I'm back from cold Pine Ridge, South Dakota! This trip was definitely up there with the mission trip to El Salvador last year. The reason is because there was a lot of free time and just hanging out and fellowshipping with one another and God. The time went by slowly and it was a great relief sometimes not to have to go out and work. We could just relax, be with each other and God and that was perfectly fine!
As promised, I journaled while I was there and will transfer everything I wrote in South Dakota here, right now.
Sunday, March 8, 2009 11:16 am
We're still on the road and everyone is either sleeping or staring out the window at the world of white. Not much snow is on the ground, just enough to make the trip a little more magical. While everyone is chilling out, allow me to regail yesterday's and a little of today's adventures. ♥
I woke up around 6am. Amanda knocked on my door to make sure I was awake. Ash left with Martha around 7 or 7:30pm the night before. Sydney left around 4pm to catch her flight back to Cali. And yes, she left crushed fruitloops on the floor! Hopefully we don't get bugs!! Woke up, got dressed, and headed to the UM to get some breakfast adn start heading out.
We entered Kentucky fairly early and then it seemed like the state went on forever! Lots of rock formations but it's just like Tennessee so I'm used to seeing them. We drove through Missouri about 150 miles away from St. Louis!!
I can finally say I've seen the St. Louis Arch! It's such an awesome feeling seeing something in person after so many years of seeing it in pictures and on TV. I love it! I really don't understand the point of the arch, though. I guess Missouri wanted something to brag about, too. Nashville has the batman building; they have the arch. Haha!
After we passed the arch, it seemed like we were in Missouri for a REALLY long time! I went to sleep like 3 times and every time I woke up, we were still in Missouri.
Lots of talking, eating, and playing games while listening to awesome mixes were done to pass the monotonous 14 hr drive. We finally arrived in Omaha, Nebraska around 8pm. Exhausted and freezing, we came to the condo we were staying for the night.
Tim, a Belmont alum, opened his condo to us. He's the best guy ever! He's so down-to-earth and super hospitable. He reminds me of the lead singer of the Newsboys. He's got a shavd head, pierced ear, and square-rimmed black glasses. He's also sleeved! Tim is such a cool guy and he prays like it's a simple coffee conversation with Jesus. He's a youth pastor so I suppose he has to be pretty coo. I'd guess he's about 26 or 27 years old.
After we slept, we all got up around 8am, had some doughnuts (yes, I know: Lent, but I think Jesus will forgive me this time!) We've been on the road since 9am. We're in Illinois right now. It's pretty much flat with a few hills here and there. We have like 4 or 5 hours of driving left. When we get settled in, I'll write more...
Monday, March 9, 2009 8:22am
We arrived at the reservation around 7pm. It would've been 8 had it not been fro the time change. We are now using mountain time! There's a men and women's building but our building houses the kitchen and main hang out area so it's pretty sweet. There are two showers and one full bathroom but the shower in that bathroom floods so we can't use it. The people we're staying with are so cool. Jake and Lizzie are married with a baby boy on the way. The names they're deciding on are Jackson and Dakota. I said Dakota sounds like a rugged man and everyone else voted for that name. Jake's so nice and you can see the love and gentleness of Jesus all over his face.
Lizzie reminds me of a complete free spirit. She has a lip ring and you can tell her last occupation was a hairdresser because her jet black hair is fab. Tehy met in college and dropped out, pursuing God's plan for their lives, which was to help the Oglala Sioux mission group, GreaterWorks. They're fairly young, 25 and, I'm guessing Jake's 26 or 27.
Alyssa, another college drop-out, is a sweetheart. She's so great and helpful. Very hospitable and nice. She was an English major before she dropped out so I can relate to her somewhat.
Last night was spent eating a great meal, playing Scrabble, and just taling, spending time together. I'm writing this during our devotion/alone time. It's so quiet and peaceful here. Time does seem to go slower which is fine by me. We start our ministry today by cleaning a park. It's snowing outside so it'll be interesting to say the least. I'm a little nervous about how I'm going to interact wtih these people. The last mission trip I was performing skits and stuff. I wasn't doing any serious labor and though I had to speak a different language, I felt secure. Probably because I was surrounded by people who had done that before, people who had been on six or seven mission trips in the past. I don't know; it's just different because we're all so young and the people who've been here have only been ehre for six months. The culture is very different I'm told, too.
