bread with chili and condiments on top. Its SUPER good, but your stomach will complain afterwards. Then we shared stories with each other and joked around a lot! I shared the story of one of my ancestors who was captured by Natives and had to run away during the night and hide inside a log. She eventually began to starve and had to eat a rabbit raw, until she could escape back to the pioneer trail, and make it home, only to find her husband had remarried. Haha thanks for telling me that story, Grandma! They got a kick out of it. Arlinda (the mom) told us all about the oppression of the Navajos growing up. How they were put into boarding schools, whipped, and told never to speak in their native tongue. When they did, they were told they were bad, and washed their mouth with soap. I couldn't believe some of the stories she told us!

After dinner, Audrey's parents turned out the lights and lit her birthday candles, then sang her a traditional Navajo song. The words were new, but the meaning translated to something along the lines of "God be with you, as you grow and become older". He sang in loud tones while he shook a traditional native shaker with feathers and beads on it. Wish you guys coulda heard it!!  Then at the end, Brian gave her a feather stick to bless herself, and then she blew out the candles and we feasted on cake!

Arlinda has been practicing some Navajo with us!
"Shi ei Elder Hilton yinishye!
Dine Bizaad bihoosh'aah, doo dine bizaad shil ya'at'eeh, ndi ei nanthl'eh.

"I am Elder Hilton! I am learning Navajo, and I like it, but it is hard!"

Well, not too much more to share from this week. But I really did have a hard time being discouraged. I think I started to fall into the trap of going through the motions, and not making every action meaningful. It's easy to do good things every day, because that is the point of a mission, but it is a constant struggle to make every day a walk with Christ. So that is what I had to remind myself in the middle of the week. I read my farewell talk, and some of the letters and notes from friends and family, and was really reminded of why I am out here. The work is so worth it, and I love the people. But I needed that reminder to make every note count.

So that is my challenge this week!
Start over with God, tell Him that this day is for Him!
Try living one day with Christ by your side, and see how it goes!
Give everything to Him, and acknowledge Him in every moment with you.
Try it! :)

Love you all, have an amazing week.
Diyin nihil holo doo.
Hagoone :)

Elder Hilton

 Checkout lines...the first of the month at Walmart is insane!  We wait in line for at least 35 minutes to check out!

 The tree we cut down.  TP garland!

My little Foster family! 

Kinda pretty with the snow. 

 Brians family.  Love these people!

Me with the Real Santa!  He told me so!

Roller Coaster Ride!

This week has been a roller coaster!

So Elder Gwilliam and I were just out at Thatsaburger (where we get free burgers and Navajo Tacos galore) and two disheveled Navajo walk up to us hesitantly. They introduce themselves as Rodney and Martha, a married couple from Mesa, Arizona. Then they go on to tell a crazy story. They had just finished hitchhiking from Mesa a few days ago, and they literally had only the clothing on their backs, and their phones (which didn't work on the rez). They asked if we were Elders from the church.  "Yes! We are!" I told them.  They immediately had a look of relief and told us that Martha had a house over in Black Rock Acres (an area close to the middle of Fort Defiance that has a LOT of gang activity and is very ghetto), and that if we had ANY food to spare, it would be amazing. 

"It's the day before Thanksgiving, and we have no food. I am traumatized," Martha explained to us, "We had $13.50 left and we were just spending $10 on our last chicken meal together here, we figured we may as well eat. We just don't know what to do."  Immediately, we took them to our truck, where we happened to have a TON of thanksgiving food we were giving to another family earlier that day. When we gave them the food, Martha was SO happy, and couldn't stop thanking us.
"We are going to get you a thanksgiving feast tomorrow," I told them, "we will bring you to one that we were invited to!"  When Martha heard this, she literally began to cry, telling us that she couldn't believe it.

It was extremely humbling to see these people who literally lost EVERYTHING in a matter of days become so grateful for some rice and beans, and a promise of a hot meal.  They took us to their home and we helped them chop wood to keep warm for a few nights.  The NHA (Navajo Housing Authority) had taken ALL of Martha's appliances in the home, so they literally had the clothing on their backs, a pillow and blanket on the carpet floor, a can opener, and a wood stove. So we brought them over an extra crock pot we had, and a pan to heat up rice and beans on the wood stove! They were so excited and grateful!! I can't imagine a better thanksgiving experience.

