Today I
wanted to capture a part of what happened as we went out to Monaeve to meet a
new gardening participant. Sister Deana
Benally had called us earlier in the week and asked if we could go out on
Friday to meet with some people she had been working with. We decided that it would work out and agreed
to meet her at the Dinosaur Tracks out on Hwy 160 at 10 AM.
We followed her for a few miles and ended up
at Kee and Ruth Holmer’s. Two of her
brothers and a nephew showed up shortly after we arrived. So now we had Kee, Ruth, her brothers Evan
and Ben John, and a nephew Glen, surrounding an outdoor table under a branch
awning.
Deana is a single sister in the 1st
Ward, who works for the BIA in Land Management Resources. She has had a garden for 3 years and loves
working in the soil. We often hear her
out in her garden in the summer long before the sun is fully up. She lives in BIA Housing just behind the
church. We often visit over the fence
and she never hesitates to call when she has a question about her garden or
anyone else’s garden for that matter.
She is trying to develop a relationship with
the older people and some of the younger ones who want to have gardens and/or
cornfields, like the people did years ago.
The Holmers and the Johns are in this group.
We were well received and Deana started off
speaking Navajo and explaining about the need to prepare the soil and put back
into it what has been depleted after using it year after year without putting
anything back.
She had started visiting with them back in
Nov. and had told them how important it was to put manure onto the areas where
they were growing corn. When we arrived
it was evident that they had taken her advice and the ground was thickly
covered with manure. She held class in
the covered area where they held reunions with their family. She explained in Navajo how the soils were
depleted and how using manure, fertilizer and Humate would make a huge
difference. They asked questions as she
explained and then we went over to the area next to their orchard.
Glen watched Elder Olson as he started the
tiller and then it became very obvious that he wanted his turn. After a few rounds he turned to his aunt and
said that he wanted one of these things.
We all laughed.
Meanwhile Ruth was asking about her
trees. I called Elder Seeley to ask
about pruning such well established fruit
trees.
He suggested that we prune just two of the bigger branches each year on
the older trees and show them how to prune the younger ones so that the bowl
effect could be realized, allowing sun to shine on the inside and outside.
Evan caught the vision right away and made
short work of the first tree. We think
he will be able to continue through their orchard which has been fruit bearing
for years.
They also have well established grape arbors
just beyond the shelter where we met.
Meanwhile Glen had tilled a 30x30 area and
only with major coaxing would he allow Evan to have a turn.
As we visited with Ruth she explained that
this area had been her family’s home for several generations and that she had
grown up playing among the orchards and grape arbors. She also mentioned that her parents were
buried there. I asked if I could take
pictures of the family cemetery and she said that would be fine.
Deana had brought sandwiches and water, so we
broke for lunch and ate where we had first started. They wanted us to tell them
about ourselves, so I shared my conversion story.
I then walked over to the family cemetery and
took pictures of each headstone or marker.
I was able to index 8 names and the names of 6 children that had been
written in the cement on the one marker for the father.
I also was able to get all of Ruth’s
brother’s and sister’s names, and her
parents, so we can start a family tree at the Family History Center, We will give her a copy.
The thought crossed my mind that although
they had not come to us, we had felt that we should go to them and then the
thought: “The exception now may turn into the “exceptional leader” later.
We need to continue to look to Ammon as he served and waited for the
opportunity to teach. We have to develop
our faith and our patience in trusting Him to provide the opportunities to bear
witness of Jesus Christ and the hope that the restored gospel brings.
I continue to observe how unique our
circumstances are here on the Navajo Reservation, and how important it is to
trust and listen to the spirit as we
seek to know how to teach each participant.
The principles of the gospel will always be
the same, but we should never forget that we are teaching individual people and
that each of them is precious to our Heavenly Father. He sent us here to listen and teach them just
as He did. Each person is of value, each
family and their circumstances are unique.
We are servants in His kingdom and they are His children. We must not forget that in the end we are
serving Him.
Sister
Elaine Olson
24 Jan 2013
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