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This Issue (October, 2007)Positions to fill and special thanks. In memory of... La Vida UpdateGlori Williams, community outreach liaison, requested that community members join her in a walking program on the Mission's track and grounds Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9 a.m. from October 2 - October 25. As part of the program participants are to share health tips and ideas that inspire. Those who finish the program with 75 - 100 percent attendance will receive a certificate of completion and a healthy gift. Two projects reached completion in October. A vinyl shed now protects our recently-repaired well from freezing and the community post office addition is in use. La Vida historyFrom a December 1962 Navajo News article by Tillie Scott:
"Up on the bluff on the Mission grounds a road is taking shape, a 600- ft. well has been dug, and a pump installed. A 24x88-ft. two-room school building is being built according to specifications, with the foundation, floor and plumbing already finished. "We here at the Mission so wanted a school this year that we relinquished our bedroom for the purpose. To date, we have nine students all busy learning English. Six are starting from scratch. We travel 35 miles daily to get these nine boys and girls. We could get many more, but our funds do not cover the expense of the gas required to traverse such distances, nor does our vehicle have what it takes to navigate these twisting, rutted, sandy-in-spots and muddy-at-times roads." New staff fill many needs
Polly and Dorie Panganiban, natives of the Philippines, began mission service ministering to children in the Philippines and now, 25 years later, they have come full circle to serve La Vida Mission's Navajo children. Polly has been in church work for 27 years and Dorie for 25. He was a district pastor for 7 years and spent 8 years as a department director. He became president of the Southern Luzon Mission in the Bicol region of the Philippines from 1995 until this year. Dorie was assistant pastor to Polly for five years before they went to the Southern Luzon Mission office, a small mission of 200 small churches and companies. Over a period of 20 years Dorie has directed the Mission's Children's, Women's, Family, Stewardship and Philanthropic Ministries and finally directed the Livelihood Program. The biggest challenges facing their little mission was reaching the unentered towns and cities of devoted Roman Catholics and pulling out of the financial challenges associated with living in a typhoon belt. When storms hit (average of 25 a year), it leaves crops destroyed and people without a way to make a living. The Mission's Livelihood Program taught members to develop small-scale businesses. Dorie and Polly traveled by car to minister to churh members in the districts they served. Thursday to Sabbath they visited a church in one of their 20 districts as the pastors organized district fellowships. Until he was in 6th grade their son V. J., a freshman nursing student at Adventist University of the Philippines, traveled with them. An evangelistic effort would take two to three weeks of nightly meetings. Dorie visited the U.S. in 2004 to take a Clinical Pastoral Education course at Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, AZ. The Panganibans wanted to broaden their influence and experience a break from administrative work. Several times heard La Vida Mission mentioned -- at a party, from a friend in California who supported the Mission and while reading Doug Batchelor's The Richest Caveman (Pastor Batchelor worked for La Vida Mission in the early 80's) and finally on the web site where Dorie read Navajo News and our Mission's needs for staff. After discovering this mission in the United States they clicked the inquiry box on our web site and things progressed from there.Their prayers for God's guidance led them to New Mexico to "parent" 13 boys and help in the LVM church. When their visa was granted rather quickly, they considered that the last answer to their prayer for guidance that God was leading them here and they were ready to work for "the least of these their brothers and sisters. Expenses increaseNormally our newsletter is used to let you know what is happening here at La Vida Mission. This has taken up much space the last few months what with our well and reverse osmosis (RO) systems crashing. However, I feel now I must address an issue directly. Last year our donations were approximately 33% less than our normal operating costs. This year, with extra expenses, we are much further in the red. This reduction in donations is now endangering our ability to continue our 40 plus years of service to the Navajo Nation. Therefore, we are asking for each of you to consider what you can do to help at this time. If every church in the U.S. would pledge just $100 per year, we would be fully funded. We trust the Lord to meet our needs but unless we let people know what our needs are, we can't expect them to know we need help. God bless and thank you. From the director: Trials and blessings
This is my first opportunity to visit with you since I arrived at La Vida Mission. I took over the position of director in July and have been working on wells that failed and pumps that burned up. We dealt with a major subsidence under our well head which prevented construction of the well house. Also, we had 26 students to find house parents for, while getting the buildings into order from last year. All of this has been a wonderful experience. The staff has pulled together as a real team. With only nine folks on staff through the summer, recruiting occupied a large amount of my time. Now I feel it's time to update you on some positive happenings. Sunday we had our annual constituency meeting and our quarterly board meeting. I am happy to say we are now working with a full board and have some new officers to help run the Mission. Our new president is Andrea Jakubek; the outgoing president now is our executive vice president, Karl Schwinn; I have been made vice president of operations, and our new chairperson is Carol Barr. Another positive item is the funding of under-the-sink reverse osmosis systems (R/O) for individual houses. Our new cook, Ed