Navajo Experience - 2012 Group 1 Blog

The day began with Morning Prayer and on reflection of what we began five days ago and what we were about to finish. The four groups headed out to the same locations as yesterday.

St. Francis of Assisi School
Following Morning Prayer, our group headed to St. Francis of Assisi School in Gallup, NM. We arrived around 8:30 and got right to work. Our first job was to reinstall the basketball nets in the school yard, which were sagging and in a state of disrepair. We then got to work putting up wood slat fencing on the existing metal fence. We did this because in the back of the school in plain view of kids in the school yard was a back alley where drugs and alcohol were present – something kids did not need to see. After we finished putting up the fencing, we were invited to have lunch in the school, which is offered to children in the neighborhood as part of a state meal program. Lunch consisted of a chicken burrito, rice, and corn and was surprisingly good for “free” cafeteria food. We then helped Victor, the school’s janitor, clean some of the rooms. Victor is in his late sixties and is roughly five foot tall. It was incredible to see him lift such large pieces of furniture. When asked how he did it by himself before we got there, he humbly replied, “I don’t know.” Our time with Victor was cut short because the Principal invited us to pray the rosary with the Sisters of Charity, which is the same order as Mother Teresa. We drove up the road to their chapel, knelt on a thinly carpeted floor for about an hour, and together with six Sisters of Charity prayed the rosary. After praying, we participated in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and were able to enjoy some quiet time in prayer. Needless to say we were pretty tired and our knees hurt from kneeling. These sisters did this at least once a day in addition to going to Mass and it was striking to walk in their footsteps for a short time and to witness a true sacrifice being made to God. After the prayers were over and the feeling in our knees came back, we headed off to the school to retrieve our things and headed back to St. Michael Indian School to join the rest of our classmates.

St. Mary’s Mission
After Morning Prayer, the guys and I headed off to St. Mary’s. At St. Mary’s we were sent off into the mountains to cut trees and split logs needed for fires and heat during the winter months. The trip up the mountain was nearly two and a half hours and let’s just says it was not a smooth journey. Most of our trip was off road going up dirt and rock road that was barely cleared enough so people in the area could gather fire wood. We worked with Calvin and Howard who are workers at the school and we learned a lot about the culture and beliefs of the Navajo people during our long, bumpy trip. We learned that living trees and trees that have been struck by lightning are not allowed to be cut down because they are considered sacred. Therefore, we had to be specific in cutting down only dead trees. When we finally arrived at our destination atop the mountain it was around noon, so we took a break for lunch. We ate our lunch on the rocks, soaking in the beautiful land across the horizon that was thousands of feet below us. After lunch, the real work began. Throughout the day we learned about cutting wood and trees. None us had never done any work with axes or cutting wood, so it was a little rough in the beginning. However, we all picked up the techniques and I believe I can speak for the whole group when I say this was the most entertaining day of service. Cutting the wood involved a lot of teamwork and also a lot of support. To have fun, we all were cheering for each other and even having competitions that involved who could split the wood in the least amount of swings. Needless to say I often won the competition of brute strength and precision. Finally, when our work was finished around 3:00 pm we began our long, bumpy journey home. Just as the excitement for the day seemed to have ended, we saw a bear attack a horse. As sad as it was, that was something that I’ll never see unless I’m watching the discovery channel or on the Internet. When we finally arrived back at St. Mary’s, we helped Calvin and Howard unload the wood, and said our sad and final farewells. Along with giving me their blessings (Navajo style), these two men taught me many things that will stay with me forever,. Even though I’ve only known these men for a short period of time, it was sad to have to say good bye. Howard and Calvin changed me for the better and taught me a little bit about myself and all of God’s children. As much as I miss home, I am glad I was able to experience the Navajo culture along with doing service for a week. This has been an experience that will stay with me forever and that I would not trade for anything. On this day, I finally realized the true importance of helping others and how all people are connected as children of God.

