My Life with Navajos on the Rez

I moved from California to the Four Corners area in Arizona to live and work with the Navajo people in the Navajo Nation. I was able to have a music ministry and help teachers, and i even taught a Spanish class to a group of juniors and seniors in high school at Immanuel Mission. I became an itinerant pianist, moving here and there, wherever one was needed. I played at different church denominations in various towns from Arizona to New Mexico to Utah and back for thirteen years. I mostly knew only Christian Navajos, but of course, i met nonbelievers, one or two medicine men, people of the traditional religion, and some Mormons. I also gave private piano and voice lessons now and then while learning to read the Dineh (the real Navajo name) language. I never could converse, but i could read and sing any hymn in Dineh. I met and had many fine friends, with many good and some bad experiences.

-- Shirley Hall