Located about 60 miles south of Farmington, NM in the Four Corners region, La Vida Mission sits amidst the arroyos and mesas of the New Mexico desert and is situated on the Navajo Reservation. The Mission sits on a small rise of land that overlooks Chaco Wash and has a low mesa as backdrop behind it. A wash is a stream bed that is dry in the summer but flows during the rainy season. Chaco Wash was once examined by some university people who, using some fancy equipment, located over 20 large masses in the area of the Mission which they believed to be vehicles that had sunk in the quicksand prior to the bridge being built.
There is a Navajo settlement called Lake Valley within a few miles of the Mission but the closest place to buy supplies is a trading post south of the mission. For any major shopping, one must drive into Farmington. Prior to paving of the road, this was a four hour trip one way. Fortunately this is now cut down to only one hour.
Karen served as the evening cook and as the preschool/kindergarten teacher while I was the assistant director of the mission and principal of the school. My mother was the cook for breakfast and noon meals. The school boarded students from preschool through the eighth grade from Sunday of one week, through to Friday of the next week, thus giving students every other weekend at home. During our tenure there, the classes were divided into preschool/kindergarten, grades 1-3, 4-6, and 7-8.
The focal point of the Mission was it's church, which had been built by volunteers from Maranatha Flights International. MFI is a volunteer organization which travels around the world building schools, churches, medical clinics, and sometimes homes. Some members are retired and spend virtually full time traveling and building, others have 'regular' jobs and devote their yearly vacation time to such work. All deserve the highest praise and thanks for their unflagging hardwork, cheerfulness, and sacrifice. So far as I know, all the major buildings at the Mission were built by or at least with the help of MFI.
Other buildings at the mission during our time there were the office which incorporated a set of living quarters, several large homes, a medical clinic, a barn, a dormitory which included the kitchen and general dining room, a Navajo-style hogan which served as a shop for selling Navajo hand-made products, the shops, and several large greenhouses. The mission was very dependent upon the greenhouses for supplying much of our food. Since our departure, a badly needed gym has been built which finally provides a sheltered play area for the kids during bad weather. Prior to the gym, the only dedicated play area was the outside field.
The Mission was funded totally by the donations of the general public public and staff received, in addition to room and board, a stipend of $300 dollars a month. Not a place to grow rich with the material things of the world!
A favorite activity among the staff and older students was volleyball. The court was an area that had been packed smooth by much use and many a game was played there. We abided by at least most of the rules of the game but never let excessive technical nitpicking get in the way of a good game! One of the Navajo who helped with our horses and held the North American Native American Rodeo Championship for bareback bronc riding was an extremely enthusiastic volleyball player and used to make splendiferous dives onto the court in order to hit the ball.
I used to enjoy hiking out across the desert, climbing the mesas and exploring the cracks in the arroyo walls. The difference between there and the Pacific NW was fascinating. Once you grew accustomed to it, you could see many colors and hues of those colors represented in the rocks and sands. In addition to the color, you could keep your eye peeled for arrowheads or ancient Anazasi pottery that might turn up after being covered by sand for hundreds of years. One fascinating place was one site high atop a mesa where you could find fossilized shark's teeth embedded in the sandstone matrix.
The weather at the Mission was much more strongly felt than here in the more 'civilized' world. From our vantage point we could sometimes look out and see lightning storms in four different directions. Then there were the quick rains that might arise out of nowhere and which would speedily change our clay roads into slick traps for the unwary. Other times the sun would shine and the sky would be clear with a fullness of blue that was overwhelming.
Of course, the students were the reason for the Mission and they were a delightful bunch. Some came from living in town, others lived on the reservation in homes where the term running water meant another leak in the roof. Each provided us with as much education as we ever gave them.
It may have only been my impression, but it seemed as if the Navajo had a far greater percentage of artistic people among them than the general population to which I had been accustomed. Many of these young kids could draw, paint, or even sculpt with a measure of skill far surpassing the average person. I was constantly amazed at their abilities.
