Arizona Highways
Arizona Highways is the name of a well edited
and beautifully illustrated periodical. Its colored photography is superb as it paints the
glories of Arizona. But it does not tell the whole
story.
This summer our family traveled some Arizona highways that the Chamber of Commerce
would not have advertised. The visible roads
were rough with rocks and soft with sand. In
Conument Valley our car sank in to its axles. The
invisible roads were dry washes and desert sage
brush. None of it was air-conditioned. But it
was well worth the trip.
Arizona Highways also prints pictures of the
colorful Navajo Indians; but again it does not
tell the whole story. Some of the poverty, some
of the tuberculosis, some of the filth, some of
the ignorance may find its way into secular
publications; but the devastations of wine, whiskey, and peyote are not emphasized. The Indian
is achieving the rights of the white man now —
he can buy liquor and get drunk. He does.
The peyote plant, mainly grown in Mexico,
produces a button, which when chewed produces weird effects. Peyote buttons are mailed
to the Indians of Arizona from Mexico, and
the U. S. mail delivers them: there is no law
against sending peyote through the mails.
When several buttons are eaten, the subject
loses his ordinary consciousness and has strange
dreams. Apparently these Peyote eaters have
come in contact with Christianity and hold,
or at least say, that their intoxication is the work
of the Holy Spirit. Recently two cases have
occurred in which the man murdered his wife
while under the influence of peyote. When
the effect of the drug wore off, neither man
had any recollection of his crime.
Increasing doses are needed to produce the
effect. Health does not seem to be affected
at first — except that it takes a day or two
to recover from a binge; but in time the drug
seems to induce permanent insanity.
Most of the Navajos cannot speak English,
and it is extremely difficult for a missionary
to learn to speak Navajo. Good foundational
work, however, has already been done. The
New Testament and some of the Psalms have
been translated, and a collection of hymns.
Navajo Christians have made tape recordings
of Bible readings and sermons.
But the work of evangelization and of teaching the Navajo to read their own language is
slow. On the reservation there are many white
uranium miners and oil prospectors; but the
laborers of the Gospel are few. Then too the
hearts of the Navajos are harder than their
rocky terrain. The old tribal religion dies hard.
Temptations to the new believer are strong.
The patience of Job — no, the patience of God
is required.
Then also there is a great deal of inefficiency,
though this is not the fault of the missionaries.
It is the fault of those who support the missionaries. Each mission station must dig its own
well, must keep an amount of machinery in
order, must manage to exist in a hard country.
This necessary daily labor takes time, and the
time is taken from the work of translation and
evangelization. Is it the best use of money to
support a missionary several years while he
learns the language and becomes able to reach
the Navajo, and then make this man run his
private utility system? Would it not be a more
effective use of the Lord's money to furnish
him with a mechanic and handy man so as to
release him for the work he alone can do?
And there is plenty of this work for him. Before any services can be organized or any Bible
classes instituted, the Navajos must be visited
in their family hogans. Patient, even tedious,
personal work is the necessary prerequisite to
progress. The Gospel story must be spelled out
in clear detail. It must be distinguished from
Indian legends. Its significance must be made
evident to the pagan mind. This takes time;
this takes a knowledge of Navajo; this indeed
takes grace. And it takes money too.
- G.H.C.
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