Sutsch, has being talking to his home church in Fortuna, California. To date the Fortuna Church has funded four new R/O systems. The first one was installed in the kitchen and now the girls' house is having one installed. The boys' house system will soon be installed and one of the staff residences will follow. The Lord is blessing us greatly with this effort. If your church would like to participate in this effort to provide fresh tasting drinking water the cost per house is $160, and we are in need of 12 more units. At the close of the fifth week of school we are settling in quite well and learning that the volume of food consumed by our students was greatly underestimated. Thanks go to Ed for the great meals served in the cafeteria. Seconds on food is the norm and thirds are common. Please keep us in your prayers and thank you for your support. Our financial needs are very high right now. Box tops neededLVM Elementary School no longer collects product labels but does take advantage of the Box Tops for Education program. Thank you for taking time to save and send your box tops. New DonorsASD.com, Inc Larry Wilson joins staff
Larry Wilson became temporary house parent to 12 boys, ages five to 14, the day after he moved to La Vida Mission from Albuquerque, NM. Of course Larry is no novice to parenting boys as he is the father of two boys, Micah, 10, and Ryan, 20. Upon applying to the mission Larry volunteered to help wherever needed -- as boys' dean, assistant cook, or maintenance worker. Larry worked in construction before coming to LVM, but has always wanted to work in the Lord's service in some capacity. He was a medical missionary in Seattle, Washington, for a year. "It is a blessing to be able to work here and teach these kids and share the Good News with them," Larry says. Larry learned of La Vida Mission when he helped move Doug Barlow, Nurse practitioner, to the Mission. After that he visited the Mission with a group of singles from Albuquerque where he attended Three Angels Seventh-day Adventist Church. Upon arrival of Panganibans to houseparent the boys, Larry moved to the maintenance department. A note to sponsorsChristmas gifts need to be received by December 14. They may be wrapped if clearly labeled with child's name. Don't forget the Scholastic Book program. For as little as one dollar a child can order a book from Scholastic once a month. If you don't need a tax receipt just write the check to Scholastic with child's name at the bottom. Thanks to all of you. Community post office ready to use
Bulletin BoardPositions to Fill:
La Vida Needs:
Special Thanks to:
New DonorsLoyda Gurule Student Sponsor News
Dear Sponsors: It's a good year. Already each of the students has been matched with a sponsor. Our goal this year is to have at least three to five sponsors for each child. Not all sponsors can afford monetary donations, so the more the merrier (we are). A few words of advice. Most of our children come from unstable homes. While we may begin the year with 26 students, by Christmas we usually lose a few who move or go to live with other relatives and have to transfer to other schools. Should this happen with the child you are sponsoring you will receive information about another child to sponsor. Your sponsorship continues as usual. I know it seems a bit early to talk Christmas, but I want to avoid the rush. Since many sponsors are on small, fixed incomes, I would like to request that you limit your gifts to one to three. Luckily, last year with a generous donation, I was able to go shopping and ensure that all students received about the same number of gifts. If you are able to give more, keep in mind that we need bikes, bike helmets, bike tire tubes, tire pumps and roller blades. Grades 6 - 8 need a hot plate, dorm refrigerator and flasks for science experiments. Hopefully, by the time you read this all sponsors will have received letters from their child. I am doing my best to get after the other teachers about this. I'd like to thank Galt, CA, Seventh- day Adventist Church for their donation to our Christmas gift program and especially for their donation which helped to buy a reading pen ($300) which reads words and sentences out loud. I have three non-readers in my middle school class. One 7th grader used the pen to research mammals. Ordinarily he could not read an encyclopedia and suddenly he was shouting to everyone, "We're mammals, humans are mammals!" Now I'm sure in seven years of school he's been told this, but having read the information himself made all the difference. The pen also allows me more time with students who work at or above grade level. If you have any questions, you may call the Mission or E-mail me at treadleloops@yahoo.com. Thank you all for your love for our children. Norla Chee
In Memory of
More bright, white smiles
September's Loma Linda University School of Dentistry Dental Clinic once again blessed the Mission as well as the dental students during their threeday ministry. The School of Dentistry has conducted outreach programs at La Vida since 1980 and Dr. Reggie Padgett has worked with the them for the last four years. Loma Linda University's publication, Service Is Our Calling, reports "In September, 1992, a four-day clinic provided free professional dental care for all 79 students at La Vida Mission School. Eleven student dentists, under the supervision of Dr. J. B. Jablonski, provided numerous dental services for the elementary school children, including examinations, Xrays, fillings, extractions, sealants, and tooth cleanings. "At that time the Mission's two dental operatories were augmented by four makeshift but functional dental chairs that were nothing more than modified chaise lounges." However, each station was equipped with lights, air, water, suction, and modern dental equipment."
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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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On Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to noon, Gene,
Storilynn, Tenayah, Selina, Thorvynn,
Roedino, and Berdina get help in math,
language arts, and spelling from 6th grader,
Shane, Ms. Sherrie Dixon's student aide.
Jon Park
Berdina receives
a teeth cleaning
from Adriana.