A Navajo Christian Wedding

 I thought in today's blog that I'd give you a glimpse into Navajo life on the Reservation, and what the life of a missionary looks like sometimes. . . 

We went to a wedding last night for two dear, Navajo friends. We've known both Gina and Gary for many years now and met them both at Community Bible Church which meets here at the mission.  The first time we met Gary he told us that he had been involved in a LDS church program called "placement." Placement happened in the 1970's and '80s as a program that allowed Native children to live with a LDS family during the school year, and get a good education off the reservation. Many, many Navajo children were in this program. Some of them had good experiences, others not so good. Gary's experience was generally good, but after he had grown up, he realized that the gospel he'd been taught in the LDS church was not biblical doctrine.  He has one sister still involved in the LDS church.

The grooms mother, sister, and relatives

 Gina is the lady whose son, Michael was in our house this school year doing his school work alongside my children. We've come to care very much for Gina and Michael and were excited for both of them when Gina and Gary got engaged. Gina was also in LDS placement growing up and also left that upbringing and came to know the biblical Jesus Christ. She and Gary are both passionate about their relationships to God, and they hope to do ministry together in their new life.

Garret and Gina. Nelson Betony, one of the staff men we work with, was one of Gary's best men.

Waiting for the bride to come. . . we waited and waited, and waited. 

In true Navajo fashion the wedding started about an hour late, and during the wait we all sat in the hot sun. Luckily for us there were a couple of elm trees and Steve and I found a good seat in the shade. Gina and Gary got married on his family land where they plan to build a house. The background for their wedding is a cabin that Gary's grandfather built by hand many years ago. Gary lived in this very small, one bedroom cabin until he was a teen.

Introducing. . . .Mr and Mrs. Wauneka

As missionaries one of our favorite things is "doing life with" native Christians. It was truly an honor and blessing to be part of Gina and Gary's wedding, and share this event with them.

Strategic Planning Retreat--please pray!!!!

Hello Everyone!

Thank you all for being such an important part of the ministry God has given us here at Western Indian Ministries, in Tse Bonito, NM, 1/2 mile east of Window Rock, AZ, on highway 264.  I tell you where we are, because if I were not here I would not know where the place was located either.  Living in an unincorporated area so close to the Arizona/New Mexico border makes it very difficult at times to get packages.  We have at least four different addresses depending on whether we are getting something from the US Postal Service, UPS, FedEx, or just plain need a New Mexico address. That's just one of the many interesting parts of life as a missionary!

WIM will be commemorating their 75th year in ministry to the Navajo people this year.  We have a new director who has a great vision for what we can do our next 75 years.  I certainly sense God working here and pointing us in a direction that will very likely transform the ministry. With exciting possibilities in mind, the leadership--and some others--will be having a visioning retreat this coming Sunday evening, all day Monday, and until Tuesday late afternoon.  The goal is for all of us to come before the Lord to see what He would have us do.  At this point, we have three radio stations, a school (PK-5th), and a Navajo man who counsels and is the Navajo Nation police chaplain.  It's a time for renewal and new vision.

Please pray for us as we meet next week.  Pray that we will be totally focused on God and not on the problems we might be facing or the complaints we might have.  Please pray that we will be united, as we receive from the Lord, what He has for us.  Finally, pray that the Lord will teach us all to work together, especially as we learn how to better work with our cross-cultural partners--our Navajo brothers and sisters.

Steve Marti

p.s. here's an excerpt of the memo Chuck (our director) sent to us so you'll better know how to pray:

1.   Please be praying about our time together.   Get others to pray.   We can't stress how important prayer is to this time together. 

Prayer Questions – a reminder…

1.Lord – what are you doing that we can join you in?

2.What are we doing that we need to stop?

3.What are we not doing that we need to start?

4.What part do you want me to play to put into practice what we’re doing today?

As you pray and dream about this,  we want to hear from God.   His thoughts from heaven to earth - not earth towards heaven.... (MAKE SENSE? You want God's thoughts revealed in / through us. Not our thoughts imposed upon God so He feels 'obligated' to do them in order to make us feel good about ourselves or about the stuff we'd like to see happen.)