Tuesday, June 23rd—Day 4
The day started out more relaxed than the past few ones. We didn't have to get up at 4:30 or be woken up for nothing. We woke up about 6.
Breakfast was a choice to either eat French toast or pancake. There also were the honey buns, strawberry pop-tarts, and things of that sort too. I chose to eat French toast. It was yummy!
After that, we transitioned into devotions and prayer time. I remember feeling refreshed and grateful to have devos. Discussing and praying with a partner was a wonderful way to get to know someone we might've not been very acquainted to as well. Our prayer prompt to help us get started was to pray for our brother/sister in Christ in their walk of faith and for each of us to open up to learning more about Christ for the whole week.
We all next transitioned into setting up for VBS. We cleaned the building. There were people who swept, others mopped, and still others sanitized the bathrooms. Once we finished cleaning, we had a wee bit of time to relax before the students arrived.
The students ended up starting to arrive at 10:30. For lunch, we ate hot dogs and chips. After all of us had eaten, we had a little time before worship rally. The students played Simon Says. We finally got started and began our day with worship rally.
Next, we all split up into each group. They were grouped slightly different from Monday. We had a group of 5 and 6 year olds, a group for 7-9 year olds, and a 10 and up group. The 5 and 6 age group had 7 year olds the day before, but this had created a large group that was very difficult to handle. On Monday, that group consisted of about 25 kids and were reduced to maybe about 12. That was very helpful to the leaders in their group.
My group consisted of the older students. Each day was a different order of the classes than the previous day. On this day, we went to music, abstinence, Bible study, and last but not least, rec.
Sarah taught the Bible study class that day. She taught them about Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego choosing to eat differently than the king and his men. They ate healthy food and drank only water. God had wanted them to do so. After 10 days of eating healthy and drinking only water, Daniel and his friends looked better than the king's men. The king's men had eaten the rich food of the king's and drank wine. This showed that God is concerned with our bodies. We need to eat healthily instead of rich food and wine. Sarah's teaching went pretty well. She was done quite quickly though. We decided to play games to keep them occupied. We played the Name Game and then the game called Concentration.
Once VBS was completed for the day, Emily and I rode on the big bus with some students to drop them off. Then, we came back to the church for a little while. We went over to the school and cleaned quite a bit there.
After taking showers, we ate dinner at the church again. The food team had prepared Lasagna for us. It was delicious!
Later, we went on the tour the adults had gone on the previous day. We weren't all very enthused to go. Some of us had wanted to go back to the school and play and relax. We had a choice to just have a tour of the cultural center or the full tour, but someone made our group laugh and all of us ended up taking the full tour. A lot of the youth weren't paying attention to what Pastor Ben and Brother Ryan had to say, and so when someone made the group laugh, we all went on the full tour. I actually learned and somewhat enjoyed the experience though.
The Lakota Indians were the Sioux people we served mostly on the reservation. We learned that they didn't have a sewer plant. Instead, they had two punns (ponds?) that filled with water and was pumped through both punns. I didn't quite get the entire process, but something like that. We also went to the cultural center. We stood outside for quite some time.
Pastor Ben told us the history of the Lakota. They are a warrior society. They are known for fighting ferociously. The children even play war games that are very rough. He even performed a marriage ceremony. He chose two people from our team. Kalyn was given the Indian name of Miniwashtae. Pastor Ben was pretending to be her father, and he knew that it was time for Miniwashtae to get married. He found some suitors. Chase was the lucky one. He was named Falling Rain. Pastor Ben had also named some other people from our group. Grant became Red Dog, Jonathan was Big Beaver, and Jake was Laughing Bear. Anyway, Miniwashtae and Falling Rain were chosen to be the married couple. Miniwashtae had gotten sick and to ask the spirits for healing over her, Falling Rain performed a ritual. He had to tie himself with the help of another person, to a tree. He had to stick two long sticks into his chest flesh. It made the shape of an x. He had to dance until the sticks came out or something like that. I bet it was gory and would've been so difficult to watch. This was just an example and acted out, so thankfully, it really didn't happen. Pastor Ben spoke a little while longer about the Lakota history after this. We went inside the cultural center. Then, he spoke and showed us some items that were displayed. There was a tomahawk, a buffalo skull, and a few other items too. The buffalo is a very special and important symbol to the Lakotas. After finishing at the cultural center, we all piled into the bus again.