 

The next events with them that ensued consisted of Elder Gwilliam and I making visits to them, helping them get settled in a little better, bringing them care packages from ward members, and teaching lessons with them. The first lesson we had with them that night was incredible. They told us that they KNEW the Lord was blessing them. We told them that Christ was there strengthening them, and that God was truly watching over them. We taught them about the gospel and have told them what they need to start doing! Rodney turned out to be an inactive member of the LDS church, and Martha had been going to church in Mesa, but didn't ever get baptized. They both wanted to learn more! We taught Rodney how priesthood would bless him and his wife, and Martha about baptism and the blessings Christ will bring to her life if she follows His will. They were very happy to be learning about their savior.

Thanksgiving was crazy! I missed my family so much ALL day!!! It was really hard being away from them. But we got to eat at a member's home so it made it a little better. We played this REALLY nerdy board game called Avalon and everyone was arguing and getting heated and goofing around, so I felt RIGHT at home! It made the whole day so much better. I miss nerdy board games with my family!!

More about Elder Gwillaim, he is a chef. That's right, a chef. So I hit it lucky! He worked at a ton of places including Olive Garden, so I am a happy camper. Also he goes home in 3 months, so he is very experienced and knows his way around missionary work. I am learning a lot from him, and we are doing very well here at Fort! He is really relaxed and it makes it a lot easier to be happy and work hard here. We get along very well! He reminds me of a mix of Derek and Thomas. He is smart and goofy and fun to chill with like Derek, but crazy and spontaneous like Thomas. It's great!

This week we are finishing up lessons with Hashke! She is the 9-year-old girl who is working to be baptized! We will be baptizing her in a week or two, and I am so excited because it will be the first baptism I was involved with from beginning to end!

Also we are teaching a new family, Brother and Sister Deschine, and their daughter Audrey.
They are Navajo (of course).  Sister Deschine graduated from Harvard, so she is very intellectual. She doesn't want to give up her traditions and culture, but she invited us over showing large interest in the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ. Brian is a drummer for traditional ceremonies, he is very involved with that. He sang us a Navajo prayer the first time we met and it was really really cool!! Audrey is a normal 16-year-old, she is a Junior in high school, and she has a ton of questions and always texts us to see if we are coming over for lessons! They are the first investigators I've had who show honest interest and follow up on all their commitments. We had a bible study with them the other night, and they REALLY enjoyed it! They thought Laman and Lemuel were hilarious! We were all so involved in the story that we read a couple chapters! They promised to keep reading, and they have! They came to church for the first time yesterday, and they enjoyed it! We invited them to the Harvey's tonight for dessert and games. Family night!

Just wanted to say to everyone:
We really do take everything for granted. That is cliche and overused, but come to the Reservation for one week and you will know exactly what I mean. These people are suffering. There are alcoholics, torn families, and horrifying stories everywhere. More commonly than not. 

Thank God for the things you have. Even a warm house where you don't have to chop wood to stay warm. Or running water. Or a family that is together. The list doesn't end.
Enjoy every moment with your family, cherish them.
Be happy, know that Jesus Christ died for you and that YOU are special.
If you don't know that for yourself, then kneel down and find out.

Love you all, and I miss you all.
Write me for Christmas, I love to hear from you :)

Have an amazing week,
Elder Hilton.

A Pendleton pure wool blanket and a cachina doll!  Instead of buying fancy clothes, the Navajo buy these expensive ($300) pendletons!  Warmest blankets of all time!  Cachina dolls are sacred and said to watch over the home.  Nice foggy weather.

Overcoming the Beast

This week was great!

I got a new companion, his name is Elder Gwilliam, he is WAY cool, and we get along really well. Plus he is a chef so I have that going for me. He is really relaxed, and he knows what he is doing because he only has 3 months left on his mission, so we get lots of work done! Over 40 lessons this week! We were booked back to back all week, it was crazy! 

This area has grown SO MUCH, we have 2 people on date to be baptized, Hashke and Georgina, and a few more coming soon, I feel!  Also we are getting a lot of less active families to come back to church and become reactivated!  The best this week was when we found a lady named Luella and brought her to church. She hadn't been in years! The members were SO nice to her, and she really felt welcome! She can't wait to come back!!!!

Never forget to be nice to people! At church, on the streets, school, work, ANYWHERE!
A smile and a hello can change everything for someone!  Especially if you take the time to get to know someone a little bit, you can change their day, week, or year! As far as church, a simple conversation can even change a life!! Watch out for others who seem alone or unfamiliar. TALK TO THEM. It is selfish not to. With everything that you have, it is ridiculous to stay in your little bubble and ignore the people around you that you have the power to help.

