May 25, 2014

Dear Framily,

This was a huge week for our students who were kept busy every waking minute. The team from MNU brought lots of energy to the campus, along with Theater Camp, Vocabulary Games, Basketball Camp and evening activities.

On Thursday we had a Baptism. We enjoyed a typical Arizona sun and wind combination as we surrounded the children in the “pool” on our cross-sentineled hill. Seven students confessed Christ and vowed to follow and obey Jesus. Two were Roger’s students, and two were mine. Though we have a sense of isolation here, we could hear and see trucks on Interstate 40. It reminded us that we, and these students, must leave this refuge and live for Jesus wherever we go. For some of these children, this is an extremely tall order, as they will be bombarded by all kinds of evil when they go to their homes. We pray especially for our four that were baptized because we know how they waffled on their beliefs and wavered in their commitment to follow God’s Word all year. We pray that this baptism was a very meaningful and life-changing moment in their young lives.

The Promotion Program on Friday was also memorable. We enjoyed the rehearsal because we were able to award each child in our classes with some type of recognition. In the evening, we only presented a very important award such as straight A – honor roll or One who displayed the Character of Christ. The program was mostly devoted to the Graduation of the eighth graders, which went smoothly. All of the eighth graders gave a little speech, and their teacher wrapped up the year wonderfully.

As for us, we are on the Internet daily looking for jobs or areas of ministry where God might have us go. Thank you for you prayers on our behalf.

We love you all.

  

 

  
 

May 18

Dear Friends and Family,

We got some new chickens.

What an adventure it has been this year in Sun Valley, Arizona! And now we are down to the last week of school.

The eighth graders just got back from their trip to San Diego area. The chaperone reported that they were like tourists – just looking around and taking it all in. Most of them were hesitant to try new, unfamiliar things. They camped, went the beach, enjoyed an amusement park, and strolled around the area. She said as they got closer and closer to home, they became chattier and more animated. They obviously were relieved to come back to their safe little world here at SVIS. Our school also sent a Quizzing Team to Point Loma, CA last weekend. They did very well also. Two of the girls (from my class) scored in the 90%.

Eighth graders in Cali.

This week we have the team from Mid America Nazarene University on campus. They will do theater camp and vocabulary games in the morning and basketball camp in the afternoons. (We’ll do our own Bible class before the special events begin.) We’re looking forward to a different kind of week, hopefully more relaxing in a way.

Young staff members camped in CA over break.

Promotion will be on Friday. Promotion here is also the Awards Ceremony. We have prepared 

“fun” awards to give out during the rehearsal in the morning, and then the real awards for academic achievement and character will be given out when the parents come in the evening. Here are some of the awards I’m giving: Story Problem Queen, Makes me Laugh, “Oh, I get it now!” Friendship, “I Made a Game!” Most Expressive Reader, “Tell Me a Story,” Kindness, and Joy in Jesus. Yep. They were a fun group, and the magic started 

happening when we bonded early in the year.

R. has been walking and talking (with the Lord) a lot these days. It seems that we came and liked it here, and then we did what we would naturally do – got comfortable. Getting comfortable does not seem to be in God’s plan for us. God has given us resources and gifts for His Kingdom. Perhaps our Kingdom work is elsewhere, and God needs us to be off-guard and dependent on Him. Thank you for your prayers and notes this past week. Your input has been a real blessing.

Quizzers celebrate. Well Done.

May 11, 2014

 Dear Friends,

This is our last week of real academics. We pray mostly that the spiritual lessons we’ve been teaching will be taken in by our children. Then the following week, we have special activities provided by a team from Mid America Nazarene University in Olathe, Kansas. They will add some vocabulary activities and theater fun to the morning and basketball camp to the afternoon. The baptism will be on the 20^th, and we don’t know how many will be baptized. Promotion ceremonies are scheduled for the 23^rd.

Much to our surprise, our contracts have not been renewed for next year.  We felt we had a good year of ministry to both students and fellow staff members.  We are comfortable here and were looking forward to long-term ministry.  Needless to say, we are distressed because we have super enjoyed working with the staff here and have really come to love the Navajo people. We are struggling with this news and with knowing what God has next for our lives. We don’t have a plan B, and waiting for the new plan A is always difficult.  Pray that we have the attitude that Paul had -– to allow God to do whatever He wanted to glorify Himself through Paul. And please pray that we are given open doors and clear directions for the future.

