Yes indeed, it’s time to start planning our annual trip to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, and once again, we have no idea (outside of me and Dave) of who’s going. The dates for this year’s trip are June 9-18 (including travel time to and from Indiana). Anyone who is interested in going should contact me, via comment on this blog, or through the Facebook. You can also email me at moonandjess@frontier.com.
Once again, our plans involve doing:
Daily Street Ministry/VBS in the villages of Wanblee and Potato Creek,
Serving hot lunches to the kids at Potato Creek,
Carrying on an Adult Ministry (consists of delivering baskets of food & necessities to folks on the Rez, and just visiting and getting to know them, relationship-building, & that sort of thing),
Mowing around the playgrounds and parks if needed (it frequently is),
Hopefully some construction projects (depending on our capacity),
Dinner nightly, with as many of our Native friends as want to join us (this is always a good time, and a great time for building relationships and getting to know the adults), and,
Cultural activities like visits to Wounded Knee, the Badlands, the Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore, and the Crazy Horse monument. Often, some good friends of ours have held an inipi (purefication), or sweat lodge ceremony for us.
It’s a very challenging and rewarding week. Challenges include: rowdy little kids, hot weather, cold weather, rain, wind, rowdy, abrasive little kids (some of them are really, really rowdy. Dealing with them is not always a job for the faint of heart), exhaustion (due to hard work, and lack of sleep due to my own legendary snoring. Sorry), dirty diapers (when the box says 20-25 pounds, they’re not kidding; that’s all those things will hold, and it’s not unusual to see a kid dragging around a diaper approaching catastrophic failure), and rowdy, abrasive, rebellious little kids (I really can’t stress this one enough. There’s just something about the look on a mid-western, good, Christian housewife’s face when a cute, grubby little four-year-old tells her to go f#%& herself that really implants itself in my memory). And of course, there’s always the challenge of seeing how the Sioux live, and facing the fact that we (as a nation) did this to them, and continue to do so.
Rewards include: sharing Jesus’ love and grace with arguably the most un-loved, neglected, abused, and exploited people in this country, meeting new people and making new friends (with each other as well as with the Sioux), seeing a lot of really beautiful country, learning about a different culture, opening yourself up to new experiences, helping out folks who really need help, and seeing those rowdy, abrasive, rebellious little kids clinging to our folks, asking them not to go on our last day.
There are also; nightly devotions, and a lot of good food (unless Dave and I are doing the cooking, and even we have managed to avoid poisoning anybody so far), and probably some other stuff that I’ve forgotten.
The cost of the trip is $350 per person, and everyone is responsible for getting themselves to the Rez, and back home. The $350 covers food, camping, and transportation on the Rez, and also pays for construction materials. Any money left over at the end of the week stays in the bank to help folks out there with emergencies throughout the rest of the year. Not one penny goes into anyone’s pocket who is involved in this trip.
If you’re not up for camping, we stay at the Lakota Prairie Ranch Resort, which has rooms and cabins available to rent. Please note that the cost of the room is not included in the $350. If you need a room, you are on your own for the cost as well as for making your reservations. The rooms are not cheap, but all of the rooms and cabins will accommodate at least 2 people, and most will hold 4, or even 5 or 6, depending on how close you are.
Now, I know that this sort of thing isn’t for everybody, but, if you haven’t tried, how do you know?
For a better idea of what to expect, check out the other posts on this blog.
We hope you’ll join us this year.