Sept 27, 2015

Friends put together this montage for us.

Dear Praying Friends,

A wonderful California couple that comes to Western Indian Ministries to serve – especially with the construction on the campus -- lost their home in the Butte fire this month.

This is their story from FaceBook (used with permission):

September 5: We’ve been chosen as Missionaries of the Month for our church. Preparing a report.

September 10: Fires raging in California. The Butte fire is of concern. We are listening to the scanner. Sections of this fire are almost six miles from us as the crow flies. Church family have evacuated. Their homes are gone.

September 11: Packing our vehicles. What a dilemma. So many precious mementos reminding us of brothers and sisters all over the world.  Pray.

Sept. 11: Denise and I and Brandi and Caleb (two of our grown children) are bone-weary, but ready to leave. We had one hour warning from the authorities.

Sept. 11: 4:45 Caravan evacuated.

Professional photo by John Slot.

Sept. 11: PM: Safe at a friend’s house.

Fire has burned 64,000 acres. Is 10% contained.

No word when we can check on our house.

Sept. 12: Worshipping at church. Such an outpouring of love and support!

Sept. 12: Got to pray with service providers and evacuation staff today before going to our property.

Sept. 12: Pictures of the burned down house, yard, and equipment shed full of tools for the Construction business. Hard to post. My strength comes from the Lord. Pray for all those in the fire zone.

We know of 8 who have lost their houses besides us. – all families in the body of Christ.

Sept. 13: Forgot to pack clothes. Need to go shopping.

Professional photo by John Slot

It appears that our house became the firebreak and every other home south of us was saved. God is providing for us. Our insurance company will allow us to be our own contractors for the rebuild and has even listed Loving Touch Design and Remodeling as an approved company to rebuild other homes lost by the fire, which would allow us to employ members of Christ family to rebuild theirs' and others’ houses. I pray that it can be said that, "the 'faith' is strong with this one" and that on the end an agent of evil will repent and return to the faith declaring " 'HE' saved us, 'Christ' saved us all.”

Leaving for the mission as scheduled on Wednesday this week. All Glory and Honor and Praise to our God and more thanks than I can express to all of you.

The Lord will provide a new home.

Sept. 14: The Butte Fire has been called the 15^th largest wildfire in CA history. Mountain Ranch is a former historic mining town of about 16,000. Residents feel responsible to protect the town. Used tractors to create a firebreak around the historic town center.

Sept.14: God has a purpose for your pain, a reason for your struggles, and a gift for your faithfulness. Don’t ever give up.

Sept.15: Still burning, but God sent rain on Rosh Hashanah! Firefighters are gaining control.

Sept.16: Leaving for Western Indian Ministries. A group is coming from PA to work on the dorm.

Sept.17: Seven cats still missing. Chickens gone.

Sept 18: When you feel you’re drowning in life’s situations, don’t worry. Your lifeguard walks on water.

Sept 19: Shared in church at Tse Bonito (Navajo Nation) how the Lord has blessed. Our insurance is great. We will be able to replace our home and contents (and Caleb’s and Brandi’s trailers.) People have donated so many things. Our CA church took an offering. An amazing amount! God’s blessings overflow. We’re sharing it with others who have lost their homes.

Sept. 19: Heard that the chinchilla died. Denise is at a Women’s Retreat. When the camp heard about our house, they paid her registration. Praise the Lord.

Sept. 19: Fire is 63% contained. Has destroyed hundreds of homes. Might have been started by a power line coming in contact with a tree.

 

Sept. 20: Lost my prayer shawl from Israel. Garfield is back, along with two more cats. Isaiah 43:2 HE is always with us.

Sept 21: Was just hired to rebuild another house lost in the fire. Will work out with us hiring this brother in Christ and his family/friends as builders. His insurance money pays us for him to build his home with us supervising!

The whole area looks like this now.

Sept 21: All glory to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as He demonstrates His love for His children in the midst of crisis. Just learned that two trailers have been donated so we can live on our property as we rebuild.

Sept 23: Tons of work getting done this week at the dorm at Western Indian Ministries.

August 27

August 27

It's been three Sundays since we heard about the toxic spill from the Gold King Mine in Colorado.