This past week in third grade we studied God’s faithfulness.  The 3^rd grade verse probably applied more to the third grade teacher than to the 3^rd grade class.  Lamentations 3:22-24:Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore, I will wait for him.”

We love you all.

April 27

A room with a view

Yes, it’s been awhile. We had a pleasant break for Easter. Because we are teachers and can’t help ourselves, we did spend some time in our classrooms, but it wasn’t as frantic as usual. We journeyed down Hwy 40 to spend a day in Winslow. If you have a chance to tour La Posada Inn, take it. We were given an informative tour by a Harvey Girl and had a fine dining experience at the Turquoise Room.

Our Easter Sunday was capped off by the baptism of four believers at our church. I always celebrate every Palm Sunday as the commemoration day of my rebirth. How wonderful it is for these people to have each Easter Sunday as a reminder of their public commitment to Christ! And another delightful tidbit: one of the dorm dads, who is a committed Christian but had not ever been baptized, was baptized in the Pacific Ocean over the break! Since we have (unofficially) adopted the young people here, we are happy ‘parents.’

Sweet girls.

Coming back after a week at home, the students reported all kinds of violence, murder, and mayhem that had occurred. This past week carried its own stresses. One of R’s boys spent time with the principal for fighting. And one of my girls was sent home for bringing contraband. The unfortunate thing was that other students’ actions precipitated the misbehavior that culminated in the reaction that received the consequence. (I’m not sure that all made sense.) Needless to say, things have been tense in both of our classrooms due to student conflicts.

We had four Spiritual Emphasis Days too—Tuesday:hand-washing, Wednesday: cross carrying, Thursday: nailing burdens to the cross, and Friday: the coming of the Holy Spirit. They didn’t understand the metaphor of carrying a cross, and my girls declared that they wouldn’t give up things (such as family, friends, or possessions) for Christ. But they seemed to take the nailing the burdens to the cross session very seriously. That is where they are. They carry so many burdens in their young lives. In fact, V* in R’s class declares he can’t trust God because he doesn’t see God helping his family. And S*, a fatherless child, has been calling him ‘Daddy.’

Dressing up like a fireman.

As we near the last weeks of school, we are somewhat discouraged that the children haven’t made the hoped-for academic or spiritual progress. Thank you for praying for them and for their ability to learn and retain information. Most in R’s class and two in particular in mine are in academic trouble and don’t have any motivation to turn things around. Thank you also for caring about their spiritual lives. If they are drawn even one step closer to making a commitment to Jesus, the struggle has been worth it.

New books from a librarian friend.

April 13

Lovely Sky. Wicked Wind.

 Dear Framily,

 We are feeling so out of shape. Yesterday we joined some other volunteers from our church and school to participate in Community Clean up Day at Holbrook. Even two hours of bending to pick up trash along the highway made me rubbery. I found some interesting things besides the usual cups, cans, diapers, and bottles. I found a pair of pants, a beach towel and a toy. AND a phone! It took some sleuthing, but I will be able to mail it to the owner tomorrow. The first name on the contacts list that I called made no effort to help me, but the second one stayed with me while conference-calling her husband, who eventually figured it out and put me on a conference call with the owner. Aren’t you glad that the Lord “stays on the line” until the lost is found? We cling to that promise for our children here.

A trip to the crosses.

Thanks to our librarian friend in Waldorf, we have some new books and kits for our children. We’ll take some photos when the children return from vacation. Speaking of which, we don’t have too much planned though we’ve scheduled a day trip to Winslow to tour the La Posada Hotel and maybe shop at WalMart. (Holbrook has no shopping opportunities.) We’re not sure about another day trip – maybe Canyon de Chelly.  Otherwise, we have saved up some projects for our vacation, so we’ll be plenty busy. :)

The children aren’t always eager to come home. If you could hear their stories, you’d understand why. Some receive physical abuse, and others are neglected so they do nothing all vacation but eat Ramen noodles and play video games or watch movies. They want to go home, and yet they don’t. No wonder the days before going home are so stressful.

We had four staff moms expecting last week; now we have three. A new baby was added to our campus! Such joy! Everyone is so excited.  We now have nine staff children here with their parents. Let’s pray for them this week. They are in a different cultural situation because they are neither the Native Americans nor the ones called to serve here. The younger ones don’t face racism because they are so cute, but the older one has more difficulty.

