Ladies Day

For the first time ever at the Kayenta Church of Christ or on the whole reservation...we hosted a ladies day. I can not even begin to explain how encouraging this event was for myself and the rest of the ladies in attendance. We usually attend events in or near Phoenix. So, one day we said, why can't we do this? A couple of the ladies, Beverly and Pat, had a strong interest in pulling this off and helped a great deal. Our theme was "serving others through the fruit of the spirit." We had 3 guest speakers from Oklahoma and Texas. I got connected to them through the website Come Fill Your Cup: http://comefillyourcup.wordpress.com/
If you have not been on it, it is an amazing website for Christian women. Kristy Huntsman is in charge of the "Missionary of the Month" section and I wrote an article for her a few months back. Erynn Sprouse is the founder and editor of the website. We gained great knowledge and insight from these 3 women.

We had lessons, door prizes, great singing, prayer, activities and delicious food. One of the highlights for me was a young teenager who I have recently been studying with and was baptized a couple weeks ago, Josslyn. She stepped up to lead singing (pictured above). Nykhona, a 6 year old, was also up there with Josslyn, leading singing. It was a true blessing! We had 44 ladies in attendance including several visitors! I was very encouraged to see some of our members bring friends and family!

One of our members, who is a manager at the Hampton Inn, organized the guys to prepare and serve lunch. What another amazing blessing to not have to worry about lunch and have the guys take the lead on this!

I believe that all the ladies were truly encouraged and uplifted. Many of them have never attended an event like this. They are already making plans to attend a ladies day in Cortez in a couple of weeks with no coercing from me!

School Supply Drive!

On Saturday, we held a school supply drive at the church building. We provided school supplies to roughly 120 kids including our members. We really enjoyed being able to provide for so many in need. Many people inquired about the church and we handed out "Searching for Truth" DVDs. I really enjoy days like these where we can really interact with the community. The picture is a son of one of the members at church. We had a group from Texas in last week who brought a ton of clothes and some of the school supplies. Karen (from Texas) and I sorted through it all and then delivered it to our members before the drive.

Teen Lock-In

Our intern, Cory planned a teen lock-in on Friday night. We had a great turnout and we had a blast! It started off with a Wii bowling tournament and pizza bagels. Then Cory had some interesting activities that involved whip cream, bubble gum, and lifesavers. We had some wonderful singing (better than the adults) and Bible study. Then we played some board games and got back on the Wii for "Just Dance." It was over at 11 but we couldn't get the kids out of the building! I think they took the words "lock-in" a little too seriously!

It was great to have so many kids there along with two girls that haven't been around in a while because they moved to Tuba City about an hour away. They are living closer to town now with their dad and we hope to see them a lot more.

The Art of Encouragement

There are so many people that need encouraged. It's a full-time job. What should I do? Send a card? Go for coffee? Give her a hug? Bring her cookies? Study the Bible with her? Listen to her? What do I say? I don't want to say the wrong thing. I also don't want to feel like I sent a card, so I did my job and now I can move on. I genuinely want to see this person grow. I want to see her change and grow closer to God and feel like I care about her.

I am not talking about just one person here in this blog. I have encountered many people here in the church in Kayenta that need a lot of encouragement. There are people going through any or all of the following: need a friend, dealing with bad relationships, confused about the Word of God, going through struggles at work, family issues, abuse, and loss of a loved one. Could this be because I have asked God to give me more opportunities to help others? My prayers have been answered and I am glad. I feel like I have accomplished something if I spent an hour listening to some one's struggles. I am thankful they feel comfortable confiding in me and I try to give advice based on God's word alone.

Church Camp was AWESOME!

Here is a pic of some of the kids at camp.

Camp was a huge success and I did not die from a lack of showering. The scenery was beautiful. We camped up in the woods in Arizona surrounded by trees and just over a canyon. We had adult and children's classes everyday focused on "A Closer Walk with God." We spent a lot of time singing and spending time with churches from all over the reservation (5 churches total). We got to meet a lot of new people. There was also a lot of time for games and competition. Our church won the volleyball tournament. We played horse shoes, bean bag toss and ping pong. The weather was beautiful and it only rained the last day which was much needed. I really enjoyed camping and actually hated to leave the camp site. It's amazing what less than a week of being in nature, studying the Bible and spending time with other Christians can do for a person. Six people, aside from us, from Kayenta attended and they are already talking about next year. The best part for me was that Josh and Divine made the trip out with the kids. It was so good to catch up with them. Nick is the camp director for next year and we already have a bunch of ideas!

Now we are back in Kayenta and Nick's good friend, Ben is staying with us for a couple of weeks to do some work.

Church Camp

I thought I should put in a recent picture of our dogs!

