HIS students join other young Adventists in door-to-door outreach, handing out health pamphlets and The Great Controversy.
A Seventh-day Adventist Boarding Academy Serving Native American Youth Since 1946
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Native American Students Attend GYC for the First Time
ttendees at the 2022 Generation of Youth for Christ (GYC) conference were inspired by the proclamation found in Isaiah 58:8 to “break forth.” This was the theme for the four-day conference held in Phoenix, Arizona. As a yearly gathering for youth and young adults in the Adventist church who are advancing in their faith, the GYC conference is recognized as an occasion that attracts developing young people. However, for a small group of newly baptized Native American youth attending this
HIS teacher Ana Lopez and students at the 2022 GYC conference in Phoenix.
24 Pacific Union Recorder
Holbrook Indian School
year’s conference, the experience brought exposure to a broader Adventist community. During their December winter break, seven students from Holbrook Indian School (HIS) attended the GYC conference for the first time. The voluntary trip was organized by HIS teacher and librarian Ana Lopez, who invited baptized students to the event, all of whom rarely travel very far beyond the borders of the Navajo Nation. There is a solid Adventist presence on the Navajo reservation. Yet, due to poverty and other factors, many Navajo are only able to travel within the four corner regions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and the southern border corners of Colorado and Utah. As a result, the spectrum of Adventists among the Navajo is limited to the residents of these areas and those who happen to travel through them. Thankfully, the GYC conference came close to home, providing exposure to a larger—more global— Adventist community. The GYC conference experience marked a juncture in the personal spiritual journey of these Native youth. The students who attended the conference spoke of the impact that being at GYC had on them. For junior Dakota, the effect was social. Dakota appreciated the opportunity