The Sunday School room of the Methodist Church in Raton New Mexico is where we spent our first night on the road. That's my boy in the red shirt.
This page was created by Kevin on 10/31/00, in between Trick-or-Treaters.
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The Sunday School room of
the Methodist Church in Raton New Mexico is where we spent our first night
on the road. That's my boy in the red shirt.
Becky and Racheal (that's
Ruh-shell, not Ray-chul) got into the Christmas stuff.
God gave us a fabulous show
that night. There was lightening every 10 or 20 seconds. Some of us took
chairs outside to watch.
Sweet Dreams, Jason!
If the squeeking of Nick's
cot wasn't enough to drive Leigh Anne out into the hall to sleep, then
the cricket that kept answering it was.
It's hard to get a good picture
of Lara when she's not talking and Kenton when he's not sleeping.
Our accomodations on the Hopi
reservation were in an old boarding school.
'ats m' boy.
Whatta ya know, Kenton's awake!
Jason never sleeps.
Lunch.
I spent the week with this
rag-tag bunch of christians, roofing this house on Mesa #1 of the Hopi
reservation in Arizona..
This
is Mr. and Mrs. Setalla (Justin and Pauline), the residents of the house
that my group was working on. Mr. Setalla and his family built the structure
in 1947 out of sandstone blocks that they carved out of the side of the
Mesa. There is no electricity and no running water, and that's the way
they like it. They are very social people, and interesting to talk to.
Often, thier friends and family came over to see the new roof in progress.
They have 10 children total, all grown and scattered from coast to coast.
One of thier son's gave up a job in "the real world" to make pottery in
a kiln that is fired with sheep's dung. One daughter is a teacher in South
Dakota on a Souix Indian reservation. Another daughter is an accomplished
marathon runner. The Setalla's raise corn, squash, purple beans, cows,
and horses. Mr. Setalla likes to go to rodeos, but he no longer competes.
Mrs. Setalla is of the Bear Clan and Mr. Setalla is of the Water Clan.
Mrs. Setalla has many Christian things in her house (pictures, statues,
crosses, etc.) and she practices Christianity openly and actively (she
is Baptist). I had the impression that Mr. Setalla hangs on to the old
Hopi ways a little more. When I heard them pray, it was in their native
tongue. Mrs. Setalla told me that she had been praying for a new roof,
and that we were the answer to her prayers.
If you think that 14 year
old girls can't roof a house, you are wrong.
On our last day, the Setalla's
threw us a feast. There was more food than we could have possibly eaten
in a week. My favorite was the traditional Hopi fried bread.
Some of the Sierra Service
Project Staff just happened to show up for the feast (imagine that). The
guy in the wide brimmed hat is Chris, he was our Construction Coordinator
and a generally great guy. Just to his left is Jonathon, he was a Supply
Coordinator and the favorite staff member of all the girls. Below and to
the right is Amber, the other Supply Coordinator.
I wish I could show you more
of the trip home, but this is pretty much what it looked like all the way.
If you think you might ever
like to do something like this with United Methodist Youth Fellowship group
in Omaha, you could click on the UMYF link below to learn more about this
great bunch of kids.