 

That's your challenge this week, is to pay attention to the people around you, smile at people, say hi, and get to know somebody.

Besides working super hard this week, I had to overcome the beast of homesickness. It snowed HARD here, and we got a nice amount of snow!  I liked it at first, but then I kept thinking about Idaho, and how Dallin and I would go snowboarding, and how we would go to McCall with grandma and grandpa, hot tubbing with friends, sledding, snow ball fights, everything! Then things got out of hand when I saw Christmas decorations at members' homes!

I thought of every Christmas from back to being a child, and all the experiences with my family. Christmas is my FAVORITE. Favorite holiday, and favorite time with family. It always seemed like family was just so much more close during that time, and we did so much together. And this week I realized that I would be missing that, and it was really hard to think about.
Every time I see snow, smell hot chocolate, or hear Christmas music, I just have this deep yearning to be with my family. I miss them so much!

I love my mission, and all the people here, and I couldn't imagine being anywhere else. Even though it sucks to be away from family, it is worth it to be able to be here and serve these people!
I know that Christ is our savior, and I love Him.

Hope you are all doing well! Have an AWESOME Thanksgiving, and enjoy the company of your family and friends. Stay warm if it's snowy there too, and drink some hot chocolate for me! 

Thanks SO MUCH for the support, friendship, and letters. I love you guys!!

 

it's beginning to look a lot like...Thanksgiving....

this is the view from our trailer! we live right next to the church, where wild dogs and horses frequent the parking lot.

It actually looks really cool here with the snow!

TONS of change this week...

I honestly don't know how to sum up my experiences and thoughts from this last week.  It has been incredible and humbling to serve this mission so far. 

Transfers happen every 6 weeks, and so we just recently found out the news. Elder Lloyd, my companion who was training me, is leaving to Farmington. Usually, when elders train, they stay for at least 2 transfers here, so it's sad to see Elder Lloyd go!! Elder Tucker got emergency transferred as well, because of a stupid ward drama (if you ever have an issue with someone, don't ever start drama at church it's a waste of everyone's time). So now it's just me and Elder Livermont here at the trailer, and we both get a new companion tomorrow.  I'm really nervous. Elder Lloyd is the one who knows where everything is, and I guarantee I will get me and my new comp, Elder Gwilliam, lost a few times. So even though Elder Gwilliam will be my trainer still, I will essentially be running the area, because I know everyone, and where things are. It is a LOT of pressure. I hope I do alright. 

TONS of change this week.  I always get really nervous, and miss how comfortable I was when things like this happen!  It is going to be awesome...eventually!

On a SUPER positive note:
We were driving by Georgina's house the other day, and her truck was home!!  We had left her messages, notes, and had knocked her door SEVERAL times, but hadn't been able to catch her.
We went to her door and knocked.  I was really nervous because we were both pretty sure she had been dodging us for a month and probably wouldn't want to see us. I said a quick prayer and just said "God, don't let this be horrible."  Georgina opened the door and immediately a huge smile spread across her face! She welcomed us in!  "These are my friends!" She said, introducing us to another lady in her home.  We went on to have a lesson with her about the Plan of Salvation.
It was an amazing reassurance that she would see her family again, and that through Christ, all of our sins can be removed.  She confided in us, telling us that her preacher doesn't let her take the bread and water because she wasn't married in their church.  She also told us that her husband passed away exactly 5 years ago.

We told her of how Christ overcame death so that we could all be pure again, and return to our families. We promised her that she could use the atonement, and be with her husband again.  She told us that she had read some of the Book of Mormon since the month of not seeing her!!!  We were so excited.  She promised to keep reading, and to pray about what we taught, and the things she would read in the book. 

 

Keep Georgina in your prayers!

This week has been VERY successful.  Since last week, we decided to do mostly recent convert, and less active work, and we had 45 lessons which is UNHEARD of. 3 people have already asked us if we had crappy lessons and just tried to get a lot. Which really sucks, because we worked REALLY hard this week. We had an average of 7 lessons a day, with several different less active members, and a handful of investigators! I feel really happy about the work Elder Lloyd and I have accomplished this week.  Elder Lloyd was super excited too because it was the most lessons he's ever had so far on his mission so far and he's been out a year!  And the mission isn't about numbers, but it feels good to have a filled week.  We have helped so many families this week, and we can feel the difference in the homes of a lot of our less actives. The spirit is more present in their homes. Many of them have began to come back to church, or commit to coming more, and reading and praying often.

