This is the New Iberian Mission Association (NIMA) Update for October, November, December, 2011.

NIMA is an outreach of Agape Christian Church and friends from around the world. Our main outreach in Guatemala is Community Christian Hospital and Morning Glory Christian School located at the Llano de la Virgen, and village evangelism to the small communities served by Morning Glory near San Raymundo, Guatemala, especially the Christian Church at Sacsuy, and Community Christian Hospital. We also work with other worldwide ministries to help the folks of Guatemala that live in the hard to reach areas that are without modern medical and physical attention.

Inside this edition...

“Updated Morning Glory Budget”

“Growing Pains”
Lori Nij

“Morning Glory Christmas Giving Catelog”

“Where Do Great Missionaries Come From?”
Herb Pinney

“A Look Into The Future”
Herb Pinney

Read more

New Iberian Mission Association

Our main outreach in Guiatemala is Community Christian Hospital and Morning Glory Christian School located at the Llano de la Virgen, and village evangelism to the small communities served by Morning Glory near San Raymundo, Guatemala, especially the Christian Church at Sacsuy, and Community Christian Hospital. We also work with other worldwide ministries to help folks of Guatemala that live in the hard-to-reach areas that are without modern medical and physical attention.

Rethink Priorities... Rethink Christmas

Shannon Slee, Madison Park Christian Church, Quincy, Illinois

  I can’t believe how quickly 2011 has gone by. It has been an eventful year, but if you blinked for too long, you may have missed it. Now the holiday season is upon us and we are soon to be bombarded with ads, commercials, and junk mail trying to get us to spend our money on a bunch of stuff. Gift giving can certainly be a fun way to express our love and appreciation for others, but sometimes I think we get way too caught up in the material side of giving more stuff to people who already have lots of stuff. Sometimes I think we need to rethink how we do Christmas.

Over the past week I’ve been spending some time in the book of Daniel. I’m amazed how God can use His Word to reveal new things to us, even when we think we already know it from beginning to end. He’s done this in my life this week as He gave me examples of His power, faithfulness, and grace. I wonder if each of the 70+ years that Daniel spent in Babylonian captivity, then serving the king of the Medes, flew by for him like this one year has for us. On the one hand, the time Daniel spent as a servant of his captors could not have been altogether pleasant; he faced many trials to his faith and his integrity. I know just from my experience of being pregnant right now that time does not fly when you’re not having fun! But on the other hand, Daniel had a purpose. His priority was not to elevate himself, to accomplish his agenda, or to live a life of comfort. Daniel’s driving purpose was to glorify God, to keep His commands, and to live a life worthy of bearing His name among Daniel’s captors. Why was Daniel time and time again promoted and esteemed among kings like Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and Darius? Because he carried out all of his duties as if he was doing them for the Lord, meaning that he did them with excellence and unswerving integrity. This witness to those around him led even the Pagan kings to declare that “He is the living God, and He endures forever. His kingdom will not be destroyed; His dominion will never end. He rescues and He saves; He performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth” (Daniel 6:26b-27). If we rethink our priorities, what power we will have to influence our culture!

My experiences with Morning Glory Christan School have shown me that God uses ordinary people to perform His wonders on this earth every day. This Christmas season, I encourage you to support the kingdom work that He is doing in Guatemala. Give a gift to the school in honor of a family member in place of another piece of “stuff” that will be forgotten in a week. Give a gift that will have eternal results. When we are faithful to God through our priorities, we’ll bring glory to our Lord, be a blessing to others as Daniel was to his rulers, and will be blessed ourselves, in turn!

Giving That Produces Kingdom Results

Herb Pinney, Agape Christian Church, Las Cruces, NM

Inside you’ll find a Morning Glory Christmas catalog. Please shop here for a gift for Morning Glory and for Lori and Queno Nij. We hope that each of you can pick out a gift and that gift money will be above your regular sponsor gift or regular gift to the mission. This year, the giving is critical.

Perhaps you could add 10% to 20% to what you were sending last year. Many of you raise your monthly gift every year. I would like you to share this Christmas catalog with your Sunday school class and church group. Perhaps over and above your regular giving you could pick out a gift that your group could do as an extra blessing with your regular giving. This is one very worthy mission that is producing lots of results for the kingdom. Select the code number that begins with CG and place it in the memo space on your check or send a letter telling what you would like to do. There are many that used to give and for one reason or another had to stop for a while; this would be a great time to get back involved. Also, many of you have never given to the mission. This would be a wonderful time to start where you feel comfortable and get involved in the changing of the world. If you have questions, e-mail or call me for answers!

Link: Morning Glory Christmas Catalog

The Morning Glory Operation & Budget

The following is the budget for New Iberian Mission Association operation of Morning Glory Christian School and the Christian Church evangelistic efforts with new churches in the area of San Raymundo, Guatemala.

