Navajo Nuggets

August 2025

Dear Friends,

We’ve had a blessed summer visiting our churches and various friends across the states. We are so encouraged by your love and grateful for your prayers and support. School has begun here again on the Colorado Plateau, and we’re back to sowing the seed. As teachers of young people, we often don’t have the privilege of seeing the harvest in these lives. But, we desire to be faithful in teaching these young ones about the love of Jesus and the authority of the Bible.

Some of the seeds bear fruit —30 fold, 60 fold, and even 100 fold.

Let me tell you about Sanford*. He attended Hilltop Christian School when he was in high school, and though he was a bit of a troublemaker, he became a Christian, and his life turned around. When someone becomes a Christian in the Navajo Nation, he might as well kiss goodbye to all family gatherings and holiday parties. Unfortunately, Sanford had cancer as a young father. (His son was in my class.) His family kept badgering him to call the medicine man for prayers and ceremonies. Sanford staunchly refused saying, “I’m not doing that. I’m going forward with the Lord.” He passed away with a strong testimony. Who knows how many of his children and family are following Jesus today because he remained steadfast?

There is Officer*. He attended Hilltop as a teen also. He tells a funny story about an incident that he and other parent of our students was involved in. Officer did well in high school and college and is in law enforcement. He has a strong Christian testimony in his work place. He attributes his success to Jesus’ supplying wisdom and peace and protection in all types of crazy situations. He is a seed that was watered at HCS and is producing more fruit.

Tom* struggled to grow in his Christian walk, until Covid hit. Then his son and wife passed away (along with other family members). Instead of letting the thorns of life choke out his faith, he fell into the arms of Jesus and said, “God, what are you trying to teach me?” One day in a low time, he pulled out his wife’s sermon and devotional notes. (Apparently she was like me, an obsessive note-taker. ) He read and reread and meditated on the notes. God began to change him. Today he leads singing and sometimes gives the sermon at local Navajo churches. Because of his sharing his faith, he is producing abundant fruit.

Willie* also attended HCS before our time here. He admits that by 16, he had a stony heart which basically rejected Christ. He joined the Marines, and wouldn’t you know it, his closest roommates were Christian guys, who reflected Christ-likeness and shared Christ and the Bible at every opportunity. Willie’s heart softened, and he became a believer. He’s stayed true for over 25 years, and now is involved in church leadership and is doing some preaching. HCS teachers didn’t see fruit. The Marines saw the beginning of the seedling. And now we can praise God that many people hear the Word and are prayed for because of Willie.

Mike* attended HCS until 7th grade. He wanted to attend the public school to participate in sports. He said it was scary at first because kids were doing weird things and he didn’t know anyone. But he told us that he has friends now. He reported that he gets to pray for the team before they play and that he is making very good grades. The seeds of the Gospel weren’t consumed by birds when he moved to public school. He has flourished and is bringing Jesus along with him on the basketball court!

The Lord brought the teachers we needed to start this school year, and we’ve even opened up the middle school (6-8) . We are still praying for a full time principal. Dr. 4 comes on campus four days a month, but is always available by e-mail, phone, or text. We are grateful for his direction. We also ask prayers that the playground installation would happen quickly, so the children can enjoy the new equipment. Also pray for me as I am adjusting to being a first-year teacher in my new assignment in middle school. 

Thank you for your prayers. We are moving in new directions and trying new things. The staff is being stretched. Pray for our peace, energy, and teamwork as we plant seeds this year. 

May God bless you abundantly.

Photos:

Crossway helped me set up my classroom. Thank you!

Girls are using their creativity to build a campfire.

The playground equipment has arrived. It is not completely installed.

Enjoying our cool mornings.

Creative Crafts help students learn history

Yellow shirts to honor our Navajo Code Talkers.

* The names have been changed.

Christmas Nuggets Dec. 2024

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for your precious prayers and gifts to us and to Hilltop Christian School and Across Nations. 