In conclusion, this has been a fantastic, crazy week.
Love you guys all a ton.

Funny story:
There is a man in our ward (won't mention the name) who "prophesies" for everyone. He loves receiving revelation for people! So at dinner this week at his house, he told us that the "spirit of the Lord was upon him" and he said that he was receiving a message that there was a storm approaching. We would need to start warning people about emergency preparedness!!! It was so funny. He tells everyone there is a catastrophe coming and that "now is the time to prepare!"  So I started trolling, and with a straight face, asked if it was necessary to begin building shelters right now?  He began unveiling several details of what the storm would do and how we could prepare. I kept asking dumb questions until Elder Lloyd couldn't take it anymore. 

 

People in the ward are:

a) freaking out about this upcoming storm

b) laughing and wondering what this guy is talking about
c) rolling their eyes

HAHAHA!

Have an amazing week everyone.

Elder Tucker and I before he was transferred!
Now I don't have anyone to talk to about RuneScape with, or Avatar, or Pokemon!!! :(
R.I.P. Tucker

 

The Brochure Didn't Say Anything About Butchering!

***If you have a weak stomach, skip the pictures!***

I can't believe I've been out on my mission for almost 2 months!? It doesn't feel that way.

This week was AWESOME!

First off, we were called a few days ago.  "Come over, I need your help."  So we went over to the Tullies, Elder Lloyd and I, the other two Elders, and the Sisters.

Brother Tullie looks at us and says: "Well, it's time to butcher!"

As the following turn of events ensued, a lot of cutting, a lot of blood, and a lot of guts took place.

They first tied the sheeps legs together. Then as tradition requires, they rip some wool from its hind and wet it with the sheep's saliva. They say "may you be reborn" in Navajo and then put down the wool.

Then they hold it down and cut off it's head!  It kicks and screams and the blood starts GUSHING out.  One of the men holds a bowl under the neck to catch the blood so they can cook Blood Sausage with it. Yum.  After the sheep is done kicking and all the blood is emptied, they snap the neck and cut it off all the way. Right after the head is removed, the head is cast into the fire!  The sisters were given the bowl of blood and immediately had to begin "kneading it".  Sister Herrah almost cried I think.  It was all warm and thick and chunky and steamy! They had to knead it to get out the blood clots, they said it felt like warm jello.

 "We eat ALL of the sheep, besides the eyes!", said Brother Tullie.

"Why?" -Elders

"The eyes are gross!!", he said.

We all laughed because the rest of it looked pretty disgusting too.

The best part of this whole experience was that the old shi'amas came out and were ALL OVER this sheep. They pulled out sharp knives and started to saw away at the fur, and various body parts, preparing it for butchering.  They hung up the sheep once it was skinned, and started to cut into it's insides.

This is when the shi'ama wrapped me into helping her. She told me to stop taking pictures and get involved. My first job was to pinch the open bladder shut, so she could keep pulling out its intestines.....my arm was inside the sheep's stomach, and the bladder was still warm. When I didn't pinch hard enough, urine got all over us! And a lot of poo from the intestines was everywhere! It smelled...great.

They took out the chaa' (poo) bag and started turning it inside out to clean. It was the worst smell in the world, my hands still stink! Apparently they cook their blood for the blood sausage in the chaa' bag.

Next, they had Elder Tucker and I begin cleaning out the intestines. They were slippery and long, and our job was to put water inside of them and squeeze it all the way through to get all the chaa' out! We wouldn't want any chaa' in our ach'ii! (that is sheep fat wrapped in intestine and grilled).

So we began squeezing away at the mile-long tubes. It was pretty gross at first but once the smell of chaa' fills your nose and you can't even smell it anymore, then it's pretty fun.

The weirdest was when Brother Tullie cooked some of the sheep while we were doing this, and he came around giving us all pieces. I had a hot piece of sheep meat in my mouth WHILE I was cleaning out its WARM intestines, right next to its body that was STILL BEING CHOPPED INTO.

While I was munching away at the piece of meat, I heard the old woman say, "oh dear, it had two babies" as she casually pulled out the fetus. That's when the taste was too much for me.