What we have found out over the 2011 year is that with inflation hitting as hard as 200%, the United States dollar devaluation, and NIMA’s increase in outreach in Guatemala, we have run about 10% overall short of breaking even. This means for the months of October, November, and December we are in need of granting a 15% cost of living adjustment to break even. This does not go back and replace the money redirected to cover cost of operation. I am sure that you have noticed the inflation at the grocery store this year as well as at the gas pump and everywhere else in the United States. Here’s just one small example of the inflation that is happening while the government agencies are denying it is happening: sugar for years was in 5-pound and 10-pound packages. Then the shelves had 4-pound packages of sugar at a slightly higher price than the 5-pound had been recently. Now this past weekend, the larger packages of sugar were just a little higher in price on special than the 5-pound had been recently. I do all the family shopping, and at a major retailer I saw the center aisle sugar display away from the regular sugar and flour section. I check the packaging to see the weight. Nowhere on the package was a weight in pounds, kilograms, or any other unit reported. I hand weighted it, went to the sugar shelves and checked the 4-pound and the 5-pound, and realized that this new package, at a higher price than the 5-pound, seemed to me to be about 4½-pounds with no markings to check against other packaging for value. I decided to take it to the fresh fruit department and weigh it. I was right! This is just one way we are being hit with inflation here in the USA. In Guatemala, Lori is facing it in every area. These increases are a painful reality. Here is a review of our budget:

[Budget numbers intentionally omitted from Web copy of the Update. Please submit a direct request to the NIMA office if you are interested.]

Growing Pains

Lori Nij, Colegio Cristiano Mañana Gloriosa, San Raymundo, Guatemala

During the growing years of my children and grandchildren it was almost a nightly routine to rub their throbbing legs with heat rub as they cried in pain. Their bones were growing faster than their muscles and each night their legs would cramp in pain and ache. Grandmothers have a word for those nightly cramps, “growing pains,” they say, as they shake their heads with the wisdom only years of experience can bring.

At Morning Glory we are going through a period of growing pains. Eleven years have come and gone. We look back at where we began and are amazed at where God has taken us. I remember that first ten-year plan that I thought was so ambitious that the mission board would surely tell me that I was crazy and nix the whole thing. We completed that plan in the first three years. Now, well into our long-term plans with growth that we could only dream about ten years ago, we look to the future with hope mixed with nervous anticipation.

Last January, our first group of students—who entered the kindergarten class in 2001—graduated from secondary school and went on to diversified education or vocational school. Of that group of forty-three students, thirty-eight continue to study. The national average of students who finish sixth grade continue on to higher education is under thirty percent. Of those thirty-eight Morning Glory students, eighteen won full scholarships to the schools of their choice and many won multiple scholarships. This week, our second group of kids graduated from secondary school. Once again a great majority of those kids finished another cycle in their education. The two highest award-winning students were Morning Glory kids.

Three years ago we began a music program. This year our band won first place in the city-wide band competition competing against secondary and diversified students. The junior band with students from first through third grade was the talk of town. Our dance teams won four trophies in the city-wide competitions. We work hard, practice long hours and strive for excellence to honor our Father ... and we succeed.

I have been blessed by our Father to see the results and fruit of our labor. I have seen families changed and prospered. I have watched children grow and become amazing young people with loving, Christ-centered hearts. I have seen Morning Glory grow from two run-down classrooms—from a trash-filled, muddy field—to a bright and beautiful campus. My office has changed from an old wooden table and chair on the front porch to an office that is bright and professional. Our supplies have grown from a plastic box that I carried to and from school each day to a well-stocked storeroom and a packed workshop. From packing thirty-something children into our old Isuzu Trooper we have grown to four, full school buses that bring the children to and from school each day. From myself and four teachers earning beggars’ wages we have grown to twenty-one full time teachers, two teaching assistants, two office workers, a cleaning lady, a maintenance man, four bus drivers, a guard, Rob, and myself.

But all this has come at a cost. It has not been a cheap adventure. All of you have sacrificed to make this growth possible. From a budget of less than five hundred dollars ten years ago, the school’s budget has grown to nine thousand dollars, and even that barely covers our daily expenses and needs. For the last three years I have not revised the budget out of consideration for the economic downturn that has affected us worldwide. I have chosen instead to cut corners, to rob from Peter to pay Paul, and to ignore needed repairs or patch over. For this entire year I have put my personal salary into the school budget to make ends meet, reducing family expenses so we can function on Queno’s salary alone. We have faced double digit inflation, devaluation and economic crisis without screaming help. But I can’t go on this way. I have completely depleted our savings; I have put off serious maintenance issues; I have pinched every penny until it bled. Last month, for the first time in eleven years, I couldn’t make payday. I had to pay only a percentage of each teacher´s salary, asking them to wait a few days for the rest. This next Monday I will have to do the same. My car is dying; it will take more than it’s worth to fix it. The back door is literally tied on with rope and duct tape. If I drive it long enough for the motor to reach normal heat, the injection system begins to cut out and the car loses power. The hydraulic booster is giving out and the whole suspension needs to be replaced. The automatic transmission is slipping and who knows what other problem is hiding, waiting to rear its ugly head? My office photocopier died in March and sits idle because I don’t have funds to repair or replace it. Classrooms need paint, doors are falling off, desks need repairs, and we haven´t bought new research books in years. My bus needs tires, the teachers are asking for a raise... and the list goes on and on.

It is not my nature to whine or complain; I much prefer to “tough it through” and figure out how to make ends meet. But honestly, there is nowhere else to cut, and the stress of staying solvent is wearing me out.

So, I face a tough decision. Either we raise the budget to meet the current needs or I cut programs, reduce students, and we move back. We stand at a threshold of faith. God is doing amazing things and we have incredible opportunities before us. We have once again completed all the paperwork for secondary school and are waiting on the answer from the ministry of education. Our band has the opportunity to compete on a national level next year. The huge music company out of Guatemala City wants to sponsor and encourage our students. We have a great opportunity to deepen and fortify the academic education of our students.