In a blur of activities and blessings, we’ve completed the first semester. The children enjoyed a fall festival, which was connected with the Across Nations Radio Shar-a-thon. Our art teacher organized the pumpkin patch, hay ride, and several carnival games. The Shar-a-thon raised a few thousand dollars for the school, and we were blessed by Radio listeners’ generosity. 

Preparing and presenting the Christmas Program occupied much time in December. The children were unable to rehearse in the church in Gallup where we held the program, but they adapted and did well on their songs and verses. The theme was “Follow the Light.” Just as lights are a major decoration used during this season, Jesus is the Light of the World, and we celebrate His birth, His life, His sacrifice, and Christ, the light of Heaven. The families responded positively, and we continue to pray for salvation of those who are being called.

Hilltop Christian School’s enrollment hovers around 55. We are operating this year with a part-time consultant/principal who is on campus four days a month. He keeps in constant communication and also works on school business from his home in Southern New Mexico. We are grateful for Dr. Four's expertise and experience as an administrator, but please continue to pray with us for a full-time principal for next year.

In addition, several of the teachers and their families have faced physical problems and would appreciate your prayers. 

  

Just this month, we were saddened by the passing of Mrs. Lois Harper, mother of the Across Nations Director, Chuck Harper. Larry and Lois Harper formerly directed this ministry, and they founded Hilltop Christian School in 1964. Lois was the first teacher. We’ve met Lois a few times, and she always had entertaining Hilltop stories from the early days. The memorial service will be in January.

We pray you and your family will have a great Christmas season as we celebrate the arrival of Jesus, the Son of God who dispels our darkness. 

The photos are from the Christmas Program. The delightful drummer boys stole the show.

The Battle Belongs to the Lord

August 25, 2024

Dear Friends,

She saw a shadowy figure hanging around her workplace. Other staff had seen it near a closet, so it wasn’t just her imagination. They were on edge and fearful. It was time to bring in the big guns. She called her parent, who is part of the Across Nations Staff, and requested prayer.

Across Nations staff hustled over to visit with the workers. They discovered that the workers believed the building was ‘haunted’ because they were at fault for someone’s death. Later that week, Across Nations was requested to come and pray over the area because the employees had tried everything they could in their ceremonial ways to get rid of the “shadow.” KA took three other Native American believers with him, and they prayed over the entire building, room by room. They reported they were like Joshua, driving the evil influences from the land.

Yes, we know there are cultural differences between us and the Navajo, but this is not the equivalent of my students telling me that if you touch a bug, you will break out in red dots or that owls and snakes are not acceptable topics of discussion because they bring evil and bad luck. The spiritual world is real, as you know, and the battle belongs to the Lord.

Hilltop Christian School has been working, saving, and accepting donations for several years to buy playground equipment. Just when we were ready to make the purchase, the funds were taken by fraud. It was a sophisticated scam, and the amount lost was huge. Of course, we are doing all we can through law enforcement and insurance to recoup some of the loss.

We’re angry and heartbroken, but it reminds us that if Across Nations and Hilltop Christian School were on the wrong path, the enemy would ignore us instead of disappointing children and stealing the Lord’s money.

We have started the school year with a full staff. Our administration situation is interesting. We have Dr. John  as our part-time principal. He’s on campus several days a month, and is always available through e-mail, text, and Zoom. Dr. John was the principal at Hilltop many years ago, and he is delighted to see the improvements to the campus. We all want this to be a workable solution, and we pray for him as he travels back and forth from southern New Mexico and as he assumes the leadership of Hilltop Christian.

When Jesus sent out the twelve, He sent them out with nothing. I take too much when I go on vacation: clothes, OTC meds, books, cash. But Jesus said no staff: nothing to lean on or to protect you from wild animals; no bag: nothing for emergencies; no bread: no extra food because He provides; no money: something tucked away to get me out of a jam; and no extra clothing. We are to be what they see. We are just servants of the Lord copying Him by teaching and healing and proclaiming the Kingdom. We teach, we love, we protect, and mostly we proclaim the love of Jesus, the Truth of the Word of God, and the reality of the spiritual realm where God is sovereign and Jesus is our Savior.

