Navajo Family Missions - The White Horse Church…Keeping the Sabbath Holy
We visited the White Horse Church and were literally welcomed with open arms. The local pastor wanted us to lead the service and requested to hear testimonies. The pastor, one of her daughters, and her niece Sophie lead the special music. Then, Doug, Tami’s dad shared his story of being in an accident that left him in a coma. He miraculously came out of the coma as a result of the prayers of friends and relative. God spoke to him that he had not been giving his best to Him so during recovery, Doug read the entire Bible from cover to cover. Now, he will not let an opportunity to share the Gospel with others go by. Then, we had a moving testimony from Dawn and Pam. Dawn shared about leading a support group for cancer patients in another church. When she was at a team meeting several weeks ago, she saw Pam and asked who she was. She realized immediately that Pam had been in her cancer support group. Dawn told about being raised on an Indian reservation and being alcohol and drug free for 26 years. Pam shared about moving to Texas and then coming back. She had also decided not to go to Pueblo Pintado this year until much friendly persuasion from the Powers family. God definitely brought Pam and Dawn back together to serve on this mission trip, and this was a confirmation to both Pam and Dawn that they were supposed to be on this trip.
The message was given by John Dillard our spiritual leader, on the story of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was a cupbearer to the king, and in this position, he did not have the authority to speak to the king. Nehemiah had a passion to see the walls of Jerusalem rebuilt after the Israelites had been in exile. He waited prayerfully and patiently for God to fulfill His plans in his life. John reminded us that when God has a seemingly impossible plan for your life, you and God are a majority. He will work everything out in your favor to accomplish His plan in your life. Nehemiah went to the king and received a paid vacation to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt in 55 days.
Andrew shared with us that the church is not just a building. It is the people and that everyone is needed to do the work. Then, we received a moving testimony from Sophie, the pastor’s granddaughter about backsliding into a life of alcoholism and being a bad example for her daughters, nieces, and nephews. She had recently made a decision to come back to the Lord. You could see the sadness in her eyes because of her mistakes. Denise took this opportunity to share with her how her daughter McKenna had gotten their family back into church and told her that it was never too late to be a good example. The service ended with praise songs that were led by Doug and a prayer from its pastor.
We spent the afternoon setting up for the next day. As I was writing in this journal in the afternoon, Kristen was pulling tumbleweeds out of the basketball court so the kids could play basketball during sports camp. Kristen pointed out to me that the small tumbleweeds were harder to remove than the larger ones. She said that it was like the sins in our lives. The larger sins are easier to see, and you can take care of them immediately like David and Goliath. The smaller sins like watching too much television get deeply rooted into your life before you realize that they are there and end up being more difficult to let go of. Kristen’s hard work prepared the basketball court to be used by John Dillard and Philip to develop relationships with some of the kids over the week.
After dinner, John Dillard reminded us of the great commission and using a fishing box, pulled out a lure. He said that each one of us has different gifts that allows us to be able to reach different people and that all of our assigned responsibilities were important to make this mission trip a success.
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