Mission Navajo Reflections: part 2

(continued from the previous post of top things seen and learned on the recent Mission Navajo trip by Helene Bergren)
11. Maintaining patience with children and youth of varied ages. The kids learned and contributed in amazing ways physically and spiritually, but for those without kids or through that life-stage, it could have been a bigger adjustment than it was.

12. Leading devotions. Many who led morning or evening devotions had never put together spiritual, Biblical pieces in that way. The newbies shared beautiful, God-glorifying messages.

13. Accompanying devotion time as a new, self-taught youth guitarist.

14. Driving a 12-passenger van pulling a trailer, at night, through construction and over and down mountain passes.

15. Discerning which needs took priority proved heart-wrenching as needs ranged from clearly spiritual and relational, to practical, necessity-oriented involving food, clothing and shelter.

16. Seeing hitchhikers everywhere – the young and the old – and not being able to stop and help everyone.

17. Hearing of the desperate problems of drug and alcohol abuse, leading to many drunk driving accidents, injuries and deaths.

18. Learning about the all-too-common tragedy of youth suicide, and need for youth counselors.

19. Seeing God’s power and our power as Christ followers in prayer as a real solution to issues we encountered.

20. Understanding firsthand that spreading love and Christ’s light comes in many forms — such as practical help, a hug or respect tendered, and through including the Dine’ people in projects and outreach.

Mission Navajo Reflections: part 1

God asked us as Mission Navajo team members to step out of our comfort zones, sow love, live with good humor, and discover new abilities, God’s power and His way of working through us. In many cases, the hard part wasn’t something we did, but situations we observed, and understood would not change in one mission trip, or with one food basket donation. Here are a few of my top moments of the trip:

1. Seeing the sick, poor and elderly in living conditions we wouldn’t want to endure. In many cases, the living condition is their choice.

2. Chopping wood for days on end. The task lasted for several long days, and it was done in the high altitude, with little sleep.

3. Chopping wood at all. Not being sexist or ageist, but skinny women and skinny children learned to do this. That rocks.

4. Accepting gifts from Navajo with clearly less financial means than team members proved emotionally difficult. In Navajo culture, more than in our Midwestern culture, a gift must be accepted or it causes hurt feelings.

5. Going-with-the flow in a culture that doesn’t see time in a linear way, which proved to be a challenge to a team full of punctual professionals and accomplishment-oriented people.

6. Changing a tire on an unfamiliar vehicle, without an owner’s manual, in a remote part of the reservation, with no cell phone service to call husbands or a dad with questions. And, FYI, there’s no level ground to be found at the top of Big Mountain, Arizona.

7. Teaching Sunday School at a moment’s notice.

8. Taking cold showers. Three bathrooms, 20 people. Mostly chicks. Um, yeah.

9. Planning financially and believing for God’s provision to pay the trip fee in the first place.

10. Talking through a sewing machine issue with a sweet little lady. A big deal for a non-mechanically minded, once-in-awhile seamstress.

Helene Bergren

Wednesday Work Day

So yesterday we spent all day out in Tohlakai working. It was a beautiful day outside and we chopped wood while other people painted, prepared meals, cleaned, built a cross, and put linseed oil on the cabin. After chopping wood for a while the infamous hitch hiker (Alvin) stopped by to say hi and said he would be by again to help. Even after spending hours in the woods, our woodchuckers showed up to drop off another load and help us chop. They only stayed for a couple hours because they had to go to the woods again to gather and deliver wood again. We loaded up some wood and Emily and I went with Larry and Reverend on one of their many deliveries to drop off a load of firewood. The delivery we made was to Lily and Fred who we stayed and talked to and it was really cool to hear them speaking in Navajo and enjoying our company.

Sure enough, later in the day Alvin showed up with his wife Rachel (who coincidentally works at SMASE and saw us Tuesday) and two sons Tyler (6) and Skyler (5). We ended up befriending the two boys and spent the evening playing with them. The boys are a handful but at least their parents were able to enjoy a break for a few hours. It’s really interesting that everywhere we go we seem to be a magnet for little kids but now we have about 6 new boyfriends to keep in touch with.

We ate Navajo tacos that someone prepared for us in appreciation of the work we are doing and afterwards we spent some time outside and left shortly after to come back to the house. By 8 o’clock everyone was completely exhausted from painting, building, and chopping and we had a devotional before people started heading to bed. Of course we waited for our knights in shining armor (the woodchuckers) to show up and get the dinner we had saved for them since they were in the woods and unable to make it to Tohlakai. We played Bologna with the kids and talked with Franklin for a while and finally hit the hay around 11 pm. Those boys sure take the energy out of us but we love them too much to care.