Though we have enough teachers, we are sorely lacking substitutes. Pray that more people would be willing and available to substitute for us. We’ve already had two teachers catch colds, another had an infected hand, one is missing a few days due to cataract surgery, and one missed a week because of a death in the family. Don’t tell me there isn’t a spiritual battle going on.

Thank you so much for your encouragement and support in many ways.

In Service of the King of Kings,

Across Nations Celebrates 86

Colossians 2: 6-7 — Grow in Christ

*Follow Him simply in faith

*Drop roots deep down in Christ

*Build my life on Him alone

*Grow my faith in truth

*Overflow with thankfulness

This October 6-8, Across Nations celebrated its 86th year of ministry and dedicated the new Radio Center. Howard Clark founded the mission first as a Bible School in 1937, with the urgent desire to equip Navajo pastors and teachers. He must be praising God to see how the ministry has grown in depth and breadth. The new radio building, constructed of cargo containers, has only a few more knots to tie until we move in the radio equipment and offices.

The radio building was christened the Thomas Woods Media Center. Thomas Woods was a radio personality here before our time, but we learned about him in a strange and wonderful way. We dropped in at Gray’s Rock Shop (Holbrook) on our way back from Flagstaff a few years ago. In chatting with the clerk, we told him we were from Tse Bonito. He got excited and asked if we knew about the Christian Radio station there. We confirmed that we did. He told us that he got saved by listening to Thomas Woods on KWIM, and he has never gone back to his old life! As a young man, he learned to follow Jesus in faith because of the teaching of Thomas Woods in his native language.

One of the men who is pictured in the old photos that were displayed  is Hastiin Notah. He worked right alongside Howard Clark in preaching and teaching all over the Navajo Reservation. At the celebration, we were privileged to meet his granddaughter.  Hastiin Notah dropped his roots deep down in Christ when it certainly went against the cultural current of his day. The Notah Retreat Center on the hill was named to honor him.

At the Banquet (and the Radio Building Dedication) Pastor Milt  led us in prayer. Pastor Milt has a great story of conversion himself.  But to our surprise and delight, at the Banquet, the father of one of our students leaned over to me after Pastor Milt was introduced and said, “I was strung out on coke for ten years, and Pastor Milt visited me in jail.” That father has turned his life around and built his life on Jesus alone. He and his wife are raising good kids who also love Jesus. 

The first quarter is over, and we are preparing for Parent-Teacher Conferences this week.  It’s beyond our wisdom to know what to say. We are teaching academics, but our main purpose is to lead these children to our loving God and salvation through Jesus Christ. We want to teach them the truth of God’s Word so their faith will grow in truth.

We heard another amazing story this weekend. We thought this radio project would be completed three years ago, but the State kept changing the rules. Originally the churches that donated the containers were going to finish the inside and deliver them ready to “plug and play.” Well, the State changed the permit and said that it had to be built here on site. That took additional time and required us to hire workers. But we here at Across Nations are overflowing with thankfulness because eight men have met Jesus and been saved because they worked here where they were loved and led to Jesus.

As for prayer this month:

We are looking for a fourth grade teacher.

Pray for our conferences that are coming up.

Love,

R and S

Christmas

December 25, 2022

Merry Christmas to all,

            Just as the shepherd boy David arrived with his sling at the perfect time to defeat the giant Goliath, David’s greater Son arrived on earth when we needed Him to overpower the twin giants of sin and death! (Galatians 4:4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law.) Generations of believing Jews had prayed for and watched for the Messiah.

            In our Hilltop Christian School Christmas Program we shared through songs, verses, narrations, and poems how the puzzle pieces of prophecies fit together to show Jesus is the Promised One. Each class told a part of the story. Third grade shepherds and preschool angels made an appearance, and we closed with a jubilant song – Joy to the World. Jesus came and He is returning again in His time.

            The Christmas Program was another one of those “God brings it together in His timing” events. The week of the program, a water-leak emergency kept us from having school at all on Monday and Tuesday; so Wednesday we practiced only during music class, and Thursday (the morning of the program) we had a run- through. That evening we gathered for the program at a church in Gallup that the students had never seen. We had no time to fret about the lack of rehearsals and left the results up to the Lord. “We loved how the gospel was woven into the entire program,” said one Grandma. “It all went so smoothly,” remarked several people. Others blessed us saying the Christmas message came through and was very encouraging and enjoyable.

