February 14

Feb. 16, 2014

This week we had our annual staff retreat – the topics were the Gifts of the Spirit and Love Languages.

This was delightful because the entire staff was present for the meetings, not just the teachers, with whom we spend most of our time. After we took our Gifts Surveys, we shared by groups, describing the gift and giving some examples of how we’ve seen God use our gifts. Mine is mercy and R’s is administration. He’s a natural organizer, and I have a tender heart. The whole gamut of gifts was represented, and it seems to me that we are using our gifts for the Body here at SVIS – not just with the children, but also with the other staff members.

The second day we concentrated on the Five Love Languages as explained by Dr. Gary Chapman. Of course, we were familiar with this: touch, words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, and acts of service. We know what our Love Language is, and true to stereotype, ours are opposites, and we’ve been aware of that in our marriage and have tried to love each other in such a way that each perceives the love. We were familiar with that idea with our own children also. But it is a challenge to think of it in terms of our students.

Our students come to us with their love tanks virtually empty. In other Christian Schools where we have worked, this wasn’t necessarily so – as most of the students came from loving homes. We have the challenge of identifying our children’s Love Languages and then ministering to them in a way that is believable and not rejected.

In thinking through my class list, some of them are easy to figure out – M who asks daily how her grades are (and they are very good), needs words of affirmation. L, who wants to link arms as we walk, needs physical touch. In fact, the other day when I called her “Sweetie,” she exploded at me. A often shows others that she cares about them by serving them, so I suspect that this is the language she understands. I still have to think about the others.

R knows he has two who need physical touch desperately. They are all over him, touching him when they come to class. Another boy, who is always in trouble for messing with other children, probably is showing that he needs positive touch also. You can understand how some of this gets “tricky.”

We are concerned about others who are not in our classes also –there have been incidents of gang involvement and bullying. The administration and teachers desperately want to discern their Love Language too, so we can fill their tanks with our love, and through that, they will receive Jesus’ love. They are living hopeless lives without Jesus.

We hope your days are filled with love,

Happy Valentine’s Day.

February 2, 2014

Dear Friends,

            One of our young dorm moms had kidney stones and surgery this week; and in November, a different dorm mom suffered terribly with kidney stones too. I am not saying, “Why us, Lord?” We believe that God is in control and has purposes way beyond our understanding. But I wanted to share that we on the SVIS staff are just like you – some have wayward siblings, homosexual family members, abusive situations in the past, jailed family members, children not living for the Lord, failed relationships, personal and family illnesses, family suicides and unemployment. The enemy does everything he can to distract us and diminish our testimony here. 

 

Making Navajo Tacos

This week I would like to borrow some things from a list by Paul Zimmerman entitled: What do missionaries really need? Our prayers! Please remember our staff in prayer this week with these requests:

1. Love for God. Sometimes we are overworked and have many responsibilities. Our supreme motivation for obedience to the call of Christ is love for him.

2. Genuine love for others. The second great commandment is “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Pray that we will get along well with each other and have a Christ-like love for our Navajo students.

3. A deeper relationship with God. Since our schedules are so tight, we might be tempted to skimp on our time with God. This would result in failure. Moses instructed Joshua to meditate on God’s law day and night and be careful to obey his commandments. Only then would his way be made prosperous and successful.

4. Spirit-controlled lives. We don’t want to be doing the Lord’s work in our own energy and wisdom.

5. Fruit of the Spirit. (This year we are studying one fruit of the Spirit each month in our classrooms. This month, the Fruit is Love.) Christ perfectly manifested all of the Fruits of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Pray, therefore, that the Fruit of the Spirit, the very beauty of Jesus, will be evident in our lives.

Here are some names of people serving on our campus. If you feel led, choose a couple each day to bring before our powerful Savior. Mardell, Kris, Erica, Michael, Sharon, Randy, Fred, Shelle, Ron, Seth, Linda, Rod, Kara, Suzie, Kathy, Rajeen, Daryl, August, Helen, Kristi, Ray, Roger, Bryce, Vera, Ben, Frances, Alan, Rosie, Caitlyn, Alice, Aaron, Natalie, Nathan, Tommie, Autumn, Donna, Sara, Andres, Gail, Jeannette, Sadie, and Liz.

,

From Waldorf to the World,

http://indianschool.org/index.

