Hi church fam! This is Avery. Tuesday was another day of our Element VBS. Our theme was water! After giving a lesson on Jesus calming the storm (Mark 4:35-41) and Christ’s timing, we had small group to discuss the lesson and eat snack. Eventually, in the hot Arizona sun, we played a variety of water games such as a sponge relay, water balloon toss, and another relay involving a cup of water taped to the top of a pool noodle (shoutout to Pastor Darren for introducing that game to us). Our program concluded with a water balloon fight that lasted approximately one and a half minutes (sigh). After lunch, we all went to the Holbrook Public Pool to cool off. Some of the older youth were assigned to a younger NAOMI kid since the kiddie pool was closed. It was a fun afternoon swimming and enjoying each other’s company. Once we left the pool, we visited the Wigwam Motel and Jackrabbit Trading Post. What fun :) Later, we had dinner, chores, worship, and got a visit from Genevieve Skidmore, the executive director of NAOMI House. She explained her testimony and her journey to Native American ministry. After hanging out with the NAOMI youth, some of us finished off the day by watching shooting stars in the night sky. Christ’s love has truly been evident and it’s an honor to be able to serve here.

- Avery Kishimoto

Hi everyone, this is Makoto! Thank you for praying for our mission group!

The theme for Day 3 of VBS was air, and I made a lesson about how people received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost day (Acts 2). I was in a team with Ellie, Kalani, and Tina, it was great to work with them to prepare and think about how to lead the NAOMI kids. The day before we had our VBS, I was worried about how things would go, but I was encouraged by prayers from the group and people from church. I saw the night sky in Arizona that was so clear that I could see many stars, and it reminded me that the Creator of this sky is so much bigger. On the day of, I was still nervous about sharing the message, but remembering the night sky yesterday made me calm at the same time. I was thankful that many of the children enjoyed the air-themed games that my teammates came up with and led. We went to the gym at Winslow First Baptist Church in the afternoon, and it was fun playing with with the children. It was also fun to visit the corner in Winslow. Thank you so much for the prayers and support!!

- Makoto Ishita

We arrived to NAOMI House the afternoon of July 26th and the kitchen crew hit the ground running, assessing existing supplies and organizing the kitchen as we awaited the arrival of Laura and Julie from their Sam's Club pickup. Within an hour of their arrival with our express dinner supplies, we'd be having frozen lasagna, bagged salad, and garlic bread. We would feel the rigor of cutting, chopping, and on-going prepping for upcoming meals. This would be our first time working together as a kitchen crew, and we began to tap into our inner Midge (the NH kitchen crew founder). We paged thru her cook book as we repurposed what was in the pantry, freezer, and refrigerator. We could feel Midge's presence as the food would come together even with our planned menu in hand, adding and subtracting as we deemed.
The flow of teens, children, and adults thru the kitchen brought so much fun and joy. Kitchen crew is a early rising, late evening, tiredless job, but God was present adding and guiding the WC's (West Covina and Walnut Creek) kitchen team in feeding the NAOMI house, the staff and the WC's teams for the 7 days of heavenly bliss.

- Angela Gallegos (Walnut Creek)