SD Trip Day Six * A Day of Many Wonders

Wednesday, 2 July

I wonder. . . can it Rain in Manderson? Is it possible? Yup, sure is! Last year when we came to Manderson, they had been in a drought for eight years. This year, the drought was over, and it even rained last night. That didn't mean it would cool down too much, though. Today was hot & dry, like nearly every other day, although it certainly was not as hot as it had been last year.

I wonder. . . can we pray for a little boy wrestling with the biggest decision of his life? At breakfast this morning, I shared with our team my observations of Robert from the previous day and asked everyone to pray for him.

I wonder. . . what would it be like to witness a miracle? That miracle. . . my friend Robert asked more questions during VBS this morning. In fact, during music, he asked the best question of all. . . how to ask Jesus into his heart. Chris & Patty, our music leaders, spoke with him, felt he strongly understood what he was doing, and led Robert to become a Christian!

I wonder. . . can we serve 350 people in an hour? Sure can! Tonight, we served the community what is probably their favorite meal. . . Indian Taco Supper. Start with Indian fry bread, which is probably loaded with fat but it is oh so good!. . . and top it off with all the traditional taco fixings, and you have an Indian taco. Yummy!

I wonder. . . where can one find wild turnips? Just after the taco supper, one of local guys, named Alu (short for some long name, which he told me, but I never could understand), told us he knew a good place to find and dig up wild turnips. So, Micah & I & about ten other people (Micah is shown with our friend Dave Hart, from our church, in this picture) hiked around the base of Camel's Back Mountain, looking for turnips, or, as I like to say, "Turnip/Snipe Hunting". We went round and round, lost Alu a time or two, got prickly pokey weeds stuck in our shoes, saw some pretty wildflowers, found Alu, and hiked back down the mountain at dusk with one measly turnip, which, I found out, is not enough to make turnip soup as Alu had hoped to do. He claimed that someone had probably already dug up all the turnips on Camel's Back and that there were probably more turnips on another mountain. We didn't really think it would be a good idea to take him up on his offer to go find that particular mountain, wherever it might have been. . .

SD Trip Day Five * Meet my Friend, Robert Looks Twice

Tuesday, 1 July

This was the second day of VBS, and we were thrilled when more kids showed up than on Monday. With these kids, we never know how many to expect. And there are so many outside factors that could affect their attendance. . . one day they could have not slept well the night before because they were out shooting fireworks until the wee hours of the morning, or they may have had to take care of all their brothers/sisters/cousins before VBS that morning.

This day I was introduced to a young man named Robert Looks Twice. Robert is ten years old, pictured on the left in this picture. I think he is one of the cutest Lakota boys I met this week. When I first met Robert, I could tell that there was something different about him. He had a spark in his eyes that most of the other kids were lacking. He looked us in the eyes and spoke with confidence from the start. something that the other kids were, for the most part, unable to do.

As the VBS director, I had the privilege of walking around during VBS and making sure everything was running smoothly. This gave me the unique opportunity to see an overview of what was going on with all the kids. This day, Robert began asking very deep, pretty intense questions about God. I noticed that as Robert moved with his group through each station, he became more and more serious. During Bible story time, he piped up in the middle of the story and asked Russ (the awesome Bible storyteller!), "Where did God come from? When was God born? How do I know what the Bible says is true?" WOW! Russ did a great job giving Robert clear, concise answers. Robert continued to ask questions throughout the rest of the day. By the end of our time together, I could tell that Robert had some very heavy issues weighing on his heart. Truthfully, God was tugging at his heart, and I don't think Robert knew what to do with that. You can see in this picture, which included me & Micah as well as Robert & his cousin D.J., that he is kind of retreating into himself and working through the questions he has.

After VBS and then lunch, we went visiting "up on the hill", which is the housing projects of Manderson. We just wanted to speak with the locals and let them know we were there. We also wanted to invite everyone to dinner that evening. We ended up spending most of our time reassuring people that dinner would not be late like it had been the night before. Thankfully, we had about 275 people show up for our sloppy joe dinner, which was about 25 more than the previous night.

