Tonight we took a hike up through the steep South Dakota hills. It gave us a beautiful view of the surrounding terrain, and of the pow wow grounds where we spent time with our evening speaker, a fantastic Lakota man named Alex. He told us his story and some of the Lakota people's history. But, as he often reminded us, "our skin may be different colors, but we all bleed red."
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| It was a long way straight up ... which also meant it was straight down on the other side! |
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| The view from the top of the hill. The pow wow grounds are on the right ... our little cluster of vans (which are all big 15-passenger vehicles!) give you some perspective. |
Read on for today's report:
From Sara H.:
The second day of ministry in Martin, SD is slowly ending.
For the last 2 days my group, the Boom Dockers, have spent our mornings
planning activities for the kids at Kids' Club to do in the afternoon at the
park. On Monday morning we got into different groups for the different
activities like games, crafts, and reading to promote summer reading, along
with skits and songs. I spent my afternoons, first, checking the kids in and
giving them nametags. After that I was a group leader for the 6-8 year olds and
traveled around to the different activities with them. I was surprised at the
enthusiasm and joy that those young kids have for the activities and learning
about how much God loves them, even though their home situations might not be
the best. Tuesday morning we did some different projects. One group went to a
nursing home. My group helped to paint the middle school that is next to the
high school we are staying at. We finished early, so our group went to a little
bake shop/coffee shop and got smoothies. In the afternoon we helped out at
Kids' Club again and beat the heat with water balloons. Saying goodbye to those
awesome 3-11 year olds was harder than a lot of us thought it would be, even
though we only knew them for 2 days. Those kids are not often told that they
are special, important, or loved they are, so being able to provide them the
knowledge that God loves them is a truly inspiring feeling. Tonight we are
going on a hike and learning about the Native Americans that are here in Martin
with a Lakota man named Alex who is a friend of YouthWorks. This trip has
truly been an eye-opening opportunity and I can’t wait for what awaits…
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| Madi and her new friend Ezabella at Kids' Club. |
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| Daniel played the part of the "Peek-A-Boo Prodigal Son" during a skit at Kids' Club. |
From Ayoka L.:
As the day slowly comes to an end on the second day of this
year's mission trip most to all of us can say that it was quite eventful. Today,
while painting a house yellow in the Sunrise Housing neighborhood, which is
housing for low-income Native American families, a lot of kids came to the
house we were at and started talking to us. After some conversation we started
throwing a football around and playing. Although we were supposed to be
painting, our crew felt that it was more rewarding to get to know and build a
relationship with these kids. After lunch was spent trying to finish the house
and we almost did, but at the end of the day there was still one more coat of
paint to put on. Even though we wanted to finish this house another crew will
move in tomorrow and probably, hopefully, finish it. Today our crew got to get
closer to the kids in the community on a deeper level and it was amazing! I can
hardly wait for the rest of the week and I hope it will be just as exciting.
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