Our last few tour spots we drove by were a piece of land that had many paths or roads where houses could be built and Chinatown which had pieces of recycled China in the ground.
The tour probably lasted for two hours. There's a lot of history.
We finished the day off with a team meeting about the day and relaxed before going to sleep. I'd consider this day as a productive one.
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Friday, July 3, 2015
Monday, June 22nd—Day 3 Mission Trip
Monday, June 22nd—Day 3 Mission Trip
This day started out exciting! It's kinda funny too. We were woken up around 5:15 a.m. when Mr. Gerald shouted, "Good Morning!" All of us were surprised to have been woken up, and some were disgusted. The girls in my room wanted to go back to sleep. We ate breakfast at 7 but were expected to be out in the cafeteria part of the school around 6:50. We ate our meals at the church though. The church had a better kitchen for our large group, so that's where we ate.
I remember being confused. I had thought that Brother Ryan told us that we'd be eating about 7. Then, I also thought maybe that he wanted us up early for one reason or another. I lay back down just for a second, but soon rose up again. I found out that some people went to get their T-shirts. (We received a t-shirt for our mission trip team, and one for our summer theme, back in Alabama, as a youth group).
I got up anyway. I didn't want to be in trouble if we were already supposed to be up. I found out later that it was more of a false alarm than anything else.
We said a prayer over our food and went to the church to eat it. Around 7:25 or 7:30, we divided ourselves up. We either read the devotions by ourselves or with our prayer partner. I read the devotion for the day with one of my friends, and then discussed the material and prayed with my prayer partner.
Afterwards, we did some tidying up and relaxed a bit before 10. There were some who decided to help the food team and made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with them. Around 10 or 10:30, several of us went outside to encourage folks to come to the VBS. We stood outside holding up signs that said, "VBS" and waved at bypassing cars. After a while, the VBS teachers were called in for a quick something that needed to be said. We were only arranging how we'd deal with lining up the kids for each age group.
The kids started to arrive a little before 11. We sat down and talked but also ate with the students. This helped all of us get to know a few of the children better. We then went to do our opening Worship Rally.
We started with the theme song and welcomed them to our VBS. We introduced our motto for the week. "THIS IS THE WAY, WALK IN IT." One side shouted "THIS IS THE WAY," and the other shouted, "WALK IN IT!" We were trying to see which side was louder. We then watched the selection for the day from the week long video. After that, we finished with a missions video about a couple of friends who live in California and prayed. All of us went our separate directions from there.
I was with the 5th and 6th graders. We went to Abstinence class, rec, Bible study, and last but not least, arts and crafts.
We talked about sex in the abstinence class. It was pretty much just an introduction to what it is and that it is a wedding present God created and was meant to share with only your spouse. Then, the rec class was mostly playing ball. In Bible study, I got to introduce myself and help Ms. Bridgett, the teacher for the day, with an activity. After introducing myself, I was given directions to go where Ms. Bridgett directed me in the way to go. She was behind me, so that I could hear it coming from my ears when I turned a certain direction. This was to demonstrate our memory verse for the entire week. It was Isaiah 30:21, "And whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you, "This is the way, walk in it." Ms. Bridgett then told them about Jesus' birth and why he came to earth.
After VBS, a few of our team went with the children to drop them off at their houses. We all went into the sanctuary. Cass, one of the three interns with us, spoke to us. Three people went to pass out flyers about our VBS at another area of town. The rest of us stayed. The VBS day had gone much better than most of us had anticipated. The students were interactive and were able to talk to us. I know that I, and probably other VBS teachers too, were so relieved to know these students would communicate with us.
We all went back to the school. We took showers and relaxed a bit before dinner. After we'd eaten our dinner, all of us came back to the school and had another team meeting. Each night, we talked about the day and how we could improve and change some certain areas. After all of this had been finished, we had time to play card games and just hang out. Lights out was at 11.
I forgot to mention, we also had a lady come bring beaded jewelry for us to look at and possibly buy. The beaded jewelry pieces were crafted by men in prison. The adult leaders went on a tour with Pastor Ben. They went on about a two hour tour of the Lakota Indian history while the rest of us had the team meeting.
