"I looked in their eyes...and I felt their brokenness."
Those were Cindy's (Navajo) words as she surveyed the crowd just before she shared her Hope Story. Which turned out to be one of the most powerful God-moments of this amazing Summer of Hope. More on that later.
I truly believe that our small team of 13 had the opportunity to be like Jesus to these two isolated reserves in Canada. This was answered prayer for our local host who had reached out to us about seven years ago, asking what it would take to bring the On Eagles' Wings team there. But like always, God's timing is perfect.
She's a nurse at the Cedar Canyon Reservation Health Service. She told me the E.R. had been one tragic emergency after another. "Drug overdoses, stabbings, shootings, suicide. We've had elevensuicides since January. It's nonstop."
Another reservation in crisis. This year God seems to have led On Eagles' Wings to one place after another where a Summer of Hope may be the only hope for many.
"If you don't see me here anymore, it's because I was shot." - 11-year-old to a youth leader in the Ironwood Native community
Sadly, that's life in Ironwood. A violent urban "rez" where there is a constant bombardment of drug overdoses, gang activity, violence and death. It's not an exaggeration to call it a war zone.
We knew it was going to be hard at Ivy Park. This is a reservation where there have been 75 drug overdoses and at least 15 overdose-related deaths just since 2016. With only a few thousand people living there, this has been devastating. One of the young ladies who came to the event said at least ten of her friends had overdosed in just the past couple of months.
It's the rez that will long be remembered for the night of the washout miracle. And the reminder of Who's in charge.
A baby born addicted to drugs has three strikes before they've even lived a day. The recent report from the High Mountain Reservation laments "a growing number of new babies born to mothers who are using."
They called her one of this reservation's "baby mamas" - girls so very young with babies they're not ready for. One of those mamas died just before we got there - another life lost to a drug overdose. And a baby without a mother. And the night of our final event, a funeral for another drug fatality. Tragic reminders of how very much these people need Jesus.
One reservation has more suicides than any other area in the state. The other reservation is flooded with drugs and the death it brings.
Thank God, we didn't have to choose which one we went to. God has given us a strong team of warriors that enable us to divide our army and fight for lives on two reservations at a time.
"I didn't think I could present the Gospel on my own. And then - like you guys said - I felt God take over."
It was only Tanya's (Hopi) second night as an On Eagles' Wings warrior.
Fresh from our Boot Camp rescue training. And already doing what so many believers never do - explaining the Good News of Jesus to someone who's lost.
It was the Plutonium Warrior Leadership Summit!
Like the nuclear element that launched Doc's car into time travel in the movie "Back to the Future," God seemed to launch WLS to a whole new level this year! The story exceeds the words I can find to do it justice, but here are a few markers of the amazing move of God among hundreds of young Native warriors, representing 82 tribes.