The Gift I received from being part of the Navajo Mission 2013

I have been privileged to see God glorified and magnified by the events of the past 5 days.  Throughout our visit, the BABR staff witnessed as to how the LORD led them to serve at BABR and why they were committed to do so for as long as He called them too.  Their joy and enthusiasm was contagious and we had deep respect for their role in serving Him.

          Our team also, through prayer and commitment to serving God, worked in beautiful concert together to serve and make the Retreat a wonderful experience for all involved.  This was made possible by God’s grace and was lovely to witness.  As leader, I never heard a cross word or complaint from anyone!  All problem solving was done gracefully and solutions were quickly reached as our primary intent was to serve the Navajo women by serving God first!  Wow!  What a blessing to be part of the trouble shooting and to feel the Holy Spirit’s guiding hand!

          The Navajo women were so delighted and happy to come to the Retreat to fellowship, worship and learn about God’s teachings!  Their joy was evident on their sweet faces and they were very gracious with all the team.  Many new friendships were formed between the women and the team. As leader, I felt very privileged to witness our team bonding with the women.

          In reflection of all these events, the Holy Spirit taught me how all this fit together as the body of Christ in action to glorify and magnify the LORD.  Vertical action represents glorifying the LORD and horizontal action represents magnification of the LORD.

          The BABR staff, because of their commitment and dedication to the LORD, formed the foundation to make the Retreat possible.  They committed their energy and attention to doing the LORD’s will (vertical action) and the result was BABR and the women’s Retreat (horizontal action).  Our team, because of their desire to serve the LORD and their commitment to prayer (vertical action) were able to come together and learn to work as a team dedicated to gracefully serve the Navajo women and to show them the LORD’s love and generosity (horizontal action).

          The Navajo women, many who are pastors’ wives, Bible teachers and first timers,  came to the Retreat because they love God and desire to worship Him above all (vertical action).  They experienced love from the staff and from the team and immensely enjoyed the fellowship of their old friends, new friends and the creative crafts and hilarious games that were played!  Laughter and singing abounded! All of this was the horizontal action of magnifying the LORD. 

          But wait!  This isn’t the end of God’s plan or the end of how the body of Christ is working!  The glorification of God and the magnification of His love becomes an ever ending ripple effect as each person shares their story about God touching their lives in some way because of the Retreat.  The staff was encouraged and greatly pleased at how smoothly the Retreat went and how God was present and will continue on, fortified, to share the Gospel and have other God centered events at BABR.  Our team was amazed and overjoyed with God’s power and Presence in all aspects of the Retreat and are enthusiastic about continuing to serve Him however He chooses.  And the Navajo women will share their stories about how they were filled up with His Grace and how they were encouraged by Leslie’s teachings on how to soar through their problems on the updrafts of God’s endless love.  And personally, as leader , I am renewed and am rededicating my life to serving Him, the King of Kings, LORD of LORDs, ruler of heaven and earth.  I look forward to my next mission and next adventure in serving our God!

 

Linda Martin - Team Co-leader

Mission Set-up Photos

Dining Room set up and waiting for our Navajo friends
 

Craft projects ready to go!

Gift tables

Registration tables

Kitchen Crew

Kitchen Crew

Team takes a coffee break

A Meaningful Experience

It is just about time to depart. The final details of packing and deciding if I should take up the space in my luggage for a blow dryer.... are looming over me. More than that I am starting to feel a bit sad to be away from my family and especially my husband. Yet, I am reminded of that strong tugging I felt on my heart the Sunday morning I first read of this trip in the church bulletin. I began to love the Navajo women as I worshipped that morning.

I am anxious for Friday when I will finally be able to begin to serve the ladies for whom I have been praying for months.

For me involvement with this mission trip is all about making connections with God's people. I have been abundantly blessed as I have enjoyed Lillian's humor and our common teaching background, Lisa's sweet sharing in my love for the pioneer lifestyle, Linda Swinscoe's tender care and concern for my daughter's health concerns as she has been through so much more with her own daughter, the opportunity to serve along side my sister-in-law Karlene, Barbara and Linda Martin's loving leadership of our team.... and it goes on and on.

I especially grew to care for each team member as we shared our testimonies, laughed together playing games, and worked side-by-side in our preparations. It is truly wonderful to realize each of our unique backgrounds and the beautiful way God has woven us together into one team like an intricate quilt made from many different fabrics. I am thankful for each woman on this team and cannot wait to meet the Navajo women where I hope to create new connections.

I am already starting to think about the next opportunity for this trip!


Laurie Campbell

Team Portraits

 

 

 

Super Supporting Men Teammates

Photo Essay



Team Meeting



Karlene and Kathy Orr



Mavany and Barbara




Craft Team hard at work



Leslie and Linda preparing crafts



Gifts Committee hard at work
 




Generously donated gifts



Packing Mission Supplies

The adventure begins!

Out of my Comfort Zone

When I was asked to be a co-leader for the Navajo mission two things happened; I felt honored to asked – then the fear set in. Being an introverted, shy woman who lacks self confidence, clearly the enemy of our souls saw an opportunity for attack…once again.  What if I fail?  What if I mess up?  What if…and what if…?

 

My first challenge was to come up with a budget…oh my gosh! I have to calculate mileage, gas and meal prices, airline costs. This is one of the reasons I retired from the financial industry…figures, formulas…ugh! So many questions for dear Mary who has always faced this budget…thanks for your patience with me.

 

I prayed for perseverance and God delivered me. Each step of the way, each struggle, each fear, God was/is with me. He encourages me daily and has shown me I don’t need to have confidence in ‘me’, I need have confidence in God in all things, big, small, all. He is the lover of my soul, He is the friend of my soul.

