2007 Chinle Mission Report

The majority of the Chinle mission team of 45 people left Glendora on Saturday, July 21, 2007.  Since the trip takes approximately 12 hours to drive some of the team left the day before and drove half way.  Every car was loaded down with food for the team, supplies for VBS for the children, the women’s Bible study materials, projects and tools needed for the church, used clothes and toys, and new school supplies for the Navajo children.  Since there are no facilities in Chinle to make many of the purchases needed we had to do most of the preparing beforehand so that we could bring what was needed with us.  The only things we were able to shop for were at Bashas’ the grocery store, for perishable items like bread, water, and produce.

When we arrived in Chinle, those staying at the Best Western checked in, while the RV’s that were at Trinity Presbyterian Church spent time connecting to electricity, and those staying in the manse set up their rooms.   After that the team went to the Thunderbird Restaurant for dinner together, so that everyone would be able to meet the entire team.

On Sunday we all attended the 10:00 a.m. church service at Trinity. One of our team members, Steve Seaford presented the sermon, which had been arranged beforehand.   During the service our team introduced themselves and we announced the plans for the week to the congregation.   Most of them were aware of everything since we had sent flyers to approximately 150 children.  It was exciting to hear how they had all been anxiously waiting for us to come.  After the service our team spent a bit of time visiting with the Navajo people, and then went to lunch.   We were to meet back at the church at 1:00 to prepare for the week.

We then spent the entire rest of the day unpacking the vehicles, setting up the kitchen supplies, decorating the church and fellowship hall, preparing the thrift store with all the used items, setting up the classrooms and women’s group area.  The cooking assistance team went to the market for the needed items, and the men’s project team drove 90 miles to Gallup to purchase the needed supplies, and to pick up the swamp cooler that had been ordered and held there for us. Once we had the facility ready we met together to go over the plans for Monday, our first day.  We then had dinner at 6:00 p.m. which the cooking team prepared.  Prior to dinner Caitlyn Brennan gave a devotion about being an example of Christ, a bracelet that helps us to break the bad habit of complaining, and bags with our names on them that we hung to write notes to each other when we notice a job well done during the week.

On Monday morning the team met at 8:00 a.m. for a team picture and then Jim Brennan took the church bus to pick up the Navajo kids while the rest of us prepared for the day.  When the kids arrived we yelled welcome and they checked in and were assigned a group.  They also gave us their P.O. Box numbers and were told they would get a backpack if they had perfect attendance.  At 9:00 we called all the children into the sanctuary to start the worship.   We had the teenagers from our team open each day with prayer.  We sang songs that went along with the Avalanche Ranch program.  A few of the kids stood up to lead the worship but most of them were our team.  There was a small skit that Kristina Egbert and Caitlyn Brennan had prepared, and the kids thoroughly enjoyed it.  Kim Muras explained the program rules to the kids and talked about the bible point of the day, “God is real.”   Whenever the kids heard it throughout the day they were to circle their heads with their right arm, and yell “Wahoo.”  The kids were dismissed to their discussion groups where they went over the story for the day and got acquainted.  At the rotation times they either went to games, snack or crafts.  At 11:30 we called them back into the sanctuary and reviewed the day and did worship and prayer, then dismissed the children.  Jim would then drive the children back to their drop off site.

While VBS was being conducted the women’s group met in the manse and were served breakfast, had a get acquainted time, and a tremendous bible study led by three of our team.  The men on the projects team prepared and installed a swamp cooler in the manse to make it more comfortable for a new pastor.

Once we cleaned up the classrooms, we met together for lunch and reviewed the day and where we needed to make changes.  We also discussed the plans for the following day and prepared what we could for the kid’s snacks.  We all then had a few hours of free time, to rest, visit the overlooks, or meet with some of the Navajo women.  We were to meet back at the church at 5:30 for dinner.  The cooking assistance team would then go to the market for basic needs for dinner that night and lunch the following day.  The men installing the swamp cooler chose to continue working on it, as they had a few things they wanted to accomplish the rest of the week.  As a result they only had a small amount to finish up the next day.  What a difference it made in the manse, those sleeping there actually needed a blanket at night.

We then came back for devotion, a get acquainted game together, and dinner.  We invited the Navajo people to join us each evening, and many of them came and even participated in the games with us, which was a lot of fun.  We had a clean-up team assigned for each day so the cooks didn’t have to worry about that responsibility.

