OUTREACH MINISTRY
Every Christmas, we participate in outreach ministries. This year, we are focusing on supporting our Navajo neighbors in their efforts to provide clean drinking water. If you would like to contribute, please make your check payable to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, noting “NELM” in the memo line, and place it in the offering plate.
If you wish for your contribution to count toward your 2024 year-end giving, please submit your donation by December 29. Otherwise, this outreach ministry will extend through the end of January 2025.
Thank you!
How it Started
More than sixty-five years ago, Lutheran Christian missionaries arrived in Rock Point, AZ, a remote, isolated village near the Four Corners area where Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah meet. They leased 5 acres of land on which to build the Mission. The original goals stated on the lease included starting a medical center, a mechanic shop, a radio station and a Christian boarding school. The very first building on this land was a combined church, clinic and two apartments built in early 1954.
Rock Point Mission Today
Today Rock Point has a gas station and convenience store, a laundromat and post office, high school, a chapter house and senior center –and 2000 people living on the land in family clans. Food and medical services are still more than 50 miles away, and general shopping is 115 miles away in New Mexico.
The Mission campus includes Navajo Mission Preparatory School, a K-2 private Christian school, a clinic operated by Tachiinii Nursing Services, Inc. home healthcare services, and an ELCA congregation, House of Prayer.
At the Mission, the Navajo people learn to see themselves and the church as the guiding light – but not the whole show. There are other components of the Mission (like our school, clinic, cultural center, water project, and food bank) which demonstrate our commitment to love one another.
Water Project
Most people do not have to worry about their source of drinking water when they turn on the faucet, on the Navajo Nation, they do. 40% of homes in Rock Point do not have running water, as the surrounding communities experience the same issue. Because of World War II efforts, uranium was mined on Navajo Nation and most of those mines were abandoned without proper closures. Communities like Rock Point depend on mountain run off, but these are where uncapped uranium mines are located. The Nation’s utility company provides water lines but it has been costly.
A well was drilled that is now providing non-potable water. The goal is to provide safe drinking water approved by the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency. In addition, they would like to provide filtered water that can be refilled in five gallon containers and ice blocks. About 60% of homes do not have electricity to store their food, so providing block ice is essential.
A Message from the Executive Director
This precious place cannot exist without the investment of prayer, a volunteer presence, and financial help from generous and committed individuals, congregations, foundations, granting organizations and legacy gifts.
On behalf of the entire Mission staff and the Rock Point community, we want to welcome
you to our Mission team. Together we are pioneering a 21st century mission. We are looking beyond what we are to what we can become – a strong and vital, loving and hope-filled community. Love changes everything!
With Gratitude,
Patterson Yazzi
Every Christmas, we participate in outreach ministries. This year, we are focusing on supporting our Navajo neighbors in their efforts to provide clean drinking water. If you would like to contribute, please make your check payable to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, noting “NELM” in the memo line, and place it in the offering plate.
If you wish for your contribution to count toward your 2024 year-end giving, please submit your donation by December 29. Otherwise, this outreach ministry will extend through the end of January 2025.
Thank you!
How it Started
More than sixty-five years ago, Lutheran Christian missionaries arrived in Rock Point, AZ, a remote, isolated village near the Four Corners area where Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah meet. They leased 5 acres of land on which to build the Mission. The original goals stated on the lease included starting a medical center, a mechanic shop, a radio station and a Christian boarding school. The very first building on this land was a combined church, clinic and two apartments built in early 1954.
Rock Point Mission Today
Today Rock Point has a gas station and convenience store, a laundromat and post office, high school, a chapter house and senior center –and 2000 people living on the land in family clans. Food and medical services are still more than 50 miles away, and general shopping is 115 miles away in New Mexico.
The Mission campus includes Navajo Mission Preparatory School, a K-2 private Christian school, a clinic operated by Tachiinii Nursing Services, Inc. home healthcare services, and an ELCA congregation, House of Prayer.
At the Mission, the Navajo people learn to see themselves and the church as the guiding light – but not the whole show. There are other components of the Mission (like our school, clinic, cultural center, water project, and food bank) which demonstrate our commitment to love one another.
Water Project
Most people do not have to worry about their source of drinking water when they turn on the faucet, on the Navajo Nation, they do. 40% of homes in Rock Point do not have running water, as the surrounding communities experience the same issue. Because of World War II efforts, uranium was mined on Navajo Nation and most of those mines were abandoned without proper closures. Communities like Rock Point depend on mountain run off, but these are where uncapped uranium mines are located. The Nation’s utility company provides water lines but it has been costly.
A well was drilled that is now providing non-potable water. The goal is to provide safe drinking water approved by the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency. In addition, they would like to provide filtered water that can be refilled in five gallon containers and ice blocks. About 60% of homes do not have electricity to store their food, so providing block ice is essential.
A Message from the Executive Director
This precious place cannot exist without the investment of prayer, a volunteer presence, and financial help from generous and committed individuals, congregations, foundations, granting organizations and legacy gifts.
On behalf of the entire Mission staff and the Rock Point community, we want to welcome
you to our Mission team. Together we are pioneering a 21st century mission. We are looking beyond what we are to what we can become – a strong and vital, loving and hope-filled community. Love changes everything!
With Gratitude,
Patterson Yazzi
Navajo Evangelical Lutheran Mission operates a
non-potable water well for those living within a 20-mile radius.
non-potable water well for those living within a 20-mile radius.
