Tashina's Baptism

This picture shows Tashina Salabye with (L-R) Grandmother Mary Black Mountain, her mother Gayle, Nalli Gladys Jones, and Great Grandmother Lena Salaby seated. Her Great Uncle (grandfather) Ron Barlow and her Great Aunt Sarah drove down from Tintic, Utah for this special occassion. It was a wonderful baptism, with much teaching and sharing of testimony. We are so happy to finally see Tashina come into the Lord's church.

I can't believe I survived, and even thrived at the annual Gingerbread activity here in the branch on the Sat. 13th. This was especially amazing, as I had taken a nasty fall on Wed, on my way to seminary.

(This is basically what I looked like!)
I tripped over the edge of the sidewalk -- just didn't get my big gallouses up high enough, and went sprawling across the sidewalk. Luckily I landed in the muddy dirt, but I fell hard enough that it totally knocked the wind out of me. I heard pop, pop, and was sure I'd broken a rib or two. The apple slices went sailing everywhere (this is for you Amy) I did manage to pick them up, and staggered into the church, and promptly washed them off, so they could be used! I was pretty muddy in several places, both my shoes came off and --well, I was a mess.

We had a lot to do that evening, so even though I was hurt, I kept going, but by the time we got home, I knew I was in trouble. I really had a hard time getting into bed, so the next morning we went to the hospital for x-rays, meds, etc. They couldn't see a break line, just shadows, but the medicine he gave me really has helped ease the inflamation. I had so much to do this week, and I hurt so much getting up and down, and bending. I didn't think there was any way, I could do the activity tonight, but I have had quite a miraculous healing, though I'm not totally better. Thursday, the Sr. Elders helped Steve give me a blessing, and I have slept really well, both nights since. The only bad thing has been getting in and out of the car. But my ribs are feeling substantially improved, enough so that I have been able to sit and work on the DVD show I'm getting ready for the branch party on the 19th.


(This is a picture of Tashina, our newest convert, and her mom Gayle Black Mountain)

We had a wonderful baptism this morning. We originally had it scheduled clear back in July, but one problem after another kept happeneing, but today, finally the big day happened. We got home at 2 PM, after getting groceries, and then the gingerbread house activity started at 4 PM.

Tashina and her mom and grandma all came that night also, and had fun. I didn't get home until 9, as we had to clean up the church. Steve got really sick on the way home, so he didn't even come over to help, but the Elders, and those at the activity, really jumped in and got everything tidied up again. I really appreciate our family's faith and prayers in our behalf. I know it is blessing us.

Celebrating Thanksgiving again with family

We were very blessed this year to have Anthony, Ashley, Sam and Logan come down and spend Thanksgiving weekend with us. Unfortunately, it rained most of the time, so we didn't get to take a nature walk, go to the zoo, or flea market.


Then on Thanksgiving day, Chris and his family drove down from Blanding, and spent about 6 hours with us, so we had grand Thanksgiving Day with 8 of the grandkids.

We ate, played games, and let the kids entertain us. We really enjoyed it, and were so thankful they all came.

Chris, Pam and family drove back to Blanding and stayed another night or two, doing a major clean up project around out house. We so appreciate all they did to tidy things up, so the house doesn't look vacant. I'll really appreciate it next spring, not having to clean out the dead flowerbeds.

The Next day Ashley and I did our best to Celebrate Black Friday, with an early 3:30 AM, trip to Gallup to scoop up some specials. Before they left we spent about an hour trying to get the perfect family portrait along the Hubbell road.

We have varying degrees of success, and I'm sure by combining several shots the perfect photo shoot is there. Boy, those children's photographers earn their money!


On Sunday Quent, Bev and their family stopped by after church, on their way back to Gilbert. The girls have really grown up a lot, especially Ava. We were so glad to see them, though I forgot to give Quincy her late birthday card, but I did take a few pictures. I just had forgotten I had! My brain just can't keep all the details followed up on, though it handles more than most people's, I think.


