Month: August 2013

This year I chose Love and Care Ministries for my volunteer project. I went into this with an open mind hoping to bless other people and learn something new about myself. I called Mick and set up my week and he was very nice and ready to put me to work. The first half of the week I worked in the clothing area sorting through the hundreds of bags of clothes donated and hanging them up to prepare them for the store. I have to say I was less than impressed with what some people choose to donate. I’m almost positive one of the bags I opened up was somebodies dirty laundry that had been sitting in a swampy basement for years. Quite disgusting. If anything this makes me want to shout out a PSA to everybody that has or will in the future donate clothing and such. DON’T DONATE YOUR GARBAGE!! Seriously….. It may be no big deal for you to throw some old, crappy, unwanted stuff in a garbage bag and consider it a donation but remember there are actual humans that have to sort through your nasty stuff that you so generously threw out. Be considerate! If you are wanting to help your community do it in a manner that you would want to accept it if it was given to you. End Rant. After a couple days in the clothing area I asked to move somewhere else. When you volunteer at places like this sometimes the other people in there “volunteering” along side you are actually the homeless themselves or people serving community service who don’t really want to be there. Some of the content of the conversations took on a vulgar tone and even I began to get offended which takes a lot. Mick was very understanding and moved me to the food pantry for the rest of the week. At the food pantry I met Don. He’s an older man that is retired and has been volunteering there for the last 3 years. He was a really great man and it was cool to see how he interacted with the homeless people. At the food pantry you actually get one on one face time with the homeless. Some of them are in and out with no appreciation for what they are getting. Some of them are very kind, sweet and appreciative of the tiny food kit they are given. Some are lonely and talk your ear off. Overall, I really enjoyed the food pantry and would love to go back to help sometime. I was impressed by how well the whole system is ran and how willing these people are to give so much of themselves to help other people, whether they are down on their luck or chose that lifestyle.

After my week of service I enjoyed my week of vacation that was full of school shopping, my birthday, my (almost) father in law cutting off two fingers with a table saw, lots of snocone eating and a bbq and s’mores celebration of our last day of summer. I’m glad to be back at work and my kids to be back at school. Thanks Kris and the board for another great opportunity.

It was a long drive home on Monday.  We unloaded in the church parking lot and said our goodbyes.  These were not the same people who left Abilene six days ago.  We may not have changed Chinle, but it certainly changed us.

Tuesday morning was the funeral for Michele.  As tragic as it was to lose a young friend, her service was full of hope and good memories because Michele was a Christian and we all know where she is now.  Jimmy stopped us after the service to tell us that our Navajo friend, Leroy,  had texted that his nephew had been killed on Sunday.  Jimmy has been praying for and witnessing to Leroy for 8 years.  We were all praying that Leroy might become a Christian while we were in Chinle, and we were disappointed when it didn’t happen.  But, God’s timing was at work and Leroy became a Christian on Tuesday afternoon!  We had learned early in the week that our plans are not always God’s plans – His always turn out so much better.  Once again, God said, “I’ve got this.”

We had seven days of laughter, tears, joy, sorrow, chaos, calm, excitement and amazement at what God can do.

The last revival service would be held this morning, so our Cooking Team showed up early to start preparations for our part of the lunch after the service.  It was such a fun week working with and getting to know each person on the team.

As were chopping vegetables, Pastor Jeff came in and asked if we would be serving grape Kool-Aid at lunch.  We’d made many gallons of it throughout the last week, and yes, it was on the menu for lunch.  He had found out that for various reasons Memorial Baptist had not had communion for many months, so he wanted to hold communion at the end of the service.  So…we filled communion cups with grape Kool-Aid.

The last revival service was overflowing with people, the music was great and Jeff hit a home run with the sermon.  He was able to use the unexpected death of our friend Michele as an illustration of how we never know when we might live our last day on earth.  He encouraged them to not delay the decision to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  Although when no one walked down the aisle at the end of the service, it was a powerful service.