Leaning and trusting Jesus is probably going to be my main goal. In the past, I've had a really hard time trusting Jesus completely. In this sitaution, I'm going to have to because I'm ocming into this with so little experience. Of course I'm willing to work and help out but I'm a little intimidated. My mind is saying this now but I know my heart is connected to Jesus so I'll have to learn to trust Him fully.Mete', one of the guys who came on the trip with us, said I should write an article about our experience and the people. I think that's a wonderful idea. Maybe I could submit it to the Vision or even post it on my blog.
It's funny he said that because I do want to be a traveling journalist for missionaries. I probably should've told him that; maybe I will at dinner or later on in the week.
Well, I think that's it for now. My time is just about up so I'll write more when we come back from working. Oh, and by the way, it's still snowing!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009 9:38am
Yesterday was so much fun! We weren't able to go to the park because it snowed and the weather was crazy cold. So, we went to the Red Cloud Indian School. They have a Heritage Center with an art gallery, pottery, nad sculptures. we spent about an hour there. Kern, Cy, Kathleen, BethAnn, and I went up to Red Cloud's burial site. It was so amazingly beautiful how the people gave different things--from flowers to plastic hatchets--to be placed on his stone grave. His wife is buried next to him, a flower wreath hung on her wooden cross. The view from up there is extraordinary! I think it's the most beautiful view I've seen so far. Miles of open, hilly land just stretches infinitely out. After we came back, we cleaned the kitchen of the carpentry school. It is now spic and span! The guys assembled a ping pong table, too.
We went on a hike after that. South Dakota is so beautiful! At the beginning of the week, Lizzie mentioned that we have to find and appreciate the beauty of this place. There are a lot of bad things like poverty, alcoholism, and suicide but there is beauty to be found here. I think I've found it. The beauty is in nature and how awesome God is can be measured simply by gazing out the window or going up a hill and seeing the creation God has made in its purest form.
We went to a church to watch "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee". Unfortunately we had to stop because the pastor, Leon, wanted to start a ping pong tournament! That was perfectly fine with me. IT was so much fun to meet some people, laugh, and have a good time. There were a handful of natives there. I sat next to Patty and Belva, Leon's wife. There's beauty in that, too. Being able to fellowship with people regardless of skin or background is amazing.
Everyone's getting ready so I'll have to stop writing. We're going to clean the church, finish the movie and go to Wounded Knee!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009 9:38 am
God of mercy, humbled I bow down in Your presence at Your throne
Today is the silent retreat. Basically, for about half the day we will go by ourselves and sit and be still before the Lord, spending time with Him in His presence. Some are writing, reading, or just sitting. I'm doing a little of all three. Kathleen and BethAnn got ready and went outside to reflect and pray. I thought it would be a good thing to fast breakfast for the day. The guys are in the kitchen, reading and doing stuff like that I suppose. I haven't been in the kitchen. I figure I should be alone as long as possible.
I spent some time in the Scriptures, reading what I should've read last night of 1 Samuel and then I looked up verses I was meaning to underline from a previous church service. Psalm 138 got me in a good mood. "I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I know that full well." The whole passage talks about how we can't ever escape God. He's got us in His hands and there's nothing we can do about it. He knows the words we speak before they're ever formed in our mouth. That reminds me how great and might God truly is.
Praises of Him has been on my mouth and in my mind this entire week. It's hard not to praise Him when surrounded with such beauty adn magnificence every day! I think sometimes we get bogged down with work, school, relationships (other than the one we have with Jesus) and we forget who God truly is. We get tunnel vision and turn our focus to "more important" things than giving praise to God.
It's times like these that it's great to step back, go away from the stress environment (college) and refresh yourself with God. This is why I love mission trips. You go to serve others but it's also a time to reevaluate your relationship with God and allow Him to rejuvinate you.
