When Tim served his mission, he spent 16 months in Lupton. The missionaries were well taken care of by George and Fanny Silversmith. George was called "Buddy" when Tim was there. Their son, Leland, was a young boy of about 5 when Tim was there.Fanny and George recognized the name "Elder Chandler' when we visited, but could not quite place him. (A lot of changes occur in 40 years!!). However, when Tim pulled out his journal, and showed them a picture taken on their property, they instantly remembered Elder Chandler! Tim was sitting in front of Fanny's mother, who was weaving a rug behind him. This picture is taken in the approximate same spot as the one taken 40 years ago.
It was really touching as Tim read from his journal about spending time with the Silversmith. He read how he ordained their son, Norman, to the office of a teacher. A few years ago, sadly, Norman was killed in a car accident.
The Silversmiths were very kind to us, as they had been 40 years ago. They brought out bread and butter and homemade jam. Then Fanny gave us the rest of the loaf of bread, a jar of berry jam that she had made, and different pieces of Indian jewelry. Leland gave Tim a copy of the Book of Mormon in Navajo. When he was on his mission, the langauge was not written, so this was a special gift.
4 comments:
I really like reading about Dad's mission and I think it's really neat that dad was able to go back and have someone remember him!
Yes, it was great!! I will add more pictures. Also am adding them to photoshop.com for unlimited online storage! I decided that way the pictures would be preserved and saved forever.
Do they speak Navajo?
Yes, they speak Navajo but also speak English so there was no communication problem.
It was funny, too, because when we would go to a gas station or other place, dad would go up to one of the natives and start speaking Navajo. You should have seen their expressions!! They could not believe that a billagana could speak their tongue!
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