Sadie Corbett's Reflections on Her Second Summer as an Intern

Hello Everyone!

I'm home! Thank-you for all of your prayers and support! It is good to be back home, but I feel as though I left a piece of my heart on the Yakama Indian Reservation.

There are pages and pages of stories I could share about what is happening at Sacred Road, so I'll just share a few of the highlights from this summer:

The Huckleberry Feast

The Huckleberry is one of the traditional foods of the Yakama people. Each year, when the huckleberries are first ripe, there is a huge feast to commemorate the beginning of the huckleberry season. It is a happy time for the whole community to get together and celebrate their culture together. This year, the feast fell on a day when we had a team of people from Seattle. At first, we were not going to go (we didn't want to overwhelm the community by bringing 50 white people to their traditional feast!). However, one of the tribal leaders invited the whole team to come! It ended up being a special time of the Native Americans in the community sharing some of the beauty of their culture with us. At the end of the feast, the elders asked for the whole Sacred Road team to come up to the front of the longhouse. Then, several people whose houses we had worked on came up and thanked us for the work that Sacred Road has been doing on the reservation. A handful of the people walked through our group and shook each persons hand—which is a very Native American way of welcoming someone. It was a humbling and honoring experience to be so welcomed and accepted by the Yakama people.

Story time at Kid's Club

I was the story teller at Adam's View, one of the tribal housing projects where we did a Kid's Club in the afternoons. Many of the children call Kid's Club “church,” and for quite a few of them it is the only exposure they have to the Gospel. There were many sweet times of seeing the kids starting to understand the gospel, but one stands out in particular. Over the summer, we had different themes for each week learning about God's roles in our lives. The first week, we learned about how God is our father. There is one girl who always came to Kids Club, Jenny, who has a particularly rough home life—especially in regards to her dad. She is 10 years old, but she acts much older. Often, during story time she would act like she wasn't listening and try to cause distractions so I wasn't sure how much she was hearing from the lessons. One day near the end of the summer I asked the kids “What are some things that we've learned about God this summer?” and Jenny shot her hand in the air and shouted “God is our daddy!” I nearly fell over with surprise. Seeing glimpses of children understanding the gospel was indescribably beautiful.

Camp High Rock

In the middle of the summer, Sacred Road partnered with three other churches to put on a week long camp in the mountains for the kids of the reservation—including many of the kids who lived in the housing projects where we did Kid's Club. We had about 50 kids who came and spent a week with us out in a camp ground in the mountains. Some of the Sacred Road interns got to be counselors! I was a counselor in a cabin with four 6-10 year old girls. Two of the girls in my cabin live in Adam's View, so I got to continue my relationship with them throughout the summer. The whole week was a blast and there are many stories I could share, but basically it was wonderful to see the kids in a place where they were well-taken care of and safe for a week. One night, I was the speaker for the evening chapel service. I explained the great news of the love God has for us that he sent Jesus bring us freedom from sin. While sharing, I was struck with how incredible it is that no matter who we are or where we come from, our only hope is in Jesus, and He is a hope that never fails!

The Granberry Family

Chris and Mary Granberry are the missionaries who started Sacred Road Ministries. They and their four children have been living on the reservation for seven years now. I learned a tremendous amount from the whole family. As a family, they have sacrificed many things in order to love and live with our Native American neighbors. Many mornings Mary and the girl interns would have devotions together and each time it amazed me to see the heart that Mary has for the Yakama people and her commitment to loving them well. It was an honor to contend for the gospel alongside the Granberry family for another summer.

Tuesday Nights

Every Tuesday night Sacred Road does a Bible study that is the seed for the church plant—Hope Fellowship. It has been exciting to see the growth that has been occurring in Sacred Road over the past year. There are now five full-time staff members at Sacred Road and another family—Chuck and Neena Clevenger and their two children—have moved to the reservation. Chuck is the youth minister on Tuesday nights. As Sacred Road has been growing, so has their ministry to the Yakama people. There was one Tuesday night near the end of the summer when 60 people from the community showed up for Bible study!

