Summer Events in Navajo
Greetings from New Mexico. Although many of you have a full month of summer left, it feels as if the sun has set on summer here. Public school started August 10, and we just said goodbye to the last of our visiting teams for the summer. It was an eventful summer, full of opportunities to share God's grace and grow in service to Him. Three teams came from various places around the U.S. to share in fellowship and service. The first team was from St. Paul's Lutheran in McAllen, Texas. They did various service projects at the church, in the community and at the homes of some of our church members.
The second team came from Our Savior's Lutheran in Topsfield, Mass. They provided vacation Bible school (VBS) and many relationship-building activities. To learn more about their visit, read the mission team's blog at http://oslcnavajoteam2015.blogspot.com.
The last team was a group who also visited last year from the LWML Utah-Idaho District. They built on relationships they had established last year and did many collaborative projects, including sewing pajama pants, making a quilt and decorating cakes. The women also shared the Word of God in Bible studies with adults and children.
Our church was on the giving end, as well as the receiving end of mission this summer. We hosted our own VBS, organized and led by one of our congregation members. We also sent a team once again to Old Minto, Alaska, for a weeklong servant event. Although it was a demanding servant event (cooking, VBS and taking care of the camp), we saw God's hand in many things, and we heard many stories from people whom He called out of darkness and into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:0).
A few families have started to come to church as a result of this summer's activities. They, too, have shared some heart-wrenching stories of tragedy, but God has given them hope. Please pray with us that they are strengthened in their hope by regular participation in hearing God's Word.
We were richly blessed to receive a grant from the LWML convention this summer. We plan to use the money for men's ministry, an after-school program for children and mission events in the summer. It is all well and good to plan, but it's often much harder to implement plans. So, please pray with us that these dreams and goals come to fruition.
- Tim Norton, Vicar, Navajo, New Mexico
Read Related Stories:
- Navajo Devotion: Being a Navajo Code Talker (by LWML Utah-Idaho District volunteer, Terri Bentley)
- Natives Serving Natives - An Answered Prayer
Download a PDF of this article here.