Navajo Nuggets: When the Presents are gone, we have the Presence.

6th and 7th Graders enjoy the first snow. Due to the altitude, we have the presence of snow several times during the winter here on the Navajo Reservation. The students (and the teachers) go wild. Some classes celebrate with a hot chocolate party.

January 25, 2026

Dear Friends,

Now that the Christmas Season is merging into Valentine’s Day, and the Amazon gift certificates have been spent, let’s take a breath and review.

The theme of our Christmas Program in December was “You can’t have a White Christmas unless you have a Red Christmas first!”

Galatians 4:4 says: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Jewish law.”

Jesus Himself is the Best Christmas Present Ever!

The program explored how Jesus came at the Right Time spiritually, culturally, and politically. Jesus, who left his perfect home in Heaven, was the Right Person because He was the Son, sent by God, and He was surrendered to God. And the Reason He came was to redeem those who are under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons of God!

Jesus gives us the real presents in our lives: love, forgiveness, His presence, and peace.

This is what we wanted our students and their parents to understand. Many parents approached us at the end of the program, appreciative that the Christmas Program presented some deeper truths for them.

Of course, the lower elementary school presented adorable angels and shepherds at the Nativity. Everyone joined in the finale singing “There’s a place where mercy reigns — at the Cross.”

I am enjoying teaching upper grade English and History. The students listen in class, participate with their own ideas, and seem eager to hear the Biblical connections to the material. However, half of them engage in Navajo Ceremonies with their families. We pray that they will know that Jesus is Enough. He will save them. He will protect them. He will fill that empty longing inside of them and give them hope.

For the eleventh year, Roger is enjoying his diverse students in third grade. He is praying that his students trust Jesus for themselves, not just because their parents say they are Christians. (And to learn their times tables.)