Wednesday Work Day

So yesterday we spent all day out in Tohlakai working. It was a beautiful day outside and we chopped wood while other people painted, prepared meals, cleaned, built a cross, and put linseed oil on the cabin. After chopping wood for a while the infamous hitch hiker (Alvin) stopped by to say hi and said he would be by again to help. Even after spending hours in the woods, our woodchuckers showed up to drop off another load and help us chop. They only stayed for a couple hours because they had to go to the woods again to gather and deliver wood again. We loaded up some wood and Emily and I went with Larry and Reverend on one of their many deliveries to drop off a load of firewood. The delivery we made was to Lily and Fred who we stayed and talked to and it was really cool to hear them speaking in Navajo and enjoying our company.

Sure enough, later in the day Alvin showed up with his wife Rachel (who coincidentally works at SMASE and saw us Tuesday) and two sons Tyler (6) and Skyler (5). We ended up befriending the two boys and spent the evening playing with them. The boys are a handful but at least their parents were able to enjoy a break for a few hours. It’s really interesting that everywhere we go we seem to be a magnet for little kids but now we have about 6 new boyfriends to keep in touch with.

We ate Navajo tacos that someone prepared for us in appreciation of the work we are doing and afterwards we spent some time outside and left shortly after to come back to the house. By 8 o’clock everyone was completely exhausted from painting, building, and chopping and we had a devotional before people started heading to bed. Of course we waited for our knights in shining armor (the woodchuckers) to show up and get the dinner we had saved for them since they were in the woods and unable to make it to Tohlakai. We played Bologna with the kids and talked with Franklin for a while and finally hit the hay around 11 pm. Those boys sure take the energy out of us but we love them too much to care.

We have truly been blessed by all the new friends we have made and it is neat to see how many people have come to help us out of the goodness of their hearts.

Hannah and Emily