Go, Cat, Go

Life is a trip. God has put me on the road to service in the Navajo Nation. To see how the whole story began click here. Country music great, Carl Perkins, first wrote and recorded "Blue Suede Shoes" in 1956. The opening line reads, "Well, it's one for the money... Two for the show... Three to get ready... Now go, cat, go. For a couple of months now, I've thought that I would never get to the "go, cat, go" stage of my Navajo mission trip. Now, with just over two weeks to go, I'm working hard on the "Three to get ready" step. I've been making lists and checking them twice. I've already packed a couple of boxes of books (no TV for me!) and started using the guest bedroom as a staging area. The summer months alone would not be too hard to pack for, but since I fully expect not to come home until at least Thanksgiving, I have to prepare for cold weather as well. Every time I think I have it all together, someone (usually my Sara) asks me if I've thought of something I haven't even considered. I've erased my lists so many times, they are beginning to feel like Kleenex. A couple of out-of-the-ordinary things have happened to / for me and I want to share them with you. Farmington, New Mexico is a town of less than 20 thousand. It is the largest town near Shiprock and is located about 30 miles to the east. As continuing proof that God works in mysterious ways, I've already made a friend in Farmington. About a month ago, I was on Facebook hoping to find a friend and fellow church member. I didn't find her, but I did find someone with the same name who was listed as living in Farmington. I emailed her, told her a bit about who I am and what I am going to be doing, and asked if she minded being asked some serious and some not-so-serious questions. We've exchanged several emails since that time. She teaches gifted children and, I suspect, that she thinks I wouldn't qualify for her classes. However, she has been very upfront about answering anything I thought to ask. For example, I now know that her classes are about 1/3 Navajo, 1/3 Anglo, and 1/3 Latino. This poses some interesting teaching problems for her and, in the larger arena, poses some political problems for the area. She does not speak Navajo although she has taken classes. She says, "Navajo is incredibly difficult and almost impossible to learn. The sounds used in the language are very different from sounds used in English. The structure of the language is extremely complex. Words build not only at the beginning and the end (prefixes and suffixes), but also in the middle. The language doesn't include articles (a, an, the) or plurals or verb tenses (those are figured out in context.) Also, Navajo is a very visual language and many nouns are actually descriptive phrases and quite long." The country is wide open and she tells me that people out there approach distance very differently from what we would do. "We'll go to Albuquerque and back (360 miles round trip) in the same day to attend meetings, go to a medical specialist, pick up parts, etc. So the 30 miles from Shiprock to Farmington is considered to be in the same neighborhood." Just in case any of you have the idea that I'll be totally isolated, she's set my mind at ease. At least in Farmington, I'm not sure of Shiprock, there are independent pizza parlors, Chinese restaurants, movie theaters, and legitimate theater and symphony. The high schools have active athletic programs and Farmington even has a semi-pro football team. There are two Walmarts in Farmington, but none in Shiprock. The best news that she was able to share with me is that both grits and Jif peanut butter are available without me having to drive much more than 60 miles round trip! I really look forward to meeting Susan and her husband. The great thing that has happened for me is the results of the silent auction held as a part of this year's mission fair. The financial results were great enough to pay for another month of my stay in the Navajo Nation. I had great help in setting up the auction and in monitoring it as the time passed. I hesitate to try to name all of those who so kindly donated items to be sold. I'm afraid that I might miss someone and I really wouldn't want that to happen. As I write this, I'm not sure how the powers-that-be at Maple Springs feel about me touting the businesses who so kindly donated to a person that they didn't know, at a church they didn't attend, for a missions project they didn't know much about, but I'm going to try to let you know who they are so you can support their businesses. We had 40+ items and sold all but one of them. I'll be writing thank you notes to the majority of the donors, trying to express just how much their support meant to me. I guess that's it for now. Love and Peace Ross