Overall, an awesome experience.
I'll give it a 9/10 on rez culture experience, a 2/10 for the smell, and a 10/10 for "That was WAY cool, but, I could go without doing that again".

Still smell like chaa'. That's the word of the week.

In other news, this last week has been really weird, but successful in Fort Defiance.

ALL of our investigators except 2 have dropped us, or we have decided to drop. They don't show any interest, and we realized that none of them even really cared if we came over. They would listen to us, maybe even with moderate interest, but they had no desire to learn and progress on their own. We were essentially wasting a lot of time on them.  So we decided to stop looking for investigators and spending our time there, and have been working with our inactive members, and our recent converts (most of whom are already inactive).  Inactivity on the Rez is a BIG problem! Tons of people just stop showing up! Lot's of people don't have cars. Some ladies hitchhike miles and miles on Sunday to get to church.  But Elder Lloyd and I don't think that there will be much progression with investigators until the ward itself is stronger.  We are working with the ward missionaries and the ward mission leader to get the work rolling.

Initially, all of these leaders didn't know what to do, they were new and busy, and the missionaries were kind of left out to dry. But we've been working a lot with them, and things are starting to flow more smoothly.

The Harveys are allowing us to have less actives and investigators over for family nights!  We are really working on fellowshipping people here. 

Through a less active woman, we got a new investigator a few days ago!  Her name is Hashke, she is almost 10, and she LOVES the bible.  She knows all the stories, and she answers our questions very intelligently.  We started teaching her the lessons and gave her family a goal to help prepare Hashke for baptism by December 21st. They accepted! So we are working hard with her!

One crazy experience. Hashke's house is built on an old battlefield, and people are very wary there. Her mother told us how people in the neighborhood see a little boy running around at night. He is a spirit, she says.  She said that there was a dark man who was in the back corner of the home sometimes, he was tall and wore a big hat. She said they are scary, but they don't harm them, and they always pray for them to leave, and they do.

When she said that, I got the goosebumps and the front door swung open.

She yelled "ha'ii!" and jumped.

We all looked at eachother, and then Elder Lloyd and I just finished the lesson and at the end we had a prayer with them.  It is really common to ask for a blessing on homes to only allow good spirits to enter.  We left a blessing on the family and the home, and the spirit was immediately present! Hashke was really excited about the lesson, and we said goodbye.

We told her mother and grandmother that baptism is a BIG commitment and that they needed to be at church if they wanted to help her meet the goal.  So incredibly enough, we saw them all at church on Sunday! They hadn't been in over a year!  It was really rewarding to see them there!

Anyways, I miss you all a TON.

If you write me a letter, I usually get it 6 days after you write it, because the post office on the Rez is so wacko. But write me!  I love to hear from you all!

Jesus Christ is our savior, and God loves us all so much.  Life gets hard, but just push through it all, and have trust in the Lord, and most of all, just have fun!!  I'll see you all next week!

Diyin nihil holo doo.

 

NOTE FROM MOM:  If you know Davis well, you will appreciate how far out of his comfort zone this all was!  He HATES dirty work and anything disgusting!  Missions are SO awesome!  >:D

 

My favorite Shi'ama <3

She doesn't speak English and she is the nicest, most INTENSE lady EVER.  She got down on the sheep, sawing and hacking away at the guts, it was so awesome.

 

They put the head in the fire RIGHT after it's chopped off!

 

 

The sisters had to knead the warm blood to get all those jello-y clots out.  It was all hot and steamy and thick :D  Traditionally, it's the females job.  So was cleaning the intestines apparently....

 

  Here's me eating some cooked sheep as I'm still cleaning out the chaa' (poo) from inside it's warm intestines <3  It's kind of fun, you grab the intestines and put some water in the tube, then squeeze it down the tube until it pours out the end. It takes like 10 minutes because the intestines are so long. At least they are warm and slippery so the job is easier.

  Selfie with my dead sheepie.

  TOLD YOU she's intense!

 

Ya' at' eeh!

CRAZY WEEK.

Monday, we climbed into some old Navajo ruins, using a HUGE ladder. Mom, if you knew how dangerous the ladder was you would kill me for climbing it. Usually I am a wimp about that stuff but I was the first one up, I had to see the caves! The base of the sandstone where the ladder was placed was sloped and crumbling so the other elders had to hold it in place! I'll send photos!