I am sharing this dilemma with you because I don’t have the answer. Which teacher do I let go? What program do I cut? Which child do I look in the face and tell him “there is no room for you” at Morning Glory? Or is all this just a test of faith and God asking me to continue to step out on air in faith believing that something will be there? By nature I am a worrywart; I always prefer to have my little nest egg squirreled away for emergencies. My independent, self- sufficient nature hates asking for help. Is this just God working on my sinful self and moving me up one more step of faith? I don’t know the answer. Those of you who have been here and those of you who are wiser than I perhaps have insight that I have missed.

I know that economics are tight; I have read all the indicators and all the articles. Yet I know that God is in control and Morning Glory is His work. He is the owner and King of all. I know that unemployment is at an all-time high and yet people are lining up to buy the newest gadgets and technology.

So, where do we go? Do we rub down the pains with heat rub and walk on forward? Or do we draw back into the safety of what we can see and touch? Do we hide in the security of yesterday in the easy comfort of our bed, or do we push on to the unknown?

Thirty-two years ago I left home and the safety of all that I knew to step out on faith and follow the King. Thirty-two years I have asked my family to follow my dream and to be the hands, feet, and heart of Christ to the lost and dying. I asked my children to sacrifice an American education, toys, conveniences, and the American dream to live in a third-world country. In all honesty I have given my all. For thirty-two years many of you have shared in this endeavor through prayers and offerings. For thirty-two years God has provided for my needs and often given me my wants. For thirty-two years I have lived far from family and home. Thirty-two years I have been privileged to see the hand of God move and work. I have been given glimpses of glory; I have walked through the fire and flood and He has always been there. I have descended to the pit of despair and flown on the wings of faith. I have climbed mountains and danced in my heart. I have been challenged to be more, to do more than I could have ever dreamed. I have heard the angels sing over me in my darkest nights and felt His presence dance around me when my heart hurt so much I thought I would die. I have learned that His blessings come through raindrops and He asks me to dance in the storm. I have learned that the darkest hour of the night is right before morning comes in all its glory and splendor. I have learned that His wrath lasts but the night and joy comes in the morning. Morning Glory has gone from a childhood nickname to a prophetic statement of what my life is all about. I stand amazed in His grace and presence.

Many of those who encouraged and shared with me in those early days have since gone on to heaven and are waiting for me there. Women like Tommie Garrison who always took time to write an encouraging note, to send a valentine with a piece of gum taped on... my grandmother who wrote me long, newsy letters from home... Ed McCarnahan who covered my husband with a blanket as he slept in the easy chair, who lifted my heavy heart with his simple, beautiful breakfast prayer... so many who sacrificed personal gain so that we could stay in Guatemala. There were so many who made the difference in those early days of uncertainty and loneliness, and now is the time for a new generation of Kingdom workers to step up to the plate—those of you who have come and played soccer with the kids, filled your facebooks with their jubilant smiles and had your hearts changed by their unconditional love and acceptance. Perhaps you came on a medical trip and were drawn by the laughter of the children playing at recess and you stopped what you were doing to take a moment to watch. Perhaps you have never been able to come but the stories of changes that God has made in countless children’s lives has touched your heart. Will you sacrifice the latest iPhone, Android, new computer, brand-name fashions, or Starbucks so that brown-eyed children can grow and learn in a Christ-centered, safe place? Those of you who fuss about illegal immigration, are you willing to do something to change the next generation, educating and equipping children so that they can support their families in their own country? I am not asking for personal wealth or gain; I am not asking for a vacation to Europe or the Holy Land; I don’t want or need new clothes or a fancy home. I ask for money to pay teachers, the electric bill, to paint the classrooms, to fix the buses. I am asking to not have to choose which children can come to Morning Glory Christian School. I ask for your prayers; I ask that you share with your friends, coworkers, and churches what Morning Glory is about. I don’t ask you to sacrifice anything that I am not willing to sacrifice, to share anything that I will not share, nor to give anything that Christ did not give.

This has been the hardest article that I have ever written. It has made me look deep into my own heart for answers. I have had to swallow my pride to scream help. This article is not about me or my ministry; it is not about what I can do or cannot do because I am nothing without Christ and it all is because of Him and belongs to Him. I am writing nothing that I have not spent long hours in prayer over, searching and examining my own heart, seeking His will and His answer. But as it was so clearly pointed out to me last week—God’s people cannot help if they don’t know there is a need.

As I have written these words, the answer has come to my heart. I cannot look a single child in the eye and tell him there is no room for him here. I just can’t do that. I cannot choose. I cannot, in all conscience, offer less than the best. I cannot move back. The security of the bed is not an option; we must carry on with our growing pains, aching legs and all. All that is left is for me is to step out on air, move on in faith, and pray that God will provide. God is doing amazing things through Morning Glory; lives are being shaped and changed. So, I will walk on faith... step out on air... stride on into the wind... continue to follow my King. But I can’t do this alone; Morning Glory needs you and your steady financial commitment.

Where Do Great Missionaries Come From?

Herb Pinney, Agape Christian Church, Las Cruces, New Mexico

As a secular employer and business manager over my many years as a “tent maker” minister and missionary, I have hired hundreds of people. As a minister and missioner I have hired my share of staff and workers for the church and the mission field. I have really bombed a few times. The very best rèsumè can sometimes be a cover up for a life of failure; many people given as references give a good report upon request because they are good friends or want to get rid of someone. Most of the time there are very few surprises; things are as stated and the hire is an average person who can do the job for which he or she was hired. For years I told the men and women working under me, “If you are not trying for my job, I am not sure I can afford you in your job.” If I did not notice a person under me working hard and worth training, there was no chance for me to move up. This is true in the Christian world. At this point I am thinking that Rob Courtney has been my best hire out of Bible or secular college, ever. Having been on the trustee team of two different Bible colleges, doing my undergrad work in a secular state college, and earning my Christian degree in a Christian college, I have seen the successes and limitations of the academy. I have lived long enough to have watched the children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren of some fine missionaries grow up and what happened to them. I am more convinced now than ever before that great missionaries and ministers are in training long before they hit high school, and their mentoring has cemented their commitment to ministry long before they head to college. There are exceptions, but that is just what they are. Here is a romanticized, but accurate peak into the early ministry life of Lori, Ms. Morning Glory.