For our final lunch, we enjoyed delicious Fry Bread meal made by both our team and some of the ladies from Memorial Baptist.  We fellowshipped, exchanged email addresses and then loaded up for Albuquerque.  We left Chinle with a much lighter load after serving over 600 meals.  We left books, study materials, t-shirts and even noticed that several high school students ended up with Hardin-Simmons caps and back packs.

 We arrived in Albuquerque after at least 20 restroom stops – one 8 miles from the hotel – ok here’s where it would have been really nice to have had a bus.  We had a time of sharing about what we were taking home from the trip.  Many commented how we received a bigger blessing than the people of Chinle.  We talked about how proud we were of the students that were part of our group.  They witnessed to people in the Burger King, the streets, the baseball field and the parking lot.  They made crafts, gave piggy-back rides and loved on everyone they met.  We talked about how God had orchestrated everything we did, even though we didn’t recognize it at the time.  We reflected that just because we didn’t see results that day, everything happens in God’s timing and we felt like some seeds were planted this week that will produce positive results in the future.   Even so, it was worth every minute.

Day five was full of laughter, tears, joy, sorrow, chaos, calm, excitement and amazement at what God can do.

We took a few hours off on Saturday morning to hike Canyon de Chelly where the wind and water have carved out a beautiful desert canyon.  It’s a sacred place to the Navajo because it’s the home of their ancestors.  The path down to the bottom of the canyon was a mile and a half hike with ruins of the ancient cliff-dwellers at the bottom.  We were told that the canyon has been the site of several movies, most recently the opening scene in the remake of The Lone Ranger.

Having been to Chinle for 12 years in a row, Jimmy has made some good friends over the years.  Several of these friends, and some of the new friends that we met, went to the canyon with us so they could tell us about the canyon and their ancestors.

Our Navajo friends told us how their families have passed down the history of their ancestors.  Dennis said he learned many stories from his grandmother who still speaks only Navajo, and that she taught him the language.  His family meets in the canyon several times a year to camp.

There were five or six tables set up at the bottom of the canyon where vendors were selling jewelry and artifacts.  As I was supporting the local economy, Mark asked one of the craftsmen, a silversmith, how he learned his trade.  He proudly said that it had been passed down in his family for many generations.  He showed us a beautiful silver bracelet that told the history of his family.  It’s evident that they are very proud of their heritage, and it’s now a little easier to understand why it’s hard for them to leave the reservation even though life there has its difficulties.

When we returned from the canyon hike, we met back at the church where the Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen was holding their lunch for the community.  It is a much-needed service as evidenced by the long line of people.  Some of the ladies from our team went with them to deliver meals to the homebound.  They said that many of the homes on their stops didn’t even have electricity or running water.  Laura later commented how sad it made her that the shed where she keeps her lawnmower is nicer than some of these homes.

When we served people supper that night before the revival service, I noticed that many of them came back more than once – they were physically hungry.  God reminded me that day that I live a very fortunate life.  I have a good job, comfortable home, loving family and more stuff than I really need.  Many of the things I’ve come to consider necessities are merely just items of convenience.  The majority of people in Chinle need help with the basic necessities of life – food, water and Jesus.  While we can’t meet all of the needs in Chinle, we can change their lives by introducing them to Jesus.

Day four was full of laughter, tears, joy, sorrow, chaos, calm, excitement and amazement at what God can do.

After Thursday’s chaos, Friday was the complete opposite – it felt like the calm after the storm. Some of our college students switched from the D-Now Team to the VBS Team. VBS kids did crafts and learned Bible stories in one room, while the D-Now teens met in another room. The Baseball Camp was full of students from all ages wanting to learn about baseball. Mark and the Evangelism Team were out in the neighborhoods inviting people to the revival and meals. The Ladies’ Bible Study had so many ladies that they ran out of chairs.

