Navajo- Friday Update

On Friday we finished up all of our projects around the church and Ray and Darlene’s house. It was also our last day of Vacation Bible School. The kids had a great time singing, learning about Noah and the Ark, and playing water games. Because of the strong bonds made with the children throughout the week, saying goodbye was tough for both us and the children. One child in particular, Mariah, a ten year old, really connected with Taylor Orlando and a few of us other girls. On the first day of VBS Mariah loved Taylor so much, following her around and always sitting next to her. The second day of VBS Mariah didn’t show up, so Taylor and some other girls made her a friendship bracelet to bring to her. Then on the third day, Mariah came back. She was so excited to see Taylor that she ran up the mountain where Taylor was. They had so much fun the last day but when it came time to go, it was really hard for both of them. Mariah told Taylor about her family life and how her parents drank and weren’t very nice to her and how she had to take care of her family. She told Taylor that she was the only one who has ever been so nice to her. Even though we are leaving, Taylor and some of the other girls will continue to keep in touch with Mariah and help her through her troubles.
Also on Friday, groups set out to wrap up various projects around our job sites. Some of us went to Ray and Darlene’s house to finish tarring the roof and cleaning up around the house. The finished product was a newly painted, trimmed, roofed and repaired house for the whole family of six. We also finished painting both the inside and outside of the church and began mixing and laying concrete for a walkway that the next groups can finish up.
After lunch we went to the Painted Desert. This set of canyons were made entirely of sand, with dark purple, yellow, and red layers that give them their name. This breathtaking view wasn’t only for show, our whole group actually hiked down into them! Quickly many of the guys figured out they could slide down the huge hills after Parker McDonald’s epic first slide down on his behind. Then some guys found an old mattress and attempted to sand surf down one of the largest hills. The suspense was thrilling, but sad to say the raft only went about ½ a mile per hour. (FAIL). I (Brittany) led the newly adventurous Taylor C. sprinting down and up steep hills, where she was thinking she was sure to die, but the whole experience was fun and invigorating.
At the end of the day, our church group and many local Navajo people had a huge cookout to celebrate the whole week. My prayer group and I (Taylor C.) got the opportunity to talk to two really sweet ladies, Mrs. Curly and Mrs. Whitehorse. They talked to us for a very long time about their lives and families. We prayed for them and they said a prayer for us in Navajo. One of the ladies even went home and made each of us a necklace to remember her by. Many other relationships were formed as well. Carrisa, Ray and Darlene’s 15-year-old daughter, made strong connections with many of the girls here. It will be really hard to say goodbye to her and her family.
After the cookout we sang a couple worship songs and enjoyed an awesome slide show Clark made for us. The slide show had great pictures from the whole week including one extra long picture of Nick and his “girlfriend” Jasmine, a little girl from VBS who had a huge crush on him. Then some people from our group and some of the natives here shared their views of our work and how the trip affected them. Some people had accepted Christ into their lives for the first time, and to the delight of many of the Navajos who were with us in the chapel that night, Michael Costa shared his experience in accepting Jesus. After that, we shared communion and prayed for God to continue working through us as we return home to our lives.
This whole week has been so much more spiritual for our group as a whole, I (Britt) feel as if my heart has been stripped away of the barriers that have been keeping Christ out. Despite some of our doubts coming into this trip, everyone agrees that this experience has proven itself to one of the best of our lives. Each and every day we could see that all of our work immediately affected the lives of the Navajo people and the gratitude and love coming from them was inspiring to watch. We look forward to a fun time at the Grand Canyon today and are sad to see this trip come to an end.

Brittany Lademann & Taylor Crain