Begay's Special Christmas to Remember

A peek at Lori's early life as a missionary

Sometimes good short stories are based on good history with a smashing dash or two of imagination thrown in.

Prologue

Shi K’ad Jesus bikéé’ yisháat doo, Doo t’aa’ hal’i, Doo t’aa’ hal’i...

Lori was leading the Navajo children in “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus” in the school room at Tochatchi. She was really too young to qualify for the 110-mile trip on Sunday afternoon to hold Sunday school for the children in the pre- school class of Theodosia Smith at the Bureau of Indian Affairs school. But as a grade school student, she was her daddy’s right hand girl in ministry and the blossoming Navajo mission. David Scates was talking to Vernon Hollett and before long with Herb, and some elders from Aztec and Cortez would meet at Intermountain Bible College. Together they formed the legal non-pro t, Navajo Christian Churches, that became the First Christian group allowed to meet and worship anywhere on the whole Navajo nation. But for now, we were meeting on the U.S. Government educational reservation in the midst of the Navajo Nation very near the capital of Window Rock, a B.I.A. school.

The Martyr’s Band youth group from Aztec Christian Church was now the mission group holding the bi-weekly Sunday afternoon services. This group had youth meeting on Sunday at 7am, and then right after church grabbed their brown bag lunches and jumped into Herb’s ten-passenger wagon and headed to Tohatchi, 110 miles over two-lane roads to the east and south. This was not our original plan. Herb had worked with Theodosia, an old time Christian church school teacher that had come to the reservation to teach preschool in the Bureau of Indian Affairs school. After the services at Tohatchi it was home again—all 110 miles—for evening church at Aztec.

All the B.I.A. children were brought to school in the fall and lived in dormitories. This included the five year olds in the pre-school that had to learn about English, living in a dormitory, eating at a table, and using indoor plumbing from their teacher. Theodosia was working with Herb to help the kids to acclimate to the Anglo culture and language. Teacher became mother in residence, teacher, disciplinarian, and counselor. Theodosia had gotten some signed releases and allowed Herb, in his travels for Ford in the business world, to pick up some of the children and take them over the weekend to Anglo homes in Aztec and go to church and be brought back immersed in English and Christianity. Lori’s little sister, Linda Dawn, was too young for school in Aztec and spent some weeks at Tohatchi seeking to help the kids learn English. She came away speaking Navajo and saying, as she sat proudly beside daddy on the trip back to Aztec, “Only five years old, and already a missionary.”

It was during this time, seeing how the children loved the Sunday school and children’s church at Aztec, a plan was devised to get all 24 of her students to go to church every Sunday. The Smiths had an old Ford station wagon, one that just barely could be called a post-WWII model. They agreed with Herb; if they had another wagon, they could transport all 24 of her students to church in Gallup, New Mexico, just a few miles away, and the children would all get Sunday school and church each week.

Herb worked for Ziems Ford Corners after teaching in public schools for a short time where he was supposed to teach history and ended up teaching P.E. until they could get a coach; Herb went back to the car business. He went to his boss, Joe Ziems, with a plan. Could Joe pick out a used station wagon that the youth group could buy with their tithes and offerings, and then we would donate it to Theodosia and crew? Joe loved the idea; he was an elder in the Missouri synod Lutheran Church of Farmington. Joe had a 1960 Ford ten-passenger wagon that the shop had messed up in rebuilding after an accident. The company had to buy it back on a new car deal to satisfy a pending lawsuit. A deal was made that we could afford with Herb signing for the note, and we proudly drove the three-year-old car to Tohatchi after Pastor Herb had preached a sermon on missions at the morning service at Aztec. We dedicated it to the mission of taking Navajo kids to church on Sunday. Our youth group was all seeking ways to make money to pay for it; we were proud. The Navajo kids were going to get to all go to Sunday school and church.

The next Sunday, Theodosia and her husband packed the two wagons with kids and a big picnic lunch from the dining hall. They were off to Sunday School and church and a picnic in the Gallup park. They were proudly marching in an obedient straight line up the sidewalk to the church when a group of elders met them halfway up the walk and turned them back, saying, “If we wanted Indian kids in church we could go down along the tracks and get hundreds. Turn around and go back to where you came from.” The elders knew Theodosia and her husband; they had worshiped there regularly. The kids got their picnic, but no Sunday school. That Monday, Theodosia called to report the failure. When Herb told the youth group, they were ready to go to Gallup and burn that church down. In retrospect, I am sure that would have been a favor to God, but not the way to handle the problem according to the Bible or state law.

