Grand design: LDS Church renews efforts in remote Arizona town

SUPAI, Ariz. — The most remote meetinghouse in the lower 48 states for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is nearly completed in a tiny American Indian village, almost hidden in the depths of the Grand Canyon.

The only ways into Supai are an eight-mile trail by foot or horseback, or by helicopter. There are no paved roads in this area — dirt paths only.

Blue-green water plunges off spectacular waterfalls near here, complete with picturesque, travertine-sculpted pools. Mix in trees and plants not always found in such a desert locale, and include American Indians who have called this once-hidden chasm home for centuries, and some 25,000 hikers visit here year-round.

The American Indians in Supai — some 450 persons strong and mostly members of the Havasupai tribe — seem isolated from many portions of 21st-century American life. National Geographic once called this area the "Shangri-La of the Grand Canyon."

It is volunteer labor and donated materials that are making the new church building possible. LDS Church members from the Kingman, Ariz., stake and also from Prescott, Ariz., have combined to renew church and missionary efforts in Supai after at least two decades of having no church presence in this out-of-the-way area of northwestern Arizona.

According to Scott Charon, president of the Kingman Stake, much of the credit for this resurgence in church activity in the western Grand Canyon goes to Doug Angle, first counselor in the Peach Springs, Ariz., branch. Peach Springs is the nearest town to Supai, some 60 miles distant on the Hualapai Reservation.

Angle started organizing some service projects last spring, helping Supai residents fix up their homes and yards. It was then that church members began identifying themselves in the village. Others expressed interest in hearing church lessons and some had been involved in the old American Indian placement program. He estimates there are 40 church members in town.

Getting materials or anything — including food — to the village is only by horse or helicopter. Most building materials were helicoptered in, 500 pounds at a time. Most residents have very small incomes.

The church obtained a lease on an old rundown house at the south end of Supai. The house was demolished as part of his son Josh's Eagle Scout project, Angle said. The remaining cement slab was a 30-foot-by-30-foot square.