The Native Americans were also blessed with a love for humor. Nothing seemed to make them happier than when they could play a practical joke on one another (or, better yet, an innocent visitor!). I recall one time when we had some students from a high school visiting us to help us build a greenhouse. After the evening meal, one of the 3rd graders was assigned the task of taking the garbage can out to dump it into the waste barrels which were located about one hundred feet (or less) from the kitchen door. One of the high school visitors offered to carry it for him. Off they went, not to return for nearly a quarter hour. It turned out that the Navajo student had blithely led our visitor over hill and dale and around in circles, managing to get him totally lost, before finally leading him to the barrels. He then returned the same way. It was not until the next day, in the light of the day, that the visitor realized that he had been had. Fortunately he had a good sense of humor and greatly enjoyed telling others about the joke that had been played on him.
The Navajo, like many other Native American tribes, do not like to touch things which are associated with the dead. It would not be surprising if, were a person to die in a hogan, that the hogan would be burned. This cultural dislike extends even to digging graves. Several times when a Navajo died, family members came to us at the Mission and asked if we would dig the grave. Some member of the family or a close friend would then guide us out to the chosen spot. Usually this entailed driving as far as possible in the 4-wheel drive rigs we had, and then walking the rest of the way. This meant that we would find ourselves in some location out of sight of any form of civilization as the modern world knows it and digging a grave by hand. Were it not for the wristwatches we wore it could have been a seen from a hundred years previous. After digging the grave, it was necessary to smooth the area around the grave for about 20 feet. This was to prevent the evil portion of the spirit of the person from later coming out of the hole and following the tracks of the gravediggers. Obviously we didn't believe this but it greatly facilitated our relations with the Navajo for us to show respect for their beliefs. After digging the grave, we were invited to share in a meal of mutton stew and indian fry bread.
There were several local doctors and dentists in the Farmington area who would take turns coming out to the mission and treating the children and staff. These fine men would take no pay for their services and often provided medications and such out of their own office supplies. In addition to these men, every year medical students, under the guidance of some of their instructors, would fly out in private planes and stay at the mission for a week or so. During this time they would perform physicals on all of our students. For many of the students, this was the first time they had ever been exposed to such intense medical scrutiny. As the Navajo are quite shy about personal things, it caused much laughter among them when someone was unable to produce a urine sample and therefore had to drink cup after cup of water until ultimate success. One time one of our younger students was quite amazed that we were asking him to urinate in a cup, but after being reassured that yes, that was what we wanted him to do, he went into the bathroom, filled the cup, and then, before coming out to proudly tell us he had done it, poured the cup's contents into the commode and flushed it. He was another candidate for the water drinking group!
Because we had the least seniority among the staff, we got to live in the oldest home on the Mission. This building had additions added to it several times so it was multi-level and of eclectic style. It was also drafty and prone to leaks, but it was home. Along one side we had what would be called a solarium and to enter the home one had to first enter the solarium. It was nowhere as fancy as the word solarium implies, but it did help to keep out the wind a bit and kept us warmer on cold days. The water at the mission came from it's own well and was heavily laced with sulphur. Tubs, commodes, dishes, etc, that were frequently exposed to the water would acquire a yellow tinge. Although the water was potable, it was far from tasty. For that reason we got all of our drinking water and cooking water from the greenhouse where there was a reverse osmosis machine. This meant driving or hiking to the greenhouse, filling our many jugs, and then making the trip back. Fortunately the dormitory kitchen had it's own machine so that saved a lot of time. Although we didn't like the taste of the water, many of the Navajo would cheerfully drink it up. Our well was open and free to all who needed water and they would come and fill 55 gallon barrels. Usually they would be in a pick-up but sometimes it would be a horse and wagon.
We also served as a post office for Navajo living in the area. We would pick up their mail at the Farmington Post Office and then take it back to the mission and hand it out as they would wander in. This gave us lots of opportunity to talk with them. Once they realized that we weren't looking down our noses at their culture, the Navajo could become very friendly and you could learn much about the area and it's people.
The Navajo reservation had peyote cacti growing on it and some of the older tribal members believed strongly in it's efficacy. Sometimes we would discover that they had tucked away a little peyote in their son or daughter's belongings when returning to school. Obviously we had to get rid of it because it could have created a serious legal problem had it been found on the Mission grounds. The Navajo Tribal government strongly frowns on drug usage but, like the rest of the world, drug and alcohol abuse is to be found there.
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