We have truly been blessed by all the new friends we have made and it is neat to see how many people have come to help us out of the goodness of their hearts.

Hannah and Emily

Tuesday: A day of challenges, faith and love.

Tuesday brought more challenges on the reservation. There were spiritual challenges, mental challenges and physical challenges.

Spiritual/Mental challenge: I found myself waking up with sore muscles, tired spirits and a room full of others who have somehow managed to not be feeling the same things. This was my first challenge. How can I get myself wrapped around the thought of living this lifestyle? I know the Lord God will provide for me, but why doesn’t it feel like it today? Why does my heart feel heavy? I keep going back to what I’m here for, remembering that I need to be a better Christian, following Jesus and letting him guide me in my life. I am a person, who when he sees a problem, fixes it. That doesn’t mean it’s always the right solution, but it’s a solution still the same.

So how can I let go, not just on the outside, but truly let go? How can I see families living in houses that are in SERIOUS need of renovations and not be able to just go fix it up? It’s a struggle deep within me.

For the evening, we have all planned to spend supper with a different family, learning their culture, their personalities and their love. When we approached the elderly couple my family was going to spend supper with, there was a miscommunication along the way and the family wasn’t prepared for us. This was a bit disappointing, but we KNOW the Lord works in ways sometimes we don’t understand. Being the wonderful host Janelle is, she immediately had another family that we could spend time with. When we arrived at our second destination, we were greeted with SUCH GREAT hospitality it was warming to the heart. I know this family was planning for one guest and then suddenly they had FIVE. They didn’t blink an eye and welcomed us ALL into their homes and lives.
This family made an INCREDIBLE meal for us! The food was a typical Navajo supper, very authentic and bountiful and VERY good!! We all had a wonderful evening, and for me, I almost forgot where I was, that I was a thousand miles from the sanctity of my own home. Simply put, it felt like family. I felt like I belonged. Finally the feeling was clear, we’re not just here to help them with things they need, they are here to help us with things WE need. To remind us what is important, God, love and family. While I KNOW people have told us this before, hearing those things and feeling those things are two totally different things. This is exactly what I needed to feel and when I needed to feel it.

Physical Challenges: With sore hands, sore backs and a strong wills, two Father/Son groups , Rod & David Bergren, Bob & Preston Mesecher, took off for a farm where we were blessed to be able to help a man who has given so much to so many people. There were some fences to mend, gates to hang and walls to replace. I personally LOVE building things, and working on a farm is where I feel at home. The sun beating down and the air so pure every breath feels a blessing. (Even if it’s at a sheep farm, the smell doesn’t seem so bad.) This only adds to my wonderful experience I’m having here on Mission Navajo.

Cayleen went to SMASE’s (St. Michael’s Association of Special Education) campus. We got a tour of the facility and met some of the people staying there. Then we had several small groups go out throughout the campus and help with various tasks. Cayleen & Jessica cleaned out their computer supply room. They inventoried all the monitors, desktops and laptops.

We also went to the local grocery store to buy staple food items for several Navajo families. We had 15 carts full of groceries, which included hundreds cans of SPAM.

Bailee spent a LOT of time outside, without sun block, working the ground, tilling it to prepare for the garden they will be soon planting. Later in the evening, she wasn’t so happy about forgetting sun block.

Bob, Cayleen, Preston and Bailee Mesecher

Lindsay's Ramblings from Arizona

Colossians 2:2 “My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

This is part of our purpose on Mission Navajo. So far we have encouraged others and been greatly encouraged ourselves. A group of 4 Mission Navajo Prairie Ridge men headed out to the Tologhi area (which means White Water in Navajo) to assist Rev. Gardner in chopping firewood to deliver to 3 families in the congregation who greatly need this wood to heat their homes. A local family joined in to help, as well as Alvin-who was passing by on foot to Navajo, New Mexico. It was collaboration!

