Hopi VIM Vacation Bible School has been an unqualified success. After a slow start on Monday with kids trickling in throughout the morning, we ended up with 19 youth covering a wide range of ages. The Hopi Mission School has allowed us the use of their school bus and bus driver, Dave and he picks up kids at scheduled stops all along the highway from First Mesa to Third Mesa then drops them off again afterward. Tuesday welcomed about 21 youth, not all of them the same as the day before, as the lesson focused around "God Loves Plants".
The wide variety of ages has been a bit challenging to work with as the older kids tend to finish the various activities ahead of the younger ones. It is also sometimes difficult to keep youthful enthusiasm in check but the day's snack project, "Worms in Dirt" (Gummy worms in chocolate pudding cups with crushed Oreo cookie "dirt") was a great hit with everyone. The music lesson using "Boom Whackers" was also popular. However, some misadventures in crafting led the team to convene that evening to regroup and brainstorm on alternative craft ideas using the supplies at hand. You can tell exhaustion is setting in and folks are starting to "hit the wall" though... the brainstorming session quickly dissolved into something of a collective giggle fit. Hilarity ensued and Norm & Bill, the only men on the team this year quickly made themselves scarce in order to escape the hysterical laughter coming from the common room.
While most of the team were wrangling gummy worms and dealing with google eyes and pom pom noses unexpectedly falling off paper bag hand puppets, Norm and I resumed our painting accompanied by 2 of the school's resident "Rez dogs", Piki and Duma. They have both grown considerably over the last couple of years but are gentle souls, content to sit in the shade and watch us work. The meadowlark is also still keeping us company, mainly because we have been painting under the tree where she's nesting and caring for her babies.
After lunch, while the other half of the team went on their afternoon tour of the Mesas with our friends Becca and Merle, the rest of us drove out to Hopi public radio station KUYI to volunteer there for a few hours. While listening to the radio station in the car on the way there, we were surprised to hear our friend Thomas interviewing 3 ladies from Japan! One of the ladies, Aya-san, owns a new art gallery in Tokyo called "Sun and Rain" and she and a coworker came to Hopi looking to connect with various Hopi artisans with the hopes of showcasing and selling their work and introducing Hopi to the Japanese people.
We arrived after the interview concluded but while the ladies were still at KUYI getting last minute pictures and saying final goodbyes. I got to practice my very limited and rusty Japanese as I offered to take their picture with Richard and Thomas and we chatted for a few minutes through their translator and exchanged email and Facebook information. After that, Richard and Thomas put us to work, cataloging, labeling, and filing music CDs in their extensive and rather eclectic music library. It is always a pleasure to go out to the station, visit with everyone and do a little light work. KUYI may seem an odd choice for a mission project but they perform an invaluable service to all of Hopiland and a good portion of the Navajo Nation (Din'eh) as well and helping out for a few hours here and there while we're here is our way of serving all of Hopi albeit indirectly.
On Wednesday, VBS hosted 29 youth. Word is getting around and more kids trickle in every day. We had a good laugh right off the bat this morning when Dion, the school's maintenance and facilities manager, admitted that he'd gotten our VBS theme song, "God's Amazing Love" stuck in his head thanks to the music CDs Jill sent home with the kids the first day. His kids have been playing it constantly and he even caught himself singing it in the shower this morning!
The craft malfunctions from yesterday have led the team to regroup and the intended painted rainbow wind chimes simply became hanging painted rainbows. Likewise, the intended craft/snack of decorating star shaped sugar cookies (for "God Loves Earth & Sky") became stars and "moons" when half of the star shaped cookies ended up as round sugar blobs in the baking process. We flat landers forget to follow the high altitude baking instructions when we come up here!
My good friend Leon stopped by and had lunch with us after VBS wrapped up for the day. Leon and I met on Hopi VIM's 3rd trip out when he was overseeing the HMS computer lab at the time. A severe thunderstorm had knocked out the school's entire network a week before our arrival and this computer geek found herself serving in mission by spending the entire week in the lab with Leon, working to get things back up before the new school year started again.
No trip to Hopi is complete without a little shopping so after lunch we hit the highway and took the opportunity to visit the Hopi artists at the Hopi Cultural Center and one of our favorite shops, Tsakurshovi, better known as the "Don't Worry, Be Hopi" shop. Then it was onto the Hopi Health Care Center for a tour by our friend and HHCC Volunteer Program Coordinator, Lisa.
The 14 year old HHCC is a thoroughly modern and incredibly beautiful facility serving Hopi for primary medical care and emergency services as well as hosting a variety of other beneficial social services. The architecture of the building and almost every element within has been carefully considered, designed and constructed to be as welcoming and comforting as possible for the people it serves. From the native stone walls, to the sweeping, sunlit interior, this hospital is a work of art as well as state of the art yet still remains respectful of traditional Hopi medicine practices while at the same time supplying much needed western medicine services. Lisa is an excellent tour guide and although I have been on the tour several times, I learn something new every time.
Later that evening Lisa, her husband Troy and their eldest daughter, Lauryn joined us for dinner at our home away from home. We had a great evening of fun, laughter and exchanging stories and it will be a night we will all treasure and remember for years to come.
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