Back to main magazine page now!!

By Alex Beauford
Before I can share my testimony, it is crucial
to acknowledge that I am a living testament
to God’s grace and goodness. Without His
incredible love, I shudder to think where
my life would have led. My wife and I, both
Native Americans from the Navajo tribe,
grew up in northeast Arizona, along the
Arizona/New Mexico border in the heart
of the Navajo Reservation. Our religious
experiences were diverse but we lacked
a consistent church service. Then in the
summer of 2002 a missionary to the Navajo
people crossed my path, inviting me and my
siblings to church.

My mother was reluctant to attend but
allowed us to go. I remember how different
and welcoming the people and services were
compared to the usual traditional ceremonies
my family attended. The people cared about
us and seemed genuinely interested in our
being there. This affection and the occasional
cookies and Kool-Aid gave us a desire to
attend every Sunday morning. We rode the
church bus for about six months until my
younger brother accepted Christ as his Lord
and Savior.

6 BIMI Number 2, 2024
Curious about what it meant to be saved,
I went to the Sunday school teacher and
asked. She led me through Scripture and
showed me my need to be saved. As a twelve-
year-old boy in the back of an old gutted-
out school bus that had been turned into a
Sunday school room, I bowed my head and
received Christ. I am forever thankful that
God would send a missionary to the middle
of the Navajo Reservation to reach me with
the Gospel.

Later in high school, my family moved off the
reservation to a small town. Now, with saved
parents, we became members of College
Heights Baptist Church in Farmington, New
Mexico (now our sending church). During
my senior year of high school, I struggled
to find direction for life. At the time, I was
saved but led by the flesh rather than the
Spirit. During this time, I met my soon-
to-be wife, Cassandra. Seeing my struggle
for direction, my father wisely said to attend
Bible college and seek God’s will for my life.

Through the encouragement of my pastor
and my parents, Cassandra and I attended
Bible college in the fall of 2009.