Locust Grove Mennonite Church

The life of a Sioux
I can’t image the hardships of a life of a Sioux. Years before the Indians were treated harsh. Was it of their color or their religion? Yesterday I, Charity, and Teresa went to the guest house of the Tree of Life ministry. There was a part Navajo and Sioux Native American, Daniel Stevens, there that played a Indian Flute and gave his life testimony there. The sound of that flute meant the sounds of the sky, the creator, and you. That also meant their heritage. The sound is a sad sound of their life. It could also be a happy sound. Daniel talked about when he was a little boy in the 70’s. He was taken to a boarding school by his father. Along with him, he had is siblings with him. By that time many families put their children in schools because they can’t take care of them or that they don’t them anymore. At that boarding school Daniel was put in a closet for 7-9 hours locked up. At another time he was whipped with a hose because of speaking his language. He sometimes dreamed of running away and never seeing his father again. He explained that 90% of the Lakota die because of suicide. Between 13-21 years old children try to commit suicide. Today, ever week there is four people attempting to commit suicide and one out of them there is a successful one. We were told that one person was killed by another person this week. God put us in this world for a reason. We are to play that music that god has given to us. Even though if we don’t want to. Daniel told us that. He said that God’s grace is placed in us. That is a bit of the challenges that the Sioux face.
Written by Anna Yoder on Jul 16, 2010 at 7:51:04 PM.

Milks Camp
Milkscamp was an experience of a lifetime. Originally we were going to take 15 people from our group but due to circumstances beyond our control we were only able to take 7 (Brian, Tyler Yoder, Nathan Martin, Jonathan Staley, Morgan Spicher, Kaitlyn Yoder, and Bekah Byler). Approximately 2.5 hours from Mission, South Dakota, 4 miles from Nebraska, we arrived at Milkscamp. Our first sight of Milkscamp was a long dirt road with a pavilion at the end. While there, we tore apart a shower house that was just bought that had fallen victim to a tornado. The whole building was on a trailer and was completely smashed. We were told to clean everything off the frame and so we quickly got to work and in less than an hour we had crow barred, hammered and ripped everything from the trailer. After we finished we were given a great lunch of green beans, spaghetti, and amazing apple crisp. Then we worked for another hour or two on the second trailer until it was time to build the teepees. To our surprise, they were fairly easy to set up. Next was the Lakota traditional sweat lodge, throughout the whole day we were told to drink as much water as possible because we would definitely need it because the sweat lodge was an approximate temperature of 120 degrees or higher. Despite the incredible heat I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. After the sweat lodge we had a supper of buffalo and wild turnip stew (which was delicious) and flat bread with a cherry dip and then we had a campfire with s’mores. We were so exhausted from the sweat lodge that we went to bed soon afterward. In the morning we had breakfast of pancakes and sausage mixed with eggs at eight in the morning. Then we tore down are tipis. While the men continued on work projects a few of us learned how to make moccasins after that we polished saddles to get ready for their up and coming horse camp. We ate pizza for lunch and soon began the long trip back to mission. While we were there we almost completely cleaned up the demolished shower house, worked on a retaining wall, finished an outdoor amphitheater polished saddles, put skirting around the cook house, pulled weeds in the horse corral and learned many things about Native American culture. HOWEVER, while at Milkscamp, there was such a lack of one particular personality that tragically had to be left back in Mission to partake in other duties, a personality so beautiful, cheerful, and spirit lifting that we could only feel the vast void in our hearts while being apart from her. This, my friends, is Charity Kauffman…we missed her.
Written by Kaitlyn Yoder and Bekah Byler on Jul 16, 2010 at 7:28:15 PM.

Relaxation Day
Wednesday-
Today was going to be a busy day. Visiting tourist attractions and seeing the black footed ferret.
Many of us woke up @ 6:00 in the morning while there were some who were not as fast.We all got on the bus @ 7 and were on our way for the enjoyable day.
Our 1st stop was Mt. Rushmore.What a beautiful view. The site was amazing.Information about our different presidents and their wonderful viewpoints.We were able to take many pictures and walk around the area. Realizing how people from a long time ago could create something like that from a long time ago was inspiring.
After Mt. Rushmore, we then went to Crazy Horse. The whole sculpture will be huge. Seeing models of what the real design will be is amazing.Both Tyler Yoder and Tyler Miller got rocks from the blast for souvinors.
We ate lunch there which was make your own wrap.
We then went to Wall Drug for some souninor shopping and to eat dinner.
Our final stop was at the Badlands. It is an amazing sight to see what God has made. Many got the priviledge to climb on top of the Badlands. Wade Krepps and Neil Martin went up the highest.
The sights were marvelous.
We got home very late. It was around midnight to early morning when people got home.
A wonderful day for many filled with memories.
Written by Jenna Derstein on Jul 15, 2010 at 11:33:56 PM.