Another exciting part of Tuesday night is thinking about what a Native American church looks like. Native American culture has a uniquely different perspective on life than most of us have, which will of course affect the way a church will function. There are have been quite a few people in the community who have become Christians and who are now wrestling with what it means to be both Native American and a Christian. One thing that I thought about quite a bit this summer was how much I need to listen to my brothers and sisters from different cultures because my American perspective misses things that people from other cultures see. I am looking forward to seeing how God guides this Native American church in the future!

I could keep going for pages, but this update is already too long :) If you would like to hear more stories I would love to share them. Thank-you to all of you who supported me and prayed for Sacred Road this summer. There were a number of times this summer that I felt as though the only thing holding us up was the power of God through the prayers of his people. Thank-you!

God bless!

Sadie

Chuck Clevenger's Last Update/Thoughts on Summer

Camp High Rock - One week overnight camp in the Cascades. Hosted by Liberty Bay PCA, Harrah Community Church, and Sacred Road!

Building Jack Spencer's scaffold on the Columbia River

The Sacred Road Staff, Summer Interns, and Granberry Family

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. - Romans 3:21-24 (NIV)

Dear faithful friends and family,

We have been on the Yakama Indian Reservation now for six months and I have spent the last couple of days thinking about how grateful I am to each of you for your generosity and love of God. I want to tell you of how your support has paid for a fun evening of bowling with some Yakama teenagers, or supplies to draw fishermen as we talk about Jesus calling his disciples. However, I have been struck this week how your support is buying diapers for Isaac and school supplies for Asha. I am humbled by and grateful for each one of you.

I am sorry that it has been so long since our last update. The summer has been a whirlwind of challenges and opportunities and a beautiful picture of how God’s kingdom continues to grow here. I have started a number of updates but didn’t finish them - sometimes from fatigue and sometimes from a simple loss of words. We have seen fires and more friends hurt by the suicide of a family member, but also great testimonies to God’s redemptive power. In all of it we continue to try and follow our great shepherd and be where he leads.

We are all doing well. Neena and I both continue to adjust to our new roles - me as a youth ministry director and Neena as a stay at home mom with a five year old and new infant. We continue to fall more deeply in love with our team here - the Granberrys, Veronica, Heather, Emily and Gretchen and now Mike Shaw, who has just arrived.

Asha is getting ready to start the first grade at Camas Elementary in September and is really enjoying her role as big sister. She especially enjoyed our visit from Aunt Mona and Uncle Michael last week and built a mermaid cave with Aunt Mona.

Isaac just passed 100 days old. He continues to get bigger and has started smiling at all of us - especially his big sister. However, he still enjoys waking us up at least once during the night to eat.

I have a lot to share about the summer and I don't want to send a huge email - so I have included some thoughts below with links to our blog with more information and pictures. Just clink on the links to read more.

Youth ministry:

It has been really exciting and challenging as we have sought to share the gospel, the teachings of Christ, and the gospel of Mark itself without any of our cultural trappings. The kids constantly surprise us with their good questions and we hope that they will find their hope in Gods grace.

With the beginning of the summer, we moved the youth group meetings to coincide with the Bible Study at the Long House on Tuesday night. During the last few weeks we have been studying the book of Mark with 12-15 youth. It has been really exciting and challenging as we have sought to share the gospel, the teachings of Christ, and the gospel of Mark itself without any of our cultural trappings. The kids constantly surprise us with their good questions and we hope that they will find their hope in Gods grace.

We also had our first youth “event” as we took twelve youth on a bowling trip in the city of Yakima. I can’t describe how wonderful it was to see the kids God has given us just relaxing, eating nachos and having fun. It felt like we were actually beginning to define ourselves as a group. The girls on our staff have worked really hard with the some of the young girls to begin building real relationships and it really showed that night. It was amazing to see God’s glory in a bowling alley when, in truth, none of us were very good bowlers.