We rounded out the evening by having an impromptu worship service on the lawn in front of the ladies' house. One of the locals, Mrs. Gertie Swain, joined us. Although she didn't sing along, she stayed with us until it got so dark that we had to call it a night.

SD Trip Day Four * Welcome to Manderson

Monday, 30 June

We have spent one-and-a-half days in Manderson, preparing for this day. Monday is the day when all of our ministry efforts go into full swing. We have people working in several areas:

• Men's Ministry ~ they serve breakfast to the men early every morning and then do a Bible study with them
  
• Women's Ministry ~ our ladies work with the local women on handicrafts as well as Bible study
  
• Youth Ministry ~ we have eight people working with the youth {and by youth, I mean ages 15-30. . . yes, it's a big age span!}; they play games, work on small projects like decorating flowerpots or making t-shirts, and also share the Gospel with them
  
• Community Ministry ~ we have several men who are willing to do whatever is needed throughout the day, from running the vans to pick up children for VBS, to cleaning up the local park, to mowing and weedeating yards (i.e. scrubbrush)
• VBS Ministry/Children's Ministry ~ Hooray! My job! I am the VBS director/coordinator. I am helping twenty-eight people from our churches to minister to the local Lakota children. This is a really bright highlight of the week for everyone involved. We take the kids through different "stations": Music, Bible Study, Recreation, Snack & Crafts. Micah is helping T.J. & Janice Jernigan in the Recreation area.

I love working in VBS! I feel like it is an amazing opportunity to minister to children who truly do not understand who Jesus is, what he has done for them, or how much he loves them.

Later that afternoon, we visited the residents of the Cohen Nursing Home in Pine Ridge. I was a little disappointed going into it because we had been told that my favorite resident whom we met last year, Clarence Wolf Guts, had been moved to another home. Mr. Wolf Guts served in WWII as one of the Windtalkers/Codetalkers. He was conferred the Congressional Medal of Honor for his many acts of bravery and service. Most of all, he talked of how his service glorified God. I REALLY super-duper wanted Micah to meet him and hear his story. How many nine-year-old boys have the chance to meet someone like that? How cool. . . it would have been. BUT! I still decided that Micah & I would go with the other twenty or so people from our team who wanted to go. On our way there, we purchased items for "goodie bags" for all the residents. . . snacks, toiletries, etc., as well as some items for their game room.

We had the opportunity to talk with a man who was pretty wishy-washy about what he believed spiritually. Our pastor, John, presented the Gospel to him in a very straightforward, kind, concise way. He was receptive to what we had to say and was thankful that we offered to pray for him. We also found out that his grandfathers were two of the men involved @ the Massacre @ Wounded Knee in 1890. Then, we went to one of the resident's living quarters and met Les Poultier. We found out that he worked as a cartoonist in the 70's & 80's. . . Tom & Jerry, The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, Josie & the Pussycats were all his work! He showed us some paintings he was working on and talked to Micah and Caleb (age7) about his work cartooning. We talked with him about Jesus, too, and he explained that he was a devout Catholic. We enjoyed visiting with all the residents, and now Micah can say he knows the guy who drew Tom & Jerry. . . he was pretty thrilled with that.

Our day was capped off by serving hamburgers to the community for dinner. Although we had ALL the prep work done beforehand, including something as small as taking all the ties off of the hamburger bun bags, we ended up serving dinner over an hour later than we had planned to. The charcoal we were cooking the burgers on got hot at first, then kind of fizzled out. All of our hungry friends got a little restless, and a few people left, but most of them stayed with us, and we ended up serving over 300 people. To fill the time in between arrival and eating, we extended what was supposed to be a short worship service. Our amp busted on the way to Manderson, so we rigged the sound system up to someone's van, pulled the van into the middle of the crowd, and opened all the doors/hatch in order for everyone to hear (somewhat!). It was quite the sight!

Some of our ladies & men went to bed that night smelling like hamburger grease (they ended up frying the burgers inside on whatever pan/griddle they could find). Bless them for serving by slaving over a hot griddle with no break.

SD Trip Days Two & Three * Corn & Presidents

We got up and left our hotel in Nebraska City early. Too early. This girl doesn't like beating the sun when it comes to rising.

