Sweet is the Work.

Sweet is the work.

We made it! The trip to Navajo Trails Mission began at 4:30AM Saturday morning, August 9. Abby, Kelcy & I awakened bright and early, as did our friend Margaret who was taking us to the airport. After being dropped off at the airport, we went through security and boarded our plane, no problem. We landed in Atlanta for our connecting flight, then had an hour flight delay on our flight to Phoenix. I know the Lord’s hand was at work there in the delay, because that flight was the smoothest I have ever taken. Kelcy slept almost the whole way. It was amazing. We landed in Phoenix, happy to deplane. We found Jerry waiting for us outside of security. Abby was yelling “Daddy” and we were all so happy to be reunited.

After a little drive and a stop at the grocery store, we arrived at the Mission. Jerry had tried to prepare me for what I would find at our new home. At first I was okay. The dirt and disorganization of our stuff I expected. I am embarrassed to say what really bothered me was the bugs. They were everywhere! And, mind you, I am not a bug hater. I know that God created them and that they have their purpose to fulfill on the planet. I just don’t want them in my house! And they were everywhere. There were little black bugs, flies, crickets (for some reason?), and moths. At least there were no biting insects in the house. Jerry and I spent the evening killing bugs. That first night we just had ham and cheese sandwiches, as all the dishes, food and cooking supplies were still packed away. I told Jerry about my feelings and he said that he had felt that way, too, about bringing his family into this home in the state it was in at the time. However, he also said “All the people that we will be ministering to also are afflicted with the dust and the bugs and the old housing. Our getting used to this situation will help us understand them better.” And I have. I have gotten used to the bugs, for the most part. Kelcy loves the bugs. She is stomping on them and using the fly swatter and anything she can find to kill them.

Church

Saturday night I searched through our containers to find church clothes for all four of us and we attended church on Sunday morning. It is not a stretch to get up in time for church here at least so far. The time difference means that we wake up about 6AM with no problem or alarm clock. All of us, of course. We were all waiting for it to be time for church. We walked up the hill to the Red Sands Christian Church and were greeted by Tim, Ms. Anne and Jim. Miss Springer arrived shortly, as did Irene and Kenneth, her husband and Erin, their grand daughter. Abby, seeing the little girl walk in the church door says, loudly, “There some Indians!” We were mortified and explained to her they were Navajo people, not Indians. I thought we had always referred to them as Navajo, but she obviously picked up the term somewhere. Sunday school was taught by Ms. Anne and she did a wonderful job explaining the mysteries of the book of Job and how Job felt when God questioned Job about his personal wisdom compared to God’s wisdom. Ms. Anne also plays the piano for the church. Mr. Bill showed up and led the worship service with a wonderful message on tolerance about styles of worship, whether the raising of hands during worship or the style of music.

Jerry and I got to meet John and Ruth on Tuesday. They have both been long supporters of the mission and John is a board member. John and Ruth came by to meet us. They are both clearly very warm people. I am sure we will get to spend some more time with them in the future.

Red Sands Christian School

Miss Springer. She is so amazing. I am intimidated by talking to her because she is just so great. She has been here at the mission for 15 years. She teaches the Kindergarten through 2nd grade at the Red Sands Christian School. She is a bundle of energy and enthusiasm. I can’t wait to have a chance to get to know her better. Red Sands schools starts on Monday, August 18th. Please pray for the school and the students. Miss Springer says that this is the first time ever that she has had enough room in classes to advertise for more students. Because the school is fully staffed, she has not had to turn any child away this year. So, if you are a Navajo and reading this, spread the word. The Red Sands Christian School is open and needs more students for this school year. And, if you are a child sponsor, spread the word so that when God blesses us by filling up the school, we will have sponsors for each and every child.

Assorted Information…

If you are from this area or have visited this area of Arizona, you can skip this part or roll your eyes at me, but I am adjusting, remember?

Did I mention the dust? I confess to being a teeny bit OCD, but the dust here is everywhere. And the dust devils? Imagine the Tasmanian Devil from the Bugs Bunny cartoon. That is what the dust devils look like. It is a mini tornado with dust and wind that can travel for miles across the desert. Jerry got hit with one on Monday night. He was putting some things into storage and he heard a noise behind him. He turned around to see the storm. Quickly, he turned around again and ducked his head and closed his eyes before getting pelted with the whirling dust. He was fine, of course. What else? Fortunately, I have not seen a tarantula, rattle snake, or scorpion yet. But this morning the wind was down and I was painting some trim outside. The sand fleas attacked. Abby and Kelcy were helping me and we were all getting bitten. I put on insect repellent, but it did not help. I finished the trim quickly and retreated inside.

Josie

For those of you wondering, our dog Josie is doing okay. She has a friend named Digger with whom she spends time. She is slowly learning to stay in the shade and take her time here. Yesterday our thermometer outside read 122 degrees! I didn’t think it got that hot here, but it was very hot outside then. Josie has somewhat made friends with Mr. Bills dog Leah. They still stare each other down once in a while, but Josie hasn’t attacked Leah recently.

