This year we are building on the great example thethe YRUU youth set for us last year with another service trip, but this time our team will be multi-generational. Next March, sixteen adults and youth will travel to the Hopi and Navajo Nations in the Four Corners region of Arizona. We’ll be working with a fantastic grassroots non-profit, Sumi Nungwa, which means “coming together” in Hopi.” Longtime UU and founder of Sumi Nungwa, Cheryl  Marzec, will lead us as we learn from and help Hopi and Navajo elders, inside communities that most Americans never see.

We’ll be working hard, for sure, but we’re also building in room for spiritual reflection, sharing and the unexpected. Growing takes room. Although only sixteen of us will be making the physical journey this time, we will go as loving representatives of our whole community, and there will be many opportunities for all of us to learn, grow and serve through this project.

It’ll all begin on Saturday, January 28, when Cheryl Marzec and one of the Hopi elders she works with will join us at USSB for “Reservation 101,” an introduction to life on the reservations. It will be a wonderful evening, and I encourage all of you to attend. They will join us again and share more of their stories with us at Sunday morning worship on the 29th and will also begin in-depth reflection/preparation with our travelers.

Check out the Sumi Nungwa website to learn more: http://suminungwa.org/SumiNungwa/Home.html.