The Grand Canyon

In the words of Billy: “The words community and toothbrush do not go together”
In the words of Mr. Hawkins: “Only Steve and I have used it…”

This was the lovely predicament we arrived in as we realized we were not going to be going home on Friday night due to the unfortunate/fortunate events of the breaking down of our 15 passenger van.

We learned today that the Navajo language is a very descriptive language, so I will paint a word picture for you of our interesting adventure to the Grand Canyon!

It was a hot summer morning and we had just finished helping the contractor pour cement for the floor in the new house being built for dorms in the fall. Others had finished nailing support joists onto the ceiling for the new roof being built on the house across the street. We were hot and tired but very excited to be venturing to the Grand Canyon. It was about 11:30 in the morning when our 7 passenger and 15 passenger van took off packed with sunscreen, water, cameras, Rice Krispy treats, Granola Bars, and lunches. We were ready to go. We took the scenic route which consisted of shrubs, sand, and open road.

We were told to stop at Cameron Trading Post to find souvenirs and jewelery, so we did. It was very cool. Filled with lots of turquoise jewelry, mugs, postcards, bows and arrows, tomahawks, and Grand Canyon shirts. We continued on our way, bags filled with goodies.

Our trip seemed to be going well as the Grand Canyon started to appear in the horizon. We pulled off at the first look out station and were amazed and brought to tears (literally taking Kirsten Larsen’s breath away) as we took in the vast beauty of the canyon. We climbed a watch tower which was built in the early 1900’s and engraved with beautiful Native Hopi paintings and carvings. We all were excited to see what awaited at the next look out stop.

We hopped back in our vans and took off. Our mini started up the road, but quickly realized our 15 passenger was nowhere in site and turned back. As the mini returned, the 15 was shaky but running. It took a few loops around the parking lot, giving us hope that we would make it to the next look out point. We headed on our way, again, only to stop a few miles down the road. Dave Hawkins was driving the 15 and attempted to contain his growing frustration with the van that did not want to continue (many references to the little train that could were being recited as we prayed and pushed our van).

We started to maintain velocity for a short while, but then, sadly, we blocked the road and started rolling into a ditch. People poured out of the vehicle to push that bad boy back on track. And it did for a short while until we finally accepted the fact that this van would not be going any further.

What to do???? 18 stranded and hungry teens and adults just wanting to see the grand canyon were stuck on the side of the road in mountain lion territory. But our spirits were not defeated. We called AAA and proceeded to film several sections of our work out video, which is coming along nicely 🙂 Our vans were being borrowed from Indian Bible College so it made it difficult for us to make any major decisions with the van.  We decided to shuttle the teens to the visitor center. Aaron, Dave, Steve, Natasha, and Cheryl stayed with the van waiting for 3 hours as Kirsten shuttled the children to their very patient and helpful chaperones, Sue and Billy.

We were told by AAA that the van would have to stay in the garage overnight, which evoked feelings of delight and dismay. Where would we stay? How would we save our contact lenses over night?  Would we make it in time for the star party?

Quick Side Note: If you were wondering what our special surprise was and have the read the blog this far…you are in for a treat! The star party is an event that takes place at the canyon one week a year when the stars are at their prime. The sky was filled with billions of stars in our galaxy and beyond. Star connoisseurs with very snazzy telescopes pointed to Saturn, Nebulas, the M-13 Globular Cluster, Super NOVA, the milky way, and more. And we got to look through all of them. There were around 50 different telescopes of all shapes and sizes. It was really cool. Here is a picture of two telescopes pointed at the sun and moon.

Back to our adventure: So we made it to the star party and had a good time. And we were able to stay at a lodge for the night.
Side, Side Note: So I may have really wanted to see the sun rise at the Grand Canyon and my prayers may have come true!

Back to our adventure again 🙂
We retired to our beds at around 11 and got up around 4 am (Yes, This is a true statement and Natasha Ferro did get up at 3:56 am to see the sunrise…it was a real-life miracle!) (No coffee was involved)

And let me tell you the view in the morning as the sun arose over the cliffs was absolutely amazing. Beautiful doesn’t come close to describing what we saw. Sue, Andrew, Hannah, Mikayla, Richard, Aaron, Cheryl, and myself were able to experience an incredible thing that morning. Here are some pictures:

So here is a Wow God Moment for all of you at home…When we went back in the morning to check on our van, we were told that we would have to tow the van back to the college which would cost around $350. We explained the van was not ours and we were on a mission trip and one of the young mechanics told us he would check one more thing. And he fixed our van free of charge! (I guess there was a spark plug wire that was unplugged, which was straining our engine and causing the stalling). Praise God!

We had a great breakfast, checked out of our room, and headed to the Bright Angel Trail to start on our 3-mile roundtrip hike down the canyon. Here are some pics from the hike:

We ended that beautiful day with $.99 sundaes at Sonic (this was dinner for some – apologies to the Health Team!).  All in all, it was a great day!

A “You’ve-read-to-the-end-of-this-long-post” extra tidbit: Take another look at our Friday and Saturday pictures, and you will notice that we are wearing the same clothes!  We all smelled a little ripe for the experience, but it was definitely the source of some team bonding….just don’t hop in the 7 passenger van for a while unless you fancy the smell of old sandwiches and feet 🙂

Next Blog Post: The Native Church and Rest

***Just to let you know: If you click on any of the pictures they should pop up bigger (if you want to see them better)