Monument Valley, Utah, the type of place that computer screensavers are made from and a lost soul goes to for closure and peace. A place where the stars light up the night sky and the galaxies dance, where God has created pillars and caves to give this desert an image and an exquisite beauty. Monument Valley, a place that inspires me to be brave, not because of the landscape or the beauty, or the countless John Wayne movies filmed on location, but because of the inhabitants of the barren desert. The Navajo Native American tribe, a tribe that does everything on their own because they do not have the resources to hire people, a tribe that had to bring in Christian Missionaries in order to make sure their homes would be suitable to live in during the harsh winters and intense summers. Monument Valley, Utah challenges me to be brave because even when these people have so little to give, they will do anything they can to ensure anyone helping them are happy and taken care of.
I visited Monument Valley in the summer of 2012 as a part of a church sponsored mission trip. It was evident as soon as we arrived that we were about to take part in something special. I was assigned to put a new roof on the “house” of my residents, Frank and Mini Adakai. House is put into quotations as the family home was a mere trailer with 1 real bedroom. There were 6 people living in this trailer including 2 children, one a new born baby. No matter how poor and un-resourced these lovely people were they would do anything they could to make our day easier. In the summer in Monument Valley it reaches well over 100 degrees, combine this with metal roofs and it makes for a very hot day of work. Every day, Mini would make us some lemonade and some form of native food including fry bread and Navajo Tacos to replenish us. The Navajos are a tribe with a strong tradition of providing for themselves and not accepting outside help. It was very hard for Frank and Mini to accept our help without paying for it, but little did they know that they did pay us, in inspiration and love. They taught me what strength is, they taught me what being a decent human being looks like. Most importantly though, they taught me what love and compassion truly means. When our work was finished and their home was completely redone with a new roof, new paint job, cleaned interior, and numerous holes patched up, Mini grabbed me in her arms and started crying. They couldn’t thank us enough. Repeatedly telling us how thankful they were for their “new life”, and since they couldn’t pay us they offered us ghost beads to ward off evil and protect us from bad spirits. It was more than I could ever ask for. Nothing is as humbling as giving people who have nothing a new life and a new start and them still trying to give back to you.
Monument Valley didn’t inspire me to be brave, no, the people in Monument valley inspired me to be brave, Frank and Mini Adakai inspired me to be brave. They inspired be to brave because they are brave and their life is so much harder than mine has been, is, or ever will be. Frank and Mini will always have a special place in my heart, and will always be the reason that I am brave today.
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