Have a wonderful Easter Season,

Love to you always,

April 6

Dear Framily,

Snow in April

Some things seem so normal, and some things so foreign. I go home in the evening, listen to iheart radio, sweep the floors, look at FaceBook, and read a novel. Then we hear about the spiritual warfare that is going on in the dorm- night terrors, self-mutilation, outrageous reactions to simple requests by the dorm parent, quarrels, etc. Also, it’s weird not to be making my own meal decisions. SVIS sticks to the rigid state standards for the school lunch program. When we went off campus to SubWay and the girl asked what to put on the sandwich, I said, “Oh, I get to choose?!” It had been so long since I’d chosen my own lunch. (We have an excellent Chef, by the way, whom we appreciate very much.)

I’ve been trying to help my students understand that the Kingdom of God is upside-down. It is not like the Anglo world, and it is not like the Navajo world. Jesus wants us to love our enemies and turn the other cheek and be content and thankful. It’s not about my rights; it’s about putting the other people first. And a special gift of clothing from a dear friend (Thanks K*) also encouraged me to share the verses we memorized this week. The kingdom of God is about our clothing – what we choose to take off, and what we put on.

Col. 3:8 Put aside anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth and (Col. 3:12) put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another, and forgiving each other … just as the Lord forgave you.”

Another student has left our school. He was 16 and in 7^th grade. I know he felt safe here, and he had made a lot of progress. He was one who had thrown a Bible across the room the first week he was here. Towards the end, he was reading his Bible and saying things weren’t so bad here. He hopefully will study for his GED. The dorm dad tried to convince him to pass the GED and join the military. Talk about hopeless. But the Holy Spirit is the One who gives hope and changes lives.

So, we have another week of school until our Easter Break. Every teacher is emphasizing Jesus’ atoning death and victorious resurrection this week. We’re praying for hearts to be changed. And, as always, we thank you for praying with us.

Kids' Club 

March 24

AZ Canyon

Dear Friends,

Communicating the gospel to third grade Navajos can be a challenge.  As I have worked with my students this year, I have seen that the spirit world is something they are familiar with but not in a Biblical sense.  They are familiar with spirits.  They talk about skinwalkers and who has seen one.  (My 6^th graders were talking about skinwalkers this week also. When the only Anglo kid in the class said they were not real, one turned on him in fury and said, “You can’t know about it. You have not lived on the Reservation!”)  

They have a great reverence for nature and believe everything has a spirit.  In class we talk about God being a Spirit who is everywhere.  Steeped in the traditional pantheistic beliefs. they are taught that everything is God.  They have a hard time seeing the difference between ‘everything is God’ and that ‘God is a Spirit who is everywhere.'  Their understanding of the spiritual world is a world that is dark and dangerous.  Their world does not include a personal God who cares about them. 

Prayer Circle at Revival

The concept of the Trinity is one that is even difficult for kids growing up in evangelical families to grasp.  We realize we cannot understand everything about God, but my little friends are trying to understand this concept that is so foreign to them and far from what they have been taught by their families.  I talk about Jesus as God the Son.  They think of Jesus as god the sun.  I heard that this past week.  I talk about the Holy Spirit.  They think of evil spirits doing bad things. (And my older students pray in a superstitious way – asking God to make the day go slowly because they really want it to go quickly. Somehow, they don’t want to jinx it.)

 

Fellowship and Food

The students struggle with understanding the personal God of the Bible.  They wonder if He actually exists.  They can see the world around them, but they cannot see God.  This last week we talked about how we know there is a God.  We reviewed Systematic Theology 101 that God reveals himself through creation, His Word, and His Son.  This week we will study heaven and hell.  Several of the students are very flippant about the fact they are going to hell.  I do not want to scare them, but I want them to see the Biblical truth of the afterlife. 

Cool Kids

Please pray for me to have great wisdom in how to communicate effectively these Biblical truths to my students.  Please pray for one student who has been most vocal about going to hell, yet I can see that he is really thinking about this.  Pray that he will decide to follow Jesus.

Hiking

(The older students went to a two-day revival. I have not heard yet how that went and if any of the students have made decisions for Christ (most of them have not).

Love to you all,

P.S. Today I had on my lesson plan to teach about hell. Well, I had only 30% of my class here. The enemy does not want them to hear this lesson. Pray for the class as I teach them Biblical truth about hell tomorrow.