Home Sweet Home

We made it! After 1000 miles on the road, 20 hours in the vans and four solid days of serving the people of Rapid City, we're back in Rochester. I know of at least one person who's glad to be sleeping in her own bed (and NOT on an air mattress in a Sunday School classroom) tonight.

We closed our trip this morning by taking a detour to Mount Rushmore. It was a great reminder of the importance of perspective -- and that one person with a big idea can do great things in the world.

Our last stop put that into practice: we delivered two dozen hand-tied quilts from the fabulous Zumbro quilters to an apartment building that offers a stable, secure place to live to homeless families who are trying to make it out of the poverty cycle. A few members of our group had worked here on Wednesday fixing furniture and getting the apartments ready for new residents. When I brought them into the office a woman was there filling out an application for one of the apartments. I told the manager the quilts were a gift for the new residents, a way to say, 'welcome home.' And I at those words I could see tears fill the woman's eyes. Home is a pretty powerful word.

an update from Washington's Wolves

Yesterday Andrew P. wrote about building shelves at the Boys' Club. Here's the finished product!

Culture Bridge

Last night we attended a Native American Dance and Drum demonstration. One of the local churches, Woyatan Lutheran, has built a relationship with Lakota Christians (which is technically a misnomer ... even those who believe in Jesus Christ don't use the term "christian" because of the way they were historically mistreated by Christians). One of their hallmark ministries is hosting traditional dance and drum classes. It's one of the few places that offer regular training in this important part of native culture. We got to visit with the leader, Durand, and see several different dances. Most of the dancers were the same age as our students. They were awesome!

The best part was the three 'intertribal' dances, when we were invited to get up and dance too. I don't think we were fooling anybody with our dance skills, but it was a ton of fun.

a note from Truman's Trout

Here's a report from one of the work groups, which spent the morning helping create a natural prairie park in the empty lot next to the church.

Today Erik and Timmy (aka Jacob/Santa Clause/Justin Timberlake) each dug up their own weed, and then argued about whose was bigger. (They were each 2 and a half feet long.) Yesterday Erik and Jacob got in a fight about who got to use the wrench. Me (Meredith G.) and a girl from another church that was in our group were right outside the door and heard the whole thing, it was incredibly funny! -- Meredith G.

This morning we helped clean up the lot next to the church. When we were done weeding, we put the weeds into 50-gallon paper bags. There was one extra bag so I put it on. It looked very awesomlicious. I almost ran into a car but that’s ok cuz ima koolkat. -- Jessica M.

Scenes of Service

One of the realities of relational ministry is that you don't get a lot of photo opportunities. For one thing, you're supposed to be interacting with people, not taking pictures ... and it's a generally accepted rule that you can't take pictures of kids or do anything that might somehow demean someone's dignity.

Still, I want to assure you that we are busy doing things like ...

taking residents' lunch orders at the senior citizen center ...

... cleaning up the Boys Club ...

... playing bingo ...

... and doing the dishes!

a note from Andrew P.

Today at the Boys Club Gunnar, Micheal, Andrew S, Ben, Bennett, Conner, Joey, Adam, Mitch, Logan, Jeremy, and I built shelves for all the boys at the club to put their backpacks and books on. We all also have buddies. The buddies are kids 10 and younger.

My buddy was Zach. Zach is a 7 year old who loves to play hockey and his favorite game to play with me was foose ball. This week has been a very eye-opening and life-changing expirence. I have seen kids who get 1 or 2 meals a day and the Boys Club is the only place they can go during the summer where they are safe. I now see how thankful I am for having everything I do and all the things my parents do to feed me 3 meals every day.

Bennett R. and Andrew P. assembling new shelves for the Boys Club.

a note from Ellen H.

A couple days ago we went to the National Relief Charity (which coordinates food distribution for several reservations in the ares). On the way there we were stuck on the train tracks waiting for the light to change. When a train was coming closer and closer at us, so we were yelling at the people in the front to move forward. Good thing is we got out of the way in time. After we made it there and we had to label and pack rice for 1 and ½ DAYS. Once we were done with that we had to pack peanuts in small bags. Let’s just say I didn’t like peanuts before and I am not liking them now either. In total just today we packed 1,360 bags of peanuts. I am now tired of peanuts and will be probably for the rest of my life!

notes from Raelynn O. and Marissa B.

(from Raelynn)

Today was a really cool day because I got to go into the art center at the Black Hills Workshop. Yesterday I was in the sensory room, which is where people go if they have speech impediments and brain injuries. I met some really awesome people there, like this one girl Kelly who's really nice and can keep a conversation really well. Another person I met was Shad. He is so awesome! Actually Marissa and I had to help him take pictures on his DSi of this amazing picture that he painted of a scenic backround with a red car in it. It’s actually really amazing what he can do with a paintbrush and paint. I don’t think I will never forget this trip!

