Transformation -- One Person At A Time

Delphina Johnson has a passion to help Native people on reservations experience the life-changing process of discipling and mentoring. That's why she became an associate staff member with The Navigators in 1999.

Raised on the Navajo Reservation in northern Arizona, Delphina is of the Big Water Clan. Except for the years she spent getting her education, she's lived most of her life on the reservation.

Originally from Indiana, her husband, Tom, came to the reservation 10 years ago when he felt God's call to live and serve the Native people.

Nineteen-year-old Jennifer is just one of the people Tom and Delphina have reached. The couple met Jennifer during a Bible study several years ago; she'd come because she wanted to learn more about Jesus. As they got to know her, they were amazed at how God had been working in her life.

They learned that Jennifer was living in a dilapidated Hogan with no running water or electricity with her mother, 80-year-old grandmother, and an aunt. She was in the alternative high school because she had dropped out of school for one year to live a wild lifestyle. But one day, after returning from an outing with friends, she heard music from a Pentecostal tent revival near her home. She went to check it out, and that's when she received Jesus as her Savior.

Delphina began to disciple Jennifer, and she has seen God do some wonderful things in Jennifer's personal life as well as her family. Jennifer was the first in her family to become a Christian. Because of her decision, her mom and aunt have started coming to church. And her grandmother, who lived all her life in the traditional belief, received Jesus before she passed away.

There are many Jennifers on the reservation where Tom and Delphina live. Many young people drop out of high school and never go back. It is also very common to see teenagers getting pregnant. That could have been Jennifer, but she chose to trust and follow Jesus instead.

Today, Jennifer is in college, helping support her mother, and desiring to do God's will. God has a wonderful way of transforming lives­one person at a time.

As for Tom and Delphina, they live in Many Farms, Arizona, where they are both teachers. They also minister to the people within that community, 99 percent of them being Navajo. And along with their church leadership, they work with Native youth from the community and lead Bible studies.