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This Issue (September, 2007)La Vida UpdateThrough the summer Danny Williams, principal, prayed for an abundant harvest of students from the community and surrounding area, and his prayers were answered. La Vida Mission Elementary School garnered in 25 boarding students--13 gentlemen and 12 young ladies. Four kindergarten students and two first graders fill Sherrie Dixon’s lower grades classroom. Norla Chee greets two seventh, two sixth and one eighth grade scholar each morning. Danny’s teaching space is full to capacity with three third, six fourth, and four fifth grade pupils. While Danny prayed for a healthy number of students, the entire staff prayed (and are still petitioning) for more Mission workers. God has sent a reasonable number of laborers but we still need a couple to houseparent the girls, a Bible worker a teacher and a maintenance director. Your prayers are also appreciated. Water issues have taken a turn for the better (read story on page 2 ), including solving an ongoing problem of providing cafeteria and each home with potable drinking water. New cook, Ed Sutsch, installed a reverse osmosis filter in the cafeteria and LVM hopes to buy a filtration system for each campus home, thereby eliminating water runs to the greenhouse and bulky sand covered containers in campus kitchens. Cost for such a system is $150 + or -, and several people have promised to donate a home-size RO filter. School year 2007-08 begins with 25 students
Water &mdash the rest of the story
Last issue we left you hanging with La Vida Mission’s water shut down because of a well cave in. The Lord had miraculously supplied a permit to repair and deepen the existing well. The previous depth of 167 feet had suddenly become a 60-foot depth with the pump another 40 feet below the mud. Well drillers in the area were booked solid for three weeks or more and school was to begin in three weeks. Now for the rest of the story. A well customer who was scheduled for drilling the beginning of the next week canceled and the well driller said he could bring a compressor and blow out our well. He pushed his air pipe down past 70 feet and blew out the accumulated sand and mud. It was like a geyser exploding. But sand kept filling in around the blow pipe and as he repeated the blowing process, soon fist size rocks were shooting out of the well along with sand and mud. The driller was very concerned and reported that the existing ten-inch well casing did end at 60 feet, even though we had been led to believe that it went all the way down to 167 feet. He explained that he couldn’t get down any deeper since sand was caving in as fast as he blew it out. He was afraid to try any more since it could jeopardize the entire well. He explained that he couldn’t get down any deeper since sand was caving in as fast as he blew it out. Taking a five-inch PVC well casing with a sand screen on the end he pushed it down inside the existing ten-inch well casing until it stopped at 75 feet. He pumped the water out but said he didn’t hold out much hope since it would probably have so much silt that it would never be clean and it would eventually clog up the screen so no water could get in. However, after a half hour of pumping about a hundred gallons a minute, the water cleared up and the water level showed no sign of dropping in the well. The driller was amazed and said that we had apparently hit an underground river whose flow didn’t seem to diminish no matter how fast or how long we pumped. Even though the well was now less than half as deep as it had been previously, it appeared to have a better supply of water and even appeared to be cleaner than before. We had to purchase a new pump since we never were able to recover the one buried under 40 feet of mud and sand. In order to get the drill rig to the well we had to break down our concrete block well house. After hot wiring the new pump to run continuously, the next day our 24,000-gallon tank was full. The water system was back in service! Now that the water was flowing again we hooked up the reverse osmosis (RO) filter and began to filter drinking water. Because the 3000-gallon holding tank on the RO system was two thirds full when the well went down, the reserve of filtered water lasted until the well was flowing again. However, after a few weeks the high pressure pump on the RO system froze up leaving us with no filtered water. Purchase of the RO filter components, along with the construction of a new pump house, coupled with the cost of the well driller, has set us back financially so that we are no longer operating within our means. We would have been ok, even with the added payroll costs for new staff members the Lord sent, if the water crises hadn’t come on us, one after the other. Many thanks to all of our faithful supporters who stood by us in this time of need, and to those new supporters whom God is impressing to join in. God answered yours and our prayers and school started on time with all the water flowing. Girls' houseparent arrives
