Neah Bay, WA
Unfading Beauty
by Rosemary Sternbeck
As I work with the girls and young women on the Makah Indian Reservation, we developed a program called the Morning Star Club, centered in Jesus Christ, the Bright and Morning Star described in Scripture. The Mentoring Program is an outgrowth of The Morning Star Club for girls and young women 12 years of age and older who have 
expressed a desire and commitment to continue meeting together weekly, but separately from the younger girls. The goal of these young women is to see that true beauty comes from within, and that they are of great worth in God’s sight. Just as women of the past put their hope in God to make themselves beautiful, so today, these young women need hope and faith to put their trust in God.
Because of life on the reservation, there is a tension among many of the girls in this age group between the want of something better in life – the desire for a better education, a better house to live in, different friends, a different home environment, the ability to go new places – and the real inability to make those changes. They are at the point of realizing their parents or guardians cannot or will not be able to make the changes to help facilitate their desires, and their hopes for something better are just starting to fade.
It is our desire to show them that in spite of their circumstances, Jesus is their real hope in the good experiences and the bad. Because He is interested in every need and desire of their heart, and He cares about them, we care and want to share that love through our activities with them, helping prepare them to be the women God desires them to be, recognizing their full potential in the gifts He has given them, aware of the great price He has paid for them.
These girls are trapped in an environment of hopelessness. The feeling exists that God must not be real if this is happening to me. With their child-like faith, they want to believe there is a better life. But as hope starts to die, faith starts to die. After awhile, they stop having conversations with God and they accept “This is as good as it gets.” A deadness occurs. These girls are at a pinnacle in their life where the decisions they make will affect the rest of their life. How can Jesus be the answer in the midst of this pain and disappointment when their prayers seem unanswered? I and the women helping them want to show that Jesus is concerned about “their heart’s desires.” He is present in their struggles and can help them live within their circumstances.
We have one father who is raising his two daughters. Their mother is a drug addict. I’ve watched these two junior-high age sisters dance together and struggle with their question, “So where is Jesus when our prayers for our mother aren’t answered?” They, like us, need a “Jesus with skin on.”
Because many of the girls are from “mixed marriages,” they don’t fit in with the Native community or with the non-Natives. The goal of the Mentoring Program is to create that sense of belonging within a caring community — to foster an atmosphere where these girls can feel comfortable being in church even if their families don’t participate or encourage them.
Most of these girls have been part of the Morning Star Girls Club, which meets at Makah Lutheran Church, and have studied the Bible and learned practical skills in homemaking. Local 
Christian women and key native elder women have been involved in helping teach the girls how to cook, sew and garden. After a quilt frame was donated, the girls began working on quilts and have given away many to new mothers and babies in the community.
There are few activities offered for young women in Neah Bay. The Mentoring Program offers an alternative for girls who do not participate in sports. As they spend time together, in regular meetings and field trips, the girls will have an opportunity to discuss concerns and issues faced by female teens — unwanted pregnancies, abortion, childbirth, etc. For those of us who are mentoring these girls, we want them to someday give others what is being shared with them. Through study of God’s Word and practical opportunities to hone their skills in sharing their faith, these girls are encouraged to pass on the baton.
A further goal is to provide opportunities for the girls to experience a world beyond their
reservation community. For many of these girls, visiting Portland and participating in the Native dance at the opening worship service at the International LWML Convention was their first time even outside of Neah Bay. Not only did it afford them a chance to see more of the world, but also to see the larger body of believers gathered together. June, one of the dancers, attended the Int’l Convention in Sioux Falls in 2007. Her daughter, Molly, and granddaughter, Cassie, were among those who danced at Portland.
It is envisioned that these young women will be coaches, teachers and mentors to the
younger girls while continuing to grow in faith and in the vocation to which God has called
each of them. As these girls themselves become connected to the church and see themselves as valuable in the sight of the Lord, it is our hope that they will reach out with service projects and mission projects in the community and outside Neah Bay. We want these girls to become strong pillars in the community and to stay connected to the church throughout their lives, to leave a Christian legacy for future generations.