Yesterday I went to a real indian Powwow! They had tribal dancers, feathers, jewelry, beads, turquoise, drums, the whole deal! Vendors sold Indian garb on the side, people ate blood sausage, it was intense! The drummers pounded away in unison and they sang in their awesome native yodeling style. They even did the thing where they yell out loud and put their hand over their mouth over and over. It was CRAZY! Everyone was up and dancing.

There was an article in the NY Times about missionaries on the Rez last week, and I  met the photographer and author of the article at the Powwow! So crazy!

I bought a bunch of Navajo jewelry for family and friends!  

The rest of the week, we really focused on our investigators. We decided we only have about 5 who are actually making progress or have serious potential. So we made it a goal to be consistent with them and work on them as much as possible.

We were dropped by 3 of them this week.

It has been really rough.

This week we are going to focus on finding new investigators, and on strengthening the less active members of the ward. I hope it goes more smoothly.

FIRST BAPTISM THIS WEEK! Skye was baptized on Saturday! She is such a sweet girl, and I am so proud of her. She has pulled her family back together, and helped to reactivate her mother. She has this energetic spirit and is so awesome. With such a hard week, it was really rewarding to see her happy smiling face, and the faces of her whole family together at the font.

We confirmed her today and then had a huge dinner at her house to celebrate!

To everyone:

We have a Savior. If we ever get caught up in life, struggles, or find ourselves at church as a chore, GET DOWN ON YOUR KNEES.

Pray to your God, who is so EXCITED to help you and lift you up. Truth is on your knees. Only through sincere, honest prayer, do we find our answers. Anyone can tell us what to do or what to believe in. But without prayer, we will never KNOW for ourselves of truth. Pray for strength from your Savior, Jesus Christ. He died for you. He bled great drops of blood for you.

He allowed Himself to be crucified in your name.

And He did this all because He loves you.

You have been told this all your life. BUT GET DOWN ON YOUR KNEES IN HUMBLE RESPECT AND HONEST PRAYER TO YOUR SAVIOR, AND FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF IF THIS IS TRUE.

 

Open up your bible and read about His life. Read about what He did for you. Anyone who claims to be Christian but has not read the New Testament, and studied His life, trying to apply His word, is not what they say. Read the Book of Mormon. It is another strength to you as it witnesses in His name.

I promise you, you will feel the love and support of Jesus Christ. You will overcome ANY temptation, sorrow, or struggle. He loves you.

We will be with God again in heaven. With our amazing families. And with our Savior Jesus Christ. What a glorious day that will be.

I love you all so much. I miss you all so much.
I am so happy to be here as His servant, helping the people of Fort Defiance in any way I can.
This is the hardest, most discouraging, exhausting, most lonely thing I have ever done.
But it is the best thing I have ever done.
Your prayers are all so needed, and I thank you all for them. I pray for friends and family every day!

Love you all so much.

Diyin nihil holo doo.
God be with you.

 

 

Looking down from cliff of ancient ruin cave

 

Built into the side of a sheer cliff way back in a hidden gully

 

Inside cave

Hello!  Who gets to do this!!?!!

 

View ancient inhabitants enjoyed form their cliff cave! 

Elder Livermont and I   

Typical Navajo front yard with goats

Skye! She draws us pictures all the time, and grabs our arms and drags us around to show us stuff. She gave me a card today that said "thank you for being my missionary. I am so happy to learn new things. you teach me a lot. I love you". and it had a penny attached to it because I taught her tithing :)

This is Elder Lloyd and I with all of Natasha's children. Skye, the oldest, was baptized! Their last name is Foster so we call them the Foster Children, haha! Halloween Party!

 

Shelly (on the left with the rad eyes) and Rainie (zombie face) Bennett!
They are awesome! I love the Bennett family so much! Their son, Thomas Bennett passed away while on his mission in August. They are so spiritual, and his death brought their family back together. Brother Bennett got his priesthood restored, and Shelly has been reactivated! They are my Navajo family :)))

Just frolicking with some friendly neighborhood horses!

The font!  Built right into the floor of the building!

 

 

Hey everyone!

This week was crazy. First time I've been very very discouraged. We went to an investigator yesterday, and he was really angry at us. He told us he had been waiting outside for a ride to church all morning. We had not told him we would give him a ride, there must have been a misunderstanding. So now he won't let us in and he doesn't want to hear from us. I hope we can make it up to him eventually. That was really hard!

