Hopi VIM 2015: The Adventure Begins

Seventeen souls strong, representing six different UMC churches of the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference, the Hopi Volunteers In Mission team of 2015 arrived safely in Phoenix on Thursday.  To say we received a "warm" welcome is a bit of an understatement... it was already over 90 degrees at 9:00 in the morning when we arrived and reached a high of 107 before the day was over.  We've been told this is unusual even for Phoenix (??) and this entire area of the southwest is having a heat wave!

 

We didn't waste any time lingering in the Basin however but quickly collected our rental cars and headed for higher altitudes and hopefully cooler temperatures.  Our first stop was Camp Verde, about halfway to Flagstaff where we met for lunch with one of our Hopi friends, Gerry and his mother, Frances.  Gerry is a katsina carver and artisan who lives in the area who has been friends with Reinette for a number of years.  They met in Washington, DC at the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian and have kept in touch ever since but the rest of us were meeting him for the first time. 

 

After lunch, Gerry guided us to Montezuma's Well, a large, unique natural spring, situated in a limestone sink hole that was used by the ancient Sinagua and Hohokam peoples to irrigate their crops in years past.  It's continuously fed by waters flowing through the porous rock strata from the higher elevations of the Mogollon Rim.  Because the water flows through limestone, the Well waters are actually carbonated and support only 5 forms of life, including a type of shrimp-like creature and a water scorpion, but no fish. 

 

On our way back to the hotel, we visited Gerry's studio shop where he showed us some of his beautiful carvings and talked about his various projects, including a commissioned carving of a huge twisted and gnarled cottonwood root.  Frances is an extremely talented painter and the sister of one of our other friends who owns a gift shop on Second Mesa.

 

Our adventures began before we even left home when we received word last week that the restaurant we planned to eat dinner at that evening had been run into by a car!  Fortunately the young driver was not seriously injured but the restaurant was damaged to the point where it could not open for business.  After a few emergency calls, Kathy, the owner offered to prepare the food and deliver it to the hotel and the hotel graciously offered us the use of one of their conference rooms in which to gather and eat.  Gerry and his wife, Debbie joined us and we enjoyed a wonderful time of fellowship and gratitude for the safe travels, the great food and great friends.

 

Most everyone enjoyed a night of welcome and restful sleep but we woke this morning to find out that 3 members of the team have caught some sort of stomach bug and were up most of the night.  We lingered at the hotel a bit longer this morning and after a team meeting decided to split the team.  The 3 sick members stayed back at the hotel and eventually made their way directly to Flagstaff on their own in one of the cars.  The rest of the team continued on as planned, visiting Montezuma's Castle, an ancient Sinaguan cliff dwelling, then stopping for lunch in Sedona.  But due to the late start, we had to skip a few other planned stops along the way and went straight to Flag to reunite the team at the hotel. 

After a visit to downtown Flagstaff to taste a bit of the music and arts festival going on this weekend, the arrival of an evening thunderstorm curtailed any further sightseeing and sent us back to the hotel.  I only hope that some of this beautiful rainfall is also reaching Hopi where it is truly needed.

 

There is a good reason why Gumby has become Hopi VIM's unofficial mascot, last year's challenges in air travel being only one example.  And although we have only just begun our adventure this year, we are already being constantly reminded of our need to remain flexible and open to whatever comes our way.  We're praying for our sick team mates and for God's healing and grace but rest easy tonight, confident that the strength of the Holy Spirit will lift us all and see us through whatever new adventures and challenges await us in the week ahead.