hello everyone,
Boy was the trip excellent!! Me and some of the youth group from my chruch went to Arizona and worked with a Navajo family. But let me start from the beginning.
On Monday at noon was our flight out of San Fransisco. We arrived in Phinoex around 2:30. Then we rented a van and put our luggage, and 14 other people in the van. Then we ate lunch in Phionex at the nitourious Wendy's. Mmmm the chili was good considering that they have fingers in it. Just kidding. We met some people from this organization called Wondervoyage. The people were named, Shan, Jason, and a intern Shara. They explained the one rule that we had on the trip. The rule was not to act stupid. That was the one rule. Shan and his group had a different car. We went on Monday to a nice resort in Sedona. We debrifed about what we were here for and we were preparing our hearts for the next three days serving on the reservation. Then we unpacked, and relaxed for the next few hours. Then we went into our cars and went into the city of Sedona. We ate at this Chineese cafe all you can eat. After we went back to the resort. We had a oppurtionity to look at the stars outside of the resort after we got there. I was just in awe that God made all of that. In Half Moon Bay I can't see that in Half Moon Bay because it's always so dang foggy. Then we just hung out inside until 11 and the boys went into their room and the girls went into their room. What a relief!!! On Tuesday we woke up at seven a.m. and started to pack. After we packed and put our stuff in the car, we ate breakfeast at the resort. We left at eight. We arrived at the reservation a few hours later. I was suprised that the reservation like the houses were spread out. It was like a barren desert. To be honest it was kind of depressing. We stopped at a church were we were staying. We met the Monorch of the family we were working with. Her name was Elsie. She was the niceist person you would have met. Then after we unpacked and got settled in we went to their house/ranch deeper into the reservation. Their house was made of wood and cardbord which was shocking. But they each accepted us into the family like we were one of them which was really powerful and minisering. Once we got oriented and met the family, we had lunch. We had some true guinuine indian food called turkey sandwhiches, chipes, soda, gaderade, and water. It was tasty. After that they wanted us to tear down their old fence and put all the scraps of wood and metal into two seperate pials. It was hard work but we did if efficantley and quickly. Then that day we burned the wood and with the metal we threw away. Then we had dinner. We had some indian corn meal, and had some lamb I think. Then we had a oppurtunity to fellowship with the family and with one another. We were talking about ourselves and also learned about the way they live. Most of them have jobs have jobs in the nearest city called Flagstaff to support the family just to live. They don't have the luxuary like the rest of us do. They have t.v. though. They don't have running water though or fast food reasturant's on the reservation. All of that is in flagstaff. Some of the Navajo people do live in Flagstaff. But the people who live on the reservation just try to get by on minimum money, food, and get water from the water whole. I learned not to take my life for granted. I thought I had it hard but they really have it hard. One of the senior members of the family said there has been a death in the family. His wife died a few months before we came into the reservation. Just that we got invited in while their loss is still so fresh is a incredible honor and minsitired to me personally in volumes that words could not. I could relate to him in a sense because I lost my Mom just a little more then a year ago. Then after we felloshiped we went to the church and we debrifed and eventually went to sleep. The first night some kids claimed that I was sleepwalking which I usually don't. Well at least I don't think I don't. On Wensday we woke up at 4:30 and had to be at the family's home by 5:00. They were worshiping their God the dawn. The way it works is that we face the dawn with a fistfull of cornmeal and spread it down and across so in a way it symboylizes the cross. They just don't know it. Earilier the previous day we were debating whether we should perticipate in the ceromoney because they have obviously diffirent belifes about who God is. We decided to pirticapate in it unless God was calling us otherwise. See our reasoning is that we wern't worshiping the dawn, we were worshiping the God who created the dawn. In our hearts we were worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ and him alone and that's fo sho!!!
Then we had breakfeast which was cornmeal, eggs, becon, and indian oatmeal, which was not bad. Then after we started to do diffirent tasks. Some people decided to work on the house and some others decided to go to some other family's and do a little home improvement with other families. I decided to go help with the other family's. I went with three other boys plus two leaders, Craig and George, and we cut some wood and other material and we added some stuff to the house which is kinda like shop class in a sense. I loved to see the smiles on the Navajo people as we fixed their house and ministired to them at the same time. Then around noon we went back to the main base house to eat lunch. We had sandwiches and sodas again. Yeeehhh!!!! After that another group went to help the other families while my group and some other of the other of the youth group stayed back at the main house and cleaned up the ranch from the tumble weeds, sheep poop and horse poop. After that we put some of the wood we gathered from the fence on Tuesday into another pile and burned it. That took a few hours. Then we had a break. Then we countinued until dinner time with that same task. For dinner we had beef and beens and salad, cheese and cornmeal. It was pretty good. Oh did I mention while we were working it started to pour on us bullets. So we went inside to have some good old fellowship with the family and with each other. After we ate dinner we talked some more about their way of life and how they support each other and they said most of them have jobs in Flagstaff to support the family. We stayed there until 8 thirty. Then we went to the church and debrifed about our day as we were out on the front porch of the church looking at the stars. We were also awestruck that on Thursday would be our last day of working on the reservation.
When we woke up on Thusday we woke up at 8:30 and went on the reservation at nine. On the last day I had a feeling God was feeling us up with his energy and we did everything we could to help them because it was our last day. We cleaned the tumbleweed and piled it up and burned them. We cleaned the sheep pen, and other things with a smile on our face like we did for those three days. On that day it rained on us for a hour but we got to fellowship with each other again, which was nice. When it stopped we went back to work. I was entertaning the kids there, and keeping them happy while the parents were working with us. That really inspired me that the Navajo people actually worked with us dispite thier loss and did it also with a smile on their face. So while we were there to minister to them, we were also getting ministired to as well. For dinner we had lamb ribs, and corn meal which was not bad. Later they had some sheep head and other parts of the body that were to sample if we wanted. I was brave enough to have some of the sheep head. It was kind of rubbury but it was a good experince though. After dinner each one of the people from our youth group from mariners including the leaders shared about what we learned and or what we were thankful or what we got out of the trip. I was thankful and awestruck that they accepted us into the family as one of their own. I was also amazed that they worked alongside us even though they had a death in the family and the husband smiled while we were there. One of the Navajo women said the husband that experinced the loss has not smiled since his wife's death. And it was the first time he smiled since her death. Then after we all shared, which was good but totally unexpected, one by one each one of the family members got up and shared what they learned and shared what they were thankful for or whatever they wanted to say. The widower got up last I think and he shared his hurt inside and started to cry in front of everyone there. It was sad but I think it was a God moment at the same time because he was thinking probaly he was amongst friends and family. After each one of them shared we said our goodbye's which took mabye a half an hour. Then we headed back to the church slept. The next few days were just chill time. On Friday we woke up around seven thirty and we started to pack.
I want to go back.
Love,
Devon