Quent and Bev are expecting a baby on June 18. Hopefully, if Rob is able to adopt this little Panamanian girl, that will be at least two new grandchildren, with maybe more to come. Please add Rob and Kathryn to your fast Sunday prayers, as there are a lot of hoops to jump through, but Steve's sister Virginia is running interference for them in Panama.

P.S. After much research by Virginia, and our prayers this weekend, she found out that the other grandmother didn't want the child adopted. Also it takes two years for finalization, which means two trips to Panama, so the decision was made not to pursue the adoption.

Thanksgiving Ymmm fest in the branch

Members of our Activity set up the tables, chairs and decorated for 105 people. We were out of town, so it was wonderful to come home and see everything set up and ready to go. What great people we have to work with!


Each table chose a waiter to serve their meal, and we got 105 people quickly served; then about another 20 came and there was no place to sit. We scrunched and squoze and finally got everyone fed. The ones who came a hr. late had slim pickings, however.



We had lots of less-active members come, plus several non-member families, so it was a great fellowshipping activity.

We cut all the deserts up before dinner, then locked them in the nursery! While Corey was telling his Vegan experience as a park worker, we had the teens serve the tables, so we didn't have a madhouse. That worked really well, and we had good help serving, both in the kitchen, and by the waiters and youth!


Elders Van Orden and Clark helped the Dale children with their craft activity, which we provided to help keep the kids from running around.


We played several games after the meal: I'm Thankful list, where each of the 13 tables had to list as many things as possible starting with a certain letter of the alphabet; human scavenger hunt; guessing games (what is the elders combined weight!), how many kids were sitting when the blessing is said; etc. Then we called President White up, and then had 4 different table representatives at a time, come up and try to guess interesting things about him. It was very fun, and informative.
We gave out lots of prizes. Once we finished everyone pitched in and helped clean up for Sunday the next day.

Jimmy's story continued

We learned a couple of weeks ago, that even dogs can have miracles in their lives.
Jimmy, our favorite Rez dog, was given to the McCabe family in Kinlichee, and they have spoiled him rotten. Unfortunately, he somehow contracted a terrable illness which totally paralyzed him. He couldn't even get up, and could barely eat or drink. When we saw him we were sure he was going to die, but miraculously, he has revived and is back on all fours again, though one leg still is a little weak and he tips over sometimes. Jarrell and Kendrick had just begun building this super nice dog house for him, when this all happened, so we're glad he gets to enjoy the new living quarters for the winter.

More Creative Crocheters!

Sister Curley our Relief Society President, and her sister Genivieve have patiently and lovingly been teaching our sisters how to crochet on Tuesdays. May are just beginners, but others are already professionals.





Sister Julia Wauneka finished this large afghan, and doilies this past year. She does beautiful work.








This is Sister Wauneka's most recent masterpiece, a crocheted table cloth. She and her daughter Ora, who is a pretty great crocheter herself, show the fine work she does.

"I Am a Child of God" Primary Program

I can't believe we did it, but we had a great children's chorus for the Primary Program Sunday. I just about caved in several times; not thinking we could ever learn 8 songs. Typically, we'll have about 10 out to primary each week, but each Sunday it's a different group. So it has been really hard teaching all 8 songs to all the children.
We actually had about 20 out for the program. Most everything went well, except the leaders didn't have the script, so the children had to adlib, which was a little terrifying for some of them. But all shared their testimony, with a little help from Sister Sandoval.

Afterwards during primary, we did a Thanksgiving project to celebrate. They are really wonderful children, I just wish their parents would come every Sunday so the children had a full opportunity to learn the gospel. They would grow so much spiritually if they would -- but we're making progress, nevertheless, even with me as their out of tune chorister, and pianist.

Seminary Outreach Social

Tues. Nov. 11
No school today, so we hosted a seminary out-reach social to try and draw in some of the youth in the area to our seminary class. We limped along with early morning seminary for 10 weeks with just 1 or 2 kids coming and two adults. Finally we decided to try it after school and have had up to 6 kids who have come, but not always consistently. We are hopeful that by introducing more to the concept of seminary they'll want to come. We had at east 3 non-members attend our social (one of whom is now coming to seminar), with about 14 teens altogether. The young elders came as well, and several parents and younger siblings. We had a great time, and consumed about 6 pizzas. We will definitely try this again.

The kids worked on communication skills by giving directions to each other.


"Spoons" and Outburst were the two favorite table games we played. It was wild and crazy and all ages could enjoy it. I had never played spoons with 12 people before, and we didn't break a single plastic spoon -- amazing

While the pizzas were cooking at the first of the party, we played the head bopper name game, and categories. I love games and I think they did too.

Crocheting on the Rez

Wed. Nov. 12 The church was shampooed today, so we held our enrichment activites in our trailer. I was a little panicked at first which Sister Curley didn't show up to teach our first crocheting class, and there were 6 ladies ready to go. The only thing I know how to crochet is leper bandages and edging on burp pads. But she finally showed up and she and her sister Genevieve along with Sister Dia patiently taught everyone how to make granny squares. We had 10 wonderful ladies working and laughing non-stop for a couple of hours. When you look at their faces, you'll see part of the joy we feel as we serve here. They are great. Four of the sisters had never crocheted before, so they learned something new. Three were non-members. This has been a good sisterhood bonding activity.
The last hour of the activity, I talked to 6 of the sisters about writing their spiritual history, which will be part of the Ganado Branch History I hope to compile before we leave.

Seniors Keep us Busy

Today Elder Wilcox and I along with about 15 middle schoolers, served over 200 Senior Citizens their Thanksgiving dinner. We worked for 3 hours straight, with very few mishaps. The kids really were moving fast. while we and 3 of the kids dished the food up. Boy were we tired afterwards.

Last week, we provided a craft activity with a Thanksgiving scene, which they made out of stickers. It as fun and easy, and they enjoyed it. The month before we helped two different days as they wove leaves for fall. The ladies who come are delightful. We only wish we knew more of what they were saying.

Halloween Carnival in Ganado

Thankfully, the weather cooperated on Halloween, and we were able to hold most of our "fun and games" outside in the church parking lot.

The branch was super generous in helping contribute food, and prizes, and then they jumped in and ran the booths and activities too. Even the adults played games and were fierce competitors in musical chairs! It was actually one of the easier and fun activities we've seen here in the branch.
Of course, the kids loved throwing whipped cream at the young elders. I was the resident photographer, while Steve cooked hot dogs.

Provident Living #5 and #6--See Who's Counting

Like most Americans, Navajo families here on the reservation struggle with making ends meet. There are few jobs locally, so many travel outside the reservation to make a living. In our monthly Provident Living classes, We've taught several strategies on managing money. In September we used a method called envelope budgeting, and participants used play money to recreate a "realia" budget. As you can see from the picture, they really got into the exercise. Afterwards we served a variety of dishes using another of the food storage basics: Rice


Then in October we invited Elder and Sister Wright from Gallup, in the other mission, todo a workshop for our class, on financial debt management. They are the ones in the foreground of this pictures. They did an amazing job, and hopefully, many from our branch will followup on their invitation to work with them on an individual basis, to get out of debt. Some of the specific suggestions they gave were: 1. Never buy a NEW vehicle -- it is a depreciating investment that costs way too much. You will never recoup your investment. Instead buy something you can afford a later model, and save your money so you can pay cash for the next one.
2. Never borrow money from Quick Loan places. Some charge up to 200-300% of your loan. You are throwing your hard earned money away when you do this.
3. If you want to become financially solvent, pay your tithing. Remember the Lord first, and he will open the windows of heaven and pour down a blessing upon you.
4. Teach your family the difference between NEEDS and WANTS. Only buy the NEEDS until you get out of debt.
5. When paying off debts, like house loans, car, credit cards, education, rank them with the highest interest debt in #1 spot. That is the debt you work on paying off first. The rest of the debts, you pay the minimum acceptable amount, but pay extra on the high interest loan. Perhaps that means paying an extra $100 on it each month. Then as soon as debt #1 is paid off, then start paying that amount, plus the minimum of debt #2, and continue paying that amount until it is paid off, etc. etc. This is called the "Snowball Principle"
6. In order to make this work and get out of debt, you must have a budget, that you live by.
7. Get rid of debts that are wasting your money by charging interest. It is like a monkey on your back all the time. If you don't eliminate debt, and go deeper into debt, it turns into a gorilla! that is chained to you all the time. (The Wrights brought both a monkey and a Gorilla!)
The Wrights are serving their 5th mission, and even though they've had a home in Utah for 14 years, they haven't lived in it much. Their last mission was to New York city, where they also provided financial counseling, and had some good success stories to tell. That mission costs $4800 a month! You'd have to be a financial whiz to afford it!

