Day Six – A Day Off

Yep, that’s right. Day five was so exhausting, Art needed a day off for his knees and to rest. Those trails were a nightmare! So we rested.

This allows me to tell about a man I met while we were waiting for our spot to become available in Elwha. You might recall, we drove over thirteen hours and spent the night at a rest area. After we woke up, we noticed a Walmart in town. They always have big parking lots available, and we needed to pick up a few things. That is where we chose to park until we could pull into our reserved spot, as someone was in it and had several hours before they had to check out. I got out to walk our littlest dog, Sophie:

Sadly, that’s the only picture I’ll have for this post. I wish I’d taken some that day.

While I was about to walk back toward our RV, a sweet man named Larry said one of his little dogs could be Sophie’s twin. Not really, but it was a great way to start a conversation. He is from Canada and is a First Nations Elder of his tribe. In the US, we say Native American. He told me his English name was Larry, but his native name was Cheewa. I’m spelling it as it sounds because I have no idea how to spell it. I only made sure I pronounced it properly. And I could not pronounce his tribe properly, so I’m leaving that out.

He was traveling with a group of many tribes in what they call the “Canoe Journey.” While many of his counterparts only followed as far as Victoria, Canada, he and his wife chose to continue into the United States. He was not participating in the actual canoeing, but in all the ceremonies going on around it. The activities in that location were being hosted by the Elwha Tribe. He explained he and his wife, who was in Walmart shopping and is an RN (Registered Nurse), had been married a long time and had four children. None of their kids wanted children of their own, so they had their two pups. I thought that was so cute! It’s how I feel about our dogs, which I shared with him. He is a Journeyman Carpenter and built his home all by himself. He spoke about how beautiful it was and how it was set up. In addition, he explained that on the Reservation, you own the land and the government can never take it from you. You also pay no taxes, and they have a Home Depot where they can shop for less expensive building supplies, including wood. He asked me to guess how much it cost him. I said, $50,000, thinking that was really inexpensive. He was surprised and said no one had guessed so close. It only cost him $30,000!

Larry had been an alcoholic for many years until he found God. His wife loves him, and he is grateful she stayed with him and kept trying to help him. He would promise, but then fail until he found God. He explained that when he did, he felt the power of Christ, what I would think of as the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit, enter him from his head all the way to his feet. After that day, he never drank again. He said the Shaman is a medicine man, but they derive their power from (he points to the ground) the one below. They sit around a fire and pray for the power to enter them. That power comes into them from their feet and through their head. It only lasts for three months. He explained that his father had terrible back pain and would go to the Shaman. He would return healed, and in about three months, he would be in terrible pain again and have to return to the Shaman for healing. But with Christ’s healing, it lasts forever, just as his sobriety has.

He said the Elders speak of walking into the forest to pray for wisdom and help to heal in many ways. They speak to a man dressed in white with holes in his hands, in spirit form. Legend says that before Christ was crucified, the Elders spoke to three men in white robes who did not have any holes in their hands but spoke with authority and answered the Elders’ prayers.

Though I didn’t say who I believed those three men were, I said that my faith believes that after Christ’s resurrection, he came to the Americas and taught the Native people, just as he had in Jerusalem. That would have been all of North and South America. Larry was surprised. He said the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the only faith that believed that. I told him that was true.

We spoke about the events coming at La Push, Washington, where many tribes would be sharing their music and songs with each other, and they invite all others to join them. I wish I had been able to go. I wish I’d been able to see Larry/Cheewa again and speak more with him. Most of all, I wish I’d listened to my spirit tell me I should give him a hug as we parted. But I didn’t. Perhaps I’ll run into him again one day. It was a lovely encounter, and I hope to have more like it.

Next Up: Day Seven – Art Goes It Alone, Again