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NAOMI Childrens Home, Joseph City, AZ
American Indians Mission Trip
August 3 to August 10, 2009
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| Ministry Detail |
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Project Overview:
Naomi Children's Home provides a Christian refuge and an atmosphere of hope for abused or abandoned Navajo and Apache kids. Because of the children's background, we need mature participants.
Some of these precious young kids come to Naomi Children's Home with absolutely no framework for Christianity. You will be among the first to explain to them the truths of God’s love, grace, and forgiveness through Jesus Christ.
Ministry Description:
Ministry will revolve around the 11-14 residents of the home ages infant to teen. We'll hold a Kid's Club every day, disciple believers, sort clothes for the Clothes Closet Ministry, do laundry, and stack food in the pantry. We’ll also take the kids swimming or on other fun outings.
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| Trip Requirements |
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Newcomers to the world of missions can grow and make a difference among Naomi Home's children and teens. But proven, spiritual maturity and prior field experience in missions away from home really helps. So, bring some veterans to help newcomers get to the next level.
You’ll need to exercise initiative to reach the lost and disciple those who struggle with their faith. Participants with developed social skills and the ability to engage in conversation, sometimes at deeper, spiritual levels, will do well.
This is very much a cross-cultural experience, and it will stretch you. Spiritual warfare is waged regularly in Indian Country. Maintain plenty of prayer cover and let the Lord run the mission.
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| Food & Lodging |
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Lodging will be in bunkhouses. Please bring single-sized air mattresses, bedding, and towels. Food is prepared on site.
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| Dress Code & What to Bring
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Dress Code:
Please refer to AIM's training manual, Missions 101.
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| Travel Information |
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Airport & Transportation:
Groups may drive to Joseph City, or fly to Phoenix (223 miles) or Albuquerque, NM (244 miles). Either airport is about a four-hour drive. The Flagstaff, AZ, airport is only 80 miles from Joseph City, but airfare is generally expensive.
Groups must provide their own ground transportation. Extensive travel is common on the rez, so at least two vans will better facilitate travel for activities with local kids.
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Shots & Vaccinations:
An updated Tetanus shot is strongly recommended for ALL projects.
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Suggested Travel Agency:
- Donna Booth, CTC Domestic and International Travel
Consultant
MTS Travel
9440 Philips Hwy, Ste 3
Jacksonville, Fl. 32256
Phone (800) 888-8292 ext 208
Email donnab@mtstravel.com
- Karol Fleming, CTC Domestic and International Travel
Consultant
MTS Travel
9440 Philips Hwy, Ste 3
Jacksonville, Fl. 32256
Phone (800) 888-8292 ext 208
Email karolf@mtstravel.com
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Suggested Travel Insurance:
We highly recommend that all program participants have health insurance coverage.
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| Location Information
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Location Description:
The Navajo Nation's 17 million acres stretch across a plateau from northeastern Arizona to northwestern New Mexico, including a narrow band of southern Utah. At an elevation of 6,950 feet, the BIC base sits atop high desert country just west of Blanco Trading Post. Beautiful sandstone buttes and mesas abound in this stark land dotted with sagebrush and pinion trees.
Weather:
Summer high temperatures average in the 90s, with considerably cooler nights. Lots of sun, blue skies, and puffy white clouds are typical. Late summer is the rainy season, although annual precipitation is only 6-10 inches.
Area Attractions:
• The steep sandstone walls of Canyon de Chelly National Monument near Chinle preserve ancient ruins of the once thriving Anasazi Indians. Navajo people still farm the fertile valleys of the canyon lands and tend sheep the way their ancestors did centuries ago.
• Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site near Ganado is famous for its inventory of Navajo rugs, each with a distinctive pattern woven by the people in a certain locale for generations.
• Monument Valley has been the location for many western movies.
• Window Rock, the capital of the Navajo Nation, sits on the AZ/NM border. Its namesake is a window-shaped opening in a huge sandstone formation adjacent to the governmental headquarters. The comprehensive Navajo Nation Museum nearby features art exhibits, historical photographs, and cultural programs.
• Mesa Verde National Park near Cortez, Colorado, offers guided hikes through ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings. Nearby, Four Corners is the only place in the U.S. where four states meet (UT, CO, AZ, and NM).
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| People, Culture and Religion
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The Navajo call themselves Dineh, meaning The People. Most speak English as well as Navajo. Historians credit Navajo soldiers during World War II for helping to win the war in their role as Code Talkers. Using the native language, they created a code that was never broken by the Japanese.
Turmoil filled the 19th-century period of Navajo history. As more Anglos settled in the New Mexico and Arizona territories during the early 1860s, the Navajo and Mescalero Apache fought to maintain control of their lands and way of life.
In January of 1863, the Army began to lead bands of Navajo from their traditional lands for the purpose of relocation. Soldiers forced the people to walk 300-400 miles in harsh winter conditions to Fort Sumner on the Bosque Redondo in eastern New Mexico. The Navajo refer to the journey as the Long Walk. By 1865, more than 8,500 Navajos lived among 500 Mescalero Apache with shortages of food and firewood, contaminated water, and disease. The relocation effort failed.
In 1868, a treaty permitted the Navajo to return to their homeland, now set aside as a reservation. They were joined by thousands who had been hiding out in the hinterlands. The Navajo are one of the few Native groups who managed to retain a significant portion of their lands. With the reservation’s formation, they were able to return to farming, sheep herding, and weaving. Many still choose that lifestyle today. Others make beautiful silver jewelry, pottery, and rugs.
The Navajo people are tenacious, adaptable, and enduring. As they forge ahead to attain their goal of economic self-sufficiency, they still adhere to their cultural, social, and traditional values. Many incorporate their spiritual beliefs into daily life, although the elders often lament that younger generations seem to be abandoning traditional ways.
Traditional Dineh base their way of life on a belief that the physical and spiritual worlds blend together, and everything on earth is alive and sacred. Two major ceremonies are the Blessing Way, which keeps them on the path of harmony and wisdom; and the Enemy Way, a healing ceremony which discourages evil spirits. Traditional Dineh believe that the Earth People are ordinary mortals, while the Holy People are spiritual beings that cannot be seen. The Holy Ones live in the four sacred mountains in each of the four directions, thus creating the boundaries of Navajo lands.
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| Government and Economy
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The Navajo Nation is sovereign and has its own tribal government, clinics, schools, and police force. The discovery of oil on Navajo land in the 1920s created the need for a more systematic form of government. The Navajo Nation central government is composed of three branches (executive, legislative, and judicial) headquartered in Window Rock, Arizona. The Navajo Tribal Council serves as the governing body with 88 elected council delegates representing 110 local subdivisions called Chapters.
The Navajo Nation has built a modern economy on traditional endeavors such as sheep and cattle herding, weaving, fiber production, jewelry making, and art trading. A 2004 study by the Navajo Division of Economic Development found that 60 percent of all families have at least one member working in arts and crafts shops. Tourism is an important part of the economy.
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| Statistics
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Population:
253,000 - Navajo Nation (2000 Census)
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Poverty Rate:
29.5% in Navajo County live below the poverty line. (1999)
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