The sons and daughters of thunder met the next Sunday in youth group, still about 10,000 feet and climbing on a scale of anger. Before the evening was over, it was decided. If that church would not allow the kids to have Sunday school and church, we would take Sunday school and church to them. It was one of Herb’s two-second delay tricks of close calculations of time and obligations. We had youth early morning and then Sunday school and church at Aztec. Then the 110-mile trip on two lane reservation roads, we ate as we were traveling, held Sunday school and church at Tohatchi, and then the 110-miles home and church that evening in Aztec. This was the year-long program that opened the door to David and Vernon coming in, and the tribal council giving us an impossible challenge if we wanted to bring “white man’s religion to the Dine.” That challenge was met and history will forever record the breakthrough. David, the brains of the mission, has gone on to be with the Lord. Vernon, or “Radio Man,” is still the heart of the Navajo Christian Churches, and is still working with the Navajos from Farmington. Herb is still flying off in a dozen different directions with a two-minute delay in his timing on many jobs. Lori is still at the heart of reaching children with “I Have Decided to ollow Jesus.”

One Shy Girl

Lori was now leading a song in English that was easy to help the children learn.

She was smiling as she led the children: “Here, kids, is an easy song in English. Repeat after me, ‘deep and wide.’ That’s the way! Now, again.” Lori was waving her arms wildly, up and down, then sideways to illustrate the words deep and wide.

The kids were waving their arms as Lori showed them, and saying, “deep and wide.”

As Lori was directing and singing, out of the corner of her eye she saw her. There was a preschooler who was sitting sideways and looking at the floor. When Herb began to read the Scripture and the lesson about David—the shepherd that became the king of God’s people—Lori moved around to the side and sat down beside the little girl that was not singing. Lori put her arm around her and pulled her close; she curled up in Lori’s arm and began to sob quietly. Lori kind of rocked her and held her tightly during the lesson, and in the break between Sunday school and church, Lori asked her if she wanted to go for a walk. The girl looked up between the tears and nodded her head yes. They went hand in hand to the courtyard toward the playground swings. They walked quietly, and the two of them sat in low children’s swings and began to swing.

Soon Lori heard the group inside singing “Marching to Zion” and knew it was church time, but the little girl wanted to swing a little longer. Lori asked her what her name was.

“I am Sally,” the little one said.

Lori responded as they swung even higher, “What clan are you from?”

Sally responded, “I am from the area of Crown Point and I am a Begay.” The tears were now gone; the wind in her face from swinging had dried the last one. Lori just swung away and allowed her to swing in silence.

Lori then asked, “Why were you turning away while I was leading the singing, and why were you crying?”

Sally just looked at her for what seemed like several long minutes. Lori had already learned that the next one that speaks loses. No one was really going to lose; it was just that if she spoke next, she would never get her answer, so she just swung and waited.

Sally slowly looked Lori up one side and down the other trying to figure out if this belagana was one that could be trusted like Ms. Theodosia. As she was looking she began to speak.

“I have never been away from home before, and I am shy around strangers and your father’s group came up and wanted to hug me, and I did not know them. I just wanted to hide, but we had to sit in the circle. I became afraid and I cried.”

They were singing another song inside and Lori knew she needed to get back to the group before daddy told another story about King David during the time he was a shepherd. All these kids come from homes where someone in the family was a shepherd; someone or many of their relatives assuredly had sheep. Their mothers sheared the sheep, spun and died their own wool, and wove beautiful Navajo rugs and blankets. They knew about shepherds.

Lori began to speak to Sally. “I so understand; crowds of strangers can be so frightening. You know me, Sally; how about you and I being friends and sitting together from now on? I will shield you from unwanted hugs and introduce you to the ones that will be friendly.”

Sally liked the idea, and she knew both of them were going to be in trouble if they didn’t get back into the assembly room. They walked in hand in hand and finished singing “Amazing Grace.”

Herb stood in the middle of the chairs and began to ask questions.

“How many of you have ever been around a sheep or a lamb?”

They all raised their hands, vocally saying aloud, “Da Baa. Da Baa.”

“Yes,” Herb said, “Da Baa live in many lands around the world. In the Holy Land where David was a shepherd, his family had many Da Baa.”

Herb asked again, “Who are the enemy of the sheep when they are in the mountains grazing?”

At once hands went up everywhere, each student forgetting classroom rules and shouting out from around the room, “the coyote,” “the lion,” “the bear.”

Herb clapped his hands in joy, “You are all right, and those animals around the world are the enemies of the sheep.”

At once the Yazzie boy volunteered, “My daddy saw a shindee coyote on the road one night, and we were all scared.” Herb knew of the shindee in the coyote or the shindee hogan where someone had died. That was the indwelling of the devil. When a coyote or a wolf’s eyes do not re ect back light, that is a sign they are shindee.

Herb got them back on subject, and for thirty minutes had the crowd’s attention about the shepherd boy that with the power of God killed a bear and a lion that had attacked the sheep he was watching. Then he turned to the Yazzie boy and said, “We have this same power of God in us today, and we do not have to be afraid of the shindee.”

The Yazzie boy winced in his chair and said, “I sure am.” It was time to close out and go home.

Close Buds

For the rest of the year Lori never missed a Sunday trip to Tohatchi. She and Sally became the best of friends and they always sat together, sang together, walked, and shared secrets during the afternoon. By springtime dozens of people were showing up in pickup trucks and wagons to share the singing and the Bible preaching. A number of friends had been made, but it was hard to regulate. Often we put off beginning the meeting ‘til ones that we knew were coming arrived. The Navajo never had gotten onto the idea of the hourly time for things to begin. They were more likely to say, “I will be there one of these first days,” and that was a firm appointment for the coming month. Nearly every day as we drove out the rutted driveway, across the cattle guard, and on to the narrow paved road, we would meet a pickup as the sun was going down and we had to hurry. We would stop to say “hi” and we would always be asked, “Aren’t we going to have church today?” They were disappointed and we drove off shaking our heads.

