Gallup woman carries cross for many causes
BY TERRY BOWMAN
NAVAJO TIMES
GALLUP — A Diné woman walks with a wooden cross for faith and to protest the hate people have within them.
“There is no love … people right now have a lot of hate,” said Kim Martinez, who carries a cross on her back and shoulders to help people find faith and to bring hope to those who have none.
While walking the streets of Gallup, Martinez said she is often approached by people hoping to catch a quick prayer for their troubles. She said people come up to her who are homeless, some have troubles at work, and some have family members who are ill. Some just need to get their hopes lifted.
“I pray and also listen to worship in my ears,” said Martinez, explaining she listens to worship prayers on her smart phone. She listens to the prayers because they give her faith and help protect her from harmful people on the streets.
Martinez carries the cross to bring awareness of domestic abuse, homelessness, education, and the pipelines across the U.S. including the one on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, along with the Women’s March in Albuquerque.
She is also an advocate for autism, as her daughter Noami is autistic and walks alongside her mother.
Martinez said she got the idea to start carrying the cross five years ago, after having a vision of Jesus Christ carrying the cross. After a while, he fell down and looked directly at her.
“I just lost it right there. I woke up crying. it touched me,” said Martinez. Martinez is no stranger to the things she is raising awareness for. She’s been homeless, domestically abused, and has a variety of anxiety attacks.
“God healed me, there is hope,” said Martinez, who was at a homeless shelter in Farmington when she had the vision.
Her cross is about six feet in height and was blessed by seven pastors across the Navajo Nation. It was made by artist Steve Marty and with weighed wood to make the cross lighter when walking.
The cross also bears the signatures of people Martinez has met on the streets, from cancer patients to people with sick family members and homeless people. She’s prayed with them all.
Two scriptures are written on the cross: 2 Corinthians 13 and Ephesians 6, which are her favorite, and keep her motivated.
Aside from people experiencing hardships, Martinez said people come up to her and give her donations or out of kindness, hand her a bottle of water.
“Christ is powerful, in many ways,” she said.
Martinez said she hopes for donations of clothes, food or money to aid in her effort to feed and help the homeless of Gallup.
Martinez is also raising money for a walk across the U.S. she is planning for during the summer months.
“I’ve been praying. I am hoping it happens during the summer. I can’t wait,” said Martinez.
Martinez is also working with New Mexico State Rep. Doreen Wonda Jackson (D-Gallup) with efforts to help with alcoholism, homelessness, and battered families in the Gallup area.
“I was at the capital and we went over some things,” said Martinez, adding she serves food to homeless citizens every Saturday in front of the McKinley county Clerk’s Office.
When she is not raising awareness by carrying her cross throughout the city of Gallup, Martinez is working on getting her ministry license, so she can be a walking minister. She hopes to acquire a traditional Navajo outfit for her walks and services.
Although she meets random strangers and gets honked at from passing vehicles, she enjoys her unique brand of Christian activism.
“Have faith; all burdens are on the cross,” said Martinez before preparing to head out onto the streets of downtown Gallup in the blistering cold wind.
NAVAJO TIMES | TERRY BOWMAN
Kimberly Martinez carries her custom-made wooden cross across the city of Gallup, New Mexico to raise awareness about domestic violence, alcoholism, homelessness and to also give prayers to people in the street going through hardship. She is accompanied by her daughter, Noami, Monday afternoon.