North Dakota Youth Mission Trip - Monday, June 27

Today we were awakened in the wee hours of the morning by the sound of thunder and rain which continued through breakfast time. Though the earth around us was dampened, our spirits were not. We were ready to tackle the day and get some work done! And that we did, after a slow start – as we had to get vans to go to the work sites, plan Sidewalk Sunday School (VBS) and get supplies loaded to where they needed to go. But we were FLEXIBLE, which are rules 1, 2 and 3 for a successful mission trip experience. Once all that was done we were ready to go!

For the week, we have been divided into five groups with names that reflect the culture that we are immersing ourselves in this week – Eagles, Buffalos, Zunis, Totems and Braves. Today the Totems, Zunis and Braves worked at the center putting up walls in the bathrooms, building a railing for the Christian Life Center (CLC) and putting up walls in the main room of the CLC. It was fun at the end of the day to hear the kids talk about their feelings of accomplishment on a job well done and their excitement at using power tools for the first time.

While these groups were busy doing manual labor at the CLC, our group, the Eagles spent the afternoon playing with, reading to, performing for and face painting 30+ children ranging in ages from 3 – 14 at the Sidewalk Sunday School, which for Mike and Libby (the center directors) is the most important ministry that they do. The place where we worked with the children was a small park in the Tokyo community surrounded by very modest homes, in various states of disrepair. It contained a nice new playground that had been put in earlier last fall and a concrete basketball court that was sporting two newer basketball hoops and small pieces of broken glass everywhere.

Around the basketball court was high grass where we cleaned up empty alcohol bottles, pop cans and other trash. The children were very curious, spirited and hungry. We passed out snacks and drinks non-stop throughout the three hours that we spent there. According to Mike and his wife Libby, these kids get maybe one meal a day. Tokyo is a high poverty area as most of the industry that employs people is more than 15 miles away and most of the people in the area don’t have cars to get to where the jobs are. At times during the day, it was hard to tell who was having more fun, the Dakota kids or our kids. Those young, beautiful, trusting faces moved us all into action spiritually and physically. It was a most fulfilling afternoon.

The forecast for tomorrow is sunny and warm, but no matter what the weather is, the forecast for our hearts will be sunny and warm, thanks to the love we feel for each other as we go about our daily tasks and the love we feel for the people we are having the opportunity to work with and for this week.