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mynameisstump
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Name: Adam
Birthday: 7/30/1986
Gender: Male
Interests: God, Jesus, Emanuel, RFC, Children ministry/education, Music, Theatre, Winter Drumline, Front Ensemb
Expertise: comedy...heh...and uh just tell me what I am good at...I'll deny it ...but you can still try!
Occupation: Student
Industry: Education/Research
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  mynameisstump
Yahoo:  marimba1fan
Member Since:
1/27/2004
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| The time has come for us to leave the Rez. These last few weeks
have been full of so many surprises, some good and some bad. Our trip
to the Grand Canyon was a lot of fun. The canyons are breath taking.
The 12 mile hike down the canyon was very breath taking! I really need
to start working out again! That was a good surprise. The not so good
was when we returned home. One of the kids who hangs around the
church, Paigdro, had 2 deaths in the family. His uncle was killed in a
car accident; then 30 minutes later his dad was shot in a fight. We've
been trying our best to help with anything. Paigdro has come over for
dinner everynight since. He seems to be doing well. He'll talk about
his dad sometimes and that seems to make him feel better. I love him
so much and need every one of you guys to pray for him and his family.
Life on the Rez is hard.
Tomorrow morning the six of us are heading out to Salt Lake City,
Utah, then through Wyoming, Nebraska, and Missouri on our way back
home. I can't believe it's already time to go home, but I'm ready.
This is the longest I've been away from home ever. I miss Cody and
Chase!!! and ofcourse everyone else too. :)
I don't have too much to say in this e-mail but for you to keep
Paigdro in your prayers and us too for our trip back. I love you all and
can't wait to see you again!!! Thanks for all the support. This trip
has been amazing. God is amazing!!!
God Bless
-Adam | | |
| Greetings from the Rez!
It's been 3 weeks, but the moments here are
timeless. Literally, I have no idea what the date or
time is. Someone tell me! :) The only real time I
ever konw exists is 8 a.m. when my alarm clock trys to
wake me up. Any other time like lunch, supper, or
worship happens when it happens or atleast whenever we
feel like everyone is there that can make it. The sun
doesn't completely go away until 10 or 10:30, which
night fall begins our break time from the kids.
"Really, it's time to go home now!" We rarely ever go
to bed before 12 or 1am, probably since we have
programed ourselves to do so in TN, but mostly so we
can enjoy just sitting and watching tv, talking,
laughing about all the crazy silly things that happen
here, or e-mailing people about our trip. Right now,
I am kind of watching Zorro while typing this but just
realized I'm rambling about nothing so here's the real
deal...
Since the last e-mail, I've learned a lot more
about the Navajos other than that they don't scalp
people anymore. I don't think they ever did. Silly
western movies! :) Friday night, we got watch one of
the boys from VBS, Robert, dance at an indian Pow Wow.
Mostly younger children danced. There were a few
high schoolers, but this was a smaller event. The big
ones are held in super domes like in Las Vegas and
places like that. Pow Wow is kind of it's own
religion. Some indians use it as a form of healing
power; that dance can heal illnesses or reduce
stresss, which I can see how it helps. Very few dance
just for the fun of it. If a dancer were to drop a
prop, stick, fan feather, during their dance then the
drum circle will stop playing and the dance will have
to start over. They are pretty serious about it and
expect nothing more than total respect. Very very
interesting to watch and learn about it's traditional
value to the Navajos and besides the importance, when
they dance there are lots of bright colors and flashy
things that keep me entertained.
Saturday was our first real free day to go
sight seeing and shopping. We started the day
visiting Four Corners. I was in 4 places at once!
Brianne and I took a picture of me "kicking her into
the next state." Yea, we're being crazy while the
other tourist stare at us. After Four Corners, we
went to the Navajo flea market in Shiprock around noon
and I bought some shirts and arrows for Cody and
Chase. (I miss them so much!) I finally ate my first
Navajo Taco. It was pretty good. I've had better
since. The difference between an american and a
Navajo taco is the shell. Navajos use fried bread.
It's real good! I'll have to learn the reciept and
bring it back to Smyrna. So nw that we're all tired
from being the hot sun, what better to do then to go
see a movie. There's a cool twin theater in the
downtown area so we went and saw Cars. Very funny
like all Pixar movies, and appropriate since we are in
the desert.