Church camp is next week and I should be excited but I am agonizing a little bit about the interesting conditions I will be in for 4 nights and 5 days. I have only been tent camping a few times in my life, but all of those experiences involved running water and real showers. This time, forget ever feeling clean, we are really roughing it. Now, I am not trying to sound like one of those prissy girls who has to have a hair dryer and make up everyday. However, I do value cleanliness. Well, regardless of the conditions, it will be an uplifting time full of Bible Studies, camp fires, singing, and activities. Nick has spent a lot of time this week preparing for the classes and luckily finding porta-potties!

In other news, we have a connection to the local high school to get leftover food from the cafeteria. Yesterday was the last day of summer school so they called us to come and get some milk. Nick and Cory picked it up and were able to distribute it to most of our church members along with several others. It's a great way we are able to provide.

In case you don't know, I am getting my masters degree in Marriage and Family therapy online. I am really enjoying all my classes, but it does take up most of my time these days and limits my ability to work with the church. At this rate, I think I will be done with my classes by the end of 2012 and then be looking for a place to do my practicum.

Summer is HERE!

Forgive me for not staying on top of this blog. Instead of trying to catch you up to date on everything that has happened, I will let you know what is going on right now. Summer comes with lots of events, visitors and fun!

Two weeks ago, Nick's grandfather passed away. He was battling cancer, but still came as a shock, because his condition was progressing. This was a big blow to Nick and me as well, because his grandpa was a very strong Christian and our biggest fan in the work out here. He was very supportive and excited about our ministry. We flew back to Ohio a couple days after learning of his passing and spent a week with family and friends. The memorial service was beautiful and Nick gave a great "speech" about his very influential grandfather. We saw and heard a lot about his service to God, the country and his family. His legend makes me want to be a better person. It was a sad week, but a great opportunity to see everyone. I have been pretty homesick so it was good to go home for a little bit. We spent significant time with both of our families as well as our friends.

It was good to be home but the work in Kayenta never stops. If you haven't heard, we have a summer intern, which we were especially grateful for when we had to take the trip back to Ohio. He was able to cover for us while we were gone.

More updates to come about events and happenings!

Visitors and Party!

We have had a very busy last couple of weeks. It started off with our good friend, Mike coming to visit us from Abilene, Texas. He was here to hang out with us but also to get soil samples of all the churches on the reservation for the garden project. Nick and Mike drove the whole way around the reservation in one day and it took about 13 hrs. We enjoyed having Mike stay with us and get to see what our life is like here. On Mike's way out of town, Nick rode with him to Albuquerque to meet up with an intern from Healing Hands international (head of the garden project) in TN and a student from ACU. They came out to the rez to do research on the Navajos and do kind of a needs assessment for the garden project.

That weekend, I traveled to Gallup, NM about 2.5 hrs away to go to our monthly Bible Study on the book of Matthew where I met up with Nick and the interns. On Saturday, we drove back to Kayenta and the interns spent the night here. I think these 2 students walked away with a ton of information and a great understanding of the Navajo reservation.

On Monday of last week, our friend and future team member, Dan Keele, came to visit for four days. It is always a pleasure to spend time with Dan. We spent a lot of time helping Josh and Divine prepare to move and eating cereal. :) Dan will be moving here in December of this year to be a part of our team. We can't wait!

At the end of last week, Nick's mom and step-dad came to visit for 2 days. We did a lot of sightseeing. We went to Monument Valley and Canyon de Chelly and it was awesome. We got a lot of good pictures and had a really nice visit. Again, we loved to be able to show them our life out here, where we live, where we work, as well as the beautiful sights.

And last but not least, this is our last week with Josh and Divine. We have spent a lot of time helping them get ready to move- painting, cleaning, moving boxes, etc. On Sunday evening, we had a surprise going away party for them at the church building. The turnout of people was amazing. We estimated around 125 people were there. Our average on Sunday morning has been 50 so to have 125 is AWESOME!!! They have impacted a lot of people in their time here and it definitely showed at the party. We had a ton of food and a short devotional. Nick spoke some great words about Josh, a lot of tears were shed and Josh spoke some great words about his time here. I included a picture from the party of Josh speaking. We are really going to miss them!

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New Happenings

Nick and I started a Bible study today with a lady named Aleta. She has been coming to services regularly and she has even gone with us to the monthly Bible Study one weekend out of every month. During the monthly study, we go to one of the churches on the reservation and study for seven hours. Now this takes dedication so we know this woman is interested in the Bible. We will be studying with her every week so it will be exciting to see where this goes.

In other news, I will be traveling with a group of ladies down to Phoenix this weekend for a "ladies day" hosted by a church down there. Phoenix is about four and a half hours away so it will be a nice opportunity to get off the reservation and get into the city. I am excited to spend quality time with the ladies.

Josh and Divine's departure is coming upon us very quickly! It's going to be a whole different experience without them, but we are happy for their new opportunity and our new opportunity here. Many people in the church will miss them very much including us. We have to keep reminding ourselves that God has a plan and if we keep relying on him, the work will grow. It will be hard without a team, but we are also looking forward to Dan joining us next January. Dan is in preaching school right now and joining our team when he graduates in December.

