Lostpeople

A Forgotten People by Karen Katchuk

In the Sonoran Desert of Arizona lies the Tohono Oodham Indian Reservation. This reservation is the second
largest in the nation and home to a forgotten people group. They are one of the poorest people groups in
America, and after working with them, your perspective on daily life and poverty are changed.
One Way Ministries has been there working with First Papago Baptist Church since 2001. One Way Ministries
is a mission focused organization committed to leading people on mission trips that will change their lives.
Their desire is to reach the impoverished, desperate and forgotten people groups of our world with the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. As of October 2008, they have led many groups to the desert of Southern Arizona,
the villages of South Africa and the fields of Indiana.

There will be more trips being led to these locations in 2009, along with Guatemala, and New Mexico.
The work on each trip varies based on the time of the year, location and needs. You could be painting a
house in a small village on the Indian reservation, holding orphans in Southern Africa or Guatemala, leading a
small VBS group in New Mexico or sharing the gospel in Indiana! We spend time with God every morning
seeking his plan for the day ahead, and go thoroughly equipped with children’s ministry plans, dramas,
construction experience, and much more! A servant’s heart and a willingness to listen to God’s direction are
all that is required!

Over 30,000 young people, below the age of 18, live in a forgotten corner of the US without many of the basic
daily needs that we take for granted. Countless families are desperate for the love of Christ poured out
through tangible means. In addition, many people groups in the US and around the world are starving for the
necessities of life.

Through a variety of ministry opportunities, you can touch the lives of these children, teenagers and their
parents throughout the year. One Way Ministries leads trips to provide VBS, outreach, crusades, sports
camps, tutoring, computer training, construction and nursing home care.
Join our team for one week of missions and ministry and see what steps you can take to reaching the world!
If you are interested in learning more about One Way Ministries and the trips we offer, please visit www.
1wayministries.org.

Following are Karen's own experiences while working with the Tohono Oodham.

In the summer of 2006, my family and I joined a group of 30 others from my church on a mission trip to the
Tohono Oodham Indian Reservation in Southern Arizona. We had arranged this trip through an organization
called One Way Ministries. I had never experienced something of this magnitude and was very eager to go!
Having done VBS many times before, I prepared myself with lessons, crafts, visuals, etc. Upon meeting the TO
people though, I realized that I had over-prepared! I was ready to tell people, who had already heard of the
man named Jesus, more about him. But, I was among a culture where some of them had never heard of him! I
prayed and then began to just share the stories, the teachings and show the people what God meant to me,
what he had done in my life!

On the first day there, I met a young man who would forever change my life, my way of thinking and my way of
witnessing. His name was Brent and he was 13 years old. He was trying to be cool with his friends, riding
skateboards, but deep inside he was hearing what I had to say to him. He began to listen and share his life
with me, to trust me. We quickly became friends. He shared with me that he didn’t know where his father was,
his mom was in jail for selling drugs and he and his brothers and sister were living with his Grandma. She didn’
t care about them and neither did his parents. Over the week, I began to share the love of Jesus with Brent,
and on Thursday he gave his life to Christ. I will never forget it; we were standing in a pouring rain, in the
grocery store parking lot, where we were having a crusade. I was talking to Brent, holding his hands, asking
him questions. People around us began to pray and then formed a circle, we were all praying for him and
showing him our support, our earnest plea for his eternal life. He began to break down barriers and allow God
to come into his life right there that night. The rain was battering us but we didn’t care, because he was
asking God to change his life, come into his heart and make it clean.

The next night Brent was baptized in a horse feeding trough. When asked afterwards how he felt, he shouted
with his arms in the air, “I feel saved!” Brent changed my life that year and was also the driving force behind
so many things I did the following year. He planted in me the desire, the true passion to spread the Good
News of Christ to all people. There are so many people in this world who have never heard or don’t have a
personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

It is a family affair now, my daughter and I recently spent a month on the reservation this past summer. Loving
on the people, tutoring, cooking, cleaning, construction, teaching VBS, or just sitting while a parent tells of
their addiction to drugs or alcohol or how they have failed their children…..a whole variety of things are
needed. Everything we do is a piece of God though, we are striving to be God’s hands and feet in a world
where people are lost and searching.

I want to share my passion with others and encourage you to take a week, be the change in someone’s life.
Share Jesus with someone who is desperate, lost and searching.
It will forever change your life and theirs!

Karen Katchuk is a middle school teacher in Owensboro, KY.