February 2, 2014

Dear Friends,

            One of our young dorm moms had kidney stones and surgery this week; and in November, a different dorm mom suffered terribly with kidney stones too. I am not saying, “Why us, Lord?” We believe that God is in control and has purposes way beyond our understanding. But I wanted to share that we on the SVIS staff are just like you – some have wayward siblings, homosexual family members, abusive situations in the past, jailed family members, children not living for the Lord, failed relationships, personal and family illnesses, family suicides and unemployment. The enemy does everything he can to distract us and diminish our testimony here. 

            This week I would like to borrow some things from a list by Paul Zimmerman entitled: What do missionaries really need? Our prayers! Please remember our staff in prayer this week with these requests:

1. Love for God. Sometimes we are overworked and have many responsibilities. Our supreme motivation for obedience to the call of Christ is love for him.

2. Genuine love for others. The second great commandment is “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Pray that we will get along well with each other and have a Christ-like love for our Navajo students.

3. A deeper relationship with God. Since our schedules are so tight, we might be tempted to skimp on our time with God. This would result in failure. Moses instructed Joshua to meditate on God’s law day and night and be careful to obey his commandments. Only then would his way be made prosperous and successful.

4. Spirit-controlled lives. We don’t want to be doing the Lord’s work in our own energy and wisdom.

5. Fruit of the Spirit. (This year we are studying one fruit of the Spirit each month in our classrooms. This month, the Fruit is Love.) Christ perfectly manifested all of the Fruits of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Pray, therefore, that the Fruit of the Spirit, the very beauty of Jesus, will be evident in our lives.

Here are some names of people serving on our campus. If you feel led, choose a couple each day to bring before our powerful Savior. Mardell, Kris, Erica, Michael, Sharon, Randy, Fred, Shelle, Ron, Seth, Linda, Rod, Kara, Suzie, Kathy, Rajeen, Daryl, August, Helen, Kristi, Ray, Roger, Bryce, Vera, Ben, Frances, Alan, Rosie, Caitlyn, Alice, Aaron, Natalie, Nathan, Tommie, Autumn, Donna, Sara, Andres, Gail, Jeannette, Sadie, and Liz.

From Waldorf to the World,

Love,

The Everetts

http://indianschool.org/index.html

January 27, 2014

  Dear Friends,

This week in chapel Mr. M. talked about covenants and commitments. He paired each student with an adult; then he asked them first to define and discuss covenant. Then he challenged each adult to ask his/her child about his relationship with Jesus and gave us time to pray with the child. Part of his goal was to help the children realize that following Christ takes a commitment.

            My little partner glowed as she reported she had accepted Jesus and had been baptized last spring. But, another told her adult that she has tried several times to ask Jesus into her life and nothing “happened,” and another point-blank told her mentor that she was not a Christian and did not intend to become one. Two of the older girls were reported as saying, no, they were not Christians.  AM (along with her sister in my class) is a seeker, and the other (AR) said no she was not a Christian with real animosity. Her family is steeped in the traditional ways.

Some of the younger children told their adult what they think we want them to say, but we are not witnessing the fruit of a transformed life at all. One of the teachers reported that though the results were not encouraging, it was enlightening to know where we stand. And we all agreed that the prayer time was especially beneficial because the children still knew that we loved them and asked Jesus to help them in their struggles.

The lines weren't too bad.              

            R presents different character traits in his class, but when the lessons get close to the heart, such as Lying lips are something God hates, then the anger rises and the behavior deteriorates. His students weren’t interested in being peacemakers the week he taught that lesson, and this week will be difficult because it is on forgiveness.  So, that is a very real prayer request – for them to understand the difference between a whole relationship (which many have not seen modeled) and a broken one, and how forgiveness puts the two parties together.  It would be wonderful if even one child in his class would know God’s forgiveness through 

 Jesus Christ and start walking in a new kingdom.

The quizzing team and sponsors.

            My 6^th graders participated in Bible Quizzing Event this weekend. They did fairly well, and I know they had a great time at Castles N’ Coasters in Phoenix afterwards. I’m sure I’ll hear more about it on Monday.  (photos)

Shooting a free throw

         Warrior basketball season has begun. We have a talented coach, and he is interested in the players’ spiritual development and their teamwork as well as their skills. Unfortunately some of the players find it difficult to stay eligible due to grades or attitude. On Saturday the staff played against the teams (3^rd – 5^th) and (6^th – 8^th). Some of us aren’t as young as we used to be. 

That was fun!