Camp High Rock:

Camp High Rock was a great success!!! (See group photo above) Thanks to many of you for donating extra funds to cover camp expenses. We ended up getting more help than we needed so that we have some funds to put toward next year’s camp.

Camp was great for me as I had never really done the church camp experience. It was amazing to see so many of the kids we work with on the Reservation get away from the chaos in their lives and be able to have fun, feel safe and hear about Jesus throughout the day. In the chapel talks, cabin devotions, singalong songs, and interactions with their counselors - these children were experiencing the love of Christ in virtually everything they did. It was wonderful to see how so many of them responded so well to just having some stability in their daily routine especially three good meals and enough sleep at night.

Part of my responsibility at camp was to watch and see how we might run a youth camp next year for the older kids. I had the privilege of leading teen devotions every night around the campfire for some teens who had come to help serve meals and help out in general. It was a wonderful time and I wonder if all small groups wouldn’t be better with toasted marshmallows.

Teams and Interns:

One of the real treats of the summer was working with the summer interns (see photo of staff and interns, on Mt. Rainer, above) and the visiting teams from churches. Participating with a summer team was the experience that God used to call Neena and I to the Reservation, so it was interesting to see the teams from the staff side of the fence.

It is amazing to see how many people come from Mississippi, California, Washington, Kanas City, etc. and love on our friends in White Swan. We had five team weeks this summer with an average of 45 people per team. Each week, we did two new roofs and painted two houses - sometimes the same house would get a new paint job and roof. We also did some light carpentry and chopped firewood - I got to help build a wheelchair ramp. Then in the afternoon, we did Kids Club at two housing projects - Totus Park and Adams View Park.

Chris has said that we are fighting a war with the enemy but our weapons are paint brushes and jump ropes. If you can imagine an army of love armed with roof shingles and bubble wands, that is exactly what ot looked like.

We had seven interns and Uncle Dave working with all summer as well. Uncle Dave is a contractor that has driven up from Florida for the past three years to coordinate all of the work projects. It was a true blessing getting to know Uncle Dave and watch him mentor the male interns. His presence on the work sites was a blessing to everyone there.

The interns: Mark Shaw, Luke Irwin, Joshua Tsavtewa, Scot Burnett, Sadie Corbet, Janel Corbet and Rebekah Griffin were all amazing as well. They worked so hard in the hot summer but managed to be a lot of fun to be with as well. Mark, in particular, was a great help to me in the youth meetings with the guys. But each one brought a particular gift to the team and I am thankful to God for each of them. It was hard saying goodbye when they all returned home.

Jack Spencer:

There was one special day with the team from Highlands in Mississippi when we were asked by Jack Spencer if we could help repair his fishing scaffold (see photo above) on the Columbia River. There had been a big wind earlier in the week and it had knocked it down. About fifteen of us loaded up and drove down to the river and met Jack. It was a short drive on a dirt road along side some train tracks to Jack’s spot. None of us really knew how to build a scaffold in the river, but by the grace of God and some trial and error, we got a structure up.

Jack kept after me to take lots of pictures and telling me that we were making history. You probably have heard some of Jack and how he wants to give 80 acres of his land to Sacred Road to build a church on. Jack’s role in the community is someone who gathers traditional food (like the salmon) and brings them to ceremonies and gatherings. So you can see, for Jack, fishing isn’t just a fun activity on the weekend. He spends almost the entire summer on the river. When the new scaffold was up, he was visibly moved. He wants Chris to get a plaque to put on it with Sacred Road’s logo and a bible verse so that whenever someone uses it they will know it was built by Christians.

Jack told many of the teams of his newfound belief that it was possible to be an Indian and a Christian. He talked about his first meeting with Chris and Mary and how everyone told him that the white people always wanted to take something. Jack is a very visible symbol of how God is working on the Reservation through Sacred Road.