Despite the early hour, we loaded into the van again and successfully drove through Nebraska. We saw corn. And then we saw some more corn. And after that, we ran across more fields of corn. We came to a new understanding of Nebraska's nickname. . . "The Cornhusker State". I sure would hate to be the one husking all that corn.

Micah managed to listen to all of TobyMac's songs on my Zune at least five times on the way to Manderson. We finally had to instate a Van Rule: no one (and by "no one", we meant "Micah") may sing along with TobyMac while listening to his songs on an MP3 player. Other Van Rule: no one (and by "no one", we meant "Micah") may turn their MP3 player up so loud that the whole van could easily sing along with TobyMac.

(Side note: Toby, if you're reading this, I'm sorry. We really are big fans, I promise. We buy all your CD's on the day they're released. Really. We love you. . . just not enough to hear you and only you for approximately twelve hours each day.)

We rolled through Gordon, NE, early in the afternoon. Gordon has a nickname. . . "The Last Town to Carry Cell Phone Signals". So we gassed up our vehicles ('cause Gordon is also "The Last Place for Gas for Many, Many Miles"), called our loved ones one last time, and left civilization as we know it.

I got excited as soon as I started seeing landmarks I recognized from last year. . . the Welcome to South Dakota sign, the Massacre at Wounded Knee sign and world's smallest museum, and finally the buttes of Manderson that encircle the town. We unloaded our bags/beds/foodstores, and I got Micah settled in at the men's house. We had one house for 36 men, and one house for 23 women. You read that correctly. . . one bathroom for 36 men and one bathroom for 23 women. Micah was really excited to be "on his own" and kind of shooed me out of the house after I inflated his air mattress.

Sunday morning we woke up, ate a good breakfast, and enjoyed our first worship service in Manderson. Micah got a little camera-happy and took about twenty pictures during worship/prayer/Bible study. . . until I took his camera away for the duration of the service.

About half of our team then set out for Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial, while the other half stayed behind canvassing the community and serving a small hot dog supper to the locals. Micah spent most of the trip cracking redneck jokes with Caleb Dickerson (age 7, son of one of our pastors on the trip) and generally making their van giggle.

Micah was totally in awe of Mt. Rushmore, and we spent the mere hour we had there running around as fast as we could to learn as much as we could. Last year, I didn't realize how many educational opportunities are offered there. This year, we got very close to the base of the mountain, listened in on part of a guided tour, and took pictures of Micah "picking" President Washington's nose.

Then we moved on to the Crazy Horse Memorial. If you've never heard of it (and I hadn't when we went last year), I would strongly recommend reading up on it. We watched the video of how the memorial came to be, and then ran through the museum/exhibit. Micah's favorite part was seeing the original air compressor that the sculptor used to begin blasting. . . it is still operational, even after 60 years.


























From Crazy Horse, we drove to the Badlands National Park for a sunset worship service. The Badlands really are bad. . . I would hate to be stuck in them. We took communion as the sun was setting and experienced the sheer vastness of God's mighty creation.




Next up. . . the beginning of ministry to our Lakota friends in Manderson.

http://www.crazyhorse.org/

SD Trip Day One * Knots on Ours Noggins

Thursday, 29 June, I'm trying to finalize my packing for the trip. I was in the kitchen, just about ready to settle down for the evening. . . a big accomplishment since I'd been so keyed up all week.

All of the sudden, I heard a kid screaming and someone banging loudly on my front door. When I flung the door open, my mother-in-law, Linda, came rushing in with Scott laying facedown in her arms. Blood covered the back of his head and the sleeve of her shirt. I nearly flipped out, but I kept repeating to myself, "Head wounds bleed more than other wounds. Head wounds bleed more than other wounds. Head wounds bleed more than other wounds. Head wounds bleed more than other wounds" (That's a freebie for all the mommies on here who have yet to experience the joy of a head wound. . . just remember that it's not as bad as the blood makes it appear to be.)

We worked quickly to get Scott calmed down and cleaned up. Before we even got most of the blood cleaned up, he was calmed down and ready to get down. When he went to bed on Thursday night, the back of his head was still faintly pink, since he told us he was so OK he didn't need his hair washed.

Bless that baby.

