Jennifer and Alex Cabezon

Our long journey is over. Last night we pulled into my parent’s driveway here in Oregon. The only thing that’s left is a couple of days to rest, pack, and do last minute errands before we leave for Panama. This has been an outreach of extremes.  We began with below zero temperatures and snowstorms in Idaho. We finished with 70 degree temperatures and sun in Arizona.  We went from sea level at our first outreach presentation on the coast of Oregon, and finished driving back through Arizona over 8,000 + altitude at the pass.  We walked through the desert where nothing taller than a sage brush or tumbleweed could grow, and then went to see the mighty redwoods, the tallest trees on earth. But over all what will stay with me are the people. The Nez Perce and Hopi people, and the YWAMers and other missionaries who are giving their lives to serve these people.  I will remember Stella, who taught us how to do beadwork. She told us that her grandmother taught her to always put in a

Images, sounds and impressions from Hopi Land are filling my mind.  Tomorrow we begin our journey back to Oregon, and next week we will be flying back home to Panama.  I know that the Hopi will stay in my heart; the people I met and what I learned while on Hopi Land. The Hopi are an ancient people, and being on their land, hearing their language, experiencing the landscape, learning their stories, left me with the impression of what a newcomer my people are to this land.  As I sat and listened to prayers and songs being offered to God in the Hopi language, I thought how appropriate it was to hear this language being spoken in the same villages where it had been spoken for hundreds of years.  The Bible talks about the Shepherd who goes out looking for the one lost sheep.  And when He brings back that sheep, Jesus told us that all the angels in heaven rejoice. I can only imagine that all the angels in heaven are waiting for word that one more of these ancient people have been fo

The sun just set. Every evening we have to go out and see the sunset, because each one is so beautiful.  The colors reflect on both sides of the sky, yellow clouds on one side, and pink and purple on the other. Then the yellow turns to orange, and the purple deepens and mixes with blue. There is nothing to get in the way of our view here, the sky is all around. Today we helped our new Hopi friend, Ruby, pick up garbage from her yard.  They are not allowed to fence in their yards on Hopi Land, and so garbage from other neighbors collects in her yard.  It’s too much for her to handle on her own.  So our team’s hands went to work.  She blessed us more than we could bless her as she cooked a feast for us; tacos, ribs, blue corn meal cooked in balls, and wrapped in corn husk (much like a Panamanian bollo).  There was also tripe soup and tamales.  We ate until we couldn’t eat any longer.  Then Nita, Ruby’s daughter, lead us in a time of prayer. She explained how the cedar smoke

Today is our fifth day on Hopi Land.  We woke up tired from a late night, but encouraged with all that happened.  We went to the small YWAM center for a potluck.  We were warned to not expect too many people, though many had been invited to come and see our Wounaan dances.  We had over 20 people arrive. We shared a good meal with lots of conversation, then moved into another room where there was room to dance. We sang a song in Woun Meu, then danced a couple of Wounaan dances, one that we invited others to join in.  There were many smiles and much laughter as we danced together.  Then our group began to share from their various experiences; Malana shared something she had learned from her Wounaan classmates, Steve shared how he came to know Christ, Yessy brought greetings from the rest of the group in Panama. Then Alex shared, a mixture of fun stories from the Wounaan culture, and experiences of his own life as God has guided him. He encouraged those present to have hope for the

Today is our fourth day on Hopi Land.  Things which began so slowly have taken off.  We have been busy all day. We started in the morning going up to the top of the Mesa with a local YWAMer and 3 Hopi friends.  We were initiated into the Hopi roads as our small car struggled through huge mud puddles and ended up spattered with mud, much as other vehicles we had seen around town. We got out of the car and contemplated the amazing view from the top of the mesa as we looked down on the canyon below and the flat land stretching out almost as far as we could see, only broken by some distant buttes on the edge of the horizon.  The place gave a new meaning to the word silence, till a young hawk flew overhead and cried out. We prayed and shared for over an hour, our group and our new Hopi friends. We later learned that one of the women with us that day was not a believer, but she spent all morning with us as we shared how God was working in our lives, and then came to the house an

This is our second day in Hopi Land.  The weather has been beautiful, clear skies with stunning sunsets.  The Hopi have a story that in the beginning their people chose this land because no one would envy them here, and no one would steal the land from them. Indeed, the Hopi were one of the few people groups in North America that were never displaced from their land.  Visible from the house we are staying in is the oldest continuously populated town in North America.  The Hopi are an ancient people group. As we drove out from Flagstaff yesterday, the dry Pondarosa Pine and Juniper of the mountains gave way to flat land dotted with sage brush and yellow grass. We seemed to drive on and on through nothingness, just the mesas jutting up from the ground to provide landmarks. I found myself imagining the long ago ancestors of the Hopi walking through this land, and settling at the feet of the mesas to grow their corn and raise their families.  Coming from the tall mountains and fresh