My job was on the Cooking Team. We started working at 9:00 to prepare hamburgers for lunch. Even though we had some extra mouths to feed, we had food left over for the soup kitchen to freeze and use on another day. It is the Loaves and Fishes kitchen after all – so what else would you expect.

The VBS lesson for the day was “What to do When You’re Afraid”. Venita asked what things they were afraid of, and got answers like, “monsters under the bed”, “afraid of the dark” – the same as any other kids. She taught them how to talk to God whenever they’re afraid and that they will always have a friend in Jesus.
The night before when we were trying to put VBS together, Andrea had the great idea to download a Veggie Tales video on her computer for the kids to watch. When she started the video the next day, all of the adults in the room were floored. She had picked the video “Where’s God When I’m Scared?” without even knowing that it was the same theme as the VBS material! The video addressed all the same questions that Venita had asked earlier in the day. Hmmm…it seems that God really wanted us to have VBS in Chinle.

That evening we fed another 100 people spaghetti for supper, then had our first revival service. Two young men showed up after being invited to the meal and the service. After the service we immediately had our group meeting and when we were finished, we discovered that those two guys had been waiting in the parking lot for an hour to talk to Pastor Jeff. They ended up attending many of our activities during the weekend and even exchanged email addresses with several people in our group.

Day three was full of laughter, tears, joy, sorrow, chaos, calm, excitement and amazement at what God can do.

We started the morning in Albuquerque with a team pep talk and prayer. Our caravan arrived at 2:00 p.m., after at least 20 restroom stops, and pulled into the parking lot at Memorial Baptist Church – a small, five-room building with approximately 30 active members. Their soup kitchen, called Loaves and Fishes, feeds the community several times a month and delivers meals to the homebound.

Chinle is in the northwest corner of Arizona, about one hour from Gallup, NM. When I Googled “Chinle AZ”, the following information pulled up: The population of Chinle is 4518; 89.8% are American Indian; 45% of Chinle residents live in poverty; the median household income is $19,930; 31.8% of people over 25 are unemployed.  There are 7 businesses in town and little opportunity for employment.  The majority of those employed work for the schools and hospital.  Before we left I had a picture in my mind of what it would look like, and it turned out to be pretty close to what I saw when we arrived.

We unloaded all of the food and equipment and prepared for our 5:00 p.m. Session 1 activities – or at least we thought we were prepared. Mark and the other vans started off by picking up the kids for Baseball Camp and dropping them off at the high school. Then they picked up some more kids and brought them to the church for D-Now – there were a couple of teenagers and lots of elementary age kids. But wait…this isn’t what we had planned. The D-Now activities were planned for teens and would not be appropriate for the younger kids. The D-Now books we brought were for teens. The D-Now lessons were planned for teens. With children running around everywhere, the team had to launch from Disciple Now mode into Vacation Bible School mode. On the fly, they revamped the lessons, games, and music. For two hours, Alan sang every children’s song he could think of. The Cooking Team hadn’t planned VBS snacks, and these kids were starving, so we dipped out the ice cream we had bought to go on the peach cobbler for that evening’s fellowship. The afternoon felt like absolute chaos.

At 7:00 p.m., after the vans took the kids home, we moved chairs into the parking lot and had a sing-along and fellowship with the church members. Everyone was exhausted, but it was monsoon season with rain in the area and the temperature was perfect, the sunset across the desert was beautiful, and we were all calmed as we sang songs of praise.

We had our nightly group meeting after the fellowship and worked on a plan – a new plan – for the next day. We discussed the need to feed the VBS kids lunch and snacks, and whether someone would need to drive to Gallup to buy more food. Instead, a plan was devised to stretch the food we already had and make it work. Someone had already made a call to Pioneer Drive and they were emailing VBS curriculum before the night was over. Venita, from our Ladies’ Bible Study Team, said she would be glad to be in charge of the VBS. She’s an elementary school teacher and a pro at VBS. So Venita said, “Jimmy, I’ve got this.”

