Highlights of this week!

Monday the last fling before school starts!














Tuesday - evening MORE EXCITEMENT! Rattler #5!!
This was interesting. A wild rabbit that lives around our house spotted this one. It was going about its business when suddenly it jumps about 18 inches straight up. Then circled around a small bush with its ears up and forward cautiously checking it out. I told Melodie something is out there, so I took my .22 rifle to check it out myself and.....

Wednesday First photo-op of school with 6 students
L-R Wakaine 2nd, Vanessa 9th, Lorna 1st, Darrick 11th, Ty Kindergarten, Marlin 4th

Thurday Marlin entertaining Amanda before evening service.

Friday afternoon scraping & priming the trim on the church. Looks like Marlin is really enjoying himself! :(

Friday Evening - "DAD!!!! RATTLE SNAKE!!!" number 6 Notice in the middle of the body it is noticably wider - had lunch a while back.

Jail Service

Seth and I have prayer before we go into the jail. It’s a must! I asked the Lord to help me be a blessing…, but deep down I was hoping it was like last week and that there were no ladies. There are times I enjoy having Ladies Jail Service and then there are times ……..When I walked inside and looked at the board, I looked quickly for the 0 and instead it was 3. I walked back to the room where we have service, while Seth went to have the men’s service. As two of the ladies walked in the room, I greeted them and gave them each a songbook. One of them in a very gruff voice asked,” What church are you from?” “Calvary Indian Mission” “What kind of church is that?” “Wesleyan Holiness” “Never heard of THAT!” (Now, I am really starting to send prayers heavenward, some of my experiences, I would rather not repeat.) I think the other lady had pity on me, and tries to tell her it’s going to be okay. They didn’t have a song selection, so I felt led to pick, “Tell It To Jesus”. I have witnessed this many times, but it still amazes me, how God can come and settle down and you can actually witness transformation right before your eyes. By the end of that first song, tears were streaming down her face. After several more songs, prayer, and then God helped me share the Gospel message. This lady was so open, all the animosity that I felt earlier was gone. God met with us again during prayer time. Afterwards, she opened up, and shared. One of the reasons, she was upset when I came in was earlier in the week someone told her the reason people backslide is because they are not serious and never get anything at the beginning. Very adamantly she said, “I was serious and I did have a relationship with Jesus. Don’t tell me I didn’t have anything! If that is true, then I don’t even feel like trying, cuz I know it was real.” Once again, God gave wisdom. By the time I left, I felt like having a shouting spell, did a little. My heart was bubbling!! I know God helped and touched a heart and life! Oh, and looking back, even though I didn’t realize it at the time, that was a major spiritual battle I was fighting when I had no desire to have a jail service and felt an unexplainable heaviness.
Thank-you for your prayers!!!
Mel