St. Michael Indian School
Following Morning Prayer, I headed down to the teacher’s trailers with a few of my other classmates to finish up on the weeks’ worth of work. I began the work with Ryan Barr as we finished painting the skirting around the trailers. After this was finished, we moved to the other trailers to paint the porches and seal the roofs. The fact that this was the last day, the heat was increasing, and I was missing life back home made these tasks extremely difficult. Thanks to motivation from fellow classmates, Mr. Dominick, Mr. Norman and Jerry the maintenance man, we were able to pull through and finish these projects before lunch. After lunch, I then headed into St. Michael’s High School to finish up some painting in the hallways. Along with three other classmates, we painted the walls of the hallway and painted frames around all the pictures of the graduating classes beginning with 1969. It was amazing to see that in some cases, the school had as little as thirteen students graduate in 1979. This low number showed that although they may not have had many students, the faculty still wanted to keep the school up and running so that the children of the reservation could have the opportunity of a better education. Finally, we finished up painting and spent some time talking to Brother Jim about how special these handmade frames were and how much our work meant to him and the school. As much as I miss home, I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to come on this trip and give my time to the people that need it most. I’m now looking forward to our final prayer service in the Hogan and then being able to catch the sunrise in the morning while sitting on top of the mountain.

Upon finishing our work day, we cleaned up and packed for tomorrow’s flight home. We had a BBQ dinner consisting of hamburgers and hot dogs cooked by Mr. Dominick and then headed up for our final Evening Prayer, which was held in the Hogan located adjacent to the Franciscan Mission Church. The prayer service was led by the four adult leaders and reflection focused on our experience and “Where do we go from here?”

Sean Naessens, Mike deLuca, Chris Esposito, and Nick Higgins

Today was the hottest day of the trip with the temperature reaching 97 degrees in Gallup, NM. Fortunately, the humidity levels are less than 20%. The day began as usual, with Morning Prayer and reflection in the private chapel of Mother Katharine Drexel. We stayed in the same four groups, but were deployed to new locations. Mr. Dominick, Mr. Norman, and their groups stayed at St. Michael School, Mr. Heasley took Group No. 2 to St. Mary’s Mission, and Mr. Carabello drive Group No. 1 to St. Francis of Assisi School in Gallup, NM.

St. Francis of Assisi School
When we arrived at St. Francis of Assisi School, an elementary school in Gallup, we first met Principal Don Frank. He was an enthusiastic man who told us about the mission of the school, the dedicated staff, and his own religious life. After his introduction, we got to work. We re-lined the parking lot and made the kickball and basketball courts. Ryan Barr and Riley Slusarski cleaned the playground equipment and Mr. Carabello and Connor McHugh went to an offsite location to construct a playset for Gallup Catholic. The two used pieces leftover from the original playsets that were built at St. Francis of Assisi to build a new playset that even included a bridge. The group saw a social justice demonstration offsite held by local religious leaders and had lunch at Earl’s Diner on Historic Route 66. Although the weather was scorching, we persevered and got the job done.

St. Mary’s Mission School
When we arrived at St. Mary’s we were greeted by Sister Pat who introduced us to the maintenance man Calvin and his assistant Howard. They explained to us that we were going to spend the day scraping off the old chipped paint off a couple trailers and then repaint them. As a group we worked together dividing the trailer up so each person had a section of paint to remove. After finishing the first trailer we were given a tour of the campus by Sister Pat. The first place she took us was a thrift store because she wanted us to meet Lillian. Lillian was a bubbly Native American who held strongly onto her traditional Navajo beliefs, but was also a part of the Catholic faith. She was very grateful for what we we’re doing and Sister Pat asked her to pray for us. At first she wasn’t too enthusiastic about it, but she asked us to bow our heads and began to pray for us. Her prayer was in her native language, but when she was finished she began to explain that she wished us safe travels and to watch over us. Sister Pat told us that we we’re fortunate to get an explanation because she doesn’t do that too often. After we met Lillian and the other ladies we got to see the Church and the Hogan which were filled with beautiful art that was painted by some of the people affiliated with St. Mary’s. After the tour we went back to work and a little later we were taking a break in the workshop with Calvin and Howard. Calvin told us a funny short story to break the ice and then asked Howard who has been quiet most the time if he had anything to share. After that Howard began telling stories, giving lessons, and laughing. During his stories we discovered he was a medicine man, and that he has healed many people. He explained to us that the medicine man doesn’t do the healing – he’s basically the middle man between us and God. He told and warned us how alcohol basically ruined his life. Howard was the type of man that truly spoke with his heart and was so interesting not one person in the group could take their eyes off him while he was talking. After a few stories we went back to scrapping and painting. I couldn’t help myself and I didn’t want to impose, but I’ve been looking forward to meeting a man like this ever since I signed up for the trip. I asked Howard to pray for us. He was more than willing to and brought us into the Hogan and asked us what we wanted to pray for. He said a prayer that came from the soul and while he was saying my prayer, a feeling came over me that I’m not able to explain but it felt enlightening. After the prayers, we began to walk back to the car and the group was at a loss for words. Nobody can explain what happened and not even Howard understood. We just knew at that moment there was a connection between us and God.