            Pastor Dean talked about our testimony in his sermon. The power of a testimony is a changed life from a transformed heart and mind. When we tell our story, we can say to someone, “I was in a place where you are.” The issue is sin and it needs to be cleansed from our lives. We on the staff feel that God has us here to share our testimonies with these children. I can say, “God has changed my life and made me whole, and He wants to do the same thing for you. There is hope even though your family is messed up and your childhood has been corrupted.”

Thank you for your prayers for us and our children.

Jammies

P.S. I wrote most of this last night, and now it is Monday night. R and I both had a difficult Monday. We’re praying for peace in our classrooms on Tuesday.

           

January 20, 2014

Dear Friends,

Football Huddle

            One of our students’ classes this semester is Navajo Language Class. This is very difficult for me; just learning to count to ten has been a real challenge. I can’t even make a couple of the sounds. One girl leaned over to me as I was trying to repeat a word and whispered that I shouldn’t say that word. (oops) And I can’t remember any of it from one class to the next. This helped me understand how my students feel when learning concepts and rules in my math or grammar class. It takes many repetitions and much work outside of class to get it.

            Navajo is a verb-based language. For example cat is the thing that meows, and animal is the thing that walks around on four legs. But the verbs do not change for the tense. Other words perform the time function. So, our students have difficulty remembering to put the endings on their verbs when they write. It’s easier to be patient with them now that I understand why they do it.

            It is a very descriptive language too. Purple is the color rocks are; blue is the color that sky is; and winter is the season when no thunder sounds. One thing that has been eye-opening is that no sounds in their language require them to open their mouths much, so it seem to us that they are mumbling rebelliously, which they may or may not be doing. Another thing is long vowels. In English when the teacher says it is a long vowel, it has a completely different sound. But in Navajo, the long sound is held out longer… a clue to why phonics instruction doesn’t “take” with many of them.

            Roger and I have started reading Navajos Wear Nikes, recommended to us by a friend from our days in California. So far, it has been depressing. We just keep saying  this is so true of what our kids deal with.

            Anyway, we had a day off today and went to Flagstaff. What a beautiful winter day it was there! We were grateful for a little respite. Thank you for your encouragement and prayers.

January 12, 2014

The first week back after vacation: Sigh. Most of the teachers reported sluggishess and blank stares as children, who were allowed to be schedule-less, now return to a routine.  My class had a golden week, with no one getting reprimanded for behavior or attitude. J

My students were glad to be back together. I could tell by their chattiness and their heads and bodies moving closer together when they worked on projects.  It was such a joy to see their obvious affection for each other.

I am very concerned about one of my girls who returned to us with a haircut designed basically to attract attention. When I told her it was “cute,” she said that she was going to shave half of her head and wear the rest in a Mohawk. That merely elicited the comment from me that such a hairstyle would take a lot of hair gel. But I can see that she is hurting. She had also been cutting herself during the interim and has been using her pencil to deepen the cuts on her hands.

Roger told me that his boys took cactus needles and were pushing the thorns into their hands as far as they could stand. When he gave them safety pins for their costumes (for the Christmas Project), they tried to pierce themselves through the skin on their fingers without actually getting as deep as the nerves.

Our children suffer intense internal pain. Sometimes the way they mask it is to make themselves hurt physically. One girl told me that she was so agitated inside that she just ran and ran and ran. When the police found her in the middle of the night, he gently told her that when she feels agitated, she should power walk in her community instead of making a beeline to who knows where.

These precious children suffer in unimaginable ways. They ask me what to do with bad reoccurring thoughts. I shared with them how I focus more and more on Jesus when bad thoughts threaten my peace. I picture Him dying on the cross for sin and for the forgiveness of those involved in the situation.

One of my girls and her sister wrote this poem. It is supposed to be about puppy love, but I like to think of it as also a love poem to Jesus who is “my everything.”

You are My Everything

You are my everything; you taught me how to sing.

You took a chance on me, opened my eyes to see.

You had the golden key that simply sets me free.

You are my only hope, the one I need the most.

You are my light and dark, the evershining spark.

You are my other half; you always make me laugh.

You are my dearest friend forever ‘til the end.

We were simply meant to be, for it is clear to see.

TR and MTR

California Dreamin'

Please pray this week for our students to experience peace instead of internal pain. Pray that they can come to trust Jesus fully.

We were at the Atlantic and the Pacific in 2013.

Ben and Mardell