Where, Oh Where? Part 2

After a week of two VBS’s, plus the men worked at putting on the church roof and many other duties, Monday,7/16, finds us trying to rest in a little and then off to Grants,90 miles away, for a dental appointment, UGGGH!, and other business. On the way home, we received a call and would we come down to Flagstaff the next day? We arrived at home around 9:30, and as Seth went to unlock the door ahead of us and yelled for us to stay back, it could only mean one thing. Yes, another rattler which had the audacity to try and claim territory at our door step. But, with one bang from the gun, he lost the battle.
The next morning, as I was getting breakfast, I told Seth, “There’s something out in the chicken yard.” The chickens were really squawking and the rabbits were thumping. Seth ran out with the gun. (I forgot it could be a rattler, I thought maybe a dog.) He came back in a little bit, and said he didn’t see anything. But after he went to feed the rabbits, it didn’t take him long to come back to the window for his gun. This one was a lot bigger and took more than one shot! Seth thought the chickens cornered the snake behind the feed barrel. Okay, I had more than my fill of rattlers for this year, please no more!!! After this excitement, Pauline and I left for Flagstaff to visit Grandma and the baby and to bring back the other children. Since we sat for quite a while on the way home, waiting for an accident to be cleared away, it was after 9:00 p.m. and I was so glad to get home. My husband spoils me when it comes to driving and it’s been quite a while since I drove that much in one day.
The next two days were normal surviving duties with the mid-week service. Friday, after we did some errands and sorted food to distribute from the food bank, Seth took the guys back home and fed them, while Pauline, Amanda and I had a girl’s night. It was WONDERFUL! I haven’t had a night like that for quite a while.
The week of the 23rd, we packed and loaded everyone up, and went to Durango camping for three days. The scenery is breathtaking. We saw deer and even a bear, who we heard came to visit the campground during the night. Special thanks to a Christmas gift in July that we received, I got a night off. We went out to eat at the Bar D Chuckwagon. We listened to cowboy Gospel poetry, took pictures, rode the train, took pictures, and more pictures, and then we ate a cowboy supper and listened to cowboy music. Everybody had lots of fun, especially the boys with the possum song! Don’t even ask for the details!
OK, so vacation is over and it is back to more wash, cleaning and all the preparations for the weekend and the list goes on…… But somewhere in the midst of this, Thank-you Pauline for volunteering to baby sit and thank-you Seth for a nice few hours together to finally “celebrate” our 12th anniversary.
The last few days of July, we worked at preparing things to send with Pauline. Seth made her thank-you cards, bookmarks and other items to be used in her classroom. I managed to do about 40 –some pages of a scrapbook.
August 1, finds us on the road by 4 a.m. to take Pauline to the airport. Pauline, we miss you! The boys need your help to sing,” A-men!” The children did very well, considering all their interrupted naps. It seemed they went to sleep right before we were ready to stop someplace. The exciting part of the day, was that they finally got to see and be with Grandma for a little bit since she went into the hospital.
And the first two weeks of August, have also seemed to fly. We have had quite a bit of rain, which Seth is going to post some pics of the unusual night of the 6th, when two storms collided. Somehow the lightning was making the light bulbs flash when the electricity was off. That was a bit scary!
On the 9th, we had our back to school service since some schools will be starting next Monday. The verse for the night,”Submit yourselves to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” God met with us and I felt very encouraged after the service.
Sat. the 11th, we had lots of fun sneaking into my sister-in-law’s office at the hospital and putting up several birthday balloons after midnight. I must admit that was more fun and less painful than trying to clean up her yard. I hope you have had a wonderful birthday! You are a special person, and have blessed many lives, ours included!!!!
Baby Wade came home on the 12th. He is on oxygen, but seems to be doing well. I have only had his siblings twice this week, when he had appointments. Grandma seems to be doing a little better. They took her feeding tube out on Wed, so the only thing she is hooked up to is the oxygen. But she needs to work at getting her strength back. At this point, she is not even sitting up on her own.
Well, I hope you have had an enjoyable summer! Mine, has been quite interesting and is quickly coming to an end. Although, I have just shared physical happenings, we’ve experienced lots of emotional and spiritual battles that can be just as draining if not more. We definitely would appreciate your prayers. By the time this gets posted, I will have two days left before school starts. Actually, I am more ready than at the beginning of this post. A trip to the “Teacher’s Candy Store” does help to get you into the mode.
I thought I was finished writing this post……It’s Friday night, and I am typing this now to post tomorrow at my sister – in – law’s……Seth went to lock up the chickens….started yelling for his gun…….Yes, another rattler!.......GRRRR! …I was hoping the rain that we have been getting would keep them away……most years, they come close to the house looking for water…I can live without the rattler excitement!!!!!!!!
Mel

Where, Oh Where, Oh Where, Did My Summer Go?