Thursday
Today the group was back to working after a relaxing day visiting Mt. Rushmore, crazy horse, and the badlands. However, due to the our late arrival home after midnight we were all very tired as we woke up this morning. Adding to our short night of sleep was Jared crashing into chairs shortly after we started to sleep, waking most of us up. After we all finally woke up we reported to our numerous work sites. Some went to a camp 2 hours away where they will be staying until friday night and building their own tipi's to sleep in. Others worked on painting a house and my group tore out a deck and constructed a new one. For supper we all went to the local college for indian tacos which was a new experience for must of us. We are all looking forward to having a good time in our remaining days here.
Written by Nate Metz on Jul 15, 2010 at 10:00:38 PM.

Tuesday
Well, as I’m sitting here typing up this blog, the cats relaxing and I bet she can’t wait to hear my recollection of today’s events. Well I started the day by waking up five minutes late for breakfast. Then I proceeded to go to our group meeting and get our work assignments for the day. When we arrived to the equipment shed, we found out that we would have to wait an hour until the man in charge could come and take us to our work site. My group had to paint a house. This house just so happened to be in the middle of nowhere and had absolutely no trees around whatsoever. Miss Spicher would like to add that we got extremely burnt. Ashton and I had a really good time painting grasshoppers.
We all had a hoot painting the house and hanging out with each other, which really helped pass the time. But unlike everybody else, I went to a special event called a Sweat Lodge. The Sweat Lodge was a tradition done by the Lakota for a really long time, and I felt honored to take part. Me, the bus driver and his son, Teresa, Ivan, and Jenna arrived at the Sweat Lodge and were a little surprised at how small it was. It was completely canvas, just like an old wigwam. There was a hole in the middle of the floor for the steam rocks to be placed. We all sat outside for a while and listened to the Medicine Man, Hollow Horn Bear, talk about the Lakota’s spirituality and how they fought Christianity as much as possible. The Lakota believed that a great spirit shed its blood and carved the earth from itself. Soon, however, the earth got lonely and wanted to know its purpose so the Great Spirit created the sun and the moon and the star spirits. Eventually the earth started to complain that the sun was too hot and the moon was too cold, so the Great Spirit said that he will bring relief if the earth could bring forth life. Both sides lived up to the bargain, but soon the people became corrupt. The earth decided to cleanse the land by splitting up the continent. But that only kept things clean for a little while. There was a great ice age that trapped the corrupt people and made the mountain ranges move from north to south instead of east to west. The Lakota are now worried that there will soon be a third and final cleansing, considering how corrupt things are in the world today. I was there and I was surprised how the Lakota have here and believed in this story for centuries before our scientists have discovered Pangaea or that the ice age created the mountains ranges we now see today.
After that story we went into the sweat lodge. I learned that there are six significant colors to the Lakota people. The Black means west, the White means south, the Red means north, and the east is yellow. Green stands for mother earth, and the blue stands for the sky. When Hollow Horn Bear had the door to the hut closed and sixteen rocks put into the tent it immediately got hot. He sang two songs and a prayer, all while putting water on the rocks from time to time to create steam. I actually couldn’t make it to the second session because I because I became dizzy and had to leave. But as I was sitting in there, listening to Hollow Horn Bear sing in complete darkness, I could just picture me sitting amongst the elders of the tribe. I was so at peace with everything, I felt like I had no worries or obligations at all. The steam cleansed the body as well as the mind and it made me extremely relaxed. I will never forget this experience; I had such a good time. I think it will be hard for anything to top what I’ve experienced tonight. Well I’m getting pretty tired so I think I’m going to go to bed. Goodnight everyone

Written by Tyler Miller on Jul 14, 2010 at 12:43:09 AM.

Work, Food, Work, More Food.
Today I woke up to people going up the steps to the kitchen for breakfast, which consisted of bagels, cereals, and fruit juices; it was about 6:45am. Once we were finished eating we prepared for our morning devotions. I went back to my bed and began to read my Bible and pray about the day ahead of me. Later in the afternoon I was told by Ivan that I must have been praying pretty hard because I was snoring pretty loud. But once I was done with my devotions I went up to the kitchen (Tyler Miller says “Hello everyone!”) to pack my lunch.
Once we all had our lunches packed we went outside for a large group devotion with the other groups who are here. Russel the man who is “in charge” here talked to us about different things we would be doing this week. After that was done we headed out to our different job sites. I was with the majority of our group and we headed out to Ghost Hawk Park to help clean it up. The remainder of our group stayed here at the “base” and worked in a Salvation Army type of thing.
We arrived at the Park around 10:00 and the gate was closed, so the guy from Tree of Life drove back to the top of one of the many ridges to get cell service to call someone to come open it. After about twenty minutes a man showed up with the right key but the wrong lock was on the gate. So we sat and waited another half hour until a different guy showed up with the REAL right key. We drove down to the park and got started right away.
We started working on the east end of the park, raking sticks and leaves and also picking up large branches that had fallen off of the trees from a big storm they had just recently had. We worked hard for a good hour and got fairly far and stopped to have lunch. After lunch we found some entertainment. Jared Fultz and Micah Peachey started to pull on this tree branch that had partially fall off of the tree but would just not come down. So we got about 6 guys pulling on this branch at one time but it still would not come down. Then Wade climbs up to where it is broken off and starts to pull and well it was really fun but we did final get it down.
After we got ourselves back together we started working again, and in like a half hour the park people invited us over to where they had been working for some more food. Ivan couldn’t resist because they had mountain dew and he had been caving one since we left the house. We went over and they had sandwich stuff, chips, cookies, and soda. We ate there for about a half hour and got back to work and finished up around 3:30 and got back to the house at 4:00 and had an amazing supper of meatball subs and baked mac n cheese with bacon on top.

