Sept. 1

Dear Friends and Family,

It’s a big week here at the Navajo Nation: It’s fair week. Schools take off one day for the fair, but we expect lower than usual attendance for the rest of the week. We were interested in the Miss Navajo contest. Here are some of the events the young ladies compete in: Butchering and Fry Bread competition, Contemporary Skills (such as sheep shearing, weaving, and speaking Navajo), Talent, and Meet and Greet. Quite a difference from a fluffy beauty contest!

Three of our students rode in the Junior Rodeo this morning. Two of the first graders did calf riding. Ignorantly, I asked if they did “wooly riding,” but was immediately informed that riding the sheep was for babies. Nope, they have achieved the next step. Another older girl was in the barrel racing event. As we drove down Hwy 264, we noted that practically the entire street was already staked out by people saving parade spots. There were even a few tents. The parade isn’t until next Saturday!!

View from the top of the hill.

We have a good-sized preschool.

Playground. School is background right. 

Waiting patiently.

Overheard Nuggets:

Said in prayer by a 1^st grader: Help this lunch to make our brains work and make us healthy. Let us obey. Let us be safe.

Said in conversation in 4^th grade: B – God is such a Good Father!

E. Yes, He is.

Said by a young snack eater: Look, I see a mushroom in my granola bar. (I think she meant marshmallow.)

One of the parents in R’s class returned a textbook with all the pictures of snakes covered with yellow stickies. Yes, there is an acknowledgement of Christianity, but many are controlled by “powers and authorities” such as snakes and coyotes. “Christ has disarmed all such powers and authorities; he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross!” Col. 2: 15. Pray for us as we persuade our students and parents that Jesus is more powerful than “elemental spirits.”

We have a busy week because we are also hosting a Hilltop Christian School reunion. The school has been around for 50 years and has made quite an impact on the community during much of that time.  We’re praying for the school as it took last year off and is beginning again this year, seeking to again impact the community for Jesus Christ.

Love