St. Michael Indian School
Today started just like every day before. We got up early and ate our breakfast, but today I switched sites and spent the day with my group at St. Michael Indian School. The rising temperatures, difficult work, and an annoyingly bug population made this day the hardest day of the trip. We started work early and painted the teacher’s trailers and decks. This was no easy task as we spent almost the whole morning painting until we finally ran out paint. After lunch, we went to work on other tasks around the teacher’s trailers including removing grills from the windows and sealing the roof of their trailers. There were thirteen trailers to fix-up, so it was never hard to find more work to do. We probably could have continued for longer, but my group had a special part in preparing tonight’s dinner. At 4:00 pm we washed up and then headed into the kitchen to help Liz, a Native American woman, prepare fry bread. She was very nice and helped everyone learn how to make it and by the time we ran out of dough we probably made enough fry bread to feed everybody twice. I would know because Kevin Scott and I had to cook all of them over the hot fryer. At the end of the day we accomplished a lot of the tasks that we sent out to do and, with the help of Mr. Dominick and his chili, and Liz with her cooking knowledge, we were able to prepare a pretty decent meal for everybody to enjoy at the end of another hard and demanding day.

After dinner, everybody had role in cleaning up the kitchen and dining area. Evening prayer featured reflection that focused on the question: What have you learned from this experience? Answer: More than this blog could possibly describe.

Riley Slusarski, Connor McNally, and Colin Moran

We woke up this morning had breakfast and then headed out. We drove for a good hour and a half, but it was worth it. We drove to the Canyon de Chelly taking a scenic route through a forest or two, through the mountains, and even right by a lake. We got out of the car and took a few pictures of the Canyon from the outlook area. Then, we had our Morning Prayer right there at the Canyon De Chelly. Next, we followed the path that took us down into the Canyon. It was a three mile trip (1½ miles each way). It was a long hike and it was pretty hot out, but we made it. Once we arrived at the bottom, there were vendors selling hand-crafted jewelry, trinkets, pottery, and paintings. We stopped and had lunch at the bottom of the canyon right next to the “White House” ruins, which is a cavern built into the side of the canyon. The views were incredible. We took so many pictures. After we were done purchasing things from the vendors and eating lunch, we headed back up the same trail. (It was a lot tougher going up.) When we finally reached the top, we got back in the cars and drove to an outlook that looked over “Spider Rock”. “Spider Rock” was a giant spire in the middle of Canyon De Chelly. As the Navajo legend has it, the “Spider Lady”, who gave the Navajo the gift of weaving, lived in that spire. The whole Canyon De Chelly is considered sacred ground for the Navajo Native Americans. It is considered sacred because it is where the Navajo took their last stand against the U.S. States Federal Government before being driven off their land and back into New Mexico. After we took many pictures at “Spider Rock”, we headed back a different scenic way to see the edge of the Painted Desert.

Once back at the school some people decided to play basketball and some people decided to play cards; however, most decided to sleep after the long day. Around 5:30 the group headed out to a tiny Mexican restaurant called Grandma’s. The restaurant just barely fit our entire group, and actually, the owner closed down the restaurant for us so we would have enough room. Chicken Burritos seemed like the popular meal choice of the night, but people ordered fajitas, tacos, and even hamburgers. (I am personally a little scared to find out what a Mexican meal will do to a room with twenty-three boys.) After Grandma’s, Mr. Carabello and Mr. Dominick, huge fans of old westerns, asked to stop at the El Rancho Hotel on historic Route 66 in downtown Gallup. Most western movies produced between 1930 and 1965, were filmed in and around Gallup, MM, so the El Rancho Hotel was a popular choice to stay for those actors and actresses. The hotel displayed pictures of various actors and actresses who stayed at the hotel, and even had a cool store with a lot of interesting artifacts and jewelry. All of the guest rooms were named after actors and actresses. After the hotel, the group came back for evening prayer in the Sister Katharine Drexel’s private chapel. Tonight’s reflection question: Yesterday you saw God in ordinary people, today how did you see God in nature? I thought I saw God in the extraordinary beauty of ordinary objects such as trees, rocks, sand and wild life. Others saw God in the stillness and vastness of the area. As some people said during the reflection, it was easy to see why the Navajo people considered the land sacred. Mr. Dominick closed reflection with an interesting thought: It’s hard to believe something as beautiful and awe inspiring as Canyon De Chelly is just an accident and not a work of God.

