TKA Navajo Nation Service Trip 2024

Today we said goodbye to the people of Tse Ee Gai Church and Experience Mission and headed home! We took a few group photos and huddled together one last time to pray as one body. Thank you for all your prayers this week, and for following along with our journey. Please check out our Photo Album , and we hope you have a restful and happy Easter! He is risen!

Today was the final day of service–tomorrow our team will be traveling home to California. Please pray for safe travels as well as a continued reflection in each of our hearts on the purpose of service and living in community with one another.  Enjoy these reflections by students Reagan and Benjamin! Reagan: Today was the last day of work on the Navajo service trip. Well actually Diné (pronounced di-nay) service trip because that is their preferred name. The name Navajo was actually put on them by the Spaniards that took over this area, and they are all trying to change their name back to their ancestral name. The people of this area are some of the kindest most open people groups I have ever met. They welcomed my group with open arms, happy to teach us about their lives as well as hear about ours. I learned so much from this trip. From odd job type stuff, like how to drill-up drywall and how to mud and tape ceilings, to important principles of our faith. Today my team of dry-walle...

Kristen: Today we played Minecraft in real life!⛏🧱 We dug up the dirt and rock with wooden pick axes and shovels in the trenches, and some of us even got to use a jackhammer! 👷🏻‍♀️We also started a new project of building bunk beds 🛏 for staff and future service groups. 💛 Theo: Something I learned this week was how to cut wood. 🪵 Our group was split with one part of the group digging and the other cutting wood. As a group, we learned how to work together to achieve a similar goal. 👏🏾 Something memorable we did was tar a roof with Mr. Atwell for the pastor’s house. 🏠 For the diggers, the jackhammer 🔨was brought out to remove a big rock 🪨, which was pretty cool. 😎 Kristen: Work ended early at 2pm today so that we could go see the Navajo National Monument   🏞, which was very cool because some of us even received a junior ranger badge.🎖 The jelly and meat sticks were definitely a highlight of the gift shop. 🤤 Navajo National Monument: Ancestral Puebloan Cliff Dwellings ...

It's snowing!!! Kayden: On Tuesday, it started snowing and we worked on Pastor Jr’s house and were planning to resupport and tar his trailer roof. Instead, [because of the snow] he changed the plan, and so since we had nothing to do, we worked on packing food in the food bank and digging the trench.  Just keep digging, digging, digging... Throughout the day, the temperature got hotter and the snow started melting, causing the dirt to be muddy, and got all of our shoes and gloves dirty. Marvelous Moppers keeping it clean in here (Thank you! Ahéhee'!) Pantry Packing Partners 💪🏼 That's a loooot of boxes! 📦 [In the meantime, there were also some unfortunate shenanigans from our feline friends, so we had to make some new rules...] KITTIES: KEEP OUT [But we also made a new friend!] "The friendliest dog in the church"  -Peyton Near the end of the day, we had a church service with Pastor Jr. During the service, some people got to share a personal story where God helped...

I woke up at 7 this morning to have breakfast at 7:30. It was a combination of cereal, eggs, and bagels. After this we went over a brief devotional given by Mr. Hardy.  Around 8:30, we returned to the dining room and listened to an orientation given by the host. They went over some of the things we needed to watch out for and some tips. Not long after the head pastor J.R. talked about his culture, upbringing, and how he got his name.  Afterwards we broke up into different groups and went to our different places to serve. I went to dig a trench for a warehouse, using shovels and pick-axes. We broke for lunch which was at 12:30. Not long after we finished the day off at 3, working to dig our trench to 30in deep! We did not finish but then we went inside to get ready for dinner. --Caleb Another part of the team doing indoor construction! Mr. Hardy, Maya, and Sammie leading worship