On P-Day we went to Canyon Deschelley! It's a famous canyon here that attracts a lot of tourism.
Brian and Arlinda drove us up, so we spent the day with them. On the drive we noticed a wedding band on Arlinda's finger, and they spilled and told us they were being married this Friday! We are so excited for them! There is a zone training that day though, so we can't go to the wedding :/
The rest of the day consisted of hiking steep cliff side switchbacks, spelunking through tunnels, and exploring old native ruins! At the end of the trip, Arlinda told us she was adopting us into the 'to ahani' clan. So now I have a clan and I'm all official.
On another note, Joseph, our new investigator who lives with his big family in the tiny hooghan, is learning so quickly! He is on chapter 14 of the Book of Mormon already! And he absorbs everything we teach. It's funny, because he asks a ton of questions, but they are WAY better questions than anyone else I've taught yet, and he's only 10. He asks things like, "where did God come from?", and "if you are a child and you die, what do you look like as a spirit?". During one lesson, we explained how all the good spirits will rest in spirit paradise for a time after this life. Joseph thought for a while, then said with surety: "That's where my mom must be right now." It is so humbling to see this 10-year-old boy taking care of his 3 other siblings. He has this brightness and intelligence about him that is so rare to find, even off the reservation, and he is still a kid! At one point, I felt so bad for the 4 kids, they live with their grandmother and great grandmother, and they don't receive the best care, to put it nicely. God must really be watching over these kids.
On a personal note, everyone at the trailer started a new diet here! It's called the Transform Diet, and it basically means you can only eat
1/2 cup of oats
1 Tbsp flax seed
1 scoop protein powder
blended up every morning for breakfast, then you can only eat certain foods the rest of the day, and you have to drink a gallon of distilled water every day. We work out at the Wellness Center and have all started lifting then running every morning. Gwilliam is on his last transfer so this is our 6-weeks-to-sexy! Haha and we have a bet with the Sisters that the first one to cave and eat dessert, candy, pop, or fast food, has to cook dinner for all of us!
Super cool experience:
Elder G and I were looking through records of old investigators, so we knocked this house on Saturday. A nice lady answered and we asked her if she knew Rose. She said, "No, but my name is Henrietta and I'm a mormon!" We were confused because we have never seen her at church! So we asked if we could come in and share a short message. It turns out that her brother had passed away over 10 years ago and she had stopped coming to church since. "I used to know all my scriptures," she said, "I went to seminary and everything!" She explained that she had been thinking a lot about returning to church lately.
"Okay, so we will see you tomorrow at 9:00 o'clock!" we told her.
She was a little surprised, but said, "I guess so!"
So she came the next day to church, and we introduced her to bishop and the relief society president. She loved it! She even offered to feed Elder Gwilliam and I dinner this week if we promised to come and share a message with her!
Such a cool experience! Sometimes God can take our human stupidity and make us effective without us even knowing it >:)
It's funny because a lot of the time, kids here will lie for their moms and say that they are gone, when in reality the mom is hiding inside the house. It happened to us 3 times this week! The 3rd time, I was sick of it.
"Hey, is your mom here?"
"No, she's at the laundry again."
**Her car was right by us on the driveway. **
So I said, "Oh, okay! Can you go ask her when she will be back?"
"Okay!" The girl said, and ran inside to ask her mom.
HILARIOUS!!!
Anyways, that is it for my week. Love you all and keep Jesus on your side. Actually, keep yourself on Jesus' side!
Diyin nil holo doo.
Elder Hilton
Christmas Day Service, Yeah!!
We built this roof for a single shima who is less active. we
have been working with her for months and she would never come to church, and
since last month she randomly appeared at church one day (we were about to give
up on her), and she has been there every day since! so we got to help her with
this roof project on Christmas! :)
The green part is the addition we built.
Not bad, eh?
Our Christmas Mariachi band. Im the small one on the couch.
Shima shenanigans! Don't ask...
Nice warm Pendleton I splurged on for myself.
Brian and Arlindas family.
Brian is going to buy a sheep so we can butcher before Elder
Gwilliam leaves in 5 weeks! They told me they wanted to give me the honor of
slitting the throat. Great.
Arlinda wasn't too happy to be photographed. As the sign
reads, it is unlawful to photograph Navajo people in their natural habitat.
Naturally, she was displeased with me when I pulled out the Nikon.
I wish the photos could do it justice! check out canyon
deschelley on google images! It's a big sight to see here, brings a lot of
tourists.
Nizhoni Ruin
super cool caves everywhere in the cliff walls
awesome path
White House ruins
Canyon Deschelley hike with the Deschine family on
P-day!
Elder Gwilliam and I thought this looked like the scene on
Lord of the Rings where the Hobbits hide from the Nazghuls. Enjoy this artistic
rendition.
The ruins are way up on the face of the cliff. So neat
looking!
Wonder how they got in and out of the house quickly for hunting runs...
Wonder how they got in and out of the house quickly for hunting runs...
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