“Where, oh where, has my summer gone? Where, oh, where did it go?” This is my sad (veggie tale) song of recent. This teacher is trying her best to get pumped up to start another school year, but my “to do” list is far from being completed. L I don’t know if any one is interested or not, but here’s a little insight of our summer.
I returned from the east, determined to get several projects completed, and was met with lots of dirt and sand that blew in from the dust storms. We were told one storm had winds up to 70mph, the church roof showed it, and the broken basketball pole. The first night home, we had an unexpected guest to spend the night and I was crazy enough to say yes to two very eager boys that called and asked if they could come over for a slumber party because they missed us. J Oh, and would I baby-sit? Grandpa is going back to work and Grandma has two more weeks of driving summer school bus. But… by the end of that week, Grandma is in the hospital and then ICU with collapsed lungs and is flown out to Flagstaff. Unpack, clean, laundry, meals, work on VBS, hospital visits, other outreach duties and preparations and in the mean time, keep the four little “Indians” under control. June is history, July will get better!
July 1-7 – Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart! It’s Sunday, we have a morning service, jail service in the afternoon and an evening service, so we can spend some special time together tonight-----umm---- change of plans-----extra children at our house due to circumstances out of our control. Let’s go for a walk! On the way back, we heard the dreaded noise, as Ty yelled, “Snake!!” A rattle snake slithered in front of him! No, not yet, this is only July, we don’t have to worry about them till August. Because it was dusk, Seth didn’t see it at first and that was scary. Then Seth held it down with a stick, while the boys and I ran back to the house and got the shovel and lights.
Tuesday, we went “camping” by the corral to help some friends do their branding. Another rattler almost struck Wakaine if Sharon wouldn’t have pushed him out of the way. We had a nice time roasting hot dogs and marshmallows and one guy even roasted a rattler. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep very well that night. I kept hearing “noises.” You probably wouldn’t have slept well either if you knew how many rattlers were killed in the area! Stirring in the camp by dawn and it was time to round up all the cattle and do branding. What a long but fun day! We even made it to Grants (80 miles) in time for the fireworks on Wed. eve. We came home Thurs. and had our mid-week service. Fri., Seth went and picked up the metal for the church roof, while I cleaned. Sat, Steve and Sarah Miller and Promise Little Moon came and we made preparations for VBS.
July 8-14 – Awakened at 2 a.m. by a distressed phone call, from the mother of the three children that I am watching. She is in Flagstaff with Grandma and her water broke!!! Baby isn’t supposed to come till September.
VBS Week - We had a VBS at Free Trinity Mission which is about 15 miles away from 10 to 11:30 a.m. and then had about an hour and a half to get lunch and go pick up for the VBS here at 2:00. It got interesting some mornings, trying to get 4 kids ready, breakfast for everyone, and all the VBS materials together. Bro. Steve did an excellent job with the Bible Lessons. I told the Character Story, and Sarah and Promise did the Memory Verse. Seth and I did the Review Game, and everyone pitched in with the craft and the many other duties. It makes a big difference when everyone works as a team! I couldn’t have survived the week if we didn’t. Steve and Sarah were great!! It was a very good VBS, Pioneering with Courage and the kids really liked it. I started teasing the three boys from my house that they didn’t need to come to the morning session and just go in the afternoon. They were almost in tears. They really wanted to attend both sessions. In fact, another little girl on her birthday came to the morning session so she could go with her Mom to do something else the rest of the day, but she made her Mom bring her to the afternoon session and for the rest of the week she came to both sessions. I guess that should speak for itself.
Friday - It’s a Boy! Due to more complications, they allowed the baby to be born, weighing in at 3lb.3oz. After VBS and cleanup, out to eat to celebrate the survival of another successful VBS, we take off for ABQ to pick up Pauline Nunes, a college friend from Jamaica, at the airport.
Sat. we go shopping, looking for bargains, especially for Pauline. J
Since this is getting long and I’m running out of time ------ to be continued!

Mel

Picture Update

These pictures were taken in Colorado a couple weeks ago at the Bar D. If you have never had the opportunity to go to a chuck wagon supper don't turn it down. We took Pauline Nunes from Jamaica to Durango for a couple days. Quite a culture shock for her. New food, climate, culture, etc.

We spent a very nice evening there and on the way back to the campground we were privileged to see a black bear running down the road. It was dark and he was running so we did'nt get a picture. The next morning we heard he visited camp and the week before they had to put down two others.

Got run for now - had some good rain that I'll mention later with some pics.

Enchanting Trails

I've tried to think of a good title for this blog. Others that I have seen have fit their personalities so well. So with Enchanting Trails we hope that you will see and feel the vision we have for our Navajo People that we minister to. We have a small church and day
school and try to reach out to our people in other ways also. Just being there is often enough to let them know we care -- what ever the situation. Some are fun and hilarious - others sad and heart breaking.
I can only post once a week because there is no Internet access out at our place. We can only respond to comments on the weekend or when we happen to be at the public library about 25 miles away.