I love that I'm here and God is opening doors and showing me things and I'm so glad I've met the people I have. Every one of them is a blessing and I can't think of any other group I'd rather travel with.
I'm going to read a book I picked up from Lizzie and also the GreaterWorks book they gave us upon arrival.
After the silent retreat, we're heading out to work with Floyd deliver wood to people's houses. after that we're working with Young Life, a youth outreach, and then that's it! I'll write more about yesterday if I have time.
Tuesday, March 11, 2009 11:22 am
To continue from about two hours ago...I read my devotional but can't find the book I thought I brought into the room from last night. Ah well! Hopefully it's on the kitchen table because I can't find it in here and I can't go in the kitchen until 12pm because I told God I wouldn't. So now to regail yesterday's adventures.
We went back to the church to finish the movie and Otta (his name means 'a lot') started a discussion with us. He knows so much history and was able to make comparisons between the Lakota people and the Jews. He also talked about different festivals and how some can relate to Christianity which was pretty cool. We then took about 40 minutes and went to Wounded Knee. It's such a somber place. It was so cold up there, too, which made the experience even more realistic. Kathleen and I huddled close because we were so dag gone cold!
After that we went back to the church. Some of us helped put stuff up because Leon, Rick and some others were planning on sanding/waxing the floor. The guys then played ping pong and I even took a few wacks of the paddle. So much fun! We all had a lot of laughs.Afterward, we had dinner then went to the nursing home. We were supposed to play Bingo with the elderly but they had already played last week. We put on a little skit (hilarious) and Alyson and I sang a bit. She's so good at singing! She's taking lessons. I kinda want to but at the same time I don't because I feel like singing from the heart and soul instead of having to read music and ladadadadi. Ah well!
I met a woman named Norma. She's a spunky old woman who has done prison ministry and now prays with a group of women. She's a missionary to the Lakota people. Because of this, her name has been changed to Good Medicine Woman. The reason for this is because when she shares Jesus with people, they get a healing of the mind and spirit. I thought that was too cool. I have to remember to tell dad that because he'll get a kick out of it!
All too soon it was time for us to leave. We came back to the site and while Alyssa was making (the best!) chocolate chip cookies, we had a discussion about the video and the experiences we've had thus far. Lizzie asked us a question about how we could stop the injustices and poverty through our jobs or through God's plan for us. I talked about my journalism major and how God told me while in El Salvador that I was going to travel with missionaries and tell their stories so that maybe I could inspire someone to help, too.
Lizzie tole me about Need Magazine and said that's exactly what they do. I love how God works! When I get home I'm onna chekc it out and see if I could potentially get a job with them if the Lord wills it...
Thursday and Friday were so busy I didn't get a chance to journal. Here's what happened on Thursday::
Around 7am we woke up because we had to be at a thrift store, 555, located in White Clay (on the border of Nebraska and South Dakota) to serve breakfast to the homeless who live there. We were able to sit and talk to them and hear all about their stories. I met Jackie, a woman who traveled as far as Maine, and a husband and wife team, Chris and MaryAnn. They told me all about their families, their grandchildren, and where they've been. It was pretty fascinating! After that, Will and I wheeled boxes out of a backroom of the thrift store so the girls could sort the clothes. There was a lot of junk back there so after the majority of the clothes were brought out, Cy, Mete', Jake, and I helped haul out the junk. Needless to say, the men were pretty impressed with how strong I am ;)
Thursday night was spent at the church playing basketball (I beat Mete' in knock out! HOLLA!) and spending some time with the people we'd met there. It was so sad to leave, mostly because the kids are so used to seeing ministry teams come for a week and then leave. We don't get to spend enough time and build strong relationships with them.
Friday we left bright and early at 8:30am. A 19 hour drive back to Nashville. It was bittersweet but the ride back was full of laughs and lots of accents produced by Kern and Mete'. They're hilarious! Oh, Cy braided Kern's long blonde hair so for half the trip he looked like William Wallace. Nice...
To sum it up I had the BEST time of my life! We had a great time and I couldn't see myself spending a week with a better group. ♥
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