Prayer Requests

Our lease on the home we have been staying in ends Sept 30 and the owners really want to sell it. We have an option to buy, but have not been able to sell our home in Chattanooga. We really like this neighborhood and have made some friends here so we are exploring what our options are. Please pray that God would make it clear where the best place for us to be is and that we would have peace about it.

Please pray for all of our team adjusting to the new pace of the fall. We will have some challenges in trying to do some of the things we want to, but without the help of the eight additional people we had over the summer.

Please pray for Asha as she starts first grade in September. She is nervous about it and so are Neena and I. Please pray for wisdom for us as we try to get Asha more involved in the ministry - it sometimes requires patience, silence and understanding, things that don’t always come easily to her.

Please pray for Chris’ back - it has been giving him a lot of trouble all summer.

Please pray for some relationships that I am developing with three teenagers that are coming to youth group.

Please continue to pray for financial support for all us out here as the economy has impacted our giving. We know that God will provide.

Please let me know if you would like to be on the Sacred Road mailing list as well as our own update list.

Links:

http://www.rustlings.com - our blog
http://www.sacredroadministries.com
http://sacredroadyakama.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/SacredRoad#play/uploads/5/KkpYPl6iMwE - Sacred Road videos

Address:
The Clevengers (for mail)
155 Kamiakin Avenue
Wapato, Washington 98951

Sacred Road Ministries (for support)
22116 SE 51st Place
Issaquah, WA 98029-9221

God Bless each of you.

Love,
Chuck, Neena, Asha and Isaac

Gretchen Becker's Reflections on Summer

This is an update that Gretchen (in photo on the right) sent her prayer/financial support team at the end of summer. Gretchen is on staff with us and handles photography (she took the photos of the pow wow and the little girls on the right), video, multimedia, works with children, and diciples two teenage girls. ~ Chris



Dear Friends,


I cannot believe how fast this summer has gone by, and more than that I cannot believe how much has happened. I want each and everyone of you to know and understand the things that went on through out the summer, but i know that would be quite hard to do.

We said our "see ya laters" to the intern team a couple days ago. The Lord blessed Sacred Road with an outstanding summer team this year and it was hard to see a team that grew so close together, separate. However what God did this summer and what He continues to do is so much bigger than me and our community at Sacred Road. I'm already excited to see where He takes us next and who He brings into our lives. As I sit here, I'm realizing how this has kind of been my first chance to start to process everything that has happened this summer. I think I'll still be processing things months from now, so bear with me as I struggle to communicate so many different emotions and events.

I want to tell you about stephanie and tyron, about the huckleberry feast, about how amazing it was to watch children's eyes as they were told incredible stories from the Bible, I want to tell you about the hurt in these children's faces, I want to tell you how touched Jack was this summer, I want to tell you about Jordan, I want to tell you how much fun i had at times with the team...i could go on and on...but I guess I'll try and point out just a few things that went on this summer.


This summer, my primary job was to document the team weeks, through video clips and pictures. At the end of the team week we would watch a completed video that the team members would take home in order to help them tell the story of their week and be advocates for Native America. At kids club on the first team week, there was a video taken of a young, native girl holding a sign that read 'listen to us" (it was actually a poster used during the story time referring to how our Heavenly Father listens to us) This image was really powerful for me and an excellent picture for me to see going into the summer. Native Americans for so long have been hushed and unable to have a voice. This image of a girl holding the sign looked like a silent plea to be heard. I'm not sure how well the videos I made gave the Yakama community a voice, but that is my hope and desire. Please pray that would be my goal and intention as I continue to work with multi media and publications. And more than that, on a much larger scale, that Native Americans would find a voice and be heard, and that the American people would be given ears to hear their voice.