 

I prayed to The Lord, and He answered me, freeing me from all my fears. Psalm 34:4

I am ready, willing and able to serve the Navajo women along with our team. May God be honored.

Barbara Pillsbury

Mission Schedule

There is so much to look forward to!  I have been anxiously waiting for this next week to get here.  We have such a great team that God has assembled, each with our own unique gifts and ministry. What a wonderful time in the Lord we are all going to experience.

Karlene and Linda

 

We are leaving 5:00 a.m. (yes a.m.!)  Wednesday morning for the airport.  After landing in Albuquerque we will rent a van and drive 2 hours to Broken Arrow Bible Ranch.  The rest of Wednesday we will meet with the ranch staff for orientation and set up our activities.  Thursday we have been given the day to get acclimated to the high elevation (7500). We will visit the historic Hubbel Trading Post and then drive around the rim of Canyon De Chelly.

Friday begins early as we setup for the arrival of the Navajo Women.  The retreat begins with registration at 1:00.  At 6:00 p.m. we will serve dinner.  7:00 p.m. starts our worship time and then Leslie will speak about “Trusting God.”   At 9:00 p.m. the craft session begins. The Navajo will be making frames out of scrapbook materials and paper printed with scriptures.  

Saturday begins with our serving breakfast at 8:00 a.m. followed by worship at 8:45.  Leslie will be speaking about the “Character of God and His Strength.”  10:45-12:30 is the second craft session when the women will make mason jar pin cushions.  At 1:30 is worship that will lead into Leslie’s teaching on “God is Able!”  The retreat will close with more worship, testimonies, and with a special prayer time.

 

Sunday we will have a debriefing after breakfast and then begin our journey home.

Karlene Campbell

My First Mission

I had to pray a lot about going on this mission trip because I knew it would completely take me out of my comfort zone.  I had been praying about being able to do some kind of kingdom work for the Lord, but I never expected this.  As I met with our team members and saw the excitement of those who have been on this mission before, I knew this would be such a blessing to everyone involved.  As my husband Zack saw the excitement grow, he decided to join the other three men on our team.  I am excited to share this opportunity with him since neither of us has been on a mission before.  We are looking forward to being able to show God’s love to these women.

Linda and Sandra

For months our team has been blessed in receiving many generous gift donations and now we have enough to give at least one gift to each Navajo woman attending this conference.  On Friday, April 12^th many of our team members gathered at Sandra Lee’s house to sort and wrap all the gifts.  I was amazed at the abundance of wonderful items we’ll be able to present to these Navajo women.  It was a wonderful time of fellowship and fun getting to know the personalities of our team members a little better.  

 

Linda Swinscoe

  

"Above the Storm" Teaching Theme

 

Leslie, Linda, Barbara

I am blessed to be teaching the women and am really excited to see what God will do with what I have prepared.  I will be teaching three times, each on the theme of Soaring Through the Storms of Life.  The illustration for the entire weekend is this:  When storms come, most living creatures run for shelter.  But the eagle flies into the storm, catches the unique updrafts of the storm, and soars.   We will be looking at 4 Bible characters and the updrafts of their storms.   Joseph, who caught the updraft of God's sovereign plan; Job, who caught the updraft of God's character; Paul (in the verse about his thorn), who caught the updraft of God's resources; and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who caught the updraft of God's presence.  My prayer is that the women will leave empowered by the fact that whatever storms they are facing in their lives, God will give them updrafts so they can soar.  The final statement of the retreat is, "My God is able to (fill in the blank with your need)!  But even if He does not, I will dance in the fire with Him!"

 Satan has been busy with attacks.  Please pray for the women who attend; for protection for the team as we travel; that we as a team would reflect God; and that, most importantly, lives would be changed (ours and their's) and God would be glorified.

 

Leslie Campos

 

On Eagle Winds

Thank you for the blessing of your continued prayers for our team and for the Navajo women. May we offer our prayers back to you in thanksgiving for your faithful partnership of our mission. For the Navajo women, also for you;
 

On Eagle Wings

 When threatening clouds

hover, do not fold up your

wings and run for cover.

Like the Eagle, spread your

wings and soar above life’s

troubles. For the Eagle

knows, the higher he flies the

brighter the skies become.

There is nothing in life the

Creator ever asks us to bear

that we cannot soar above on

wings of prayers.

 Barbara Pillsbury for the Team

April is here! The Excitement Builds!

Throughout our team meetings as we prepare to serve the Navajo women, we have shared our testimonies with each other and our fears, our shortcomings, and our personal  prayer requests. I came across this excerpt from a previous devotion and it spoke to not only our group but any follower of Christ in regards to service and ministry:

 
If you're not involved in any service or ministry, what excuse have you been using? 

 

Abraham was old; Jacob was insecure; Leah was unattractive; Joseph was abused; Moses stuttered.

Gideon was poor; Samson was codependent; Rahab was immoral; David had an affair and all kinds of family problems. Elijah was suicidal; Jeremiah was depressed; Jonah was reluctant; Naomi was a widow. 

John the Baptist was eccentric to say the least; Peter was impulsive and hot-tempered; Martha worried a lot. The Samaritan woman had several failed marriages; Zacchaeus was unpopular; Thomas had doubts; Paul had poor health; and Timothy was timid. 

That is quite a variety of misfits, but God used each of them in his service. He will use you, too, if you stop making excuses.

We continue to uplift each other in prayer and thank our Lord for the opportunity to make new friends in Christ, deepening our commitment to Him as we commit to each other in service and ministry. 

April is here! The excitement builds!

 

Mavany for the Team