Sunday, it was my turn to preach. Since it
being Father's day, I talked about the relationship
between Jesus and God as the perfect example. The
lesson went pretty well and wasn't to cliche in light
of the holiday. I tried to make it special. Usually,
about ten or so show up for service, which consists of
the 6 of us and the Whaley's daughter's family. A
couple times we've had other visitors. Worship is the
same as what a typical Bible class setting at home is
like. We circle up our chairs and sing to one
another. I wouldn't want it any other way. Later on,
that night, Jenny drove us to the indian ruins in
Bluff. At first it was hard to see them, but then
there they were hidden up under a roof in the side of
a mesa. We had to climb a hill to get to them.
What's is the front of the house and some dividing
walls. Next to it is a rock formation seemingly used
for some special ceremony. It's too cool looking to
not have been sacred. I got to climb up on it a sit
for a while. The Austins joined me. The ruins are
beutiful because there is that presence of history
that can be explained without being there. I'll have
to show you the pictures. Also, a lot of cool movies
have been filmed near this area like Wild Wild West,
Back to the Future III, and the scene where Forest
Gump finally stops running. We may go back to the
spot and re-inact that shot. Oh yea, we have a video
camera and we've had lots of fun with it. :)
Yesterday Lavanda, one of the Navajo girls close
to the Whaleys, was baptised! There are maybe 1 or 2
baptisms a year; very rare, so we were lucky to see
this.
Tomorrow, we are leaving for Navajo camp. All
the Churches of Christ on the Rez (Reservation) are
coming together for a summer camp in Arizona. We'll
be there until Thursdays. The camp doesn't start
until Sunday, but we are leaving tomorrow because we
are too excited to wait! Well...ok, maybe excited
isn't the word. Ready for Sunday is more accurate.
Tomorrow we have to dig the outhouses and I'm not too
excited about that. No electricity and no fresh water
equals no bath for 5 days. yay! It will be lots of
fun. Really, I am excited. Having a bath is the
least of my worries.
Okay, so I am tired and should try and get
atleast a few hours of sleep before we leave for camp.
Everyone have a great week and keep praying for our
trip. There's something new to pray for everyday!
Love you all!
-Adam
P.S. I should try writting e-mails not at 1 am.
Then, maybe I won't ramble about nothing. :) | | |
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Hola Y'all from Utah!
Ray Whaley is the man we are
staying with in Utah along with his wife Olleta. He tells us that
some of the Navajos use Southern Mexican slang like "Hola Y'all"
:) I'm
having a great time. Along the way here we camped near Oklahoma
City and in Santa Rosa, NM. All I can say about the OK city
bombings
memorial is wow. Well, ok maybe a little more. I've never
seen anything like it. There are marble
chairs with glass bottoms along a grassy field for each of the
victims in and outside of the
building when the bomb went off. The small chairs are for the
children which made me want to cry. It was beautiful.
Children's arts is on display in painted tiles along a wall.
There is also a fence on each side of the first entrance where the
community leaves little gifts like key chains and pictures as tokens of
love for the victims. I left my old house key. If you are
ever near
Oklahoma City you have to see this. So powerful! We went
back at
night and the chairs were lite with a soft glow. I sat barefoot
next
to the pool of water where the building once stood, prayed and watched
others walk around at the site. The rest of the trip is kind of a
blur right now
since It's almost midnight and I'm worn out from playing with kids all
day, but everything was lots of fun! If I remember
something else
important I'll tell you later.
I saw my first tumble weed when we were in New Mexico. We passed
the famous Chimney Rock going into Utah. Then, there was the
reservation. I didn't know what to expect. When we arrived at the
Navajo Church of Christ it was dark, so I still didn't know what to
expect. The next morning, waking up to the brightest sun ever, maybe
then I could know what I was getting myself into. Well, the next few
days were rainy and full of sand storms, the worst that they have had
in several months. Everything is great now. The weather isn't too
hot, but very dry. Good for my allergies. The best thing to do is
have water fights, cause water drys and the kids are having fun.
We just got back from watching the stars. I've never seen so many
at once before. There were 3 or 4 shooting stars in the hour.
Tommorrow night we may go to "The Top of the World," which is a
mountain near the reservation. Tomorrow is also the 3rd day of
Vacation Bible School. I'm helping with the 4th grade and lower grades
class. More and more kids are showing up as the week progresses.
hopefully, by the end of VBS we will have made a difference in atleast
one of those kid's lives. Most of these kids only have 1 real parent
around and that parent is most likely an alcoholic or drug abuser.
It's hard to understand what devistating things that the Navajo children
deal with. Please keep us in your prayers and I will be
praying for you too! Love you all and have a great rest of the week.
P.S. I will try to send out an e-mail every once in a while but with
all the busy work we have to do I couldn't tell you when the next will
come. I hope this e-mail made sense cause, like I said, it's late and
I'm tired!
God Bless,
-Adam | | |
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