One of my favorite times this summer was going to the Huckleberry Feast. Huckleberries are one of the Yakama People's traditional foods and every year the community gets together to celebrate the Creator's provision to them. This is one of the few times the Yakama people are able to get together on a joyous occasion, so it's a huge celebration! The Huckleberry feast this year fell on a team week. The entire team was invited to go, which is unheard of to invite 60+ white people to a traditional feast. However the whole team went and were awed to see the hospitality and generosity of the tribe. Later on during the feast, there was a time where people in the community could say some words to everyone there. The entire team was asked to come out to the ceremonial room to be honored and thanked for the work they "had done". Please note that this was the first day of the team week and many of these people had never been to Yakama before. Elders in the community were brought to tears speaking about a paint job that was done on their house up to 7 years ago. This was their way of thanking Sacred Road as a whole (all past teams, going 7 years back) for the work and service they had done. Many people also came and shook everyone's hand on the team to show their gratitude. This was just an extremely humbling and encouraging time. Sometimes it's easy to wonder what painting or roofing someone's house really accomplishes, but it was amazing to see the way God has worked in the community, the relationships that have been built, and how in the end only Christ can get the glory. Praise the Lord!


The first week we went out to Adam's View (a tribal housing neighborhood where we do kids club) this summer, a little girl who is 4 years old wandered in. I did my normal approach asking her what her name was and waited to see if I got any response. She at first acted scared and just kinda bizarre. I think she expected that I would eventually give up trying to get to know her and walk away. Eventually, after 10 or 15 minutes she told me her name was Jordan. I looked for Jordan everyday we were there. Sometimes she came, sometimes she didn't. Jordan talked a lot but I probably understood 50% of what she was saying. I did gather that she knew things that a 4 year old just should not know. Somedays she would come and just be out of control. She wanted to move from one activity to the next, she wanted to do jump rope, and water games, or lick my camera (seriously, i have proof), or jump into her pool fully clothed, shoes and all. Somedays, she just wanted to be held, nothing else. The house that she stays in bothers me. I don't know what goes on there and frankly I don't want to. Please pray for Jordan and her sister Heather. Pray for their safety and that the stories they heard this summer will be in their hearts and minds. Also even if you just pray for Jordan and Heather, know that they represent a community of children who are lost and need the love and touch of Christ. I can hold a child in my arms for a couple hours, but it doesn't even begin to compare to the embrace that their heavenly Father gives them. Pray that they would know and feel that embrace.


Thank you for hanging in there with me and that this update was long in coming. You can pray for this fall as things will take a little different turn. I'm looking forward to working on some new publicity projects and also continue with mentoring some young girls in the community.


Thank you all so much for your love and support. I would love to talk to you all more about what's going on at Sacred Road. I am actually in the 'burg for the next week and a half and again would love to get together with any of you!


www.youtube.com/user/sacredroad is where you can view the videos from this summer. They're also on facebook on the Sacred Road fan page. Become a FAN!!!


Love you all,

Gretchen

Huckleberry Feast

To the teams who came before us:
By a Kansas City Team Member

On the day after our arrival, before we had done any work at all, we were invited into the Longhouse for the Huckleberry Feast. I wish you could have been there, standing in the line with us in the middle of the room, hearing the drums play and listening to the songs and words of thanks from the elders. There was nothing to do but receive this show of love and to be accepted and included as family. It was such a picture of the gospel – being shown this unmerited love and grace!

It was also evident how powerfully Christ has worked through you this summer, as it was your work for which we were being thanked. Your love for the people of White Swan has been noticed and appreciated by them. And it has inspired us to follow in your footsteps and serve our neighbors here in Christ’s name. Thank you!


Sunday (Huckleberry Feast)
By David Granberry

The three teams that arrived that week were from Seattle, Kansas City, and Boise. I had mixed emotions about the Feast that was happening the day after. I think now it was a good experience for the teams and for myself. When we arrived to the Longhouse on Sunday, there were lots of people I didn’t know, as well as some people I did. They had come from various places anxious for the first Huckleberry Feast of the year. I sat in-between team members but still surrounded by strangers. I felt as if I myself was new because of all the unknown faces. Before we knew it, the songs were over and it was time to take the food in order. Honoring it by taking one bite of each: salmon, deer/elk, roots, and the huckleberries and choke-cherries. After that we drank the little bit of “choosh” or water in the bottom of our cups. It was about 1:30 by then so the food went fast. People were talking to my left and right, but in front of me they silently ate their food. My mom cut 10 or so watermelons for the feast and made potato salad. This contribution was gladly excepted as I watched kids eat the watermelon on the hot day. When the food was almost gone a lady in the next room called us out on to the floor. Gathering 40 people into the Ceremonial Room was not easy but we managed. The lady from the tribe that alled us in was not familiar to me but my dad knew here. She spoke highly of us and handed the microphone to my dad and then down the row of team leaders. Meanwhile, people were going down the row of team members shaking our hands. One of the people shaking hands was Eleanor Davis – a lady in the trive who greatly appreciated our work. She was a woman whose house was one of the first houses we worked on. She is fairly well known and loved. We finished this gathering by walking around the Longhouse in the way the world turns, honoring the Creator. The Feast had an impact on me seeing how God has impacted this reservation through us.


Huckleberry Feast
By: David Koerner, Summer Project Coordinator

I told you about how well the week and week after Tyron and Stephanie’s house project went. There house was finally safe and functioning rather well. After that another group came in from Mississippi and Seattle. They roofed two houses and painted two more. It was another good week of helping people and doing good and sharing Christ on the Rez. These are the kind of stories supporters and prayer partners expect to see. It is easy to see short-term missions for the good experiences and the positive responses from the people they help but there is another side to the story.

If you have watched any of the Sacred Road videos on YouTube or Facebook, or see the DVDs, you are aware that it end with some very stark statistics. The kind we don’t like to read. Things like a high drop out rate and how every Yakama Indian is in some way affected by alcohol abuse. But the worst one of all is that the average life expectance of Yakama Indian is 39 years.

Allow yourself to think about that for a while and you will have to ask yourself the inevitable question. Why?

Our ministry team experienced part of the answer this past week. Tuesday morning, Tyron’s cousin was found hanging from a tree just outside Tyron and Stephanie’s house, a victim of suicide. A household that just a few weeks ago was alive and happy with hope, love, and hearts that were seeking Jesus, a household that had become a home, has become a household that mourns. It has become a house why children were traumatized by a sight no child should have to see. But they do see.

You may think that it is terrible, but that kind of thing happens everywhere. You are correct except here on the Rez it happens far to often. There is at least one funeral here nearly every week. And most of them are not from natural causes. Tyron himself was nearly killed when he was attacked with a splitting mall. It did cut off his now reattached foot and has left him unable to work for two years.

With only 2% of Native Americans claiming to be Christians and the death rate so high, the reasons for Sacred Road and for me being here becomes obvious.

Isn’t it time we love our first neighbors well?

More Great Photos from Summer

Hey Ya'll!

Here are some more great photos taken by a professional photographer who came on a team. Check them out when you get a chance.

http://gallery.me.com/boiselodge#100813&view=grid&bgcolor=black&sel=37

Chris

"How Goes the World" by Mary

There are so many stories to tell of our life on the reservation. I can tell of the work, the teams, the unity of the staff and summer interns, my spiritual journey through recent trials, or interactions with my Native community here. I see so much how we are like sheep. From the pastors who come on the short term teams to the elder whose home is being worked on, we are all prone to wander. How often do I forget my Lord is so near to me and wander off trying to forge my own way! God is the Good Shepherd. He gathers His sheep from near and far through many means. I am His as are the many that come to serve here on this reservation in the summer; but He is also the shepherd gathering many in my community here. In light of His love I go forward, knowing I need a shepherd, knowing there are those right in front of me who need my shepherd too, and He will call to them. He may call through my bumbling words, or through my exhaustion, or in the midst of jump ropes or sidewalk chalk, or even a new roof! The Kingdom comes through our great Shepherd.