Patrick May and Matt Chadwick

With the afternoon heat reaching the mid-90’s and the sun being so strong, we began our day earlier than in the past in an effort to beat the heat. Morning Prayer was held at 7:45 in the private chapel of Mother Katharine Drexel and set the tone for the day. We stayed in the same groups as yesterday and went off to the identical work sites.

St. Michael Indian School
Today, twelve boys remained at St. Michael’s and continued doing the work that they had started yesterday. Colin MacCrory and Jimmy Princivalle were joined by Ryan Barr and went back to help at the day camp that the school runs for children in the area. They started off the morning by helping the children with arts and crafts. Later in the day, they took the children outside to the jungle gym and played with them until 3:00 pm when it was time to head back to the room. Some students, such as a little girl named Journey got very upset and began to cry knowing that the three boys may not be returning to help at the camp. After the day’s work was completed, the twelve boys then had the opportunity to hear from a native Navajo woman. She taught us many lessons about the culture and background of the Navajo people. Then the twelve went to Window Rock which is a fairly famous rock located in the capitol of the Navajo nation and is commonly painted. Mr. Carabello and Colin MacCrory cooked dinner for Mr. Heasley and the other eleven students who worked at St. Michael Indian School during the day. We made grilled chicken along with fried potatoes with peppers and onions. Sean Naessens made a salad and we purchased some locally baked bread that was made fresh that day. After we cleaned up, we made the long walk up to the entrance of the mission for the prayer service that was led by Chris Esposito and Riley Slusarski who focused on where we found God in the work that we had been doing during the day. The prayer service was held in a Hogan which is a prayer center on the site of the original Franciscan Mission built for the use of any Native American and their religious beliefs.

St. Mary Mission Church
Our day started off with a continuation of work from the previous day. Three of us continued to build the remaining manhole covers while the other half of the group continued to clean the septic tanks and burned the old covers. Upon completion, we installed the rest of the manhole covers and broke for lunch. At lunch, a Navajo medicine man named Howard talked about his life and taught us valuable lessons. He spoke of the times he saw God in his life and what that has taught him about spirituality. Howard also described how the search for God takes effort on our parts as well. After lunch, all six of us cleared a hill full of debris with axes and hedge trimmers. The tasked seemed difficult and tedious at first, but proved to be easy and very entertaining. Before our final goodbyes we participated in a traditional Navajo prayer session. Howard blessed us and prayed for our future successes. The actual process of the blessings consisted of Howard “wiping away” the bad from our bodies and then placing his hand on our heads for a personal blessing. After a phenomenal dinner at Blake’s LOTA burger, Mr. Dominick drove us to the Navajo Capital of Window Rock. While there, we hiked to the top of a breathtaking rock formation and observed a beautiful panoramic view of the reservation. From the top, we really gained an appreciation for the sacred landscape of the seemingly endless Navajo Reservation.

 Colin MacCrory, Sean Cincotta, and John Mastronardo

The day began with Morning Prayer and reflection in the private chapel of Mother Katharine Drexel.  We were then divided into four groups.  Two groups stayed at St. Michael Indian School with Mr. Carabello and Mr. Heasley, one group went with Mr. Dominick to St. Mary Mission in New Mexico, and the final group traveled to Gallup. NM with Mr. Norman and worked and St. Francis School.

St. Michael Indian School

Twelve boys stayed at St. Michael Indian School and worked on a variety of projects.  Sean and Mark worked with Brother John and tuck pointed an old stone retaining wall.  Four boys worked with Manuel and applied several coats of a heat reflective rubber coating to the roof.  Ryan and Mike worked with Mr. Carabello and used a tractor and a bobcat to build a 300 yard path across a field and connecting the road to the residential trailer area.  Eric and Connor McNally worked with Mr. Heasley and applied paint and stain to porches and decks.  Colin MacCrory and I worked as camp counselors at the Day Camp. The kids were all so much fun and so full of energy, we played tag the entire time we were outside and I constantly found myself being it, Colin was much better at getting away than I was. It was so cool being able to interact with the kids and I knew all of their names by the end of the day, and a couple of them made paintings for me and Colin before we left. We were really happy to hear that we’d be doing this again tomorrow because it was such a rewarding experience in so many ways.

