Eagle Project - Nate Sullivan

 An Eagle Scout Project from an individual from St George.  They brought down three trailer loads of wood for the Branch.  This is the only source of heat for the members.  Wood stoves are in every home.  I have found that there is good wood and some bad.  It is rotten!!

 

 The Scouts that brought the wood!

Thanksgiving Dinner @ Echo Cliff Branch

Table decorations at the dinner.  This is a first for the Branch.  We purchased table cloths and Sister Gardner made the decorations.  We served 102 people at the dinner.  They all enjoyed the event. 

Johnny Simpson and daughter.  He has had a stroke
and does not speak much.

Tsiniginni family

Karen Manyturquoise and
her mother

Benally family and Aunt Lucille.  Lucille
is the weaver

Judy Yazzi and her daughter

Gavern Begay and Mary Little

Oops and Frustration

 One of the members misunderstood what we meant by our Anniversary.  November 7 is our anniversary for our mission.  She thought that it was our wedding anniversaey so after the block of meetings on Sunday they gave us a big dinner and the necklace and the blanket.

 Frustration is when you drop this lock down the cattle guard in the background.

We lock the gate when we are gone because of the wood pile.  That is very coveted.  People steal other peoples wood.  So when we are not here we have to lock the fence.

 This is the picture of the space between our fence and the road.

This is reinforced railroad ties.  It is over a 4 ft deep hole in the ground.  There is nothing in the bottom but dirt.  When you drop the lock then you have to use a hanger and a lot of patience to get the lock out.  When you are ready to leave for an appointment then you have to be very patient.  That is what happens when you have limited finger use.  Fortunately we have some of our branch members have sitff wire hooks because they all have to deal with the problem of dropping things in the cattle guard.

Wednesday November 7, 2012

Today we went to our first Navajo Funeral. Wen Auntie Agnes passed away last Sunday, all family, friendsw and especially clan members (everyone belongs to four clans) meet during the day, evening and every day until the funeral service

Front and Rear Program

Inside of program

. They bring food, donate money for the funeral service and chat with the family.  The service was held at the Page Stake Center and she was buried in the Page City Cementary.  Auntie Agnes was L.D.S for many years.

Road to Agnes

and she had a strong testimony and had been to the temple and took out her endowments.  We were not able to hear her testimony because she only spoke Navajo.  She loved my suckers that I always carry in my purse and would look forward to our business.  It was our pleasure to know this sweet lady.

Tent outside house

If they do not have insurance then the family relies on the people to make the contributions to pay for the funeral.  The burial takes place up to 4 days afrer death.  If there is insurance then the meetings are only two or three days.

Daisy Nockindeh and Genevive Charlie

.

Wood Cutting

Forrest.  The logs are at
the top. They would cut
rounds and roll them to the
trailer.

The only source of heat durinmg the winter for many of the members is a wood stove.  Each year the "get woods" is a must activity.  They go up to Jacobs Lake and chop down "dead falls", saw them into
"rounds", haul them to their house and chop the rounds into small pieces.  Many of the older sisters do not have the capacity to do this so we went to the forrest and got a Branch supply of wood.

 These are the rounds of wood.  They are about 24 inches long and as round as the tree.  Some of the trees are 60 feet tall.

Loading Rounds

 We would load the rounds on a trailer and take them down to the Branch Building.  The picture below is Ruby.  She is 57 years old and that is a 9lb Mall she is swinging.  She very politely told me to let her show me "how" and split the log with one blow.  She has been doing this as an annual chore since she was 15 years old.  Now she chops and stacks and her husband cuts the wood.

"Ruby Chopping Wood"

Felling the Tree

Pile at the Building

 Monument Valley. This is one of the Mittens.  You can use your imiganation to determine what hand.


 Goulding is where the original settlers lived.  John Wayne lived in these cabins while they were filming in this area.  This is one of the buildings used at that time

The Duke!  What else can you say!!

Part of the District. We are in the
Kyenta District of Couples

Road from the Monument Valley Hotel at
Goulding.

Picture of the Living Room used by the Duke while
they were filming in Monument Valley

Part of the Valey

Denahortso District Meeting

 These are the ruins that you can see from an overlook in Navajo National Monument.  These dwellings are in the bottom of an alcove.  Part of the tour is an indication of the various root they would use for medicinal purposes.  This particular bush is called Mormon Tea??

Mormon Tea Bush

 This is a foot print of a dinosaur that is just outside of Denehotso.  There are several of the prints in this area.  They have marked them so it is easier to identify.  Some people have tried to remove the prints with a small jackhammer and have damaged the area.

   

Dinosaur foot prints

Garnet Stones

 The activity that we had as part of our District Meeting was to go Garnet hunting.  You can see the Garnets on the head of the Flashlight.  There is an area outside of Denehotso where you can pick these stones off the ground. Many are very small.  If you can find an ant hill it is generally loaded with small Garnets that the ants have brought to the surface.  One of the couples in our group that lives in the area has some pretty large stones.  While we were in he area there were several Native Americans that were searching for the stones.  You have to have the sunlight to your back and the stones glisten in the sun.  Some of the stones are a red color, some are amber in color.

Garnet Stones

This is the inside of the chapel at Denahotso.  The buildings are generally Parallel and you have a chapel in one end and classrooms at the other end.  You can see them for miles.  They all have a small white steeple.