The first day of VBS went well. I couldn't ask for a better start. We were told later that this had been the best turn out for a first day of VBS for the people living in Eagle Butte. (Eagle Butte was the name of the Indian Reservation we stayed and served at). We all hoped for a wonderful blossoming in the children. We wanted to be fruitful in our work for Jesus.
This day started out exciting! It's kinda funny too. We were woken up around 5:15 a.m. when Mr. Gerald shouted, "Good Morning!" All of us were surprised to have been woken up, and some were disgusted. The girls in my room wanted to go back to sleep. We ate breakfast at 7 but were expected to be out in the cafeteria part of the school around 6:50. We ate our meals at the church though. The church had a better kitchen for our large group, so that's where we ate.
I remember being confused. I had thought that Brother Ryan told us that we'd be eating about 7. Then, I also thought maybe that he wanted us up early for one reason or another. I lay back down just for a second, but soon rose up again. I found out that some people went to get their T-shirts. (We received a t-shirt for our mission trip team, and one for our summer theme, back in Alabama, as a youth group).
I got up anyway. I didn't want to be in trouble if we were already supposed to be up. I found out later that it was more of a false alarm than anything else.
We said a prayer over our food and went to the church to eat it. Around 7:25 or 7:30, we divided ourselves up. We either read the devotions by ourselves or with our prayer partner. I read the devotion for the day with one of my friends, and then discussed the material and prayed with my prayer partner.
Afterwards, we did some tidying up and relaxed a bit before 10. There were some who decided to help the food team and made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with them. Around 10 or 10:30, several of us went outside to encourage folks to come to the VBS. We stood outside holding up signs that said, "VBS" and waved at bypassing cars. After a while, the VBS teachers were called in for a quick something that needed to be said. We were only arranging how we'd deal with lining up the kids for each age group.
The kids started to arrive a little before 11. We sat down and talked but also ate with the students. This helped all of us get to know a few of the children better. We then went to do our opening Worship Rally.
We started with the theme song and welcomed them to our VBS. We introduced our motto for the week. "THIS IS THE WAY, WALK IN IT." One side shouted "THIS IS THE WAY," and the other shouted, "WALK IN IT!" We were trying to see which side was louder. We then watched the selection for the day from the week long video. After that, we finished with a missions video about a couple of friends who live in California and prayed. All of us went our separate directions from there.
I was with the 5th and 6th graders. We went to Abstinence class, rec, Bible study, and last but not least, arts and crafts.
We talked about sex in the abstinence class. It was pretty much just an introduction to what it is and that it is a wedding present God created and was meant to share with only your spouse. Then, the rec class was mostly playing ball. In Bible study, I got to introduce myself and help Ms. Bridgett, the teacher for the day, with an activity. After introducing myself, I was given directions to go where Ms. Bridgett directed me in the way to go. She was behind me, so that I could hear it coming from my ears when I turned a certain direction. This was to demonstrate our memory verse for the entire week. It was Isaiah 30:21, "And whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you, "This is the way, walk in it." Ms. Bridgett then told them about Jesus' birth and why he came to earth.
After VBS, a few of our team went with the children to drop them off at their houses. We all went into the sanctuary. Cass, one of the three interns with us, spoke to us. Three people went to pass out flyers about our VBS at another area of town. The rest of us stayed. The VBS day had gone much better than most of us had anticipated. The students were interactive and were able to talk to us. I know that I, and probably other VBS teachers too, were so relieved to know these students would communicate with us.
We all went back to the school. We took showers and relaxed a bit before dinner. After we'd eaten our dinner, all of us came back to the school and had another team meeting. Each night, we talked about the day and how we could improve and change some certain areas. After all of this had been finished, we had time to play card games and just hang out. Lights out was at 11.
I forgot to mention, we also had a lady come bring beaded jewelry for us to look at and possibly buy. The beaded jewelry pieces were crafted by men in prison. The adult leaders went on a tour with Pastor Ben. They went on about a two hour tour of the Lakota Indian history while the rest of us had the team meeting.
