The Storyteller

Herman heads east from Montana to Minnesota. He was on his way further into the "Cowhide land". He was planning to attend the Mokahum Indian Bible School on the Leech Lake Reservation in Cass Lake, Minnesota. Herman speaks of how he called to God and how God answered. He encourages his Native people to call out to God and hunger for Him.

The adventure continues as Herman explores the land of the cowhide. He finds much more though than he ever expected. Listen as he tells what happened next.

He'd never been off the rez before. There were many things he had never seen or heard. So when the opportunity came, Herman made his way into a brand new world. What made this adventure particularly interesting was that he only spoke the language of his people. Be prepared to laugh and wonder as Herman continues to share his story.

Herman was born and raised on the Navajo reservation in Chinli, Arizona. He grew up in a time and place much different than today. In this first of five programs, Herman introduces himself and tells of how, as a baby, he wasn't expected to live very long. Because of his illness, he didn't go to school. His grandparents raised him and he learned the Navajo way.

She wondered what the point of life was... why should she go on living. She contemplated suicide, reasoning that it made more sense to leave the perils of this existence. Listen to Edna's story of how she struggled with these things, and the conclusions she reached.

Edna grew up in Pedro Bay, Alaska. Her father died of stroke when she was five. Her mother knew how to live in the bush, but did not know how to work in the city... so they were poor. But they worked at it. At age 14, because she had some education Edna's mother charged her with heading up a commercial fishing venture for the family. They did this for four years, then she went to Anchorage to go to school. Her mother soon died and left Edna feeling very alone. It was around that time that she learned about God.

I know if you think about this on your own, if you don’t read the Word you start saying, ‘Well, there’s more one way, everybody’s religion is okay.’ That’s the way people talk today, but that’s not what the Bible teaches.

Jesus said that He’s the way, He’s the only way, He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by me.”

I knew about the Bible, and I always felt in my heart that the Bible was a sacred book. I vaguely remembered some of the verses and one of them says, “Ask and it shall be given, knock and the door shall be opened unto you.”

It just seemed to speak to me. It said that there was a condition to that verse and I thought, ‘Well, I haven’t been knocking.’ I picked up a Bible and I said, “God, if this is your Word and if you intended this for me, then I’m going to make a point to read it. I’m going to believe that this is your Word and that you have a message for me there.”

We were hunters, harvesters; we survived by living off the land. I used to think that that’s the way things were always going to be, that I would grow up to be a man and get married and have my own family, and I would continue that way of life that we enjoyed so much. I never thought or dreamed that one day that life was going to be disrupted.

The death of a loved one is always difficult. With one's passing, life's most important questions are often asked. Few ever continue seeking the answers before the sting of death has faded. The answers somehow seem less important as days pass. But this was not the case in Arlene's family. Listen as she shares how the death of her little sister became the turning point in their family's life.