By the end of the school year the class was 100% ready for the first grade in English, and they boarded the pickups and cars and went home for the summer. On that last Sunday, Sally Begay and Lori went for a long walk and vowed to be friends forever; they exchanged a card each one had made and both cried on the way home.

The Crown Point Church

The first place that Herb had spoken in sermon to the Navajo adults was at the chapter house at Crown Point. He had a number of truck customers from there and got invited at work one day to come to the chapter house and preach; he accepted. Crown Point was not governed by the 1868 Kit Carson treaty between the Federal government and the Navajo nation that was signed after the long march back from Ft. Sumner and the death camp. Crown Point was in New Mexico territory and on a large section of land called the Checkerboard. It was homestead land, and many Navajo and Apache had homesteaded and now controlled their own land. The interesting part of that: the homesteads had included the oil and mineral rights and Southern Union Gas Company and El Paso Natural Gas Company had drilled a lot of wells in the area and there were a lot of royalties. Now many Navajos were driving new pickups and had a better lifestyle. Here on the Checkerboard there were mission schools, trading posts, and Christian hospitals since they were allowed by the state of New Mexico. However, they still lived in the log hogans and the women still had sheep, grew corn, and wove beautiful rugs.

We visited, drank coffee, and just sat around until over an hour after the announced starting time. Then the translator arrived and we began. Herb knew how to talk with a translator and within a few minutes he was steaming mad. He would talk for less than a minute and the translator would talk for nearly three or more minutes. Herb wondered whose sermon she was preaching. He kept his cool, and afterward as they were all excited about the sermon, he learned that the Navajo speak in didactic parallelisms and climatic parallelisms in the same way the Hebrews wrote their psalms. It was Herb’s sermon, from his Bible, magnified and beautified by a humble Navajo woman that loved the Lord and gave the message great beauty and meaning.

Vernon Hollett had moved the headquarters of his mission group to Crown Point and held services. The Begay family attended and listened to his words.

A Christmas To Remember

Christmas of 1967 was approaching and Sally and Lori were still best buds and exchanged letters regularly. The Aztec Christian Church youth group decided to adopt the Begay family for Christmas and provide gifts and everything for them. They live way out in the hills near Seven Lakes where no drilling had taken place yet. It had been a hard and dry year—not much grew that summer—and they just did not have much money. Lori was ramrod on the program and since she was helping her mother and their Navajo lady care for over twenty kids at the Pinney home, she did not have too much time, but the whole church helped.

The ladies made a lot of pies, cakes and cookies. The church bought a box of groceries at Brother Wood’s grocery store and all the kids and families brought gifts and took a tree and brought decorations to dress up the Begay hogan. Lori and her father went shopping for a special gift: a beautiful doll and a wardrobe for Sally. It had been a very dry December so far. The San Juan Mountains had been covered with snow since October, but the valley at Aztec and the Checkerboard were still dusty and dry.

School was out on Monday and the food and gifts were all ready to take to the Begay hogan near Seven Lakes that next day. Herb and the ladies loaded the station wagon with care and Lori packed her little case. She had talked mama and daddy into letting her stay a few days with Sally and the Begay family. Vernon had been in town and he was going to be coming to Farmington on Christmas Eve and he would bring Lori home. Everyone was excited and happy with the success of the gathering for the Begays.

The trip over the dirt roads of the Checkerboard was driven with care. We had covered all the food with clothes and there was still a lot of dust. We arrived that afternoon and everyone helped unload the wagon. The girls were talking a million words a minute as they set up Christmas. As Herb turned around and headed north back to Aztec, he saw the dark clouds that covered the Northern sky coming out of Colorado. A blue northerner was blowing in. As Herb hurried toward Nageezi to get back on paved road, it began to snow.

The clouds came swirling in from the north more rapidly than Herb had ever seen in New Mexico. As he drove north, he was driving into the storm and the road got worse as he neared home. By dark that night, everything had shut down in town until the snow plows could plow the roads in the morning.

Herb had observed the large stacks of firewood by the Begay hogan and he knew that Lori would be inside, safe and warm. She was also wearing her Christmas coat which was very warm; Herb had given it to her early so she could wear it on her Christmas holiday. The wind was hollowing, the snow was blowing and piling up, and the weather man on the radio was saying this just might be the worst snow storm in northern New Mexico for the fifty years that records had been kept.

By the next morning it had stopped snowing at Aztec, but the storm has stalled out over the Checkerboard and was dumping record amounts of snow, and Herb was busy with the wrecker pulling people out of the ditches and putting chains on cars.

At the Begay hogan the snow had drifted to the top of their dwelling on the north side. Sally’s brother had shoveled the east facing doorway and walkway four times already to keep the entrance open. They all dressed warmly, and Lori joined them; they needed to make sure all the sheep were safe in the close pens that were in a box canyon not too far from the hogan. Lori and Sally were gathering the sheep and making sure they were in the big, strong pen. Several of the sheep had gotten out of the pen and were scattered in the canyon. It was getting dark; it was a good thing Sally’s brother had brought his big electric torch light. It had a brand new battery in it, and it was really bright against the snow banks.

Suddenly, they heard a sheep cry in pain; brother shined his light in the direction of cry. There was a coyote with the sheep in its mouth trying to drag it through the snow. The sheep was crying at the top of its voice and when brother shined his light on the coyote he stood frozen. The eyes of the coyote did not reflect in the light and Tommy Begay shouted, “shindee,” and ran to get his father.

Sally cried out, “That is my favorite sheep; I raised it on a bottle.” She ran to rescue the sheep and Lori was fast behind her.