Written by Tyler Yoder on Jul 12, 2010 at 7:52:35 PM.

The day
Dear Family and Friends,
Greetings from South Dakota! Today was our groups first "real" work day. I worked in a food pantry/soup kitchen/thrift store called Warm Welcome. Everyone who comes into Warm Welcome pays a dollar and then is able to pick fifteen cloathing items, a bag of groceries,a gift item, and a hot meal. My job for the day was to accept the money and restock the toy table for the kids. Others in the group went to a park and did yard work.
Over all, our day went well.
Tonight I am looking forward to learn how to play some Lakota hand games.
Thanks so much for all your prayers!
Written by Hannah on Jul 12, 2010 at 6:29:01 PM.

We made it....
... and we didn't kill each other on the 27 and a half hour bus ride!

After leaving the church Saturday afternoon, the group immediately began to talk, sing, play games, and eat junk food... pretty much anything we could think of to keep us entertained. While the bus ride did begin to get long, it also gave us a good opportunity to get to know each other more and socialize (something everyone on this trip is very good at!). We stopped at a Golden Corral for dinner Saturday night, McDonalds for breakfast Sunday morning, and McDonalds/Subway again for lunch. After eating greasy fast food and pounds of candy purchased at the many various truck stops, we finally arrived in Valentine, Nebraska, approximately 35 miles from our destination in Mission, SD. Here, we drove through a wildlife refuge (the huge tour bus on the little dirt road was quite amusing) where we came within 10 yards of a herd of buffalo. We also got to see prarie dogs and several of the more daring people climbed up a breath-taking cliff that overlooked a beautiful view of a river and miles and miles of God's awesome creation.

After our wildlife excursion, we finally journeyed to our final destination. Arriving in Mission, South Dakota at approximatly 5:00, we finally unloaded and found our room assignments. After unpacking, we took a walk to the Guest House, a building that another group is staying at that will be helping us this week. There, we had a meeting that covered the basic rules and guidelines, along with some warnings and suggestions about how to handle our culture shock.

While walking back to our house, we were stopped 3 times by different people that wanted prayer. Amazing to me. To walk from our house to the Guest House takes about 5, maybe 10 minutes. We were stopped 3 times by Native Americans who shared with us their struggles and told us how much they appreciated us being here. One man prayed for us in the middle of the road and prayed that God would bless each one of us. Now something you should all understand is that this isn't a place filled with Teepees, Buffalo hides hanging all around, or feather head-dresses as a part of one's regular attire. This is a place of extreme poverty. A place where there are few 2 story houses... nearly all the buildings are trailors that have been partly destroyed by 85 mph winds. Walking down these streets and seeing all the trash on the streets, stray dogs eating garbage, people on the street corners... it seems disheartening. Even though the people here are extremly accepting and seem glad to see us, a blanket of sadness seems to loom over me. Please keep us in your prayers. Pray that we can relay the message of God to these people without getting downhearted by the poverty around us. Pray also for our safty as we will be taking on some difficult jobs tommorrow such as roofing and electrical work. But most importantly, pray for the people here, that they will have an open heart to recieve what we have to say and do. Thanks for all your love, support, and prayers!
Written by Morgan Spicher on Jul 12, 2010 at 1:01:19 AM.

Before we go
For those of you looking for the 2010 MYF Mission Trip Journal posted from South Dakota-you have found it! I just wanted to take this opportunity to share with you all before we leave for South Dakota. Hopefully, you will be able to read updates here each day or so this next week as we strive to be reflective about our experience. Our internet access will be limited, but we will do our best with our scheduling there in SD to have some youth share our daily activities and God sightings through this online journal.

I am excited about the opportunity that the MYF has this summer to travel to Mission, SD. We will be hosted by Tree of Life Ministry and serving the Native Americans on the Rosebud Reservation. You can find more information about the organization we are working with at treeofliferelief.org.

Thank you so much for your continued support through all our fundraising. We know this trip would not be possible without our church family. We may be the participants, but each of you has been and continues to be a part of our mission trip experience. Thank you also for your continued prayers. It is our desire that we can be a true light of Christ's love to each person we meet. It is safe to say that Native Americans have not always been shown God's love by Christians. Pray that our witness is true and God-honoring and that through the power of Christ we can share God's amazing love. Pray also that our hearts would be open to God and what he has for each of us to learn through our time of serving in SD.

God bless you all,
Brian
Written by Brian Yoder on Jul 8, 2010 at 10:39:05 AM.

Take a look at our pictures in the photo album.

Upcoming events: