and I grieve.......struggling to hold back the tears.  This afternoon my young Navajo friend, who is staffing my project this week with me, and I went into the Game and Fish office on the Fort Apache Reservation in Whiteriver, Arizona to obtain a recreation permit for our group to go to Reservation Lake tomorrow for a fun day with our Apache friends.  As we were waiting at the counter for our permit to be processed, one of the Apache ladies that works in the office received a phone call.  After she took the call, she dialed the phone and my friend and I listened as she began to report a domestic violence case to the police department.

 

I really wasn't listening too much at the beginning, but when I heard her say something about her son, that caught my attention.  As I listened she began to ask the police department to go to her home and pick up her son who was drunk.  She told the police department that when her son gets drunk he gets violent, and since her son lived in her home with his girlfriend and his infant baby, she was afraid that her son would hurt the baby and she was calling the police and asking them if they would go to her home and pick up her son. 

 

She was so calm as she asked the police department to pick up her drunk son.   My heart ached as I listened to her reporting her drunk son to the police department.  I thought about my own two sons and how it would tear me apart if I had to report them to the police.  The more I listened to this lady talk to the police department, the more I noticed the lack of emotion in her voice and in her person.  She was just stating facts to the police department with no emotion whatsoever.  When she hung up the phone, she went back to her job in the office as if nothing had happened.

 

As I observed all this, I became angry.  No one should have to live like this.  This mother was absolutely numb.  She had no emotion whatsoever.  And it really hit home to me that there are alot of people living on the rez that are just like this.  Life on the rez is so cruel that you just become numb to it after a while.  My heart ached for her and her family.  And then my heart began to ache for every person living on the rez..........because this is the norm, not the exception on the rez.  Every single family on the rez has a similar story like this to tell.  Every single family on the rez has been touched by this kind of violence.  Every singe family on the rez lives with pain every day of their lives.    NO ONE SHOULD HAVE TO LIVE LIKE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

And then I thought, do people who live off the rez know what is happening to people who live on the rez???????  Do people who live off the rez know that alcoholism, drug addictions, gambling addictions, suicides, automobile accidents, daily deaths are the norm on the rez???????  Do people who live off the rez want to help make a difference in the lives of those who live on the rez? 

 

I talked to a Navajo friend of mine a few days ago and said, "How are you doing, Bobby?"  "I lost my 24 year old son this week," he replied.  "Oh dear God, what happened?"  I asked.  "He was hit by a train.  The funeral is Friday at the family plot."  Again, like the lady in the Game and Fish office, no emotion in his voice, just numbness.............NO ONE SHOULD HAVE TO LIVE LIKE THIS!!!!!!!!!  I am so angry..............God help the Indians.............they are hurting so............please send more workers to the harvest..............help them God, please help them. 

 

As my Navajo friend and I drove away from the Game and Fish office, I choked back the tears.  I didn't want her to see me weep, like I usually do when I encounter this kind of a situation.  I struggled with the tears for quite a while and finally got myself under control.  We went on to enjoy a nice day of ministry together.  Then tonight, over pizza, we began to talk about what had happened this afternoon and she shared with me how she hadn't really known how extensive the poverty and dysfunction was on the rez.  It had made her extremely sad and she shared with me that she was glad she was no longer living on the rez.  Today's experience really made her think about her people and what they are enduring. 

 

It is my prayer for her that she allows God to use what she heard today to help make a difference in her own people's lives.  It is also my prayer today, that everyone reading this Blog will "shout from the mountain top what is happening to our own people who are living in hell on the rez."  If you are reading this Blog, will you please pray and ask God how you can help make a difference in the lives of those living on the rez?  It's Jesus they need...........and if you have Jesus..........will you pray and ask God how you can be a part of sharing Jesus with those on the rez who desperately need the hope of Jesus in their lives?  If God is calling you to help make a difference, please call (260-403-0557) or email (sherryhemsoth@adventures.org) me and let's talk, talk about what you can do to help bring Jesus to those desperate  for a Savior.  To God Be The Glory!