The Group from Tomoka Christian Church!

Tuesday Afternoon, March 16th

The work group from Tomoka Christian Church arrived this afternoon. There were so many people in the group that they pulled up in two vehicles. They had left from Orlando that morning and arrived at the mission at around 3:30PM Arizona time. Mr. Bill, Abby, Kelcy and I were there when they arrived, but Jerry & Miss Dawn were running the buses to take the school children home. We were introduced to them all. Abby was cute, she was shaking everyone’s hand and telling them her name. Kelcy was a bit shy and ran away after the meeting the first few people. But this will be a LONG story if I keep to all the detail that I want. I will try to condense it down the best I can.
The group all settled in and then went to get supplies in town for supper. They invited our family to eat with them and we enjoyed the company and the food!

Wednesday

The ladies worked together planning meals and taking care of the shopping for food and supplies for their mission work. In the afternoon, all the school kids gathered in the lunch room area and the ladies led us in making tie-dyed shirts with the children. The process was so much simpler than I had ever imagined it could be! All of the children did a wonderful job on their shirts. We could not admire them fully yet, as they had to dry and set the color.

Thursday

In the afternoon, the ladies from Tomoka set up chairs and did a very biblical thing. They took the ladies of the school children (and included Miss Springer and I) and they washed their feet. The ladies of Tomoka also gave all of us a pedicure and then a manicure. All of us ladies enjoyed this tremendously. Abby, Kelcy and Jessica were all receiving treatment from Ms. Bobbi and they just loved it! Merritza and Shyla thoroughly enjoyed the process as well. Miss Springer and I were also delighted to be included! We got to pick out our nail polish and even some decorations for our nails. The girls sat so still and were just enthralled with they whole process. They loved picking out the colors for their finger nails and toe nails. Abby & Jessica had to match each other, of course! Kelcy did her own thing, as usual. Merritza and Shyla were quieter than the younger girls, but I could tell that they really enjoyed it, by the looks on their faces. The Tomoka ladies even bought flip flops for the girls to wear home, so that they didn’t mess up their toe polish. During the manicure/pedicure process, one of the ladies read the scripture about Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. It was a very powerful lesson to hear, after having seen the ladies humble themselves and wash our feet.

The boys of the school children were given an opportunity to learn about hand tools and carpentry work. They really enjoyed their lessons as well.

Friday

Hope in Transit came this morning to work with the kids in their music classes. Dave & Lisa do such a great job and they kids REALLY enjoy learning to read music and play instruments. Ms. Venetta worked in the library with me today, organizing books and removing clutter. It was nice to get to know her better.

Today was kite day! After lunch the kids (and those of us adults who are still kids) went outside and flew kites! Winslow has generally the perfect weather for kite flying, and this was a beautiful day for it! We all had a wonderful time! Abby, Kelcy & Jessica each had a Barbie kite. Merritza had an Elmo kite. Shyla kept her kite up for the longest time. Abby & Kelcy kept getting their kites tangled up because they wanted to be close to other people and fly their kites at the same time. After kite time, we had popsicles. The children also got to inspect their lovely tie-dyed T-shirt designs. They all did a wonderful job.

This evening, there was a dedication and remembrance ceremony for Deb Pederson. She was a member of the mission group from Tomoka Christian Church that had been here several years. She lost her battle with cancer over the past year. Her husband is from Tomoka Christian Church and he worked most all day digging a hole in the ground so that a tree could be planted in memory of his wife. If you have been here, you realize what effort it must’ve taken for him to dig a hole in this ground large enough to plant a tree! The group had brought pictures of Ms. Deb taken with the children here at Red Sands and also at the Little Painted Desert. I was very honored to be included in the number of people who witnessed the dedication. A large number of the Navajo people gathered for the ceremony. Eva is a Navajo lady who had been asked to play a special at the ceremony on her harmonica. She performed a lovely song. Afterward, Eva decided to rededicate her life to the Lord. She made the confession of faith in front of all present and then we all joined together and prayed for her. Although I had never met Eva, we, as a church, had been praying for Eva because she was recuperating from knee surgery. After the ceremony, a fellowship meal was provided by one of the Navajo families. They grilled steak, made fry bread, and had Marilyn’s broccoli salad and watermelon. This was a wonderful chance to meet and talk with all of the Navajo people there. The ladies from Tomoka were even doing manicures for the Navajo ladies in attendance! It was a great and inspiring time.

