June 9, 2013
I went to church this morning at Ignacio Community Church,
about a 5-minute drive from Julie’s house, after spotting the church in town
and looking at their website. It’s very friendly and welcoming
nondenominational Protestant church family. Numerous people greeted me as I
came in and two of the women I met sat with me during the worship service. It’s
a contemporary service, with a great five-piece band (the young fiddle
player is fabulous!) leading the singing. It turns out that their pastor and his family are
away, up in Denver because their 17-year-old son Nicolas just had a kidney
transplant. The associate pastor Raymond led the service—he is a Ute Indian.
(The town of Ignacio calls itself a “tri-ethnic community.” It’s on the
Southern Ute Indian reservation, but also has many whites and Hispanics who
live here. More details to follow on the Southern Ute tribe.)
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Ignacio Community Church with SmartCar parked on right. |
A missionary couple, Bay and Peg Forrest, gave the sermon
today. Bay is a former NBA basketball player (he is 6'10" and was a center for
the Phoenix Suns). He and Peg were missionaries in Africa for years and now
have an international ministry called FOCUS Ministries; this church is one of
four that support their ministry. Bay was a very dynamic and funny speaker;
both he and Peg spoke from the heart and were inspiring to hear. It was an
uplifting service.
I had driven Julie’s little SmartCar to church and the
folks, especially the kids, were enchanted by it. Everyone had to come up and
say something about it and look at it. I think the kids love it so much because
it’s their size!
After church, Jack and I go out for lunch at The Patio, a
good diner-type restaurant. After lunch, we go to visit the nearby Southern Ute
Cultural Center and Museum. This is a new museum and meeting room complex next
to the Ute Casino, which we've passed several times on our way to and from Durango and the airport. The Southern Utes, whose reservation we are on, are a
fascinating tribe. They’ve been in this area for at least 1,000 years and
suffered the usual disgraceful treatment from the white man, of many broken
treaties and broken promises. Forced onto smaller and smaller reservations,
they experienced many of the poverty and health issues that are common among
our native Americans.
Until some of their leaders got smarter, that is. Their
reservation sits on land with large natural gas deposits as well as valuable
water rights. The tribe hired lawyers and managers and, after a series of major
lawsuits over years that finally ruled in their favor, they started managing
their own resources, instead of leaving the management up to the federal
government and outsiders (mismanagement, I should say, as the tribe discovered
they were being ripped off to the tune of millions of dollars of royalties). To
make a long story short, the Southern Ute tribe, which currently has about 1,500
tribal members, is now worth several billion dollars and is an economic
powerhouse with far-reaching power and influence. They collectively own major
oil and gas production companies, real estate investments in 14 states, and
their glitzy casino—it’s a very diversified portfolio. They are determined to
control their own financial destiny and keep their Ute culture alive as well,
hence this beautiful cultural center. (By the way, the tribe offers full college scholarships,
through Ph.D, to all tribe members…)
The cultural center building is designed to resemble an
eagle, and the architecture also features numerous circular and tipi-like
features, as circles are culturally important to the Utes. It’s a lovely
building and the displays of art, historic photos and documents, and
artifacts are very professionally done. They have art and artifacts borrowed
from the Smithsonian and other prestigious collections, as well as the tribe’s
own. (We especially liked the basketry exhibit.) It’s an interactive museum with lots of videos
and touchable displays, and a full-size tipi to sit in. They tell their story
with admirable restraint, Jack and I thought—documenting all the lies and
horrific things done to them over the years, but not ranting and raving about
it. The displays are very matter of fact, but convey a firm resolve to control
their own future and destiny. A good learning experience for us.
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| This beautiful building was designed by the famous architect, Johnpaul Jones. Click here to learn more about this architect and his design concepts that went into this building. |
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Carol outside the museum entrance viewing the lovely flowing creek. |
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Carol at the museum entrance with the Ute Casino in the background. |
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A view of the Ute school buildings from the entrance to the museum. |
Tomorrow Jack is going fishing on the Animas River with a
guide, to help increase his chances of catching a trout and being able to check
off this famous river on his list!
Bird species count: Vermilion flycatcher, turkey vulture,
Bell’s vireo, *golden-fronted woodpecker, Say’s phoebe, northern cardinal,
greater roadrunner, house finch, common raven, *northern rough-winged swallow, *summer
tanager, *prothonotary warbler, *yellow-breasted chat, *yellow-rumped warbler,
northern mockingbird, mourning dove, cliff swallow, Mexican jay, black-headed
grosbeak, black-chinned hummingbird,
Wilson’s warbler, *Scott’s oriole, chipping sparrow, house sparrow, lesser
goldfinch, black-crested titmouse, acorn woodpecker, scrub jay, *western
kingbird, white-winged dove, *canyon towhee, *Grace’s warbler, *zone-tailed
hawk, *curve-billed thrasher, Bullock’s oriole, Gambel’s quail, great horned
owl, black-throated sparrow, *cactus wren, ladder-backed woodpecker,
white-crowned sparrow, brownheaded cowbird, Brewer’s blackbird, *pyrrhuloxia,
hooded oriole, verdin, crow, Anna’s hummingbird, dark-eyed junco,
white-throated swift, Steller’s jay, mallard, common egret, brown pelican,
western bluebird, loggerhead shrike, Audubon’s warbler, robin, Canada goose,
black-billed magpie, red-winged blackbird, redtailed hawk
State count: 14 [Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona,
California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado]
Odometer count:
Surber, VA: 107,435
Durango, CO: 114,004
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