Now that we’ve come to the end of the year, we wanted to take a look back at the past year’s events and look ahead to the goals and plans for 2012. The congregation here has gone through a lot of change in this past year. The biggest of which, obviously, is the loss of the Austin family. In March, Josh had an opportunity to go to Denver and work with Bear Valley as a coordinator of one of their largest extension schools. That meant that for the first time in nearly a decade the pulpit here has been filled by someone other than Josh. The rest of the family’s presence have been missed too. Six people don’t disappear around here and go unnoticed, especially six people who contributed as much as the Austins did.
The congregation has continued to grow in spite of the losses of a number of families and individuals. We’ve had new people move into town where others left and we’ve had at least nine baptisms in this past year. That number includes five men who are under the age of 25. One of our long term goals here is to train men to be the leaders in the church. We want to see Navajo men become preachers and teachers and Elders and deacons. Baptizing new men into the church is a positive step towards accomplishing that goal.
We could talk about a lot of numbers and statistics and they wouldn’t begin to tell the story of what’s happening in the work here. True growth isn’t measured in attendance, in the offering or in the number of conversions, but in the condition of the heart. That doesn’t mean that we don’t pay attention to some of those other tangible things, but we try not to judge ourselves by them. Along with nine new converts in this past year, we’ve seen a few people be restored to the church. Obviously, when someone gives their life over to Christ we are filled with joy. In a similar way, when someone who knew the truth returns to do what is right, it is a tremendous victory for the church. Those occasions have been some of the most precious to us, personally.
A big event on the 2011 calendar was the garden project, which amazingly went an entire year with the unoriginal name: “Garden Project”. Our garden received mixed reviews this year, and depending on whom you asked the answer might be quite different. (Yes, I just used the word whom. Appropriately. Someone forward this to my past English teachers.) Since I write the newsletter you get to hear my review of the garden. It was fantastic! It didn’t attract 100’s of followers and eager participants. It didn’t feed the masses. It didn’t spread through our community like a wildfire. It didn’t produce any blue ribbon vegetables (this year). It didn’t even lead to any new families placing membership at the church.
It did, however, create a small buzz in our neighborhood and open some lines of communication with our immediate neighbors. It did on occasion cause people to say, “You’re that church that started the garden?” It did produce vegetables in what used to be an empty lot full of broken beer bottles and it did serve to feed - or supplement- some people in need. Measuring by those standards, it was a success.
As a master gardener, I am woefully inept. We lost good cauliflower and broccoli only because I lacked the knowledge to know when it was ripe. We lost our beets to a barrage of beetles. We failed to stake our tomatoes and they grew into a gigantic mass of vines that was impossible to penetrate.
The “Garden: 2012” (any takers on that name?) will be better. We’re better at recognizing what problems and pitfalls a garden will have and we’re better equipped to handle them. We’ll make a bigger push to involve the church in this summer’s garden and we’ll be smarter about using it for an outreach. Last year, we bought seedlings in Flagstaff for our garden and our hands were tied a little bit based on what was available at the nursery. The only problem with the nursery in Flagstaff is that they live in an entirely different climate than we do. They have trees, water, good soils, shade and cooler days, less wind, etc. This year I am going to start our seedlings from a seed and focus on the types of plants that both grow well in our climate and are more filling to eat. Things like potatoes, melons, carrots, beans and cucumbers instead of the lettuce, hot peppers and beets we planted last year. It’s a work in progress.
Billy Kniffen and his wife, Mary, also known as the two hardest workers in the world, graciously gave up their time to visit Kayenta. Billy has been described to me as one of the world’s leading experts in water catchment. He’d never say so, because he’s as humble as he is hard working. He designed a water catchment system for us. The average rainfall in Kayenta is less than 9 inches a year. In Columbus, Ohio where I grew up it’s 38.5; in Nashville, TN it’s closer to 50. We don’t get much water. Now, thanks to the Kniffens, we have a system in place that will capture enough water to keep our garden watered for an entire growing season, in theory. Most people will find this paragraph boring, and that’s okay. I’m really excited about it. Watering a garden as big as ours with just rain water is cool- extremely cool.
Last summer, we made another huge development for the work in Kayenta by hiring a college intern. Cory Landolt came to us after completing his freshman year at Harding University. Cory did a great job for us here in Kayenta. Last summer, was essentially phase one of our plan to increase exposure and strengthen missionary teams on the Rez. This summer we plan to bring out more interns across the entire Reservation and eventually increase the number of mission workers.
In addition to some of these larger events throughout the year, we have maintained a hectic normal schedule. We meet for services three times per week, hold a Bible Study on another night and then a monthly Bible Study for the entire Reservation once a month. We had both a clothing drive and school supply drive at the church building this year. We continue to have an abundance of visitors to the church and do whatever we can to study with them and teach them the truth.
This past year, Heidi and I have had the opportunity to be a part of some retreats, workshops and lectureships that were just outstanding. We’d like to be able to do more of that. We recognize the importance of taking time for ourselves and for improving our marriage and our spiritual life. Recognizing a need for it and doing it are separate matters. I’d imagine that nearly all of the ministers reading this could find some bit of truth in that.
Polishing the Pulpit in Sevierville, TN is an example of just one lectureship that was excellent. It was a great opportunity to get to meet new people and visit with some of our supporters and to get recharged spiritually for the work we’re doing.
The plans and future of this work are really exciting. Dan Keele is here. The new trailer has arrived. Garden:2012 is right around the corner. I’m the director of church camp this summer {gulp}. We have as many visitors as we’ve ever had. Our sights are set on tackling our goals and this church is moving in the right direction.
Many good strides were made for the church in 2011 when it comes to the ladies of the congregation. We have managed to keep ladies’ nights going every Monday through the year. This includes Bible studies, crafts, eating together, cooking together, and so much more! Many of our members really look forward to Monday nights, but it’s not just members. We have a few ladies who never attend services, but show up on Mondays almost every week. It has become a great evangelism tool! In addition, some of our members have stepped up to lead devotionals and other activities. It is such a blessing to know the ladies want to take ownership of this event.
Ladies Corner:
In September, we held the first ever ladies day on the reservation. It was a huge success with close to 50 in attendance. The feedback was incredible and we are making this an annual event. We also started a relationship with the local women’s shelter. This was led by one of our members, Jennifer, which is so encouraging. We collected items to give to the families at the women’s shelter and hosted a Christmas dinner for them. We hope to continue this giving and start providing more help for the women’s shelter throughout the year.
One area I personally tried to focus on was spending more time with and developing relationships with the teenage girls. In the spring, I held a study on sexual purity. I thought the study went well, but only one or two were in attendance every week. Also, I learned a huge difference between teens raised in the church and those new to the church. I had my work cut out for me and I would like to try something different in 2012 with a focus on foundations of faith. There were other ways I connected to some who were not in that class. I had an individual Bible study with a girl who ended up being baptized, Josslyn. I started tutoring one of our teenage girls, Lucresha, almost every day for a while. I set up at the flea market with a troubled girl, Annie, in hopes to talk to her and help her do something productive. I am trying to be a mentor, guide and friend to some of our girls and hope to continue this in 2012.
Lastly, my children’s classes went really well and right now, another lady is teaching the 7-12 year olds, which is a huge blessing! We come up with our own material, but we are looking to purchase new curriculum with solid Bible teaching and also stimulating to the children.
If you have any suggestions or know of any solid material, please contact me. We are looking for a few options to choose from. Also, we would love to have people come out to do a workshop sometime on how to teach children’s classes. Please contact me if you are interested.
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