Day two was full of laughter, tears, joy, sorrow, chaos, calm, excitement and amazement at what God can do.

With instructions to leave town at 8:30, we were doing the last minute packing when Jimmy called with the sad news that a friend from our Sunday School Class had passed away during the night.  We could hardly believe that Michele Scott, a 46 year old wife, and mother of three teenagers, was gone.  We were numb as we thought about her husband Mike and their kids.  Then, it crossed our minds that our trip plans would probably need to be changed.

Jimmy went to the Scott’s house to see Mike and the kids.  The house was already full of friends who had already stopped by to grieve with them.  One of those people was our Youth Minister, Jeff.  Jeff had planned to go on the Chile trip to lead D-Now, but felt led to cancel since he would be gone most of the summer on youth trips, and that would be one more week away from his family.  That Wednesday morning at the Scott’s house, Jeff said “Go to Chinle…Jimmy, I’ve got this.”

The rest of us assembled in the church parking lot, waiting for word from Jimmy about whether our trip plans would be changed.  When he arrived we held a prayer time for the Scott family, and he told us the trip would go on.  Even through our sorrow, we had a mission to carry out.

So on Wednesday, July 24^th, 35 of us set out for the 703 mile trip to Chinle in four vans, one Suburban, two pick-ups and a trailer full of food, luggage and baseball equipment.  We arrived in Albuquerque for the night, after at least 20 restroom stops between Abilene and New Mexico.

After supper we held our group prayer time and talked about the plans for the next day.  It looked like Michele’s funeral service would be held on Tuesday when we returned to Abilene and the Scotts were being taken care of at home.  Jimmy talked to us about the passage in Mark when Jesus wanted to be alone right after the death of his cousin, John the Baptist, but the people needed him.  Even through His sorrow, He had a mission to carry out.  And so did we.

Day one was full of laughter, tears, joy, sorrow, chaos, calm, excitement and amazement at what God can do.

Shik’ihooldoh. I have no idea how to pronounce it, but it means “I’ve been set free” – the theme of our Revival services in Chinle, Arizona. Our group wore leather bracelets with Shik’ihooldoh printed on them as a reminder that Jesus came to set us free from all the sin and chains of this world. It’s the message that we went to share with the people of Chinle.

Jimmy Pogue, our trip organizer and leader, has taken high school students to Chinle as a service project for the last 12 years. His cousin from Arizona had introduced him to the needs of the people in Chinle, so each January the Cooper Student Council travels there to meet the physical needs of the Navajo by taking them food and clothing. But, Jimmy also saw a huge spiritual void in the lives of the Navajo people – one that only the love of Christ can fill. So in August 2011, he took the first group of Abilene church members to lead a revival and build a soup kitchen in the local Baptist church.

As with the first trip in 2011, Jimmy prayed that God would provide him with the names of the people from Abilene that He wanted to send to Chinle. Through that prayer, the 2013 Mission Chinle was assembled: a Revival Team, a Disciple Now Team, a Baseball Camp Team, a Cooking Team, a Ladies’ Bible Study Team, and Evangelism Team. I was on the Cooking Team and Mark was on the Evangelism Team. Many of those traveling with us had also been on the 2011 trip, and five were college students who had been to Chinle more than once when they were Cooper High School students. These five students were even more excited to return to Chinle to share their faith. For several months, we met on Sunday nights to make plans for the activities we would offer during the trip, and to worship together to prepare ourselves for the mission. Everyone agreed that it would be worth all the preparation if only one person made a decision for Christ.

Jimmy lined everything up, including a bus to take us to Chinle and the hotels where we would stay. In July, the bus company cancelled our reservation – because they had received a job that would pay them more money. Jimmy was discouraged and dreaded fact that we would have to caravan to Arizona instead of all riding in one bus. So he reluctantly rented 5 vans, disappointed that things weren’t working out like he planned. Later, when Jimmy talked with the pastor at Memorial Baptist, John told him there were 22 kids signed up to attend our D-Now and Baseball Camp, but they lived all over town and he didn’t know how they were going to get there. Hmmm…so maybe the vans will work out after all. And, it wasn’t the last time that God said, “Jimmy, I’ve got this.”

