Denny, Anne

God brought me to Immanuel Mission in 1990 from Kansas to teach 3rd and 4th grade. Over the years I have used my musical training and my love for math with all the grades and in 2018 I became the principal of the school. I have the great joy of working with many of my former students who are now our PE teacher, art teacher, cook, PreK teacher, and even one of the elders at the church we have here.

Immanuel Mission is on the Navajo reservation in the NE corner of Arizona (you can google map it if that is interesting to you).  We travel 14 miles of dirt road to get to a highway and then 70 more miles for a grocery store and Wal-Mart in Colorado or New Mexico. 

We are celebrating 100 years of God's faithfulness since the Holcombs rode in on a horse-drawn wagon in 1923 to bring the truth of Christ's love to the Navajo people.  In the 1940s the missionaries started a school and currently we have pre-K through 8th grade. The school is a tool to reach the Navajo people with the hope and joy of knowing Jesus Christ. We also have a church, a thrift store, a Vo-Tech building, and our school gym is used almost every night by teens and families.

When I came in 1990 many of our neighbors came to the mission regularly for water, electricity, phone, and miscellaneous help. Most everyone now has water and electric (how my neighbors say it) and there is a cell tower in sight of the mission.  We are having to be more creative to get the Gospel out. We have had movie nights, Christian concerts, and other celebrations. And of course we have school everyday.  We don't charge anything for our school and even trust the Lord for food for everyone for breakfast and lunch.  It is a joy to invite parents to eat with us and some do when they pick up their pre-K child at noon. When we trusted the government to provide food, we had so many regulations that we couldn't freely share with the community and we had to see food being tossed in the trash daily.  But when the Lord provides the food there is enough for everyone with baskets left over. Throughout the year, but more during the summer, we have teams that come from churches to do work projects and VBS outreaches for a week at a time.

I still make it back to Kansas Bible Camp every summer to direct three girls camps and to see most of my family. Even though we are remote, we welcome visitors who are willing to drive down our dirt road and have even gone out to the pavement to get those whose vehicles wouldn't make it. Thanks for reading this far and for approaching the throne of grace on behalf of me and Immanuel Mission.