“ah-hi-di-dail”
By: Nancy Schramm, osf
Come Together in the Navajo language
If not for the pandemic, this week would have been the last few days in Chinle, Arizona for our missioners to complete their projects and begin to say their goodbyes to
th
e Navajo people on the reservation there. Usually the team is around 18 people who participate in a mission formation program, receive the blessing of a parish community here in Joliet, and then, with hearts, minds and bodies ready and joyful, they fly to Albuquerque and drive the last lag to Chinle. Like
all the groups of missioners that participate in the various diocesan mission trips around the world, these people have invested time and energy in creating relationships which have endured many years. They have gained the trust and affection of the Navajo people, the most precious gift of our
mission trips. A truly successful trip is when mutuality occurs. It is not just the “missioner” doing something for the “poor” Navajo people; it is the missioner being someone for the Navajo person, and then the Navajo person being someone for the missioner. So who
really is the missioner? They both are but the gifts they offer are different. Just ask one of our veteran Navajo missioners what she/he has become because of the contact with the Navajo people!
