top: Squalelut (Joshua), Stacey's son
above: Rieta, Stacey's daughter
below: Stacey praying with a team member at Totus Park during Kid's Club
Stacey was the first adult in White Swan to pray with us to receive Jesus. We met her a few weeks after we move to the reservation (June 2003) at Backyard Kid's Club. She heard about Jesus during storytime over the course of several days and prayed to ask Him into her heart. A little over a year ago she and her two children were baptised. I asked her to write down her testimony so we could share it with you. So, here it is...
"It has been hard for me to accept the Christian way because of the family I have been raised in. My grandma brought me up knowing the longhouse, our (traditional) place of worship. I have also been brought up a dancer, and gatherer (of wild roots and berries) for the longhouse.
"Over many years, I have had a lot of family problems all stemming back to my childhood. I was raised without a mother or father. I stayed with every single auntie, but every place I stayed, I had my own set of problems.
"I always thought that believing in Jesus Christ was only the "white man's" God. I was just introduced to Jesus while I attended college down in Sante Fe, New Mexico. I was doing ok on the outside, but I was killing myself inside, carrying a memory I could not get rid of: my father trying to rape me the night I got out of the hospital. (Stacey had been in a horse racing accident at a rodeo where her horse fell and rolled over her along with the horse in second place. She was in a coma and barely survived.) I drove myself toward (the idea of) committing suicide to try to get rid of the past.
"My friend in Sante Fe had a Bible. I told her that it wouldn't work for me because I was brought up in a different religion. I was feeling so torn apart that I just let her pray on me because I needed help. Praise God, a few hours later, she helped me to see that there is still some good in the world.
"That was in 1996. I am now a single mother with two children who are the apple of my eye! I have learned that the Creator, who we worship in the longhouse, is the Creator Christians worship. I also learned that I can go to the longhouse (to participate in cultural events like feasts, etc) but believe in the Christian way also. My two children and I have been baptised.
"I have brought my children up the longhouse way, but now I'm letting them know that Jesus Christ is someone who will always listen.
"I give thanks to my daughter for introducing me to her friends who were having Backyard Bible Study in Totus Park (a tribal housing project in White Swan), Chris and Mary Granberry and their lovely children. They came from Alabama to help our people. I have known them since 2003.
"On the night of November 26th, 2007, my children were asleep, but I lay in bed lost, feeling hurt, like I had no one. I stopped having family contact because my cousin attempted to kill me. I felt like my whole family had abandoned me.
"I remembered my Christian friends Chris and Mary telling me that all I have to do is ask and I will receive. I asked God, Jesus Christ, to help me, show me a way out of the way I was feeling. I cried to Him because I knew He knows all my problems. I know th answers would not just jump out at me. I would have to have patience. I went to sleep peaceful that night and woke up to a beautiful morning.
"I owe it to Chris and Mary for helping our people in helping us realize that there is Jesus Christ to help the lost ones of our reservation. Also, Wendell Hannigan for letting us use the Toppenish Creek longhouse as a place for Chris to hold Bible study until a church can be formed.
"I am also thankful to the churches that come from all over the United States to help Chris and Mary out in the summertime with Backyard Bible Study, or help any way they can. My children grow to love each group that comes over, myself as well. Again, my thanks to everyone that helps Sacred Road.
God Bless!
Say'yep um Ah-toot wy (Stacey Speedis)