Lori and I were recently able to take Helpers of People leave to participate in a mission trip to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the Navajo in Chinle, Arizona. Our friend, Jimmy Pogue has led his Student Council members from Cooper High School to Chinle for 13 years each winter to bring food, clothes, and livestock feed. He has wanted to return to Chinle to share Christ’s love without carrying the shackles that come along with the public school system.

Jimmy carefully and prayerfully selected his team based on specific strengths and skills of each missionary and we carried 37 on the trip. We carried a revival pastoral team, a music team, a baseball camp team, a Disciple Now team (ministry aimed at teens), a women’s bible study team, a food team including Lori, and an evangelism team to hit the streets that included me.

Over the last year we made our plans, and then we made more plans, every “i” dotted and every “t” crossed down to the bus charter and where we would eat every meal along the way.
Then it began. A few weeks before we were leaving, the bus company sent our deposit back and informed us they were taking a charter that paid more. So we had to scramble to find vans to rent which saved us money that we were able to spend feeding people. Our plans were not His plans, so the plan was less than perfect. God speaks… You will need vans to transport my children.

One of my other responsibilities included supplying a truck to pull a trailer with equipment, food, and luggage. The morning we were leaving I was up early to go fill up the truck. As I was walking to the truck my phone rang and the ID said “Jimmy Pogue”. My response, “What does he need now?” When I answered, he informed me that one of our Sunday School members died in her sleep over night. Michele Scott was a vibrant 46 year old wife and mother of 3. Now I felt conflicted to whether we should stay to support this dear family or go at 8:30 as planned. Later, (I will come back to this) I would recognize the following verse as God speaking again in this situation: Romans 8:28 – And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose.

We drove to Albuquerque the 1st night and we met again as a group to pray, share, and to go over our plans. We arrived in Chinle around 2:30 and unloaded to find that no advance work had been done by the new pastor. The college kids were expecting 6-8 teens for Disciple Now, the coaches expected 10-12 for baseball camp, the ladies expected 8-10 for the women’s bible study that were all running between 5:00 and 7:00 pm. The food crew expected to feed the same number. At 4:20 pm, I and 3 others pulled out of the church parking lot to go find people to attend because no one had been informed of the activities. I didn’t understand how this could be; our plans were so complete and well thought out. God speaks… Go find my children, they’re waiting.

As we arrived in the neighborhoods (tribal housing projects), the first door I went to politely said no thanks. At the next house were 3 small boys playing and I told them about baseball camp, Disciple Now and they jumped in the van. I had to drag them out and explain that we needed their parent’s permission before they could go and I was invited into their home. Now, the 3 boys were on board hanging out the windows inviting all the kids to Vacation Bible School. Keep in mind, our plan did not include Vacation Bible School! We saw more kids and got parental permission; over and over we filled the vans and turned around for another van load. We must have brought 100 kids to the church and 50 or 60 to the baseball camp and it was chaotic! At 6:50 as I was about to go back to find more kids, they asked me to stop because we were not prepared for young kids and we certainly were not prepared for the number of kids.

My perspective from the van was much different from the perspective at the church and baseball field. They were saying “Oh my gosh, look at all these kids” because they were being overwhelmed with something that we did not plan for. My perspective from the van was “Woohoo! Look at all these kids!!!!!!” God spoke again… My plan is better. You will reach My people through these kids. I AM greater than your plan.

That night, most of our team had a pity party because things didn’t go as planned. I woke up several times during the night worried the kids would not come back because we were disorganized and unprepared for what we encountered. God spoke again… I wiped out your plan because I AM sufficient.