The first day of VBS went well. I couldn't ask for a better start. We were told later that this had been the best turn out for a first day of VBS for the people living in Eagle Butte. (Eagle Butte was the name of the Indian Reservation we stayed and served at). We all hoped for a wonderful blossoming in the children. We wanted to be fruitful in our work for Jesus.
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Sunday, June 21st--Day 2 Mission Trip
Sunday, June 21st—Day 2
We all woke Sunday, June 21st—Day 2
We all woke up early and packed everything. We had a choice of eating honey buns, cinnamon rolls, muffins, and doughnuts. I ate a few tiny chocolate doughnunts, a honey bun or cinnamon roll and drank orange juice. We climbed into the vehicles and headed off. We did devotions as a group, and some of us took naps.
Next, we stopped around 10:30 for church. The church actually started around 11. It was a small church and had a traditional service. It was quite different. We sang hymns from a hymnal and when the soloist had finished singing, some of us wanted to clap but were informed not to. Between the singing and sermon, the fathers were acknowledged. It was Fathers' Day, and none of us needed to forget or skip over that.
The pastor of their church wasn't there that Sunday, so someone else spoke. He preached about materialsim and the desires for success. He was reminding us all that we shouldn't be as worried about earthly treasures and our life on earth as much as planning for the life ahead. It is so much more important to plan for the eternal life ahead of us. I thought it was a wonderful sermon.
We ate lunch after the church service. I went to Taco Bell once again.
In the afternoon, the VBS teachers practiced teaching their own Bible stories. (I was one of them). We practiced the songs and their motions another time. We also watched a few movies on the way to South Dakota and back.
When we were informed, "We have arrived." All of us were excited and ready to get out of the vehicles. We were so grateful to have made it to our destination.
We went inside the school that we were staying at. The headmaster of the school and pastor of the church we were serving welcomed us and gave us some precautions. There had been three stabbings at the school lately. We were also told to stay in groups when walking outside. Women and girls were to have a male in the group if any of us wanted to go somewhere. We were advised not to give money to people who might ask. It would've been hurting them instead of helping them as well as gaining more people who wanted money too. A majority of the Lakota people drink. They are very poor as well.
After all of this, we unloaded the luggage, VBS materials and decorations, and food. We ate subway sandwiches for dinner. After we ate, we went into the church sanctuary and were given more info. The Lakota are strong in art and are weaker in communications. The VBS teachers were afraid we had to change the way we were going to present our stories. We were planning to interact with them. The pastor had warned us that they might just sit there and not respond. He told us, "That doesn't mean they don't understand you though."
Next, some of our team decorated the church for VBS.
Lastly, we came back to the school and got our luggage and sleeping arrangements fixed. There was a hall designated for the girls and one designated for only boys. We had a short team meeting, and the boys went to the church to take showers. The girls had the two showers at the school. There was only one shower for the girls and one shower for with boys, so we ended up having the girls shower in the two while the boys showered at the church. We were all tired out and ready for bed. It was another long day, but we all pulled through.
We all woke Sunday, June 21st—Day 2
We all woke up early and packed everything. We had a choice of eating honey buns, cinnamon rolls, muffins, and doughnuts. I ate a few tiny chocolate doughnunts, a honey bun or cinnamon roll and drank orange juice. We climbed into the vehicles and headed off. We did devotions as a group, and some of us took naps.
Next, we stopped around 10:30 for church. The church actually started around 11. It was a small church and had a traditional service. It was quite different. We sang hymns from a hymnal and when the soloist had finished singing, some of us wanted to clap but were informed not to. Between the singing and sermon, the fathers were acknowledged. It was Fathers' Day, and none of us needed to forget or skip over that.
The pastor of their church wasn't there that Sunday, so someone else spoke. He preached about materialsim and the desires for success. He was reminding us all that we shouldn't be as worried about earthly treasures and our life on earth as much as planning for the life ahead. It is so much more important to plan for the eternal life ahead of us. I thought it was a wonderful sermon.
We ate lunch after the church service. I went to Taco Bell once again.
In the afternoon, the VBS teachers practiced teaching their own Bible stories. (I was one of them). We practiced the songs and their motions another time. We also watched a few movies on the way to South Dakota and back.