Then, Friday morning, I got up early, got Micah up early, and headed to the church to meet up with my team. After we got there, I had to get in my van for something. When I opened the door and leaned in, I, graceful as I am, managed to knock my head on the track of the sliding door. To make the situation even more fun, I did all of this with my sunglasses on top of my head. . . and cracked my head right where my sunglasses were sitting.

*** I can now say I've seen stars swimming around my head. ***

What a great way to start our trip!

My head hurt for five days, and I had a goodly-sized knot on my noggin. Oi!

But it did remind me to have compassion for Scott.

We spent that night in Nebraska City, NE, witnessing some of the flooding in Iowa on the way, and managed to make it through the rest of the day without incident. Micah got to see the Gateway Arch in St. Louis for the very first time. Betwixt his camera and mine, I think we took approximately 2.79 gazillion pictures of the Arch, each unique. And I was driving. It takes talent to snap pictures and drive at the same time.

More to come tomorrow. . . I have lots to say!

Sarah (& Micah)

P.S. For all you wordy people out there, the plural "ours" in the title is a nod to Harrison-ese, that unusual language where Harrison adds an s to every other word.

How we Celebrated the Fourth

Well, we drive. That's how we celebrate. That's all we've done today.

We are in St. Joseph, Missouri. We had a good, hot meal from Applebee's and spent a lot of time sliding down the slide in the indoor water park that's in our hotel. . . and all of that makes me feel kind of guilty. Guilty because I know that I left kids who won't have a meal in their belly tonight. Guilty because I went to a young man's house in Manderson. . . oh, wait, it wasn't a house. . . it was a tarp. Guilty because I can drive away from the poverty and the desperation, and the hundreds of people we ministered to this week can't even drive down the road. Guilty because I can go home to a husband who loves and wants to stay married to me and won't leave me. . . when I know that I've just talked with women who have babies simply to increase the size of their welfare check.

I know this is normal. I want to be with my family again and be in my house again and cook my own meals again. I just don't want to forget where I've been. And I hope Micah doesn't forget either.

We will be writing more tomorrow night when we arrive home. I have many stories to tell. I have hope to share.

Pray for us as we travel home tomorrow. We're all tired, but GOD has been so good to us this week. Thank you for your prayers. . . God moved mightily this week.

Blessings,
Sarah & Micah

P.S. I hope YOU enjoyed your Fourth of July and were able to celebrate all the freedoms we have.

Greetings From Stormy Nebraska!

Hi, everyone!

We've made it to Nebraska City, Nebraska. We traveled through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri (for nigh unto forever, it seemed!), Iowa (for only about ten minutes), and then into Nebraska. Tomorrow, we will spend most of the day driving through Nebraska and looking at all the, ummmm. . . corn. Lots of it.

Micah has done really well being in the van all day. He listened to my Zune, did some word searches, read about Lewis & Clark's expedition (while we were traveling in some of the same spots they did. . . go, homeschooling!), and tried to join in on all the adult conversations. He even took a nap for about an hour and a half. We saw the St. Louis Arch, which wowed me once again and wowed Micah to no end. He's talked about it all day.

Tonight when he & I were sitting at Subway, I asked him what the best part of his day was. He said, "The Arch!" When I asked him what the worst part of his day was, he responded, "Well, nothing. The whole day has been fun!" I thought that being in the van for so long might bore him, but it didn't. What a great kid!

Pray for us as we travel to Manderson tomorrow. We've heard that many of the Lakota men have been more friendly than in years past, but that some of the children have been nearly unhandlable. We've also heard that, due to the Fourth coming up this week, many of the kids are shooting off bottle rockets all over the place. It is not uncommon for children as young as four to know how to shoot fireworks. So please pray for our safety and the safety of everyone we're working with.

We should be in Manderson by about five o'clock tomorrow afternoon. If I can get an Internet signal from there, I will post, but if I can't, you'll hear from me again either in the morning before we leave or next Friday on our way back home.

Much love to everyone. Thank you for your many prayers and amazing support.

Blessings,
Sarah & Micah

P.S. It was storming here just before we arrived, but it cleared up as we pulled in. Also, we saw the effects of the flooding in Iowa and surrounding areas. The water was pretty high. . . keep all those affected by that in your prayers.