Saturday

This morning, the group from Tomoka and Jerry went with Miss Springer to work with her “Least of These” mission. Miss Springer goes each week out into the city of Winslow and brings food, drink, toiletry supplies, socks, blankets and supplies to the homeless people of this area. There were several people with whom the group was able to minister on this day. I am sure that this was an amazing experience, and I apologize that I have no details to share as I was not in attendance. I know that Jerry was able to talk to a man who was just release from prison for about 10-15 minutes while he was with the group.

This evening, we all drove over to the Little Painted Desert to celebrate the life of Deb Pederson, as this was one of her favorite places on Earth. Several of the people, including Jerry and Abby, walked down into the Desert and explored. Kelcy and I stayed up at the top. After a time of remembrance of Ms. Deb, we returned to the church. The Tomoka ladies provided another fellowship meal and afterward, they had a communion service. I was very touched to be included in their group activities.

Abby spent the night with the ladies group from Tomoka in the Hogan. Abby had been invited by Paige, who was a young Navajo lady who was spending the night with the group as well. I was a little nervous about them falling asleep, but the ladies said they did okay.

Sunday

The church attendance was great this morning. I need to check with Mr. Bill to see the exact attendance, but I know it was more than usual. We had one Navajo gentleman there who was a traditionalist who had never been to church before! After church service, we loaded up and headed different directions. One group went to Show Low, AZ to visit at AICM (American Indian Christian Mission) and our group went to the Grand Canyon Park. Miss Springer assured us it would take about an hour, but we took over 2 hours to get there. I guess she either knows a short cut or drives faster! It was a lovely trip. Being in the car with people who had never been here before made me realize just how much I take the view for granted. It is a beautiful drive to Flagstaff, which I enjoyed the first time I went. I guess my enjoyment dimmed somewhat with each visit, as the view became “old hat”. The sense of awe was renewed as I saw the view through the eyes of those people who had never seen it before. They were taking pictures and exclaiming over how beautiful it was and they were right! The trip to the canyon was amazing. We drove to the South rim, come up from the East Side. When we got to the gate of the park, snow flurries started falling. When we got to the first stop, which was the Watchtower, it was all out snowing with big snow flakes. We were able to see the canyon pretty good at this first stop. After this, the snow and accompanying clouds made it all but impossible to see down into the canyon. The snow kept up for most of the time we were in the park. It was a unique sight to see at the Grand Canyon. We left the park and drove down into Flagstaff and had dinner together there, then back to the mission.

Monday morning March 23rd

Monday was a hard day for everyone. The Tomoka group had a chapel service for the school children, where they each shared a little about themselves and it was wonderful. We sand some songs and the ladies gave out prayer baskets to the children, with emblems in each basket reminding them to pray for different things (their country, family), along with a prayer journal, a photo album (that included a picture of Ms. Deb) and a book of Bible promises. This was such a great idea!

The group from Tomoka each made time to speak with me individually at some point during the week. I got to know each of them by their names, which is saying a lot for my memory. They repeatedly asked what they could do to help. They included me and my family in their supper meals. It was a wonderful week of encouragement and love for us, as staff, and all the school children. We all thank you each so much for giving of your time to the Lord and choosing to do that here, at Red Sands! We hope you keep in touch!

March 23rd is our wedding anniversary. Jerry and I were married 7 years ago today! If you have a weak stomach, you can look away. I love him even more today than I did when we were first married! I have enjoyed these seven years, though they were good and bad times in them. I have a wonderful God and a wonderful Christian husband, two wonderful, healthy children, wonderfully supportive friends and family, and I am very thankful!