When we were informed, "We have arrived." All of us were excited and ready to get out of the vehicles. We were so grateful to have made it to our destination.
We went inside the school that we were staying at. The headmaster of the school and pastor of the church we were serving welcomed us and gave us some precautions. There had been three stabbings at the school lately. We were also told to stay in groups when walking outside. Women and girls were to have a male in the group if any of us wanted to go somewhere. We were advised not to give money to people who might ask. It would've been hurting them instead of helping them as well as gaining more people who wanted money too. A majority of the Lakota people drink. They are very poor as well.
After all of this, we unloaded the luggage, VBS materials and decorations, and food. We ate subway sandwiches for dinner. After we ate, we went into the church sanctuary and were given more info. The Lakota are strong in art and are weaker in communications. The VBS teachers were afraid we had to change the way we were going to present our stories. We were planning to interact with them. The pastor had warned us that they might just sit there and not respond. He told us, "That doesn't mean they don't understand you though."
Next, some of our team decorated the church for VBS.
Lastly, we came back to the school and got our luggage and sleeping arrangements fixed. There was a hall designated for the girls and one designated for only boys. We had a short team meeting, and the boys went to the church to take showers. The girls had the two showers at the school. There was only one shower for the girls and one shower for with boys, so we ended up having the girls shower in the two while the boys showered at the church. We were all tired out and ready for bed. It was another long day, but we all pulled through.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Saturday, June 20th—The Start to My South Dakota Mission Trip
We all had to get up at the crack of dawn. We had to be at the church at 5:30 and the departure time was at 6:00. When Dad and I got there, people were waiting around, and then we started to load luggage in the trailers. It took a while, and after that, we took a bathroom break before climbing into the vehicles for the first time. We had devotions and told each other our testimonies for the first two or so hours.
Each time we stopped for a break, we'd switch vehicles. We brought three vehicles, a small bus and a big bus, and the church van too. We stopped for lunch, and I went to Taco Bell.
During the afternoon, all of us worked on learning the music and motions for the VBS songs. Even those who weren't teaching the songs had to learn them, so that we could all do the motions at the end of the week with the students. We went over the songs more than once and even got to stand up in the bus and try our best to hold on while singing and doing motions at the same time.
At one point, we stopped and played Putt-Putt. (We had a goal of playing Putt-Putt in 11 different states). We ended up playing at only one stop and skipping the other two. We were supposed to play again going to South Dakota, and once coming back, but it didn't work out. It was hot that day, and I ended up only playing 9 holes. I managed to make a hole-in-one once!
We were planning to stop in Kansas City for the night and stay at a church, but for some reason or another, we couldn't and our plans were changed. We ended up staying in Omaha, Nebraska. We stayed at a Christian school there. It was pretty late when we arrived, and it took a while to get the luggage out of the trailers. It was a long day, but a great start to a fulfilling mission trip.
We all had to get up at the crack of dawn. We had to be at the church at 5:30 and the departure time was at 6:00. When Dad and I got there, people were waiting around, and then we started to load luggage in the trailers. It took a while, and after that, we took a bathroom break before climbing into the vehicles for the first time. We had devotions and told each other our testimonies for the first two or so hours.
Each time we stopped for a break, we'd switch vehicles. We brought three vehicles, a small bus and a big bus, and the church van too. We stopped for lunch, and I went to Taco Bell.
During the afternoon, all of us worked on learning the music and motions for the VBS songs. Even those who weren't teaching the songs had to learn them, so that we could all do the motions at the end of the week with the students. We went over the songs more than once and even got to stand up in the bus and try our best to hold on while singing and doing motions at the same time.
At one point, we stopped and played Putt-Putt. (We had a goal of playing Putt-Putt in 11 different states). We ended up playing at only one stop and skipping the other two. We were supposed to play again going to South Dakota, and once coming back, but it didn't work out. It was hot that day, and I ended up only playing 9 holes. I managed to make a hole-in-one once!
We were planning to stop in Kansas City for the night and stay at a church, but for some reason or another, we couldn't and our plans were changed. We ended up staying in Omaha, Nebraska. We stayed at a Christian school there. It was pretty late when we arrived, and it took a while to get the luggage out of the trailers. It was a long day, but a great start to a fulfilling mission trip.
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