White Mountain Apache Reservation

Don't fall out of the truck, Bryan!

Some people's idea of vacation is relaxing on a beach in Hawaii or shopping in Hong Kong. Some people would just like to stay home and watch television for a week. Some people take their kids to Disneyland and spend a fortune on Mickey Mouse ears and overpriced soft drinks and cotton candy. May I suggest an alternative before you pack those suitcases and fly off to Europe for a holiday? How about a short term mission?

These past two summers, for a little over a week, I have gone with a group of people from my church to the White Mountain Apache Indian Reservation in Eastern Arizona. We have done a variety of service activities from painting houses to Vacation Bible School. No matter what activity you choose to do, the important thing is that you are there, giving your time, making friends with a group of people you might never get to know otherwise.

The White Mountain Apache have a fairly large reservation in the northeast corner of Arizona. Like other Native American reservations, they are technically not a part of the United States, but their own nation. Being on the reservation, I did feel very removed from the urban behemoth that I came from. But that's part of the pleasure of being there.

Due to the remote location, there is a high rate of unemployment on the reservation. Because of this, most Apache live in poverty, which in turn leads to feelings of despair that manifest in high rates of alcoholism, suicide, and child and spousal abuse. Our response to these problems is to share God's love with the Apache and demonstrate how Jesus can make a difference in their lives.

The Apache are an amazingly durable people, evident by their ability to stick together despite many attempts to destroy them. I won't launch into a "400 years of oppression" speech, but history has shown that Europeans have not been good to Native Americans, and it's a wonder that the tribe survives to this day. The Apache, as most Native American tribes, still have a great deal of anger toward Anglos, which makes racial reconciliation a difficult thing.

As Asians, we had the advantage of not having the stigma of being an oppressor attached to us. The result was that we were able to become friends with the Apache much faster than normal, very important if you're only there for a week. In fact, we found that the Apache, Chinese, and Hawaiians have some very similar ideologies and even common expressions within the languages! We played basketball with them (the Apache national sport, mind you), taught them some of our songs and learned some of theirs, and even painted houses together (here's a picture of our friend Ma-tea helping us with the trim). The kids are incredibly warm and friendly; the adults are loyal friends who are a joy to talk with.

We worked the entire week, either painting houses or working with the kids. We visited the homes of people whom we had met on previous visits and were inspired by their stories and faithfulness. After a week, we had to come back to work, but we weren't tired. If anything, our hearts and minds were somewhere else, in rural Arizona, with a people who we could not forget.

Are you interested in serving the Apache for a week during the summer? If so, contact our friend, Pastor Dave Booker, of Forward Edge, the missions organization that we went with last summer. He'll make sure you get all the information you need to take the trip that will change your life. But don't take my word for it. Get out under the big Arizona sky and find out for yourself.