Brother Bennett got his priesthood back last week, that was incredible. He is so happy, and you can feel the spirit in their home. Their missionary son Thomas, who passed away, is present when we go out with them to teach. Their humility and love is touching. They fed us a HUGE thanksgiving dinner yesterday, because they will be gone for the holiday. It was DELICIOUS! They are awesome.

We have been able to reach out to so many people in need, teach lessons, and give blessings. I've learned a TON.

Denise Nez, the woman who was hurt by her husband (who ripped out her hair and pushed her over) called again for another blessing. Her husband had come over and pushed her down off her crutches and she tore something in her leg. He had finally left her though, which was good. With tears in her eyes, she said, "I'm just so alone. I don't want to feel this way anymore." And then she sincerely looked us in the eyes and said, "I just want an eternal companion. I am so old now. I don't want to be left out." We gave her a blessing of healing and comfort, and prayed with her. Afterwards, she wiped her tears, and said, "I will be healed," with utmost conviction. "I won't be left out of God's plan." Her faith was incredible.

Lot's of other exciting news but most importantly is Skye! She is getting baptized on Saturday! I can't wait! She is almost 10 years old, and her mom Natasha was baptized years and years ago, but doesn't go to church. Natasha went through a horrible divorce, and decided she and her 4 children needed religion. Her children are Skye (9), Jade (7), Alex (6), baby Lexi (toddler), and they all love it when Elder Lloyd and I come around. They immediately run over to us and give us huge hugs and do the monkey deal where they latch on to us until Natasha tells them to give us space hahahaha! They play games with us and draw us pictures and tease us. But the story was that while Natasha took the kids to different churches, Skye would say "No, not this one." "Not this one." And Natasha would take them to a new church. When the LDS missionaries came by, Skye said, "Mom, I want to hear more." And then they began to teach her! She was so excited about learning, and would do any reading assignment the missionaries left with her. Jade would ask really hard/scary questions apparently, because eventually the missionaries stopped visiting them, and then a new companionship of Elders went by to teach them, and again Jade deterred them. Jade was raised Traditionally, so she speaks Navajo and is a little engrained into the practices/traditions, and so the questions she asked really deterred the Elders apparently! By the 3rd set, though, us, Jade calmed down and just started to listen. I haven't heard ONE of the "scary" questions from her. But we started teaching Skye and she has learned all the requirements for baptism, I can't wait for Saturday! Through teaching Skye, we have been bringing Natasha to church as well, and she has taken a big interest. She asks really good questions, and she sits through classes with us! Pray for the Foster family!

Anyways, besides dodging aggressive Rez dogs, digging from the river wash, hiking Fuzzy Mountain, learning more Navajo, tracting in the ghetto, praying for drunks, etc. No huge adventures!

One interesting story:

We were tracting and this man opens the door. "How are you today sir!" He just looks at us strangely and says, "Come in." We go in and sit down, and he asks if we want juice. We tell him yes, and he goes into the kitchen and shuffles around, then brings us two glasses of red punch. We start talking to him and eventually  he opens up and tells us something insane. "27 years ago, my wife," he started to cry, "left me." We offered our condolences and he looked at us and said, "She left me for someone like you."

We were confused.

"We were sealed in the temple, and she ran off with an Elder while he was on his mission." Then he looks at us intensely and says, "let me grab something".

Elder Lloyd and I were actually pretty nervous at this point.

He shuffles around and then reaches into a shelf and grabs out a big power drill.

He looked at us and pulled the button on the drill and we were just frozen still.

Then he sets it down (phew hahaha) and goes into the back room and grabs two arrows that were attached. Then he set it in front of us and started to tell us a story. PHEW. We were just being paranoid.  He went on to tell us about how during his final archery tourney, (he was a competitive archer), that the man before him was 2 points ahead and had just shot a bulls eye. He had to shoot the perfect shot to win. And he did! He "Robin Hooded" it. He showed us the arrow, it had gone right through the first arrow, and he had won first place!

But anyways!

God really does look after all of us, and I am so grateful for that. This week was very difficult, and I couldn't have finished through without my savior Jesus Christ. He gives me strength.

Thank you everyone for the letters and emails this week, I LOVE hearing from you!

Write me a letter if you get the time this week! :)

God bless you all! Until next week!

\

View from our hike to Fuzzy Mountain

 

Elder Lloyd and I on top of Fuzzy Mountain

 

1 month missionary pie the sisters made me. they always bring treats around, they are awesome. I swear they are trying to make us fat. The gym every morning helps at least.