Our food storage item for the month was oatmeal, and several sisters helped me again, provide 9 different dishes" Raisin, apple hot cereal, oatmeal muffins, cookies, bars, pie, meatballs, and yes, even oatmeal soup!

Dry Pack Attack #2

Many families in the Ganado branch are getting serious about being prepared. We've been teaching provident living classes since May and have covered all aspects of preparedness. We have 3 more sessions to go, and hope that by then most families will have made some positive changes in their lives, which will bring peace and security into their homes.


Our stake leader Laura Brown has been so supportive and full of good ideas. She instigated the purchase of 3 more dry pack machines, and Ganado was blessed to be the recipient of one of them, so we now have the convenience of using it right here in our chapel. Her next project is to get a small wheat grinder for each of the 9 units in the Chinle Stake. Wow, what a blessing that will be. Thanks, Sister Brown. You're a jewel.

Good-bye to our Rez dog Jimmy

Despite all the times he layed in my flowers, dug holes where I had planted, and didn't even scare the cows out of my ornamental grasses, I still loved Jimmy and he got more obedient and helpful as the past year evolved. Jimmy was here when we arrived in Ganado, along with 8 other dogs!! But finally we honed the number down to just him.

Then we, along with all the other soft-hearted senior couples were asked by President Beck, to get rid of the dogs on church property. He was concerned about liability in case someone were bitten. So we found a good home for him with the McCabe family in Kinlichee, about 10 miles from here. We took him over on a Thursay, with no problem; he obediently stayed and quickly made friends with them and their two puppies. However, when we dropped by to see them on Sunday, Jimmy put up a frightful commotion when we left, and ended up digging his way out of their fence. By Monday afternoon he came dragging back home in Ganado.

It broke my heart to have to take him away again, but later that afternoon, Steve drove him back. We didn't go over for about 10 days, then this past week we stopped by to give a blessing to Joann. Even though JImmy was still chained up, he jumped and barked and was so glad to see us. However, when we left he didn't put up a fuss like last time, so we are hoping he has grown to love his new home and will be a good dog for them.

If we get so saddened by leaving our dog, I can't imagine how hard it will be to leave all the good people we've made friends with.

Slot Canyon, Eggshell Arch adventure

Why Mission Presidents get grey hair! It's not just the young elders who cause it. (Sister Iverson, you started it!


As senior couples we met Oct. 11 to recognize and celebrate the wonderful service of the Davises, Iversons, and Sister Harris. We had an all-day adventure in the wind, but it was great.


The first part of the day was spent at Inscription House, and Eggshell arch, where we jolted over the slick rock, hiked, wiped sand out of our eyes, then returned to the chapel to eat lunch.

Next we traveled to Page to go through Antelope Slot Canyon. It was beautiful, but I'm not sure how a camera with no manual adjustment will work.
Amazingly, I did get a few good pictures.


The Eagle is landing....can you see its wing spread?
Sr. couples with our Navajo guide from Chief Tsosie's tourist shop in Page

Monday Home Evening Activites

For about 6 or 7 Mondays during the summer we invited families over to go on a nature scavenger hunt up the wash by Hubbells. We had a lot of fun getting to better know the families in the branch, and hopefully the kids learned something about the plants in this area. Here are some more photos taken on those excursions.






Many of the people we took up the wash had never been there before, but others like Sister Ludlum had special memories of it, like the last time she drove her sheep up the wash from Hubbells Trading Post.



Of course, a cookout afterwards ended the activity with lots of good food and visiting.
One highlight of these events, is when Julianna lost her tooth in the middle of the meal. Luckily she didn't swallow it.