"God please don’t put me down in a community where everyone is just like me," I prayed when we returned to the States after 13 years as missionaries in Tanzania. God answered that prayer in a way that I could never have dreamed. He put us on the Navajo Reservation just outside Window Rock, Ariz.

We have been here for more than 6 years and we are continuing to learn how to minister according to God’s plan for us. We are "tentmaker" missionaries. My husband, Ed, has a full time job as a medivac pilot for a company that serves the Navajo Nation while I have been a home schooling mom and recently finished a Master’s degree. But God has brought ministry to us to fill our lives with service to our community and joy overflowing as a result.

For more than a year, we had church in our home with up to 30 people at a time, many of them children, crowding into our small house. Each bedroom hosted a Sabbath School class and weekly potluck, filling the house with happy chaos. We have also been involved with teaching nutrition and health, and had the joy of seeing lives improved by the knowledge of how to eat and live more healthfully.

During our weekly Sabbath outings into the mountains, we have ministered to youth from troubled homes, letting them know they are loved and giving them a chance to be a part of a positive family situation. For 3 years we have been involved with Social Services and the foster care system, sharing our home with children who need a family.

Ministry here is often not typical in form. Though we have Bible studies, prayer groups and health education, often we find that showing love in the little things of life are really the most important means of out reach. Like giving someone a ride when they have no vehicle, helping meet family emergencies, lending a listening ear when a neighbor is hurting and broken, an having an open door when a stranger in need happens by.

I won’t pretend that there haven’t been times that we have been overwhelmed and burned out, but truly we have gained so much in our ministry. When ministry seemed overwhelming, we went to our knees and to God’s Word for comfort and unfailingly, God spoke courage, hope and comfort to us.

Our children have been actively involved with ministry at every step and have learned the joy of sharing their growing relationship with the Lord with others. There is no joy I have ever experienced as a parent like watching our children develop into dynamic Christians. Our son, Eddie, now away at college, has been involved with various members of the community in friendship evangelism. He also worked with our wood ministry because many families heat their homes with wood in the winter and there are times when seniors or single moms need extra help with their wood supply. This requires cutting wood in the mountains during warm, dry months, splitting it and delivering it to the family in need. He is planning a year overseas as a student missionary next year. Megan, our daughter, has played the piano for church for several years, co-leads, with another Christian friend, a Bible study for teen girls and is a very active part of the ministry team.

Every day I praise God for the beautiful location of our home, with mountains and canyons just steps outside our door. We have hiked, ridden horses and reveled in the beauty and quiet of our surroundings.

People often think of Native Americans as having hearts that are not easily touched by the Gospel, the hard pathway and stony ground of Jesus’ parable of the sower, and that may be true in many instances. But we are called to break up the hard ground and remove the stones so that the seeds of God’s love will produce a harvest. Often the only way to "prepare the soil" is by showing God’s unconditional love and acceptance that will continue to love even if there is no visible evidence of change. "Christ’s method alone will give true success in reaching the people. The Savior mingled with men as one who desired their good. He showed His sympathy for them, ministered to their needs and won their confidence. Then He bade them, ‘Follow Me.’" MH 143

Are you willing to step into the mission field without ever leaving the U.S.? The needs are huge and the possibilities for ministry wide open. Indian Health Services and the public school system always have openings for qualified personnel. Could God be calling you to service among Native Peoples?

*Many families heat their homes with wood in the winter and there are times when seniors or single moms need extra help with their wood supply. This requires cutting wood in the mountains during warm, dry months, splitting it and delivering it to the family in need.