Ya-Tah-Hey!

Ya-Tah-Hey. (that’s “hi” in Navajo)

The past three days have been amazingly super.

Starting with Saturday: We woke up super early, at about 4 a.m., then we were on our way to the reservation.

One of our first stops was the White Sands. Just picture giant beautiful piles of sand as far as the eye can see. And on top of that, the sky was fantastically gorgeous. It almost looked like a painting, or something you would see in a magazine. One word: unreal. I’m pretty sure that I can speak for all of us and say that we were all in complete awe with God’s wonderful creation. He’s so awesome, it’s pretty ridiculous.

We kept on our way to the reservation, and eventually, we finally of there at around 6 in the evening (which is 9 in the evening Georgia time, by the way). Honestly, I didn’t really know what to expect. But after meeting some of the people here, I love it. Pastor Bill has an interesting sense of humor, and he seems pretty comfortable and cool with the locals on the reservation. He told us about the Navajo culture and

sort of what to expect. I can tell that he cares for the people here so much. I also met a girl named Karrisa. Shes super cool. She seems to be really comfortable with our youth group, which is good. J

Then there’s Sunday: Church was really different then what I’m used to, but it was still interesting to see how their church worships. After church we didn’t get to work because it was the Sabbath, so we just chilled all day.

Kevin did a devo that night about the creation of sin. After that, we worshipped for a while after.

The stars here are AMAZING. Zach’s analogy was “it looks like someone spilled sugar all over the sky!”…I agreed. (I saw four shooting stars in one night!)

And then there was today. J

We woke up at about 7 and worked until about 12. Then J.D was planning to go to a creek called McHood. So we all took naps so we would be awake for the adventure.

We got there and Pastor Bill was telling us about a 30 foot cliff that we were allowed to jump of. So my first thought was “oh gosh, that’d be fun. Too bad I’d never ever do it…” But we walked over to the cliff and the first one to go was J.D. AND HE CAN’T EVEN SWIM WELL!!

Everyone took their turn jumping off the cliff courageously except for the three people who had trouble which were: Me, Rebacca, and Faith. Rebecca ended up going with enough encouragement. However, that was NOT the case for neither me, or Faith.

Everyone kept trying to get me to go. But for some reason my body would just not let me! I was completely terrified. And no matter how much I really wanted to, my legs seemed glued to those rocks.

So I thought “maybe if someone goes before me again, then I’ll get some courage..” I was wrong.

So jazzy goes and she completely slips sideways and screams so loud on the way down to the water. Yeah, that definitely did NOT help me.

After a while EVERYONE had tried EVERYTHING to get me to go. Yet..i still hadn’t gone. J.D. was telling us how we needed to get going or else we would miss the sunset. So he kept rounding everyone up and they all got on the bus. I really didn’t want to dissapoint everyone because everyone was counting on me going, but I also didn’t want to keep everyone waiting either. So I started walking back to the bus, and as I saw J.D.’s face and how sad he looked that I really wasn’t going to do it. So I turn back to the cliff and my “sha-na” (big brother in Navajo) standing there smirking at me. He said “Ezenwanyi, you know you’re gonna jump, just jump…” but I really couldn’t. I wanted to with all my heart, but my body just would not let me. I was super scared.

I couldn’t think of reasons why I shouldn’t jump. I wouldn’t drown, because I can swim. I wouldn’t die because Kenneth would save me. And I would never be able to say that I did it. I was stuck. Everytime I started to jump, my heart felt so sad at me!

So I look across the lake and all of a sudden Faith runs over and goes “J.D. I’m gonna do it!” she was crying her eyes out she was so terrified. So she went up to the edge, backed up a little, then just kinda hopped straight off. It would have been a lot funnier if I wasn’t just as terrified as she was. However, I definitely was.

Kelechi, Kenneth, and J.D., encouraged so much. So I walked up the edge. Screamed a little bit. Put one foot off. Then the other. Then all I knew was that I was flying in mid air. IT WAS GREAT. I got in the water and doggy pattled my way back to the latter. I was shaking and laughing and crying and breathing extra hard from the adrenaline. I was so proud of myself!

I got on the bus. Everyone was silent. So I sat down..then everyone cheered for me happily. J it was awesome. I smiled out the window the whole way back to the reservation. I was so glad that I was able to overcome such an obstacle. J

I had held up the bus long enough. So we all grabbed a quick meal at McDonald’s, then we were on our way to the Little Painted Dessert to see the sunset and a devo lead by Challyn.

The three days have definitely been memorable. I saw two famous natural creations, I overcame one of THE hardest obstacles of my life, and was apart of a great devo.

I am in love with God and BHYM.

The End.

Ha-Go-En-Ay. (Good-bye!)

-Ezzie.