            Speaking of “in the fullness of time”: in August we did not have a 4^th grade teacher. At the last minute, our reliable substitute, who had taught at Hilltop previously, said she’d teach for a semester. She came and started the class on a good path, but last week when break began, she needed to leave. We’ve been praying for a new teacher; and on that last Friday morning, we rejoiced because another substitute stepped in to finish the year! Just in God’s timing. 

            As we watch and pray, we rest in God’s perfect timing as the leadership in the Navajo Nation has changed, and it is not clear how the government will respond to Christians and Conservatives. We continue also to pray for a Principal for Hilltop Christian School. Cindy  is doing a wonderful job in the interim, but she’s added another hat to the already teetering stack on her head.

            We wish you all a very blessed Christmas, for unto us a Child is born. Unto us a Son is Given.         (Isaiah 9:6)

 

Love,

S and R

September 5

We have been going strong at Hilltop Christian School since August 10^th. The Lord brought teachers for our staff this fall. Our new 6^th grade teacher is a young man from Colorado, who graduated from the School of Mines. His parents were missionaries in Russia, so he has a real heart for the ministry and for teaching the Word of God. Our 4^th grade teacher is a woman  who raised her children here on the Rez, and who has been a faithful substitute for many years for us. She is a gifted teacher, and we are glad to have her on board full time. 

 

We still are waiting for a Principal. Our Across Nations Director’s wife is filling in the position as interim. She is doing a great job. She brings competence and joy to the staff. But she already was busy with other things, so we’re expecting just the right person to be sent to us soon. Thank you for your specific prayers.

 

We have smallish classes. I have 9 first graders, and he has 8 third graders.  We are looking forward to a good year with these students. 

 

We attended an event last weekend -- the Ground Breaking Ceremony for the National Code Talkers Museum right here in Tse Bonito. We enjoyed the speeches honoring the Code Talkers and others who represent our country in the armed services.  https://www.nationalnavajocodetalkersday.com/navajo-code-talkers-museum

 

Across Nations is also celebrating its 85^th year at the end of this month. This is going to be a wonderful memorial to the Lord’s faithfulness and goodness throughout the years. Many of The Navajo Nation’s people still see Christianity lumped in the Western Colonization, and are continuing to believe in the traditional religion and superstitions.  A friend of ours wrote a poem, which I will share below.

 

Here on the Navajo Nation, we get more rain in the summer than in the spring.  We call it monsoon. It has rained nearly every day since July. The desert has turned into a lush green, flowery garden. We don’t have blazing heat, like they do in Phoenix, so our days are beautiful right now. We have some gorgeous photos of the wildflowers.

 

The desert seems dead – 

No growth is in sight.

The ground thirsts for water

‘Neath unrelenting light.

 

Yet, then the rain tumbles;

The ground drinks its fill.

New life resurrected,

Sleeping seeds sprout with thrill.

 

The rain just keeps coming;

The land bursts with new hues.

The flowers are blooming

With joy, earth renews.

 

The desert is covered;

Revival has won!

The land is at rest

Under mild summer sun.

 

Yet, despite the new growth,

The souls in this land

Still lie dormant or dead

In the red, dusty sand.

 

The souls of the people

Lie dead, as in night.

Do they thirst for water

And heavenly light?

 

These seeds we have planted

Dwell dormant in hearts.

Oh, Lord, send the rain,

A revival must start!

 

Wash these dry hearts and lives

With the waters of Truth.

Let them drink in God’s Word,

So seeds sprout a new birth.

 

And just like the land,

We plead Spiritual growth.

We praise You for one,

But we long to have both.

 

Send Laborers, Dear God,

To loosen the soil

And water the harvest

For those in sin’s roil.

 

I desire these dear hearts

To look just like these flowers --

Growing and flourishing 

And basking in showers.

By: Joy