MISSION HAPPENINGS MARCH-APARIL2012

These four young ladies were baptized on March 17in Kaibeto, Arizona. Three of them are sisters.  The one on the far left is Erica Hurley 11, next to her is Kailee Bryant 11, next is Sherlisa Hurley 9, and then the oldest is Malvilena Hurley 13.  They are beautiful girls and come to church most every Sunday.

This is our Branch President, Thomas Bryant and Kailee Bryant, one of the girls that was baptized.  They are related.  He also confirmed her a member of the Church.  President Bryant is one amazing man.  He is very interested in the people and their well-being.  He is always out doing things for members and non-members alike.  He chops wood for them, does sheet rock for their homes, helps them with their gardening, and tries to make sure everyone has enough food and wood to keep them warm.

These are the three sisters who were baptized.  They are seated with their Grandpa, Tulie Hurley, who comfirmed them.  He is one great man.  He speaks Navajo, but also speaks English.  When he shares his testimony it is always in Navajo and he always prays in Navajo and blesses the sacrament in Navajo.  When he confirmed the girls,for  two of them he used Navajo but on one he used English.

The Friday and Saturday before Easter we were able to join Chad and Jill, Jeff, Lizzie and Katie for a couple of days in Phoenix and then they drove to Inscription House and were able to attend Church with us on Easter Sunday, enjoy dinner together and then they left for home.  We certainly enjoyed being with them for a couple of days.

 This is Lily Tsinnijinnie, a 75 year old member who actually did some tilling in her garden.  Her son-in-law did most of the tilling, but we got her to get behind the tiller and she did a wonderful job.  We try to get the families to do as much of the work as they are able to do.  She always comes outside and works if we are there to work on her garden.  We need to go put her fence up and hopefully we can get a grandson to come and help us with that.  We had a garden demonstration meeting last night to show them how to make planting beds and we taught them how to plant the onion sets and the potatoes.  She attended and thankfully our Branch President was there to interpret so she and a couple of others that were there could understand what we were trying to teach.

 We took a break from gradening and teaching to go to Mesa Verde with another Senior Missionary Couple, the Cutlers, who are from Canada and are serving in Kaibeto.  Above are some of the ruins that you see in Mesa Verde.  These are from the Pueblo Indians and are amazing to see and know that they were built in the 1500's or earlier.  Senior Couples have a little more opportunity to get away and relax than do the young Elders and Sisters.  The Cutlers have had a lot of stressful things happening and it was a much needed break for them and we certainly enjoyed being with them.

Some of us use a shovel to dig while others use a tiller, but Brother Isaac wasn't going to mess around with the small stuff.  Actually, we tried the tiller on this piece of ground and it wouldn't go in, so Brother Issac got on this backhoe that belongs to a relative and he made short work on the hard ground.  Afterwards, we put on the manure, the sawdust, and the chemical fertilizer, and then we tilled it all in.  Needless to say, the tiller was able to go way down into the soil following the work of this backhoe.

This is a husband and wife working on their fencing.  We actually helped them do this today.  They are both very hard workers and are so dependable.  They are our nearest neighbors and are members of the Church, but totally inactive.  We have a very good relationship with them and we enjoy working with them.  We are sure they will have a very wonderful garden.  We hope that by helping them plant seeds and grow a graden we will also help plant some Gospel seeds along the way and they will have a desire to once again join with us.  We still have a lot of gardening to help with in the next month, and then we hope to see a lot of green things growing in the wonderful place.