Lee McIntosh arrived from Cedaredge, CO, after hearing about La Vida and its staff needs at her church. She had been buying and remodeling houses before coming to houseparent the girls’ dorm. Lee volunteered, however, to help out wherever needed. Retired from the military where she served for 25 years, Lee finds a dorm environment familiar to her. So is the Mission terrain, much like that of Western Colorado where she has lived. Since she was four years old Lee wanted to be a missionary and the Lord has been preparing her since. Friends and relatives encouraged her to come serve at La Vida Mission Lee arrived with her dog, Bella, a pickup, trailer, small camper and her tool trailer. Before the girls arrived, she organized the cafeteria pantry, painted in staff housing, fixed what needed fixing in the girls’ dorm, and still helps out ASI 2007
Julia Roanhorse, LVM board member, donned her Native Navajo costume as the Mission connected with other ministries and displayed photos depicting La Vida’s mission to the Navajos at this summer’s ASI convention in Louisville, KY. Julie Doville of Laurelbrook Academy in Dayton, TN, won our drawing for a pottery piece crafted by Rose Gomez. Bulletin BoardPositions to Fill:
La Vida Needs:
Special Thanks to:
New DonorsLoyda Gurule New cook on board
Another pickup truck, trailer, camper and pet dog (Buddy) closely followed Lee McIntosh over mountains and desert to reach La Vida Mission. Ed Sutsch joins the staff while serving on LVM board of directors. He knew of the need for staff and that need was in the back of his mind -- but he didn’t immediately pray about being the answer to any need. As soon as he did pray, the doors opened. He found a renter for his house in Payson, AZ. Then friend and Mission director, Dan Dixon, called and asked him to come and cook. Then everything fell into place and I knew the Lord wanted me here,” Ed said. Indications included having his antique business close. Ed had a lucrative job in landscaping before opening an antique store in Arizona. But he realized he wanted to do more for God. He likes the team working here and is a firm believer that if you take fun out of the work, you get burned out. Ed cooked for four years at Northern California Redwood Camp Meeting and now turns out tasty vegetarian meals in the Mission cafeteria. He is open to trying recipes requested by students and staff. He also serves on the board of Maricopa Misson School in Laveen, Arizona. In Memory of
In Honor ofCali and Deon Campillo’s 6th Wedding anniversary Laramie helps
Laramie, Wyoming, Pathfinders, organized by Jerry and Jackie Cornelius, arrived at La Vida in time to help Mission staff to have the school rooms clean and painted for arrival of students. Children and adults painted, swept and scrubbed during their stay, after raising funds to make the trip here and bring food for the pantry. Become an LVM AmbassadorWhen you tell a friend, church member or business contact about La Vida Mission’s outreach to the Navajos, you are a Mission ambassador. When you talk about how La Vida has a free boarding school, clinic, post office and church and provides well water to the local Navajo community, you are promoting a non-profit mission project. You can mention that donations made to LVM are tax-deductible with a receipt being sent to donors at the end of the year. Write or call and let us know if you would like to be a La Vida Mission Ambassador, reaching others who would be willing to support a worthy mission right here in the United States. LVM will provide you with a certificate, brochures and photos, if needed, to enhance your presentation to an individual or a church. |
La Vida Missions, Inc. is an independent Seventh-day Adventist Mission to the Navajo. It operates a boarding elementary school for Navajo children (K–8th grade), clinic, water/mail/clothing services and an evangelism outreach for the Navajo community. The mission is located off Highway 371, 55 miles north of I-40 on Exit #53, or 50 miles south of Farmington, New Mexico.
Mission Administrator Federal Tax Exemption © 2007 La Vida Missions, Inc.
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Kindergarten - Second Grade
Third - Fifth Grade
Sixth - Eighth Grade