(from Marissa)

Today was another wonderful day with the people from Black Hills Workshop! Everyday it makes me feel awesome just seeing the smiles upon their faces right as you step into the rooms they're in. Today I was helping a man in his 30’s and his name was Shad. He was so amazing and he is such a great artist. People think that others with disabilities can’t do anything and they're worthless but these people are some of the nicest and funniest people and they can do many things we can too. At the art center at Black Hills there is a gallery and the people can do art and sell it if they want and a lot of it is so creative and beautiful! Another girl I met yesterday's name was Kama and she is 22 years old and about 4 feet tall. Right when I first saw her I thought she was about 5. She is so nice and hilarious and whenever she paints she holds one hand and then paints with the other. So I thought it was pretty cool to work with all of these amazing people that I will never forget.

Shad, Marissa and Raelynn with Shad's painting of a waterfall.

man v. ice cream

Another exercise in creative scheduling tonight. There were big storms in the Rapid City area this afternoon and evening, so tonight's trip to Mt. Rushmore was cancelled. The kids were pretty bummed out ... especially about missing the famed Mt. Rushmore ice cream shop. Luckily, there's an equally-famous ice cream place a few blocks from the church (yaay God!). Their specialty: 44-oz milkshakes. Check out the evidence (and the results) for yourself:

Michael M., Andrew S. and Gunnar G.

132 oz. of milkshake. 3 straws. You do the math.

Erik N. and Ben T.

Ben and Burlyn B 15 minutes later (not a staged photo, really)

Erik B, before ... and after

More Courage/Less Fear

This summer's Youth Works theme is "More Jesus, Less Me," from John 3:30. Every day during devos and group time we're focusing on ways we might make that happen in our own lives. Today was about setting aside those fears that hold us back -- like meeting new people, mixing with kids from the other church, or ministering to people different from us -- and being strong and courageous for Jesus. It was cool watching the kids bless each other with the words "Be brave!" before we headed out to our ministry sites this morning.

We spent the evening walking around downtown Rapid City. It's known as the "city of presidents" because of its proximity to Mt. Rushmore. Tonight we checked out the 38 bronze president statues downtown. The church is on the edge of the charming, tourist-y section of downtown. There are lots of boutiques, galleries and restaurants, and it was fun to walk around and check them out. But there's also a significant homeless population in Rapid City. Before we headed out the YouthWorks staff gave us advice on how to react if any of them asked us for money, cigarettes or alcohol. It was a reminder that no matter how nice things look on the surface, things are usually more complicated than they appear.

One interesting aspect of downtown is called "Art Alley." It was created a few years ago in response to a growing problem with graffiti on downtown buildings (including the church where we are staying). It was striking to see the burst of color and creative expression along more than a city block's worth of walls. A couple of our kids even identified the artistic talent as where they saw God present today.

Samantha S., Ann Marie R. and Sarah N.

Mitch L. says this isn't like any alley he knows of in Pine Island.

Do you see our theme? The YouthWorks! staff added this to Art Alley at the beginning of the summer.

a note from Ella N.

Today I dragged myself out of bed like at 6:30 because I had breakfast crew. Then we found out what we would be doing. Since I was a Roosevelt Rattler I was going to two different nursing homes. At one of the nursing homes there was this woman named Ruth who is paralyzed from the shoulders down. I was passing out ice cream bars and I saw her room and it has amazing technology like her TV and computer is voice activated. She has also written and published a book. I am really excited to see what comes next on this mission trip.

a note from Ben J.

I woke up at 6:30 willingly. I waited for everyone else to get up and then I went downstairs for breakfast. Then I went to the boys club to clean and tomorrow i'm going to hang out with them. So far so good!

a note from Julia Y.

Well, today was good. I went to help out with some kids and they were nice. I think I played parcheesi the whole time with Max who is now my bff! Then we ate lunch and went to a nursing home and I met very sassy old lady who's 105 yeas old (wow)! Then I met any old lady that loves soccer! I am going to hang out with her a lot! Tomorrow we are painting their nails and playing games with them. Ok I am tired so I am going to bed good night…

Julia and Seecre (age 105) on their way to play bingo!

The best laid plans ...

With every mission trip I've ever been on, there's always a point where you have to punt. That point came today (a bit early in the trip, but hey, that means everything will go smoothly the rest of the week, right?). A couple of delays put us into Rapid City too late to go on our Jewel Cave tour ... which was a bummer ... BUT we were able to find a bowling alley with open lanes not too far from the church to save the afternoon. Yaay, God! The kids had a blast bowling and playing foosball while we waited to check in at our ministry site. And the whole experience led to great conversation about what it means to set our ideas and expectations aside and be open to what God puts in front of us.

Tonight we met the YouthWorks staff and started meeting the other church we'll be working with this week. They're a group of 42 from Family of Christ Lutheran Church (LCMS) in Andover, Minn. Our work groups and chore teams are all evenly mixed, with adults and kids from both places on each group.

Tomorrow morning the kids get their crew assignments. During ZLC devotions tonight kids shared a word or two about how they're feeling about tomorrow. Their words ranged from "excited" to "apprehensive" to "nervous" to "ready to serve." After two days of sitting in the vans, though, I think we're all glad to be doing something!