Our men headed out at about 11:00a.m.-this is a complete estimate of the “time” they arrived. We know the sun had just risen when they arrived and it was before lunch. So, we will settle on 11a.m. The concept of “time” is completely different here. It’s not about clocks, deadlines, agendas, or calendars- it’s about living each moment while completing the tasks you need to without the rush or anxiety about doing it in sync with the clock. Mark, a member of Window Rock Reformed Church and dedicated to keeping the Navajo traditions explained that time in modern society is linear-once we pass an event, we can never go back, therefore we stress to meet deadlines and have mid-life crisis’. Time in Navajo is circular-you can focus on your task and complete it when you complete it. It’s ok if you miss an event because the sun will rise again for you to finish it.

I really experienced this yesterday, in a conversation with Mary Anne, a Navajo native and woman of God. “I wake up each morning, go outside, and ask God to bless this day and give us strength to do our chores,” she said, at one point in our conversation. Our conversation lasted for six hours. I met her in the afternoon and we talked until the sun had been set for a long time. We talked about her life, her faith, and her traditions. She grew up on the Reservation. When she was a young girl, her family was sheep herders. They traveled where the sheep went. She walked with me through the vast landscape, and pointed to rocks and told me their names. She pointed to areas her family lived and traveled through each season. In our conversation, I had no concept of time. We connected. We encouraged one another. All I saw were her eyes. I learned from Sylvia, another Navajo native that the elders do not say many words yet you can hear their words by watching their facial expressions. I watched Mary Anne’s face and felt love- the love that is God’s purpose for us: 1 John 4:21 “And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

Yes-during the entire six hours the men were still chopping and our women had now joined in as well! In all honesty I was so captivated by Mary Anne that time slipped away. She is still on my heart at this moment. Thank you, God for being bigger than clocks and calendars! Thank you for uniting us in love!

Lindsay Johnson

WOW! What a Sunday, what a blessing!

Wow! Sunday was our first full day on the reservation, and it turned out to be a day that answered many of our prayers and exceeded all of our expectations! We joined Window Rock Christian Reformed Church for worship at 10:00 a.m. Team members who attended the trip last year were able to reconnect with some familiar faces (including Rev. Will & Sue Kempkes) and the entire group was blessed with the opportunity to meet many new people. Several of our team members led the church in singing during worship, and we were privileged to have the Navajo people lead us in singing several hymns in Navajo.

The Navajo people were very welcoming to us and invited our group to join them for a potluck lunch at the church. Some of the girls on our team even had the chance to help make the fry bread for the Navajo tacos. We had the chance to eat with the Navajo people and shared some great conversations. We also invited many of our new friends to join us for an evening meal at our home.

After lunch, we went to the see Window Rock – an incredible rock formation that the capital of the Navajo Nation is named after. Later in the afternoon, we traveled 30 miles to Ganado to visit the historic Hubbell Trading Post, a historic Indian trading post that is now a National Historic Site operated by the National Park Service. The trading post still sells goods, jewelry, rugs and other crafts made by native tribes, including the Navajo.

Our prayers were answered Sunday evening when more than 25 guests joined us for a time of fellowship and authentic Mexican food (including mole chicken, enchiladas, rice, black beans) prepared by our friend Barbara. Our guests included some amazing Navajo people – including the Harrison family who presented us with a beautiful carving as a “thank you” for our help.

We had nearly 50 people in our house – eating, sharing stories, playing games, laughing and sharing time in fellowship. Barbara also showed us some handmade beaded necklaces and gave us the chance to buy some of her work. We even sang happy birthday (in Navajo and in English) to celebrate the many recent/upcoming birthdays in the group, including Janelle, Jessica, Sydney, Greg and several of our Navajo friends. Two of the Harrison boys also sang the Navajo pledge with the group which was wonderful. There was so much emotion and love in the house – it was truly a blessing! Despite the poverty and oppression that exists here, the Navajo people are full of love and very welcoming to our team. We can all feel God’s presence here with us and are looking forward to what He has in store for the rest of the week.

--Allison Lycke

We have arrived!

Hi this is Derek from Bondurant. We arrived at Hilltop Christian School last night around 10:30pm it was dark and cool out. All of us were exhausted and ready for bed. We awoke this morning this morning with a dusting of snow on the ground. The scenery looks really beautiful from our window. Snow highlights next to red clay colored rock cliffs.
Everyone seems to be getting along wonderfully. This is my first trip away from my family doing something like this, so I am not sure what to expect here. All I can say is” Here I am Lord.”
On the way down here at our rest stops I bumped into other believers who offered words of encouragement. Reminds me of scripture in Proverbs that says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledges Him and He shall direct your paths.”
Well this is my first attempt at a blog. Sorry so short.
Derek Griffith