What an interesting month we have had here!  I have never seen such a rash of major computer issues among the missionaries, pastors and office.  Radio engineer to the rescue – I put on the IT support cap and have worked through around ten computers – one system took 6 days just to extract data from the hard drive!  To end it all – my personal laptop just simply stopped – no good explanation, except that I had just finished filing my taxes, gone to bed, and next morning, zero response!  So…I am 10 for 11 systems, not too bad, Praise the Lord!

We are drawing near to the end of our spring work groups this month.  It has been a real blessing to have several work teams begin the summer projects on repair and refurbishing of some major buildings here on campus.  Please be in prayer for the many teams that are coming this summer to help out and also minister to people on the Rez.  The mission is gearing up for a big 75^th Anniversary celebration and Bible conference in July (25-27), it will be a time of reflection, direction, & Celebration;  if you happen to be around please plan on joining us.  Thank you so much for your time, support and prayer for us.

Every day is filled with the ebb and flow of God at Work around here, some days it is hard to get even the routine things done.  Praise the Lord that He continually challenges and uses us to accomplish His ministry here.  It has only been 4 weeks since our weekend Strategic Planning Retreat, where many of us including a couple of our board members and the local church pastor got together for a time of prayer and seeking God’s direction for the future of this 75 year old mission.  It was truly a blessing to be able to see and hear the many points of view that were represented there and to hear the heart of many in their desire to follow where ever God is leading.  The first fruits of this time were clearly evident within days of coming home as one Navajo couple came back from this and told our director that they had been committed before, but were now willing to surrender to God’s call and direction in their involvement with Western Indian Ministries.  I should have said at the beginning – CAUTION!! God at Work!!  He has rarely revealed more than just the next step to take in His plan for us – this is sometimes frustrating for me personally, but reinforces the need for faith and patience.  WE all have to keep our senses on alert to be ready for His next move.  Please pray that we would develop a spiritual peripheral vision that keeps us tuned in to His directions at all times.

Group at the strategic planning retreat.

Thank you so much for sharing in this area of ministry as we follow our Leader wherever He may go.  It was one year ago that the Broadcast division of Western Indian Ministries stepped out in faith to start a little Christian bookstore.  Praise the Lord that He has used it in so many wonderful ways to help spread His word in Navajo and English across the Rez and to supply His people with study material and guides to help them grow closer to Him.  We are still a small operation, but it has been very steady and busy, keeping us on our toes.  To date the most sold items are Navajo Bibles and Navajo Hymnals.  The bookstore has been an awesome way for us to get to know our Listeners, to pray for them and to share life directly with them – Thank you for all of you who donated to this project and continue to pray for its outreach.

Please also pray for the Broadcast division as we are considering programming changes in the coming month (such as adding more local Navajo hours in the evenings and overnight and less Satellite fill).  Pray for wisdom and discernment as we seek to meet our listener’s needs.  Thank You!

Its been a challenging few weeks maintenance wise here on the WIM campus. Cold weather, down to 20 below at night, has created frozen water lines causing several of our staff to be without water for almost two weeks.  Scott has been working diligently with others on trying to get these pipes thawed, but to no avail.  We’ve received a number of suggestions with ideas on how to thaw the pipes.  Unfortunately, due to the location of the frozen pipe and the combination of plastic and metal piping, none of them have been feasible.  Scott even sought outside help, but none of the plumbers in the area will deal with frozen pipes.  Thankfully the forecast is calling for warmer weather with temps into the upper 40s for the next week and we are hopeful that they won’t stay frozen much longer.

The original church/school building – now used as staff housing.

Praise the Lord for Rain!

What a real blessing it is to see the rains again here in the desert of New Mexico!  Although the torrential downpours have caused a bit of a maintenance headache as they wash out our roads and cause buildings to settle in odd fashion, they certainly help in cooling the summer off and greening up the land for a short time.

As God is blessing with physical rain, He also blesses in spiritual ways as well.  The storms of life that seem to creep up on a daily basis are part of His greater plan to prepare us here at Western Indian Ministries for whatever He has in store.  We have seen Him at work as he provides more personnel to work alongside us and as He has guided toward solidifying the leadership of the mission with a new director coming on the 1^st of September.  We have seen Him working as we hear how Milt Shirleson recently led a young couple to the Lord in his office right here on the campus.  We can see God guiding as He reveals little bits of how He is working on the bigger picture and gives us a hint to what we might be doing for Him in possibly providing a place to have classes, counseling and encouragement for people on the reservation just like this couple.

I am amazed and blessed by God as He continues to use me to keep these very old, unsupported, and overworked transmitters going to continue to air the Good News on these three Radio stations.

Thank you for praying for and sharing this work In His service, Scott and Sarabeth Hill

Our backyard when the rains come.

Greetings from the Hillside!

Monday, July 9, was a very long day for Scott.  Tuba City is almost a 3 three hour drive one way from Tse Bonito and on the far western border of the ‘Rez’.  It was a time sensitive project that needed completion to replace a piece of equipment that was just repaired, and then get the ‘loaner’ returned ASAP.  It was supposed to be a simple task, albeit on the opposite side of the Rez, but God was at work (always…).  After completing the exchange of equipment, he decided that trying out the ‘newer’ transmitter that was installed last month might be interesting since it had failed to come online due to some unknown issue, and was now just sitting idle since then until it could be addressed.  After a final check up of the connections and punching over the transmitter antennae switch, he pulled up the breaker and the ready light came on with a bright green glow.  Nothing left to do but hit the Yellow low power button and wait for the immanent fireworks of the previous month.  Praise the Lord it worked! Still waiting for the issue to rear its head once again, but thanks to God’s control over every situation, the transmitter is up and running at the full 250 watts of AM power that it is supposed to and is reaching farther across the reservation to the east and North, westward to the Grand Canyon, and south to Flagstaff.   Your consistent prayer and financial support is making it possible for the Navajo and many others to hear the good news over the airwaves once again around Tuba City.

Thank you for sharing this work In His service, Scott and Sarabeth Hill

Greetings Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for continuing to make it possible for us to serve the Lord here at Western Indian Ministries.  It has been a very full month with many “Summers with Indian Missions” (SWIM) teams coming through to help with a myriad of projects.  The School, Main Offices and grounds around the front of the mission were in desperate need of a little facelift and repairing; it is amazing how just a little bit of elbow grease, parts, pieces, scraping and painting can make a place look much better.  It also exposes the fact that other parts of the buildings are still in dire need of repair!

Two exciting things to note from the WIM Board meetings earlier this month:  One is that they have decided on and accepted Chuck Harper for the new General Director of the Mission.  He will be resigning his board position and coming on staff as of September 1^st.  Secondly, the board decided to join with the Association of North American Missions (ANAM) (www.anamissions.org), which will give us financial accountability (like the ECFA) and several other services for the mission.

One other note…Gina Nez, a Navajo lady, who has been managing the book store for us has applied for and been accepted to be a missionary with Western Indian Ministries with the broadcasting division.  Praise the Lord with us and please remember her in prayer as she begins raising support.

Thank you for sharing this work In His service, Scott and Sarabeth Hill