Each day basically followed the same procedure but with a different bible story, bible point, craft and snack.  The snack and crafts were done in fellowship hall and, when the children were finished, Jane Beard led them in some songs that they all knew from years before.  There were small repair jobs accomplished like fixing toilets, broken door frames, repairing the walkway to the thrift store, organizing the craft room, cleaning up the garage, and staining the swing set on the playground. Thursday the children were given a “free shopping” time in the thrift store with all that we had brought with us.  They could take two clothing items and a toy.  We did allow the pre-school to go first as they were so young and there were over twenty of them.  The items not taken we left for them to sell in the thrift store...

On Tuesday afternoon many of the team rode horses into Canyon de Chilly with Navajo guides, and learned a lot about the history there.  Some also went to the Best Western to swim in the pool, with several of the Navajo kids going with them.  That evening Marilyn Tso an elementary teacher who is teaching the children about their Navajo culture shared with us her program with the children.  Rena Begay shared what it was like in Chinle when she was growing up.  How they used the yucca plant to wash their hair, and specific weeds they used to make hair brushes, which she brought as examples, and how they traveled only by wagons and horses.  Kathy Mitchell a Navajo high school teacher gave us a power point about her mission trip to Peru last July.  She became more committed to help her people due to this trip.   All of it was very beneficial in helping us understand their way if life.

Wednesday was the day we had 120 Navajo children, the most ever in one day.  There were also 49 senior and junior high students.  We had at least two hundred different children for VBS this year.  What was special to all of us was by now there was only two of our team leading the worship, the rest were at least 25-30 of the Navajo children.  They knew all the sign language and words to the songs.  They would be talking and as soon as the music started all of them would run up to the front, even the ones as young as four years old.  One mother told me her children were singing the songs at home all day and night.  Jim the bus driver said they sang them all the way home. Next year he is going to bring a CD player and play some music for them while they are driving.  The kids didn’t even want to stop the singing each day, they kept yelling the titles of the ones they wanted to sing over and over again. H ow awesome.

On one specific day there were seven senior high students that recommitted their life to Jesus.  That became a very emotional moment for several of the leaders.  Gary Taylor did our devotion that night and shared what a tremendous experience it was. He also shared that he couldn’t find words to describe what this week has meant to him and his family.  We had an early dinner with a large group of Navajo that joined us, as we went hiking down the White House Overlook afterward. It was awesome having so many participate, many of them Navajo children.

Thursday the men on the projects team collected all the school supplies and backpacks and organized them and divided everything up.  We even had a large amount of boxes with supplies from Avery that were mailed to Trinity for us to distribute to the children.  We also had some new toys and t-shirts that we divided up equally between all the crews so they could be given out on Friday by their leaders.  Thursday evening following dinner and a game, we went to the Junction Overlook, also with many of our Navajo friends and we circled up had had prayer time together. It was truly amazing.

On Friday our last day we did everything similar in the morning, with worship and the skit, bible discussion, and snack.  We called the children into the sanctuary at 11:00 a.m. and reviewed the week, and gave the children backpacks and school supplies.  The pre-school received a bag with crayons, play dough, bubbles, a beanie baby and a story book in the preschool room before they left.  We intended to do an altar call but with so many children who got confused, they left the sanctuary before we could do so.  Next year we will handle that differently.

Many of the Navajo children went around and asked for our addresses.  It was obvious to all of us how much the children wanted special attention and loved and appreciated our visit.  We informed everyone including our team that we will be back in December of this year, and again next July, and that we will be planning a debriefing meeting with the entire team sometime in September.  There were lots of hugs and good-byes. We then all pitched in and cleaned up the entire area and put everything back the way we found it when we arrived.  We gave Jasper Tso, who is in charge at Trinity, a check for $400 to cover some of the utilities expenses while we were there.

The only thing we will change next year is to limit the age to preschool to four and five year olds.  Any child younger is not able to focus on the lesson and our goal is to teach them about Jesus.  We will have an adult check them in so they can tell the parents that we can’t accept the younger children. In prior years we had teenagers do this, and they take advantage of their age.  Our bus driver Jim will also tell them the same. We will even send a flyer ahead of time explaining the situation.

We will also give the children a token that they turn in on Friday for their special perfect attendance award that will keep things clear and fair.

We have truly been blessed by this mission trip.  Each year it just gets better and better.  We are now seeing a new group of children that attend as many of them have now graduated from high school. But it is exciting to us that even though they have grown up, they still come to see us when we are there.  We had an extremely large team this year and we were concerned about keeping everyone informed and busy.  We were also concerned about the hot weather, but none of those concerns were an issue.  This is the best team we ever had and we all worked very well together.  The get acquainted games were very informative and fun, especially since the Navajo participated too.  The weather was absolutely perfect for Chinle.  We had cooler temperatures, rain, wind, lightening, and rainbows, which was an example to the children how God is real. “Wahoo”.

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