Lori shouted out as she looked for a big stick or club, “Remember, God helped king David when he was a shepherd; he will help us!” She prayed as she ran.

Sally was fearless; she began to scream and beat the coyote with her fists as Lori caught up and the two girls, too mad to be frightened, screamed and howled in unison so loudly that it echoed off the mountain tops. Lori had broken off a small branch and was using it as a club; the shocked coyote dropped the sheep and ran. No doubt the coyote could have had the two girls for supper, but between the screaming, shouting, hitting, and being beaten with a tree branch, the coyote’s mind was bamboozled and he ran away. In heaven, Jesus smiled and nodded: “I am still on the job.”

Lori and Sally checked the sheep’s hind leg, and Lori tied her hankie around the wound to stop the bleeding as her brother Dale had taught her. Dale was the oldest and a big time Boy Scout who knew everything, or at least thought he did.

The wind was really picking up, blowing the snow, and suddenly there was a cracking noise and a great crash as a Piñon tree fell across the bridge that crossed a steep ravine; the tree and the bridge fell into the small canyon. Lori looked at Sally now, for the first time with fear. It was very dark, snowing hard, and the bridge that crossed the small canyon was gone; their way home was blocked.

Sally had already put the sheep on her shoulders and she just stared into Lori’s eyes. She said, “I don’t know another way home, and the canyon is too steep to try to climb down and back with all this snow. I don’t know what to do.”

Lori looked about. All you could see in the dark was black and snow. She was quietly praying, and was getting scared as well. She asked, “Where does this canyon go as you head up into the hills? Is there a cave or rock overhang that we can find for shelter for the three of us till your family comes to get us?"

Sally thought as she shivered in the cold, thankful for the warm wooly sheep on her shoulders and around her neck. “Not too far around this rock cliff is a hogan that my shamma built many years ago. It is shindee; my auntie died there a few years ago, and we abandoned it and built the hogan where we live now.”

Lori felt a shiver of hope coming over her, “Can you find it in the snow?”

Sally said, “We just follow these rocks coming out of the snow, and when they stop, the hogan will be about twenty feet to the left. We can feel our way to it, but it is shindee!”

Lori stopped for a minute and looked at Sally, “Remember what Daddy said in that first service that you attended with me—‘the God of the shepherd David was stronger that the devil and his shindee’?”

“That is what missionary Vernon says also,” Sally said. “In fact, he showed us that the God in him was more powerful than the devil in the shindee.” Sally giggled for the first time since they heard the sheep cry, “He even proved it by moving into the shindee hogan for a week and nothing happened to him.”

“Great,” Lori said. “Let’s get going.”

The two girls and the still scared sheep carefully made their way through the deep snow to the end of the rocks, then turned left holding on to each other so they wouldn’t get lost in the dark. Suddenly, the snow was deeper and they bumped right into the side of the hogan; they worked their way to the east side and scraped the snow from in front of the door and opened it and nearly fell inside. Sally put the sheep down on the floor; they checked and the squatty barrel stove was still in the center of the hogan. Now if they could find some matches they would build a fire with the old chairs that were still leaning against the walls. The girls were both searching in the dark for a match; it was like seeking a needle in a haystack.

Tommy had ran back to the warm hogan and told the family that the girls had gone running after a sheep and a shindee coyote in the dark. He had come back to get Dad and a gun to protect them. Daddy was not happy with Tommy for leaving the girls, but never mind that now; get warmed up we will go looking for them.

The night winds were blowing even harder now, and the snow was still falling and drifting. Tracks were blowing over and all signs of tracks were gone rapidly in the dark. Even with the electric torch, you could not see more than a few feet in front of you. The men did their best, but when they came to the crushed bridge and the dark ravine, they had to turn back. They returned to the warm hogan and prayed.

Across the canyons and hills of the Checkerboard, Vernon was loading his car again with food and supplies to take out to the hogan of the families that he had been calling on. It was near the end of the month and many families had been caught low on food and had no way to get to the trading posts. Vernon had wrapped up in his warmest clothes and was taking hay and feed for the ice-locked animals near the hogans and food and fuel for the families. He had been on the road day and night for a couple of days now and was heading toward Seven Lakes and the Begay hogan.

Vernon broke snow all the way up the mountain road to the Begay’s and pulled in their yard just as the family came out dressed to go find Sally and Lori. It took a few minutes to explain to Vernon what was going on. Vernon grabbed his walking stick, and joined as the men headed north to the ravine and the crushed bridge. When they got there the ravine was blown nearly full of snow; making a trip down and out impossible. Tommy agreed with the two men: “that is not the way to try to go.” He remembered a few summers ago, “a friend and I had climbed the cliffs to the east of the ravine, and there was a way over the rocks that came out near the shindee hogan that shamma had built years ago. We could search our way back from there.”

Daddy and Vernon agreed that was the best chance they had to find the girls. They slowly made their way up the snow-covered rocks. From there, going on the south side was fairly easy since the snow had blown from the north, and they made it to the top and started to break trail across the ridge of the mountain. It was slow going. Now the snow clouds had blown to the south and the sun was shining so bright off the snow that Tommy and Mr. Begay had to shield their eyes to keep from getting snow blinded. Vernon had a pair of sun glasses that he had been wearing when the glare got too bad, and he could see to break trail and guide the way.

Tommy said, “About another hundred yards and we could be in the steep descent into the plain that the bridge had lead to.”

Vernon looked to the north and told the fellows, “We better hurry; that looks like another northerner coming our way out of Colorado.”