The "abandoned" mine where the EPA itself (unintentionally) caused a spill of more than 3 million gallons of wastewater turned the Animas River system orange and flowed into the Navajo Nation, threatening the source of irrigation water in the Shiprock area. Some 750+ families rely on farming for food in this area. Fortunately Farmington and Shiprock share a reservoir with about a three-month supply of clean water, so the drinking water is safe.

The EPA didn't alert the Navajo Nation about the spill until 24 hours after the incident.

Water that the EPA shipped in arrived in tankers apparently used for carrying oil, and oil drops were found floating in the water. President Bagaye deemed it wise to send the tankers back rather than to use the water.

A week after the spill, the Animas River was tested in Colorado and deemed ready to be reopened to the public for recreational purposes.

The Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency gave the green light to use the San Juan River for irrigation on Monday, but President Russell Begaye stated that he decided to keep the canals closed because a non-profit group has found heavy metals including vanadium, titanium, and barium in its samples. The riverbed sediment should also be tested because each time the soil is disturbed, the water could be re-contaminated. The farmers are overwhelmingly concerned about contaminated fields and crops, which people will not want to buy.

Cleaning this up is more than an economic problem, though that is an important impact. The Navajos have a cultural and traditional connection to their land; water is the elemental basis of the tradition of their religion. For the river to be harmed in this way, the damage is beyond description. You would understand this feeling when you think about how you react to the desecration of a church or a satirical picture of Jesus on the Cross. There is a sense of mourning in the Nation over the damage done to the river.

The Bible also uses the image of the Holy Spirit as the Living Water -- the water that refreshes and cleanses our souls as Jesus revealed to the woman at the well – the water that flows from our beings to bless others.

Pray for the Navajo leaders as they solve these problems.

September 12

 We have a fascinating group visiting Western Indian Ministries and the Navajo Nation this month. They represent UniSkript – a way of picturing any language without using a Latin or symbolic alphabet. Their goal is teaching literacy very quickly, so illiterate peoples can read a Bible (written in UniSkript) in their mother tongue. (Uniskript.org)

In an initial meeting with the team we were discussing the conundrum of the Navajos having to reject most of their culture when they become Christians because the traditions are shaded with demonic meanings.

Suzuki (YWAM linguist from Brazil) told us this most remarkable story. Suzuki and his wife, Marcia, had worked for 20 years with a tiny tribe in the interior. This tribe was controlled by the witch doctor who went off periodically to commune with the spirits. The people lived in fear of displeasing the deities. Suzuki and Marcia learned the language and preached the gospel faithfully to the tribe, but their simple, direct words of God’s love did not touch the hearts of the people.

Many years later, they returned to the tribe after having been in the city for a break. The witch doctor was singing and chanting a song about eating cashews, and he seemed like a different person. Suzuki and Marcia couldn’t make heads or tails of the cashews or why the man was so changed on the inside – full of peace. They probed and questioned until they figured it out.

The witch doctor said that Jesus had met him as he was seeking the spirits and contemplating taking his own life. He said that Jesus had met him and had eaten the cashews for him. Understand that green cashews are very bitter and when someone eats them, it is believed that they not only poison the person’s stomach, but they poison the person’s soul. The witch doctor had been given the key to the gospel in a vision that he understood. Jesus takes away the sin—the bitterness that poisons your heart—and He eats it for you, so you are clean!

Partner Reading

To that tribe, Spiritual truth is not supposed to be plain and simple. It is best understood in a metaphorical way. To them, the words “Jesus Loves You” is too simple to be a spiritual truth! Salvation has come to that tribe. And the remarkable thing is that they had not really changed on the outside. They still did the same rituals, but the people are more kind and peaceful and not fearful. When the government officials came through inspecting to make sure that YWAM was not changing the culture of the tribe, they could not tell any outward difference. (In Brazil, Christians are persecuted if they try to change the culture of an indigenous tribe.)

Beautiful Children

Perhaps we should worry less about what the saved Navajos will do with their culture and pray for the Key so they understand Redemption.  What helps them to truly take in God’s gracious gospel?  Then let God direct them in the cultural things.

I hope to write more on UniSkript later. There has been a book written about the Suzukis and the daughter they rescued and adopted. It is called A Way Beyond Death: A Brazilian Couple’s Fight Against Fear, Suffering, and Infanticide, by Jemimah Wright.

Please pray for one of our faithful construction volunteer families – Keith and Denise. They lost their home and their cats in a California wildfire this week.

Thank you for your prayers, love, and gifts,

Learning number words and order