Overnight we had Vacation Bible School plans emailed and printed and again God revealed to us His better plan. I found that my fears were also not part of God’s better plan as we went to the neighborhoods and the vans filled up once again at a more manageable level. Others in the group thought that the evangelism (van) duty was the worst job that anyone had. They were wrong! We had a vantage point no one else had. We were invited into their homes; we met moms, dads, grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We were able to better see how life is lived on “the rez”.

We also were able to witness the impact that each of the ministry teams were having on these children and their families as we had windshield time and home time to fill with conversation. I witnessed 2 boys jump on the van with their new Bibles that coach Steve Coleman gave them frantically looking up John 3:16. The coach showed them his Hardin-Simmons University cap that represented a team that was very important to him. He then turned it over and showed the most important thing that has ever been known to man… under the cap’s bill the coach had written John3:16. I witnessed the kids singing songs on the van that the music team had taught them. I witnessed the kids saying that they did not have to fear as they trusted God for protection that the VBS team had taught. I saw teens rebel against peer pressure and declared to stand up for Christ in the Jr High and High Schools. I saw women bring friends, teens and children bringing their moms to the women’s bible study, which ended up near 20 in attendance. I saw more people come to the revival each evening than the night before. God speaks… Enjoy the blessing of My plan and be grateful that I AM graciously allowing you to come along for the ride.

Then there is Leroy. Leroy is an Indian man in his early to mid forties that Jimmy Pogue befriended 8 years ago during one of his student council trips. Leroy is a generous, big hearted man that was there with us the entire time helping with anything we asked of him and more. I had heard Jimmy talk about his friend Leroy for years and we had been praying for years for his salvation. Jimmy, our Associate Pastor Jeff Reid, and Gary Milliorn, all found opportunities to have deep spiritual discussions with Leroy without seeing any result. Sunday morning in the worship service Jimmy and Leroy sat in the front row. During the invitation, Jimmy told Leroy that he was never closer to salvation than he was at this moment. Leroy did not step out.

Our time in Chinle was through and we headed back to Abilene to attend the funeral of our dear friend Michele Scott. As Jimmy walked in to the service he received a text from Leroy that stated “my life is coming apart, my nephew was murdered last night”. Jimmy called him to let him know he would call him back after the funeral service. We all celebrated the life of Michele, we said our goodbyes until we reunite in the presence of God.

After the service, Jimmy and Jeff Reid called Leroy. Understandably, Leroy was distraught over the loss of his nephew. Jeff described the celebration we experienced at Michele’s funeral and explained the sorrow and grief shared by all. Then Jeff shared that while we were grieving the loss of our friend, we were celebrating Michele being home with the Father. Jeff asked “Leroy, if you die today would your funeral be a celebration?” Leroy began to weep uncontrollably and asked “What do I need to do to have that?” He was led through the process of salvation and Leroy asked Christ in to his heart as his Lord and Saviour!! He stated that he felt as if a boulder had been lifted off of him. Later Leroy confided that he had experienced joy for the first time in his life.

Now back to the verse mentioned above – Romans 8:28 – And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose. God took two tragic circumstances and used them for good. While we would have celebrated seeing Leroy accept Christ while we were in Chinle, God chose for us to be 700 miles apart. God spoke again… This is between Me and Leroy.

Our mission trip to Chinle did not go as we planned. God wiped our plan off the table to demonstrate His power and His glory to a band of people with good intentions. We truly witnessed the hand of God at work and we were blown away by the results. The Discilple Now had the number expected, the women’s ministry and baseball camp exploded beyond our expectation. The revival, music, and food ministry was off the charts and God gave us a Vacation Bible School that we had not planned for that was unbelievable! God’s plan is better, He gave us vans that we would need, He gave us peace through our grief to be used in His plan, He provided children to us as He loves the little children, He confused our plan to show that He is God, He blessed us in multiples when we were willing to follow His plan, and God loves Leroy… and Leroy loves Him back.!