ary, spends many days going house to house on the reservation, bringing donated clothes, helping with chores and serving in other ways. If there is a need, she fi nds a way to fulfi ll it. It’s her way of loving her community.
“I like to help because that builds relationships,” Rose says. “You get to know people and then one day, they’ll be open when you talk about the Lord.” Rose compares the process to weaving the Navajo blankets she sells to make her living (MSC mission- aries raise their own support). “It’s hard work and it takes a long time, but in the end something beautiful is created.
“When I got saved, I wanted to tell anybody
about the Lord,” Rose says. “How He is real in my life. God opened my eyes and gave me a burden for the Navajo people.”
Rose is familiar with the diffi culty and desperation of reservation life. She lost her mother to complica- tions during the birth of her baby sister. Rose was only 13. Following her mother’s death, her father’s alcoholism became more than Rose could take. On February 4, 1964, she and a younger sister set out on foot, with only the clothes they were wearing, to go live with an aunt.
They had no way of letting their aunt know they were coming. On the way, the girls were caught in a blizzard. Rose’s sister died from exposure, but Rose made it through and during her recovery gave her life to Christ.
“Two missionaries came to visit me in the hospi- tal,” Rose says. “They said I needed to accept Christ. I wasn’t sure exactly what that meant, but I knew God protected me during the storm. I remembered seeing the words to Acts 16:31 when I was uncon- scious. So I prayed, ‘Lord, I will open my heart to you. My relatives have traditional Navajo beliefs, but I will follow you no matter what. I believe and I will trust you.’”
Many years later, Rose is still on the reservation, pointing her people toward Christ. At Tinian Baptist Church, she leads a weekly class for Navajo women and teenage girls. One of the many ways she shares Christ is by teaching them to speak and read in their native language. “I want them to read their own Bible in Navajo,” she says.
She also teaches them about their customs. But most of all she teaches them about her faith in Jesus Christ. The Navajo often believe they will have to leave behind their cultural identity to follow Christ. “I love to explain to young people that our culture and traditions are two different things,” Rose says. “You may have to give up some of the traditional practices to become a Christian, but you will always be Navajo. God created us as a tribe with a unique language, arts, food and clothing, and He doesn’t ask us to give that up.” OM
Jami Becher is editorial assistant of On Mission. ACTION ITEM:
To fi nd out more about Rose’s ministry and see a video of her amazing testimony visit
onmission.com.
ON MISSION • Fall 2010 35
PHOTOS BY NICK LAYMAN/GENESIS PHOTOS
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52