Don Bi'zaad

In the Navajo language the title Don Bi'zaad means "Don his words".

Since my wife Nona and I have spent the last 25 years in missionary labors among the Navajo
and other First Peoples of the SouthWest this blog will be notes of memories and events.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Crestview Christian Academy Begins 14th Year

Lunch Time LLC Students

Lunch Time UPLC Boys

Lunch Time UPLC Girls

Upper Learning Center
This is the 11 year old son of one of our Former Students!

Upper Learning Center
Lower Learning Center Sis. Nona
Tuesday September 9th we opened the doors for school here at CCA for the 14th time. Here are some pics from that day.

Saturday, August 02, 2008

Salisbury Bible Methodist Camp


We have been invited to speak at the Salisbury, NC BMC Camp on Sunday Aug.3. We were able to fly in to Raleigh and drive over yesterday in time for service. I am enjoying the preaching of Ben Crawford. Tomorrow I will be holding service at Sophia, NC with Bro. & Sis. Swaney, then rushing back to Salisbury for 2:30 service, then rushing up to Graham, NC for a 6pm service at the Bible Wesleyan Church. I will then head to Raleigh to visit my brother Bill and his family.


Pictured is the tabernacle at Salisbury, NC.

Monday, July 28, 2008

July 28, 1983

We finally arrived! Friday July 18, 1983 was a long day driving in from Oklahoma City, OK. We stopped in Albuquerque, NM for supper at the Royal Fork Buffet. Funny as it seems this was the first time we had ever ate at a buffet in our lives.

When we pulled into the Bible Methodist Navajo Mission at mile marker 9, Hwy 249, it was dusk, with the sky beautifully setting in the west.

This would be our home for the first year of mission work among our Navajo People. The things we learned this first year, definitely had an impact on the rest of our 24 years.

There was a lot of work to do yet on the mobile home we would be living in. This would be the 1st of 3 mobile homes we would live in, and we still do today.

We hit the ground running, preaching in the morning service on Sunday morning, less that 48 hours from arriving on the field. We never dreamed that our mission work would grow until there was a period of a couple years we spoke 11 times a week. Whew! Those were the days.

Well we arrived, so we will stop our day to day journey to get here, but will try to post random memories, and even current events.

May God be Praised for all His help, during these past 25 years. - dwp

Sunday, July 27, 2008

July 27, 1983

Thursday morning July 27, twenty-five years ago started early as we had to head to Savannah, TN to join the Bowlings and Begayes on our push toward Oklahoma City. What a long day that was. Talking about hot, before we got to OKC it was running 104 degrees out with about 90% humidity. Even though the Ryder Truck was a 1983, with only 2,000 miles on it, rental companies had not reached the point of putting air conditioning in them. Nona and I would put ice packs on the kids and us as we drove along I-40 with the windows down and the heat blowing through.

Somewhere along the way we lost the Begaye family, they did not show up in OKC until after the service started. We arrived just in time, for a service with the late Charles Attaway and his people in OKC. Man was supper great afterwards, and the shower even better.

Exhausted we went to bed knowing that the next night we would be sleeping in the Land of Enchantment, New Mexico. Dreaming that twenty-five years later we would still be pillowing our heads in this great state.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

July 26, 1983

Today, twenty-five years ago, we left Harriman, TN heading for Etheridge, TN, south of Nashville. When we stopped for gas at Cookeville, TN we found we had a gas leak. So we had to call Ryder and find a local garage to take the truck to and get it fixed. This took up about 1 1/2 hours, but we were soon on the road again.

We arrived at the Freedom Hill Bible Methodist Church that evening, where Gerald Wright was the pastor. The Bowlings and Begayes traveled on to Savannah, TN to the Bible Methodist Church there where Luther Dolan was pastor. Both groups had mission services that night.

The next morning we would head out before daylight to travel on.

Friday, July 25, 2008

July 25, 1983

Twenty five years ago today we sorta hung out in Harriman, TN, worked on the truck wiring the Bowling's utility trailer up so I could pull it behind our truck.

That evening we split into two groups one heading south to Rockwood, TN for a mission service, Nona and I headed north to Chestnut Ridge, TN for a mission service there with Dana & Dorcas Walker, Bob's Brother.

We all spent the night back at Harriman, TN

July 24, 1983

On Monday July 24, 1983, we backed the big Ryder Truck out of the drive of Bill & Nellie Phoebus' home in Daniels, WV about 6 am. Nona, Alicia, Jonathan, and I in the front seat, following us in our little Ford Escort, was the late Big Bob Walker. Emotions were high as we drove down Possum Holler that morning.

Later we met the Bowling Family and Begaye Family at the last rest area in WV on I-77 and headed to Johnson City, TN there we loaded up Bob's things from his parents home at the Bible Methodist Parsonage.

We next stopped at the TN Bible Methodist Camp Ground in Knoxville, where Bro. D. P. Denton met us at the parsonage and we loaded the remainder of the rental truck with about 250 case of Campbell's soup. We arrived that evening at Harriman, TN to spend the next two nights, at the Bible Methodist Church there, with Pastor Tom Davis and his Family.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

July 23, 1983

Twenty-five years ago today was a Sunday. Nona the children and my self along with the late Bob Walker traveled to Narrows, VA for missionary service. We were met there by Jimmy and Anna Lee Bowling, their children, and Calvin Begaye and their children a Navajo family traveling with the Bowlings. Bible Methodist Missionaries Bill and Mae Sullivan were present for this mission service and dinner on the grounds.

We traveled back to Mt. Hope for our last service as Pastor of Shiloh Chapel. The little church was full, and the new pastor was present.

On the trip back to Mt. Hope I broke my glasses and we were to leave town the next morning. A phone call to Dr. Holliday in Beckley, and he had his son Dr. David meet us at his office after service to fix them for us. On the way we stopped in Bradley so we all could tell Nona's mother Jeannine Brewer and those present good-by.

This would be our last night in West Virginia before heading to New Mexico. We stayed at mom & dad's house in Daniels, WV. Tomorrow would be the first day of the rest of our life.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

July 22, 1983

Twenty-five years ago today was a Saturday, hot and humid in West Virginia. The day was spent loading the Ryder Rental Truck with all our earthly belongings. Dad, the late Bob Walker, and myself were soaking wet at the end of the day. Nona and the children helped us put in the little things. I now remember Alicia and Jonathan taking one last ride down our sloping front yard on there little 3 wheelers. This definitely was a passing of a time to never be revisited. We went to bed exhausted ready to head out the next morning to travel to Narrow, VA for a deputation service and homecoming.

Monday, July 21, 2008

July 21, 1983

Twenty five years ago today dad and I drove down to Dunbar, WV to pick up the big 28 foot Ryder rental truck to bring it back to Maple Fork, WV to begin loading Nona, the children, and my personal belongings. After dark we went down to Klsythe, WV to help the new pastor of Shiloh Chapel unload his U-Haul truck. It was Friday, Monday we would be leaving going to New Mexico to begin our missionary work there.