Some of the stories on my mind today are answers to the prayers of God’s people. On Tuesday on the Longhouse, more of Buffy’s children came. The oldest daughter Toni, has a one year old baby. She came right in and began talking to me, and she is not a talker! I offered to hold her baby, so she could work in the kitchen serving the food for our crowd of 120 for dinner that night. She was smiling from ear to ear, enjoying her time with Heather and Rebekah. I also had other youth from the rez helping in the dining room, with set up and serving the meal. It sure felt like church to me!

On July 2nd, there was a fire outside of Buffy’s house, the children and the house are safe, but it revealed some of the serious problems in the family. Please keep praying.


We have two sisters who have been coming on Tuesday as well. After the lesson time the children, youth, and adults are divided. These two, Lisa and Lateet, come together and tell each other the Bible Stories they each learned. They are teaching one another the lessons!

The pain that the youth feel often leads them to be self destructive in various ways. They can bring each other “down” so quickly. Stephen has been struggling when hanging out with his friend, so we separated them yesterday. It led to another cross roads with Stephen, who has been a part of our family for most of the past year. The Lord seems to bring Stephen to submission over and over again, but he feels so much pain and hurt in the midst of these trials. We actually moved him out yesterday to show that life with us requires submission to the Lord and family, not coming and going and choosing when to engage. Again, Stephen seems drawn back, but refuses to leave his “friend”. This friend has an arrest warrant issued for him, and will get Stephen into trouble. If God gives Chris and I more time with Stephen, our role will be to lead him to a residential vocational training center. Pray for Stephen’s heart!

The youth continually “check in” with me as the mother figure in their lives also. Angela, who is driving around without a license, gave me the keys of her car to hold; more than that she shares with me the burdens she needs prayer for. Many of these are also being mentored by our staff girls; Veronica, Heather, Emily, and Gretchen. The Kingdom comes through community!

An Encouraging Story from Our Summer Project Coordinator, "Uncle" Dave

After 17 years of missions involvement, both short and long term, I have found one problem with short term mission trips. A person on a short term trip will go to a location, work, and see that work as an improvement in the life of the person or people being helped. And, in fact, there is an improvement in many cases. The problem is, the short term missionary seldom sees the long term affect on the people they have served.

I met Tyron and Stephanie in 2008. I didn’t know much about them except that about a year before, Tyron had been attacked with an axe, severing his foot and also receiving a damaging blow to his face and neck. The meeting was short. Their kids came to the afternoon Kid’s Club at Totus Park. For 2008, the story stops there.

In 2009 I returned to White Swan, Washington, to again work as a project coordinator for Sacred Road Ministries. It is a chance for me to serve using almost all of the gifts and talents God has given me. I have grown to love the ministry, its director, Chris Granberry, his wife Mary, their four children (Ann Marie, Beth, Morgan, and David), and the staff and interns who also work here.

After a four and a half day drive from Florida I arrived at the Granberry home to the greeting from Chris, “Get in the truck. I want to show you some houses we are going to work on this summer.” Now, one may think that after a four and a half day drive the last thing I would want to do is drive around an Indian reservation. This could not be further from the truth. I was eager to get to work.

It was not a surprise when we showed up at the home of Tyron and Stephanie. What was a surprise was the condition it was in. The 6 of them were living in a small, 2 bedroom house with a living room, kitchen and one bathroom. It needed a roof and paint job. That was expected. But the rest was a little overwhelming. Most of the windows were not functional or non existent. Some of the interior ceiling was falling down. Worst of all, there was only one functioning electric socket in the whole house. It was filled with a six outlet adaptor and six cords filled every slot. It does not take much reasoning to figure out that there is no sense in putting a roof on a house that is about to burn from an electrical fire. My brain was telling me there is no way we could take on all of this plus the other home Chris wanted to paint that week. The budget was too small, the workers were too few, and we didn’t know if we had any skilled people to do any of it. There was only one decision we could make. GO FOR IT! This was a time to forget what your brain was telling you and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.

