Working at Ganado

At the early part of the summer my family and I worked on a Navajo reservation at the Ganado Presbyterian Mission.  There was talk of internet connections and free time.  I brought our laptop and thought that I would be able to write every day, work on my book, and get done what I needed to get done for the mission.  One thing that I have learned is that the plans I make are laughable.  The internet connection was too far away from where we stayed but that was OK since my laptop refused to stay on for more than 5 minutes.  And the things that I 'needed' to get done turned into things that I 'desperately wanted' to get done.  It was a very rewarding experience for us as a church group and as a family.

I wrote a little bit about our experiences to share with the members of our church.  I thought I would include what I had written here:

The Hidden Oasis

Long ago, but not so long ago that people in our church don’t remember, there was an oasis in the Arizona desert.  It was a green, growing, landscape that was a stopping point for travelers to refresh as they made their way across the arid landscape.  Travelers knew that the Presbyterian Mission at the Navajo reservation in Ganado, Arizona was a place to recharge and go on with a new energized spirit.  The grounds were watered with an underground spring that kept the mission green and growing.  In addition to the trees and grass that were fed by the spring, there was a school, run by the mission, that ‘fed’ the surrounding area in terms of investing in the future of the Navajo people or the dine (di-nay) as they call themselves.

For reasons too long forgotten or too muddled to remember accurately the life giving spring was covered up.  Some say it was to save the sinking foundation of the church.  Some say it was the Sage Memorial Hospital, which is now intertwined among the grounds and decision making at this site, who decided to cap off the spring.  My favorite is that the “hippies” came and took away the water and, with that, took away much of the outward, superficial beauty of the grounds. (By the way, the church’s foundation continues to sink and repairs are needed to shore things up.)  The once thriving school closed.  The church was without a pastor for many years.  And the buildings fell into disrepair.  Were it not for the efforts of the elders of the church, and one of the most humble church secretaries that I have ever seen, the church would have dried up and blown away along with the once lush grounds.

Centerville’s team of thirty five traveled to the mission to help rejuvenate portions of the mission that we felt we could accomplish in our short stay there.  We were not fully aware of what to expect, the challenges that we would face, or the way we would be changed by the Navajo people.  Around every corner we met people who were appreciative of all the work we were doing and saw the spirit of God shining through acts of selflessness and generosity.  Walking through the various worksites at the mission I saw people working together to accomplish things that, in truth, had no earthly expectation of being completed in the small amount of time that we had.  There was a library that was in as much disarray as I have seen.  There was a tunnel with broken wiring that held an entire building hostage with sub-standard power.  There was an empty room with no wiring, lighting, or internet connection.  There were dorm rooms with mattresses and no beds.  There was a sanctuary with two different colors of paint.  There was an entire house that needed to be painted!  And amid all of this activity there was a strong desire to lead the children of the mission in a vacation Bible school full of fun, singing, and learning about the love of Jesus.

We were told to not feel badly if we didn’t complete the tasks that we assigned ourselves and even to expect that we would not complete everything that we had wanted to.  Each team (except for the VBS team) pondered fall back positions where we could leave work uncompleted to be worked on by the next group to come.  Each team worked past their mid-point goals and worked on to the completion of each task.

If this were a story in a novel or the plot of a movie of the week this would be where the hero would ride in, take off his hat, and push aside the boulder that allowed the spring to flow again energizing this wonderful place.  Unfortunately, this is not a movie and the spring is long since gone.  The energizing needs to come from groups like ours who are full of the love of Jesus and a desire to help people who are in need.