Friday: Final Day!

What a wonderful week full of new friendships, long days, hard work, basketball, testimonies, shared meals, music, sweet fellowship, laughter, struggles, prayer, smiles, Scripture, service, miracles, generosity, learning, and so much more.

After a quick cold breakfast at the hotel we set out once again to Navajo Bible Church. It is funny how after only one week you can feel so comfortable at a new location and with new friends. With a freshly painted fancy fresh sign we again located the familiar building with a new metal roof, two new basketball hoops, and a recently cleared property.

The kids at the basketball camp seemed like they were finally warmed up to us today and it was so neat for me to look around and see all of the Sunnyside youth filling various needs. Today Jodi and Andrew taught the lessons, Victoria was taking pictures for us, Kailey-Ann and Shannon were getting snack ready, Cassie was helping run the K and 1st grade group, Mikaylla was playing with the two sweet 4 year old girls not old enough to play, Cody was coaching a kid on “correct” defense, and the list goes on.

It has been a blessing for us to be a blessing to others. Thanks to the generosity of our team, the Colorado team, and Sunnyside we were able to provide the basketball campers each with their own basketball, t-shirt, hacky-sack, and a daily snack. Bless the LORD for his provisions!

All in all the camp was awesome and we were able to provide the youth with a picture of Christ’s love in tangible ways. Father please direct the paths of these children that they might live for you and love others.

Following the camp came a bunch of clean up, long goodbyes, t-shirt/hacky-sack signing, and finally a meal. The Navajo Church generously slaughtered a sheep for us and made “hommony”, mutton, and stew. The food was delicious, and best of all it brought all of us together for one last shared meal. After eating, Brent led us in a devotional and time of sharing. This is when many of the Navajo people shared their “thanks” for our service this week and gave us their blessing. Our only response was one of returned thanks for all of the lessons we have learned, was we have been blessed, and friendships we have made. What sweet sweet fellowship – we will truly miss seeing our Navajo brothers and sisters every day. Great thanks be to God!

A Long Day

It is 5:15pm right now, and we just started a short break before returning to the church. We have had a day filled with shared meals, a great basketball camp, and some hard worked hours of physical labor. The day began with joy, and last night our challenge was to have a day filled with thanks (Psalm 107, thanks John!), but it seems that our weaknesses are showing stronger than we would like.

After lunch we started working on more construction needs. Most days we have taken a 1-2 hour break in the middle of the day where the youth go swimming, rest, and laugh with each other. But today, we were in a little bit of limbo, requiring the youth to sit tight, keep working, and stay flexible. As those of you who have done trips like ours, plans and schedules are never set in stone. So anyways, we had some frustrations flare up and some emotions run high and we could use prayer.

We need continued prayer for strength (late paint night last night meant a 11:45pm bed time for most), for passions, and for grateful attitudes. Today is a chance to build character. We can chose to overcome by GOD’s STRENGTH or we can choose to complain, lag, and give in to the flesh. May we count it ABSOLUTE JOY to serve (and maybe even suffer a little bit) the body of Christ and by serving be made more like him! What could be better?

Pray that we will claim Christ’s power and that his will would be the desire of our hearts. Praise be to God in all things.

Late Night Paint

Last night we had a wonderful teen game night. Not only did new kids show up, but we got to hear three wonderful stories of God’s redemption from Mikayla, Brady, and Cody. What a blessing to enjoy games, testimonies, and to deepen relationships (additional praise is that we didn’t get hit by a monsoon during game night!).

Shortly before the game night ended at around 8:30pm Pastor Matt, Brent, and Mark approached me. We circled up and then Mark spoke. He said, “Matt came up with a brilliant idea!” To which I replied “oh really, what is it?” Matt responded, “we are going to paint the church tonight, with the youth’s help!” So yep, there it was and by 9:00pm we had paint brushes and rollers moving, and what was a BIG job was turned into 2 hours of team building.

There were difficult moments here and there and our bodies were physically tired, but our spirits kept rambling on. We sung songs of praise (10,000 Reasons) and shared in conversation. It was awesome to united spur of the moment and accomplish something big for the Navajo Bible Church. It was only the first layer but the reason Mark called it a “brilliant idea” was that painting it last night allowed the men to do the second coat this morning. Wow, thanks be to God!

OPPORTUNITIES

After the Sunday church service we had a wonderful potluck provided by the Navajo congregation and then we got to work. Work today involved tearing off the old roof, creating a sports field, putting up basketball hoops, carrying pews, as well as many other various projects.

We gained insight today into two key opportunities we will have this week: (1) The church structure is in much need of physical repair. Some of the needs include a new roof, drywall patch-work, a fresh coat of paint on the floor, and re-vamping some odds and ends like the gate and the sign. (2) Additionally we have the opportunity to reach out to the Navajo youth. The local congregation consisted of no youth between the ages of 5 and 21. We want to target this exact age group and by God’s grace share true love with them and get them plugged in with the local body of Christ.

At the end of the long work day [we cleared the sports field, pumped up the basketballs, did the shopping, put together two basketball hoops, tore the old roof off, and canvased the neighborhoods inviting kids to come hang-out] we all came together to share a meal and share some “proud-of-you’s.” A proud-of-you is simply an opportunity to encourage another by saying “______, I’m proud of you for…” Some of the proud-of-you’s I heard tonight were:

Andrew, Cody, and Brady I’m proud of you for jumping in to help tear off the roof today!

Mark, I’m proud of you for singing Come Thou Fount for the church today during Sunday service.

Mikaylla, I’m proud of you for stepping out and getting to know Nate today.

Shannon and Kailey-Ann, I’m proud of you for taking initiative to get to know the Colorado team today.

Marnie, I’m proud of you for being an encourager and lifting up the team’s spirits today.

There were many many more proud-of-you’s, but if I listed them all you would be reading for hours [ok maybe not that long]. It is so key to encourage one another and notice the good works God is doing through his children. Praise be to God!

Prayer Requests: (1) Pray for mercies as the roof project continues at full speed. (2) Pray for kids to come to the basketball camp as well as the game nights. Also, prayer for the love of God to go forward to the verbal and practical testimonies to Christ tomorrow.