Life at the Mission?

You may wonder. You may wonder what I'm talking about.
One month ago tomorrow I arrived at the American Indian Christian Mission (AICM) in Show Low, Arizona. Here they host a school for Native American youth from the Navajo and Apache reservations, homes an hour away from school. In this case, the students stay here throughout the week and return home on weekends.

My role here is to serve as house parent for the older girls, 7 total; four in 8th grade, and three in high school. As a house parent, I have the privilege of offering my energies to their care and well-being; making sure they're in (and out) of bed at the right times, helping keep them on-track academically, enforcing chore accountability, guiding their hearts and minds in God's wisdom and truth, helping teach them kindness, love, responsibility, and respect, and making absolutely sure they brush their teeth before they go to bed [the last of which has proven a much bigger challenge than anticipated. Apparently not everyone has fully known and appreciated the joys of the just-brushed clean feeling. All good things take work.]

My girls are a hoot, both individually and collectively. Little by little, I'm learning more about their personalities, cultural preferences, young-chica vernacular, and what's driving their hearts.

Mini-Exposé

Names: Tameca, Jaylene, Lindsey, Riscilla, Sheriden, Chalcey and Chestina.
Preferred Dress:
Younger Girls - 'Short pants' (basketball shorts,) Jordans (or similar style sneaker,) and either a big comfy t-shirt, or something with cute print.
Older Girls (and younger girls on fancier days) - Skinny jeans, cute shirts, high tops.
Favored Pasttimes: BASKETBALL, watching movies, eating junk food, time with friends.
Favorite Foods: Anything spicy, including jalapeños, and hot-anything; especially Cheetos. Hot Cheetos are a 'thing' here. Also, pickles and kool-aid. How did it even begin?! More on this later.
Commonly-spoken:
'cheap' - not good, uncomfortable, ugly
'ugly' - bad taste (food)
'champ' - cool, really, really good
'tastes-es,' 'costs-es' - tastes, costs...
'rez'd out' - ('ghetto')
...

Life at the mission is good, but also a challenge. While I'm learning more fun facts about the girls, I'm also discovering realities not so appealing. But they're real life nonetheless, and God equips us to bring His peace to everything; rather than turn away from them, I pray He continues to give us all the wisdom to address them well.

The Facts

The suicide rate on the reservations is 14 times the national average. In some way, each of the girls has been affected by suicide, through family members' deaths, friends complications, personal struggle, or some combination.

Many of the students here are purported to have some gang affiliation. Most claim identification because of a family member's connection, so their ties remain loose, but still a reality.

Drugs and alcohol remain a major problem on reservations, causing many broken relationships between parents and their children. Though parents love, they cannot show it as they might like, so many children take on adult roles, and care for these kids is transferred to Grandmothers and Aunties. Life expectancy is considerably lower on the reservations. Even though our kids see the effects and might 'know better,' they're still affected by the strong influence this example holds over their minds and experiences.

All of my girls have dealt or are dealing with self-harm in some way. Three of seven have indicated suicidal thoughts in the last few weeks. I could joke about hoping it's not because I'm laying down the law too thick for them to handle since I've been here (and in reality I'm inclined to express as much because I need the levity,) but my superiors have shared that it's a widespread problem, year after year. And no wonder; these kids are dealing with a LOT beyond their levels of maturity and development.

Experiences of sexual abuse and rape are even more common on the reservation than other areas where these issues are a large concern. Many of my girls have been affected by these, too.

These girls are teenagers. And adults. And little kids. They're experiencing immense amounts of responsibility, neediness, and desire for independence as much as they want affection.

Life at the mission is a challenge, but an educational one. I never could have anticipated the need to squeeze every factual and experiential tidbit of my Johnson education into stewarding this new job well! It's heavily missions-oriented, and so much of my interaction with the girls has been shaped by what I've learned through the counseling courses. Also, much of it needs lots more reading-up! It really has required every ounce of my faith, prayers, previous knowledge, and current active efforts to learn more. It's taking all of me, and lots more.
Beyond any other lesson, I'm learning my severe need for dependence on God.

Life at the mission is good. And challenging. Educational. Draining. Exciting. At times, depressing. Hopeful.
Worth it.

It's easy for me to lean toward defining life here by the ways the girls respond to life, their day-to-day stories marked with emotions and reactions as skewed as the list above. But this is not wisdom. Though my life is very closely tied to their lives now, I need to remain steady in God's unchanging character and unshakable hope. I need to remain full of this peace in order to share it with them.

Life at the mission is a unique opportunity to love beyond the extent I know how, trust for strength and wisdom that far exceeds my own, and depend on God to make it possible to love and lead these girls well.

That's all for now. More to come (and further information about pickles and kool-aid!) later.

In His peace,
Ashley :)