North Dakota Youth Mission Trip - Tuesday, June 28

It was a great to rise after a good nights sleep and and feel the morning sun shine on our faces this morning as we all shuffled around this morning in our various morning routines.

Speaking of routines, we are now working like a well-oiled machine in getting ready in the morning for our days on the various sites thanks to the organizing talents of Drew and Mike. They find ways to keep us busy and on our toes almost non-stop throughout the day.

Today’s work assignments were similar to yesterdays: The Braves continued work on the CLC deck railing, the Zuni’s continued their work on the center bathrooms and were able to get the ceilings hung in both the boys and girls bathrooms, the Totems had 2 assignments today, they spent the morning cleaning the house of Josh and Jana who are looking forward to moving into a home as it’s been awhile since they were in a place of their own. In the afternoon they worked with the kids in the Sidewalk Sunday School program and from what I hear it was an afternoon of fun and frolic again. The Buffalos continued their work on a handicapped ramp which they are building for Reneta, Gandy’s mother who shared some stories with us last night for cultural night (More about that later). We learned that it was a great honor for her to share some stories with us as she is a very private and shy person.

My team, the Eagles were sent offsite to extend a deck and build a wheel chair ramp for an elderly couple, Giles and Delores. Giles is very ill and gets around with the aid of a cane and wheelchair. Delores is his primary caretaker, but she recently broke her foot so she also is in a wheelchair. Their house is settled on a hill on a beautiful piece of land surrounded by flat plains with few trees that allow you to see for what seems like miles. There are many swallows that frequent the sky above our work area and we have discovered that they have built some nests in a nearby sand hill – I didn’t even know they did that! Come to find out, (thanks to the wonders of the internet) they are called Bank Swallows.

We accomplished a great deal on our work site, sinking four posts to anchor the deck extension as well as building a framework for the extension. We have a very hard working and dedicated group of kids. (But I find all of the kids are from my experience with them.) My heart is warmed each moment that I spend with them. They are always engaged and looking for something to do. I truly appreciate the generosity of their hearts and spirits.

At the end of the day as the sun was getting ready to set, we were treated to a cultural evening of Dakota dancing, drumming and singing. We were most honored to witness the talents of Gandy Shaw who is a nationally recognized dancer and proud representative of his tribe. Our host for the evening was Chad Driver who is a singer and a drummer who composes his own Dakota songs, he was very funny and shared with us a few facts about the things we were seeing in the dancing, the costumes and how the songs are structured. It was an honor to witness the pride and beauty of the people who came to share their culture with us.

I found it to be a truly moving experience – literally - as for the closing we all participated in a simple Circle dance. It is really hard to believe that these people were once forced to forget all these beautiful customs. I find it amazing that they can find it in their hearts to trust people enough again to share their beautiful culture with us. God does indeed move in the most amazing and mysterious ways.

Thanks to Deb Wood for writing our North Dakota blog posts!