Tommy said as they came to a break in the wall of rock, “Just beyond that outcropping of rock, we should be able to look down onto the plain below. Tommy pushed on ahead; he was still feeling guilty for running off and leaving the girls in the dark chasing the shindee coyote. Then he shouted, “Look, there is smoke coming from the stove pipe in the shindee hogan of shamma’s.” Suddenly he stopped, turning to the two men saying, “Do you suppose the girls are in there? And if they are, will they be okay having taken shelter in a shindee hogan?”

Vernon smiled and tapped him on the shoulder, saying, “I thought I proved to you that the God in us is stronger than Satan and the devil in the shindee.” He smiled and gave a man-like punch to the chest of Tommy Begay, smiling and asking, “When you going to learn, boy?”

It took nearly a half hour to get down to the hogan and open the door and found the girls sitting by the stove putting in the last of the broken up furniture for heat. Sally ran and hugged her daddy and told them all about beating the shindee coyote, finding the hogan, and Lori had found in the dark a book of matches that had been left and “since they had nothing to cut kindling wood, she was not sure how to make a fire.”

Lori took over here. She said, “I really was wishing my brother Dale had been with us; he knows all about animals and making fires. At times he is a smart aleck and I want to strangle him, but he would have known what to do.” She took a breath and then told them, “I just sat down and tried to think like Dale, and I thought that he would look for something everyone would have and that would not need to be cut up. I thought of a broom and I searched in the dark until I found one. It was easy to break up. I made a fire bed. Sally and I jumped up and down on the chairs till we had them all broken to pieces. Soon we had a fire.”

Tommy laughed and said with a twinkle in his voice, “Sis, you always have been good at breaking up the furniture.” Sally stood up and put her hands on her hips and scolded, “That is not the way mother tells it, Brother. Who got punished just last week for breaking that stool?”

“Kids, enough,” Daddy Begay said. “Let’s make trail to get home. It’s Christmas Eve.”

By early afternoon the tired and hungry crew made it back to the hogan. Mama had a big pot of mutton stew in the fire and was making fry bread in a skillet. Lunch was delicious and the big fire in the middle of the hogan was wonderful. Everyone said goodbye to Vernon and Lori. Lori grabbed her bag and the gift that Sally had given her, and they climbed into the car just as it began to snow again. Vernon said, “I had promised to get Lori home to her family by Christmas Eve and I had better get going.”

Sally hugged Lori and said, “This will be a Christmas to remember. Merry Christmas, my sister.” Lori was so choked up with tears of joy she could not speak; she just nodded a Merry Christmas as she climbed into Vernon’s Simca and they headed home.

Vernon was driving as hard on the hard-packed snow as he safely could; the snow was coming down really hard again. Lori had not realized how tired she was. She had stayed awake all night long to keep the fire going so Sally could sleep. She reached over for the reclining lever on the passenger’s seat, laid it back, adjusted her lap belt, and closed her eyes. Vernon had turned on the radio; some Christian music was coming from KOB in Albuquerque. The last thing Lori remembered was “Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright...” Indeed, it was a Christmas to remember.

Epilogue

Before that winter was over, the snows continued until it was a record snow of all time. The Air Force did hay drops to starving cows and sheep. Vernon wore his car out hauling winter feed for animals, food for families, water to hogans with frozen wells, taking some people to the hospital and showing all people the love of Jesus. He wore himself and his car out, but spring finally came. It was time for the spring camp meeting on the Checkerboard; last year they only had a few Indians and Anglos out for the camp meeting. Vernon bought twice as much food for the event thinking he might have twice as many out this year as spring brought its sunshine and flowers. The announcements were sent out and posted everywhere. Vernon got ready and set up camp. Then he was shocked. Coming down every road were pickups, wagons, men on horseback, and men walking to the camp meeting. He had to call for food several times as many men came from everywhere to listen to the man that had gained their respect that winter by fighting the snows with them... and winning. Navajo Christian Churches had taken off like a rocket.

And you all know where Lori has gone and what she is doing. God is being glorified and children are still being taught to sing, “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus.”

A Look Into The Future

Herb Pinney, Agape Christian Church, Las Cruces, New Mexico

One of my jobs as trustee with Spanish American Evangelistic Ministries of Horizon City, TX, this year was to write and distribute the plan of action for SAEM for the next five years. Every supporter of a mission group has a right to know its strategy and plans for the future. That includes how you intend to get there and a continuation plan for staff and management.

The strategy and action plan for New Iberian Mission Association was written down and put into action the year that Lori began grade school. It was the action plan that gave us our incorporated name, The New Iberian Mission Association. We proposed to begin with breaking down the wall against Christianity in the sovereign nations of the Navajo and Apache in the Four Corners area of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, then proceed south over the next two hundred years and win the hearts and minds of the people in the sixteenth century Iberian Empire of the United States, Mexico, Central America, and South America, to King Jesus. This was to be a plan that would go on long after Lori and I have gone to be with the Lord. Without a question, Morning Glory primary, secondary, and the coming Christian adult trade school that will include a Bible college are the heart of the next 150 years of progress. This futuristic plan was never designed to be built around a super hero, but many servants.

It is not uncommon when there is sickness in key positions of an operation for folks that are not in on the day-to-day process to begin to worry, “What would happen in case of a death?” A great amount of Lori’s and my work in progress is the training of the next generation of leaders for every aspect of our strategy and plans for the future. Believe me, the million dollar campus in Guatemala is the heart and center for the future expansion. Also, our cooperation with groups such as SAEM, Casas por Cristo, our Christian colleges, and other church groups are central to our planning to be here and going ‘til the Lord comes. You can bank on it.