St. Francis School

Five boys went with Mr. Norman to Saint Francis School and did a number of tasks around the school. The school was understaffed and lacked the man power needed to finish all the different jobs at St. Francis.  Most of the jobs were a team effort and took some time to complete.  Building sandboxes for the playgrounds, changing light bulbs around the school, washing the school’s vans, and more were all a part of what the boys and Mr. Norman did today. They worked together with Victor, the school’s 67 year-old and only maintenance man, and helped him to do the tasks he could not get to with the time he had as well.  The group will be going back tomorrow to finish what they did not today. The principal of the school stressed that God provides for those that let Him and it was truly amazing some of the stories that were in union with this idea.  The school has come extremely close to closing several times, but has always managed to find a way to make it through hard times. It really makes one appreciate what we have.

St. Mary Mission Church

Today the six of us arrived at St. Mary’s Mission Church in Tohachi, NM waiting for the job that we were going to get assigned for the day. The six of us and Mr. Dominick first met a man named Calvin, a maintenance man that maintained the Mission Church. The six of us were split up into groups of three and one group’s job was to rip up the lids of sewage manholes and take out all of the unnecessary items that were present within the manhole. The main memory that the six of us will take out of this was the lesson learned from the seventy-two year old maintenance man named Howard. He told us a couple stories of his past experiences that were very inspirational and influential. He began to talk about his granddaughter and her incredible softball abilities then taught us about how to ride a bull. We were very confused as to where he was going with this story, but he taught us a life lesson that we will cherish for the rest of our lives. The main lesson that he taught us was that if we want something bad enough we can accomplish anything. With hard word, dedication and desire to be the best we can do anything we set our minds to and this lesson coming from someone that we just met, made the lesson even that more effective.

The four groups met at St. Mary Mission, where a number of local artisans assembled and provided an opportunity for the boys to purchase authentic Navajo crafts and goods.  Many of the boys purchased jewelry, paintings, and pottery that was hand-made by Navajo people. The crafts themselves were like nothing we’d ever seen before, and they were very high quality for being relatively inexpensive, especially the rocks with paintings on them.  We then returned home and concluded the day the way we began with a prayer service in the private chapel of St. Katharine Drexel.  Evening prayer was led by Colin MacCrory and Sean Naessens and focused on “Expectations and Outcome”.

Jimmy Princivalle, Billy Lucas, and Frank Russomano

Happy Father’s Day to all of the dads in the La Salle community.

Today was one of the longest days of my entire life.  It seemed as though every time I looked at my phone no time had gone by because we switched time zones twice.  The flight to Minneapolis was easy and quiet because everyone was still half asleep.  Once we transferred planes in Minneapolis, it seemed to take no time at all to get to Albuquerque because we left at noon Central time and went back an hour, which made it seem like it was only an hour flight.  At this point everyone was pretty tired and we still had to get into SUVs and drive two hours to Arizona.  Along the way we made a stop at a Golden Corral for a bite to eat.

The ride through the New Mexican desert landscape was breathtaking. There were so many rock hills with various colors of red, orange, and gray dirt.  Everyone in my van commented on the stark differences of the landscapes as compared to Pennsylvania.  When we arrived at St. Michael Indian School we unpacked and began to mark out our territories in the room where we all sleep.  As we unpacked, we began to notice how hot it was and the simple fact that our air conditioning consists of four ceiling fans, one of which did not work. After, we went outside and played basketball and even started up a game with some of the local kids.  We were given this time to relax and get acclimated leading up to our last activity of the night – our prayer service. The prayer service was held in the personal chapel that once belonged to St. Katharine Drexel and we are very privileged that the sisters are allowing us to use it.  This consisted of a theme, a reading, and a reflection.  The theme was “Why are you here?” We took time to reflect on this in our journals and a few of us read our reflections out loud.  Following the prayer service we all returned to our beds for some much needed rest.

Tomorrow we will divide into three groups and head out to different work sites – one group will stay here at St. Michael Indian School, one group will head to St. Mary’s Mission in New Mexico, and the third group will travel to St. Francis of Assisi School in Gallup, NM.

Connor McHugh