When the teams finally showed up, the first thing I did was greet the adult males and ask, “What skills do you have?” Most of them knew one end of a hammer from another but that was all. Two, however, had skills. One (Jim Neill) said he would work on the electric while another (Roger Anderson), a long time friend of the ministry, took on the windows. The rest would roof and paint.

The roof was completed in 2 days and the painting was not far behind. The windows were going well except for the cost. They put us about $800 over our working budget. However, the Holy Spirit was not finished. He had been working in Roger’s heart for some time and Roger obsorbed the cost of the windows himself. Jim finished the electric Friday morning. We made it through the week and achieved most of what we set out to do. But then we noticed the meter was hot. At first we thought it was because it was a digital meter filled with electronics but the problem was really a loose plug where the power line came into the meter that was over heating. It was a problem that had probably been progressing for some time and would have probably burned the house down had we not decided to do the electrical work. The power company was called that night. They disconnected the service, took the meter, and told us we could get a licensed electrician to fix it without a permit and inspection.

It is strange how people think of Native Americans. Many white people want no contact at all with them. Businesses are not much different. I called several local electricians who would not help me. “We don’t travel that far.” or simply, “We don’t go there.” After several calls I finally found an electrician who listened to my story and said he would help, but when he called me back with a price I couldn’t believe it. $2000. When I asked why it was so high he replied, “If you think you know so much do it yourself.”

To say I was discouraged would be an understatement. The family had been without electricity for four days now. It shouldn’t be this hard.

The next morning, Wendell, a Native American and good friend of the Granberry family, came to the house for breakfast. I asked him if he knew of any electricians I could call. Wendell gave me the number of a man who put me in touch with another man who was a licsenced electrician. His name was Rod. He was an Indian himself and agreed to help us out. $750 later the work was complete. In addition, Roger had contacted some people at his church and was able to raise the money needed.

How can we ever doubt God? If I didn’t ask that question out loud, I know I asked it in my own mind. But I would soon find myself being tested with that very question.

When we called for the power to be reconnected, we were told that we needed a permit number and inspection. This was the very thing we were initially told we did not need. It was late Friday, and now it would be Monday before we could do anything.

A new team came in on Saturday, and first thing Monday we were stripping roofs and prepping walls for paint. As project coordinator I had to oversee the work and could not got to town to work on the permit. After discussing this problem with Chris, it was decided that we would give Tyron the money and send him for the permit. Monday morning I gave him the cash and instructed him as to what to do. The last thing I said to him was, “Call me when you have the permit.” That way I could call for an inspection and get the process going.

Monday came to an end, and I did not hear from Tyron. By 5:30 on Tuesday I still had not heard from Tyron. I knew this was not good. We were on our way to Tuesday night Bible study and as we drove we prayed for the evening. I prayed that Tyron had gotten the permit and had just forgotten to call. I also prayed that he had taken the initiative and called for the inspection. To my shame, I didn’t believe he had done either. In my heart I did not believe God would grant my prayer.

After arriving at the Longhouse a few minutes later my phone rang. The name on the screen was familiar. Tyron. “This is bad news.”, was my thought. I said hello. Before I could say another word, Tyron was spitting out words almost too fast to understand. “Dave. This is Tyron. I am sorry I forgot to call you when I got the permit. I called for the inspection and the inspector should be here on Wednesday. “

If you were part of the team that worked on Tyron and Stephanie’s house I hope you hear this story. I hope you understand that while their living conditions have improved, more has happened. The Holy Spirit is at work in Tyron and Stephanie. He is enabling them. He is transforming their lives. He used you as an instrument in this process.

But there is more. He has transformed my life. He has shown me that in my doubt and unbelief, he is still gracious. He is still God.