Jesus ayoo'asho'ni, Binaaltsoos yee shil halne', Alchiniigi anisht'e, Doo sidziil da, Ei bidziil.
      Jesus ayoo'asho'ni, Jesus ayoo'asho'ni, Jesus ayoo'asho'ni, Bizaad yee shi halne'.

The above text is the first verse and chorus of the very familiar song "Jesus Loves Me " in the
language of the Navajo people. June 17, 2007 thirty-four of us tried to learn the song in Navajo as we worshipped with our brothers and sisters of the Hogback church of Christ. That worship capped off two days work by twenty-three teens and thirteen adults on the facilities owned by the church. For thirty-four of us, this was our first experience with the Navajo Christians.

I know you are proud of our teens already but this trip gives you even more reason to appreciate the quality of our youth. They got up at 6:00 a.m. each morning and worked until 7:00 p.m. each evening. The church building, unfortunately, is not located in a shady area and temperatures flirted with the century mark while we were there. Our adults worked equally hard on the projects as well as providing supervision, advice, encouragement and three square meals a day. In those two days our group was able to:
 

1) Paint the exterior of the Hogback church building, a separate kitchen facility and a bath house.

 

2) Lay tile in the front room, restroom and hallway of the trailer used for the church offices, classes and fellowship meals.

                                        
3) Rebuild the steps to the north door of the church building and the entrance to the church
office trailer.

  
4) Build a new door to enclose the water heater for the office trailer.

We were able to have some recreation while we were there. The Hogback Ridge rises almost 1,000 feet on the west side of the church building and early Saturday morning a good number of our group hiked to the top.

From there you can see for miles and miles in any direction. There was usually a touch football game played in the late evening as well as a few Frisbees thrown. We also had evening devotionals before bedtime to end our day on a spiritual note.
 

   
The memories our teens will have of this trip should serve them well. They now know they can work for the Lord and make a difference in people's lives by something as simple as working a paint brush.

   Hogback Christian    Time for fellowship, rest and a game of "Signs"    Herb and Nita

All thirty-six of us grew closer to one another because of our shared experience. There is still much that needs doing there and. Lord willing, maybe next summer will see us return to Hogback to address those needs.

         Kevin preaches at Hogback                                               John leads the singing
                          
                   Daylon, Alex and Michael lead the congregation in the Lord's Supper

Our teen participants were: Alex, Kaurie, Keely, Kelsey, Will, Lawrence, Kimberly, Patrick, Michael, Taryn, Robert, Ryan, Jason, Jennifer, Daniel, Alan, April, Kim, Daylon, Kaytlon, Ben, Maria and Nathan.

Our adult participants were: Herb and Nita, Kevin, Teri, Troy, Don, Sherry, Eldon and Marcille, John and Yumiko, Michelle, and Tim.

Thanks to all who participated in this ministry effort and to all who supported us with your prayers and encouragement.

Written by Kevin Ballard
Photos by Tim Sharp, Sherry Pelache and Troy Folger