Dear Family and Friends,

This week went amazingly fast. Monday we had meetings from 9-5. Learned a lot of really great things that we needed to know to help the people more with their gardens, BUT a very long time to be sitting.

That evening the Meldrums had us over for dinner. They invited the Tsinniginnie family and the Hammonds. It was a friendshipping night. Lots of fun, but lots of wind, so we had to come indoors. The Hammonds have 2 girls, Piper and Prudence. Prudence reminds me of RaDawn. Cute as a bug and a huge Tom Boy. Thier son, Martin was playing with the Tsinniginnie's little girl who had long, long hair. Then I found out that the little girl was a little boy (Oops) They are letting him grow his hair out and it is really long. Thier older son is suppose to be baptized next Sat and that is suppose to be my debut at playing the piano in front of a group. SO say many prayers. PLEASE

Tuesday the new missionary came. His name is Elder Lancaster from Riverton, UT. We weeded our own garden and helped the Tunney family with thiers.

Wednesday we packaged the fittings for the lay flat or gravity flow tubing. We made up about 25 packages. Elder Olson also got a massage from a sister who is another amazing massage therapist. He was actually pain free for a while. The bone spur on his back is probably growing because he is experiencing more pain. Please keep him in your prayers also.

Later that evening from 7-9:30 the sisters worked on making clothes for the kids who are going on the Pioneer Trek in Flagstaff, next month.. They will walk 15 miles the first day and get two biscuits and broth for dinner. They haven't told them yet for obvious reasons. ;o}

Thursday Elder Olson helped with the Catholic gardening project and then we had our planting demo that evening and passed out potato and onion starts. It was very interesting to listen to Elder Seeley, then watch the people get down on thier knees and plant the seeds.

Friday we helped the Sloans, Nockidenehs, Billys, Manygoats and Cody families. The days are long, but the burdens are made light and you feel tired, but very blessed at the end of the day. I hope I can find the little goats that I took a picture of to put on this post.

Wow, I actually managed to get three pics on one post. The hogan above is the one our guide grew up in.Now if I could remember what I did I might be able to do it again.

The top right shows the immensity of the canyon walls.

The one to the top right shows the sky above the walls. The area above the walls and below the clouds shows the sand in the air. It was blowing in the canyon, but the sand wasn't in the air down below the canyon walls. It was actually pretty interesting because you could hardly see across the street in Chinle and down in the canyon it was clear, as you can see in the pictures.

This will give you an idea of the real size of the walls. Notice the pictographs above his head and to the left.

This is one of the pics of Canyon De Chelly (pronounced Shay) We had to follow a lead truck so we wouldn't go into the quicksand. Kinda scary huh?

The wind was blowing up a storm in Chinle which is less than 2 miles away.

I am going to try and post more pics, but I don't seem to have much luck doing more than one to a post.

Elder Olson spent about 14 hrs one day this week going from garden to garden. Most days are just 10-12 hrs. ;o} We are racking up the miles, but more importantly we are making lots of new friendships.

We or should I say "I" am starting to put the "right" names with the "right" faces which is so nice.

We have a big meeting tomorrow, but hopefully we will spend most of it outside in the demo garden to the east of our apt.

They had Seminary Graduation as the sacrament meeting today. The young people did an amazing job. I guess you can tell I am very moved by the testimonies of the people and their humble sincerity about the gospel. I find every meeting amazing. ;o} I am going to try and post a few more pics with just a brief comment.

Love everyone and miss you all.

This was another busy week helping people put in their gardens and their fencing to keep out the wild horses, sheep, goats and rabbits.

This is the blue lizard that Elder Buynak caught. Look closely at his sides, they are blue. He was very fast. Elder Buynak put him up on his shoulder and he stayed there for about 10 seconds then leaped to the ground and ran away.

Still not able to put more than one picture on. This is a dinosaur track in the rocks about 10 miles from Tuba City. There are many tracks there and people can walk along a trail and see the prints real well.

Aleah you could tell your class about these tracks and that they could see them near Tuba City on the Navajo Reservation.

Tried putting 3 pictures on, but that didn't work, so I guess I will put on 1 at a time until I figure it out. ;o]

This is a very old trail which is totally blow sand. We crossed it going up the canyon, but found the new path coming down.

It was a real challenge to stand upright. If you put your hand down on the sand for balance you discovered "bullheads" which is one kind of very nasty sticker that pierces your skin pretty quickly. ;o[ I managed to stay upright ;o] Pretty good for an old lady.

This is a picture of the canal that takes water down to the orchards below in Monaeve. If you look closely you will send San Francisco Peaks by Flagstaff , center right. The darker mountain to the far right is called Shadow Peak. The Indians say it is also called "Elephant" I don't see it though.

The tank just below the tree line is one of the ones used for storing water. If you look very carefully you can see the small rock slabs that line the ditch or canal. All of this is done by hand and fills with blow sand a lot, but the water carries the blow sand down to the pond beyond the trees.

This is one of the gardens planted with faith. It will be fun to watch it change from what we see to what we have faith it will become.

The man on the left is Bernard Johnson, on the left Nelson and bottom left is Elder Olson digging up wild onions, so they won't be tilled in.

Bernard and Julia live in Red Lake, also known as Tonalea.

Their daughter is getting married in June and they want their family to see that they have planted a garden.

Sister Johnson is going to teach the First Aid class on the 12th of May. I know we were directed to their home after many previous phone calls. They only have a car and must rely on others to bring big things to their humble home. Nelson is related and there was a baby shower out that way, so he offered to take the tiller, fertilizer, and posts. We came afterward with the sawdust. We have run out of fencing, but more should come this week.

You can see what they are up against, but they have the faith (And water) to see their work come to fruition. Julia showed us the wild onions that they harvest and the Yucca plant that they use for shampoo. Their hogan looks pretty rough on the outside, but beautiful, roomy and full of love on the inside, making the pharse "you can't judge a book by it's cover" take on new meaning.

She just happened to mention that she oversees the work at the Emergent Care Facility at Inscription House. SO that was my que to ask if she would do the First Aid and CPR class at the meeting on the 12th. She seemed to be excited to do it and I was more excited to let her. ;o}

This week we tried squash soup and blue cornbread, both of which were very good. The squash was one of the ones that was grown last summer and stored until now. It looked like diced peaches in the soup. I am learning more about squash all the time.

Elder Grumpy just woke up from a 3 hour nap. It is 6:30 P.M. Hope he sleeps well tonight. My nap was 40 mins. Whoopee!!!

Yesterday was Women's Conference. Helen Johnson Tsosie the author of "Finding Helen - A Navajo Miracle" spoke. If you have a chance you might want to read it. At present she is going blind, but there is no "Why Me?" about her or her circumstances. She did not meet her Navajo birth mother until she served a mission out here at age 33. She and her twin sister were given away at birth because they were so premature and the Dr. felt it would be a better choice. He just had their mother put her thumb print and her X on a piece of paper. She did not speak English and the Dr. did not speak Navajo. She had no idea of what she had just signed until months later when she returned to pick up the two girls.

Sunday meetings continue to fortify and uplift. The people are humble and sincere in all they do and say.

We hope all is well with our family members and friends. We know we are where we should be and trust that we will be able to fulfill the purpose for which we were sent.

Elder and Sister Olson