Holbrook Indian School Kallie (red shirt) and Katelyn (standing) enjoy a field trip with their friends.
A Seventh-day Adventist Boarding Academy Serving Native American Youth Since 1946
Blessings In Chinle By Pastor Dale Wolcott with Nicole Potgieter
The coronavirus pandemic has affected the lives of our students in very real ways. In order to slow the spread of the virus, the Navajo Reservation has instated strict stay-at-home orders and weekend curfews. Pastor Dale Wolcott serves at the Chinle church on the Navajo Reservation. The church is located next to our satellite elementary school, Chinle Adventist Elementary. He recently shared this wonderful story about two of our elementary students, Katelyn and Kallie.
K
atelyn and Kallie’s mom, Catherine, was smiling as she walked across the Chinle church yard toward our trailer. Like all Holbrook dorm students, Katelyn and Kallie have been back home due to the coronavirus shutdown. And like most Reservation families, they don’t have internet access at home. Since the one-room log cabin where they live is just a few doors down the road from the Chinle church, and since their mom volunteers a lot at the church, they’ve been able to do some of their daily schoolwork online using the church
24
PA C I F I C U N I O N R E CO R D E R
internet in a Sabbath School room. One morning, their mom wanted to explain why their family hadn’t been with us as usual for our phonein midweek prayer service the night before. They had decided to take a little walk down to Chinle Wash for evening worship, she said. They took a Bible story book, and they sang songs the girls had learned at Holbrook. Then she said, “And we took the neighbor kids with us.” “Which ones?” I wondered aloud. “The ones right next door here,” she replied, gesturing toward the
east side of our campus. “Next door” is our infamous local “drug house” or bootlegger. Its unkempt yard and constant stream of random foot and vehicle traffic lend credibility to its local reputation as a supplier of illegal liquor and more. We aren’t exactly located in Chinle’s best neighborhood (although we have several fine neighbors, including a Navajo Nation police officer). We have discussed in campus staff meetings how we should best relate to these “undesirable” neighbors. We have prayed for them, even visited a time or two, praying with them and