I cannot forget to mention Tim. He is an angel sent from the Lord. He will have been here three weeks on Friday and he has worked and worked and worked and worked…ad infinitum. Just since we got here, Tim and Jerry have been putting in 12-14 hour days working to get our trailer in great shape. The transformation is incredible. I feel like we are on Extreme Home Makeover. Just since I have been here (4 days ago) they have repaired one toilet, replaced another toilet, torn out a shower (because the water was running out on the ground underneath the trailer), replaced the flooring and the shower, laid down subflooring and flooring, painted, sawed and everything you can think of, it has been done. And, Tim would have been working for two weeks prior to our arrival.

I haven’t been able to help too much, but I did get to paint some trim and walls, remove carpet staples from the floor (no tetanus shot required this time Mark), and pried up some linoleum flooring that had been there a long time. I have also been getting my office ready at the mission. I have cleaned it and vacuumed and have begun looking over the documents and getting familiar with the documents I will be using. At this point, my job is definitely the boring stuff to write about.

Abby and Kelcy are doing fine. They are adjusting to the time difference. The first few days were pretty whiny, but that was expected and we tried to be very patient and understanding. They are sleeping in the same bed for the time being. We hope to get them twin beds for their rooms. Abby is going today to get her haircut, her ears pierced and a new pair of shoes for school. I will be surprised if she goes ahead and gets her ears pierced, but she has been asking for a couple of weeks. I explained the process and she still says she wants to do it. The girls both love the playground here. We usually walk over there after dinner in the evening and play for a while. The first few days the girls fell on the ground outside and realized the difference here. There is no soft grass to fall on, you land on either dirt, rocks, tumbleweed or gravel. None of these alternatives are very attractive, so they have quickly learned to walk more carefully.

Close to my heart!

We are here! All four members of our family (five if you count Josie) are here safe in Arizona. Abby, Kelcy and I have been here for two weeks now. It seems like no time has passed. I have limited access to the internet right now, so I cannot type to my heart's content. I have lots of material prepared for when I can spend some time typing into the blog.

Short story version:

Abby Kelcy and I arrived on August 9 via the Phoenix airport. It was a wonderful reuniting with Jerry, whom we all missed terribly. We moved into our trailer, which was still under a great deal of construction. As I write, the "large" construction has all been finished and we are working on the small projects. One of the projects is killing all the bugs in the house, but more about that later.

Church has been great we have attended two Sundays. The first Sunday there were about seven or eight Navajo in attendance. The second Sunday, there were about 15 in attendance. I have heard that now that school starts attendance will pick-up. Jerry is teaching 7 & 8 grade classes. Jerry is also driving one of the school bus routes to pick-up the children in the morning and return them in the afternoon. I am working at the mission in the office, updating the bookkeeping and working on budgets. Jerry will soon (Sept 18th?) start teaching the adult Sunday School class at church and I will start teaching the 2nd grade and up childrens Sunday School class.

Abby is doing great in school. Miss Springer says she should be reading by Christmas. She is so excited and was trying to read the signs on the way into town today. Abby and Kelcy are here with Jerry in the kids department at the library. Kelcy is also doing great. She is adapting to wearing shoes, an adjustment as we all know.

I will write more later, but I had better go for now. Please excuse any misspellings, as I will not be able to edit this listing for a while.

Continue to pray for us! God is at work here and I believe he has great things in store for the Church and the School.

Also, the gas bill is very expensive to run the two bus routes for school and the two bus routes for church. If anyone is able to, please pray about helping Navajo Trails Mission with that.

Nearer, Still Nearer

It has been a whirlwind since I last posted! We have certainly been packing up and getting ready to go! Tomorrow, the adventure begins. Jerry leaves for Arizona tomorrow morning (Tuesday), taking with him our dog, a 12 year old boxer named Josie, and all of our "stuff". Abby, Kelcy and I will join them on Saturday, August 9th. Please pray for the safe journey of our family.

The Lord has continually blessed us during this process. I cannot describe the feeling. Our cup is filled up and running over with love and the joy of the Lord. We have had some many friends to pray for us, help us and to encourage our whole family. Our church family and our friends have blessed us tremendously, so that the overwhelming process of moving has been almost accomplished.

Abby will be starting Kindergarten at the mission school. She is so excited! She has received some wonderful school supplies from our friends! She has her "princess" backpack and Barbie lunch box and she is ready to go. She has been praying for the Navajo children that she will meet and their families most every night.

Kelcy is pretty oblivious to the whole process, other than her toys disappearing slowly. She will adjust well, though. She is very flexible and good-natured. She will be the child that picks up a rattlesnake.

We are all anxious to arrive at the mission and begin our adventure! You should hear from us soon, and hopefully see some pictures!