Why are we here?

Sometimes its hard to put into words what we are actually doing out here. Most of the time our newsletters and this blog is filled with events. Over the past month it has been more about dealing with everyday events and people. There is no typical day out here although we have tried to create more of a schedule lately. This week, for example, we are putting a lot of focus on planning for the summer especially since Josh and Divine are leaving in April. We will have several groups come out from various churches. We have to decide what they will do, when they will do it, and how we get the members of our church invovled. Another strong effort is hiring an intern for the summer. Nick has contacted several Christian colleges to look for an intern this summer. We are making plans to first of all find the best candidate and then get the money to support this person.

Now to go back to the title of this blog. As I said before, we don't have a typical day and I don't think God opened doors for us here to do one specific event or routine. We are here to shine light in this community. I know this sounds cliche, but there is a lot of darkness here, meaning struggles in every aspect. I think we are here to show joy, which isn't always recognizable. Part of that is just trying to be a faithful Christian. We are also here to show people that we care about them and want the best for them. Sometimes this means giving some one a ride to the store who doesn't have a car. This might mean listening to them talk about the worries of their day. Sometimes it means serving them a meal and getting to know them better inside our home. Maybe it's a phone call to let them know we missed them at church on Sunday. All of these things are a part of our purpose here. I pray that we don't lose sight of this purpose. I know sometimes we get sick of being a taxi cab and doing people favors, but we have to remind ourselves why we are here.

I included a picture of me with my Sunday night Bible class. I am actually starting to enjoy the kids a little bit, which is a far stretch from where I started.

Back in the work!

It always takes a while to settle back in after being gone on a trip. We are definitely settled in and back into the work. Nick has been preaching every Sunday and doing every Bible study, because Josh has been out of town. We have Sunday morning worship, Sunday night Bible Study, Tuesday night Bible Study and Wednesday night devotional. You can see how these services alone eat up a lot of our time, especially for Nick when he has to prepare them all.

There has been a lady coming to services who is very close to being homeless. She has three kids and they just moved here from Loiusianna. They are living in a camper trailer and using a generator for heat. They take showers at the church building because they don't have running water. We had them over for dinner a couple nights. More recently, they have been staying at the building because she admitted they weren't warm enough in their trailer. We tried to get them to stay with us but she didn't feel comfortable doing that. They did stay with Josh & Divine a couple nights. Anyway, there are a lot of holes in her story and something doesn't seem right, but we are trying to help them as best as we can. This has become very very wearing on us. Their truck recently broke down so now we are serving as the taxi service as well. The more time goes by, the less we see the mother making an effort to get her life in order. Therefore, the frustration and skepticism in us rises.

There are a ton of details that I left out of this story, but please pray for this situation. We want the best for these kids and it is turning into a legal obligation on our part to turn her in to social services.

This Friday we will travel to Fort Defiance to study the book of Matthew with a professor from Bear Vally Bible Institute.

December was a crazy month!

December was filled with drama, activities, visitors, events, and traveling.

As soon as we got back from Thanksgiving break, we organized a clothing drive. Members of the church organized a ton of clothes to be given away to the community. In addition to the tons of clothes, we had brand new socks, underwear, hats, gloves and scarves donated that we were able to give away to the community. We had great contributions that everyone was extremely thankful for. Clothing drives have traditionally been done once or twice a year and we had the privilege of organizing it this year. Members of the church really stepped up to make this a success. We spent at least 4 nights out of the week organizing these clothes to allow for ease of finding what people are looking for.

The following week we had visitors and more events! A friend and Deacon from our church in Columbus came to visit and get a better feel for what is going on here on the rez. He came at a great time when we had a lot going on. At the same time, we had Dave Goolsby from Healing Hands International visit. Dave is the mind behind the garden project. He was on a fact finding trip to learn more about the people, land and possibilities.

During the same weekend, we had a teen Christmas party. Yes, this was all in the same weekend, but it was a blast! We had 6 teenagers come and even though we have grown a little closer to most of them, we are always worried about how they will react and participate. We had several Christmas-like games planned with prizes for winners. They loved every single aspect! Some who we have never seen come out of their shell, really shined that night.

The last thing I would like to talk about is a family we have been helping for some time. It consists of a single mother with 8 kids ranging from 6 months to 23 years. They were evicted from their home. Nick helped them move an hour away to live with family who has little room to spare in their trailer. This family has a ton of social issues and we were very close to the teenagers in the family. I could go on and on about their issues, but I will spare you the details. The good news is that some of our supporters helped provide a Christmas for them! On our way to Phoenix for Christmas, we dropped off boxes of Christmas presents with this family. One of the teenagers had told us that she hadn't gotten any Christmas presents in years so we really wanted to find a way to help them out. Next year we might do an adopt a child type thing so be looking for that next Holiday season!