BY ANDY  TAYLOR
Montgomery County Chronicle

TYRO — A group of Tyro Community Christian School students ended the 2008-09 school year by completing a mission trip to Arizona.

TCCS students traditionally have made an annual pilgrimage to Mexico to assist needy families in impoverished areas. However, violence along the U.S./Mexico border involving drug cartels prompted the Tyro delegation to remain in the United States, said Terry Byrd, TCCS principal.

Even though the Tyro group — 18 students and six sponsors — helped at the Navajo Trails Mission near Winslow, Ariz., they still came away with the same realization: there are needy people who need reached with Christian hands.

“In past years, our students came away from Mexico realizing that there were a lot of people in this world who have very little,” said Byrd. “And, even in Arizona, we saw some of those same conditions. They were struck at how impoverished some areas of our own nation are.”

The Navajo Trails Mission is on the Navajo reservation — an area beset with high unemployment and little opportunity for economic development. So, the Tyro students and sponsors helped the mission by building a house for future teachers to use. They painted the home’s exterior and interior and also painted trim in the school and adjacent church building.

The Tyro students also hosted soccer and basektball camps for children on the reservation in a Vacation Bible School-style setting.

One of the highlights of the trip was a trip to the Painted Desert and Grand Canyon.

Byrd said he was hopeful that a group of Tyro students will return to the Arizona region for further mission assistance at the end of the upcoming 2009-10 school year.

“Our students and sponsors returned home with filled hearts, knowing that they reached many people,” he said.