We made it!

After an exciting, eventful week, we were all sad to leave the Youthworks camp, the Lakota people, and our new friends from Wisconsin. We cleaned the camp, took group photos, said goodbyes, had one last big group hug, and headed out. Little did we know that our trip home would be exciting and eventful as well!
While driving up to the Crazy Horse Memorial, we rounded a bend in Wind Cave National Park to see an entire herd of buffalo crossing the street. While feeding the buffalo at Poker Joe's was exciting on Monday, this was an even more amazing experience to see them in the wild. We did get to see Crazy Horse, Mount Rushmore, and spent some time shopping for souvenirs at the world famous Wall Drug.
Unlike last year, while making our trek across South Dakota, we did not run into any major storm systems. One of our vans did, however, run into a deer! Luckily no one was hurt (except the deer and the Dark Knight rental van) and we were able to make it to Sioux Falls for the night. We picked up another van in Omaha Saturday morning (everyone was SO excited to visit Nebraska again!) and continued our journey home. We were almost back at the church (literally had just gotten onto 581) when a car merged over a lane directly into the side of the big, white bus. Once again, we were fortunate that no one was hurt, but it did delay us getting back to the church. Several of the youth said that it just meant that God wanted them to be able to hang out together just a little while longer. Overall, even with the accidents, this was still the best trip we've had so far. Over the next few days, we will be adding more photos as well as stories from the youth and adults about their experiences this week. Stay tuned!

Our Week

Internet service has been down lately so it's taken a while to update. We did not get to hike Camel's Back on Tuesday after all, due to severe thunderstorm warnings (not tornados!), so they allowed us to get up at 4:30 this morning (Thursday) to take a sunrise hike and watch the morning begin over the bluffs. Every single person in our group got up and participated in the hike, and it was well worth it. What a great way to visualize God's presence!

Last night we went to the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre and heard Emerson Elk, a Lakota descendant of Black Elk, speak about what happened there. It was interesting to hear about this historical event from a Native perspective. We were able to walk up the hill to visit the mass grave.

We have spent the rest of this week tutoring, painting, playing with children, and bonding with new friends. We are sad to be leaving the children and friends we have formed relationships with, but are excited about our journey home. Tomorrow we will see the Crazy Horse Memorial, Mount Rushmore, and stop at Wall Drug, which is officially the tackiest, cheesiest place in the country!

Buffalo Feed

Last night, we took a trip to Poker Joe's where Darren told us the Lakota story of the White Buffalo Calf Woman. We were able to see a white buffalo that was actually born here on the reservation, one of only four born in this century. We also rode the buffalo bus out to the field where Darren showed us how to feed the buffalo with our mouths (otherwise known as kissing the bufalo)! The picture on this post is of those who made it into the Buffalo Kiss Club. Most of us preferred to feed them the old-fashioned (and less gross!) way with our hands, and some of us prefrred to just watch. It was so much fun!

Yesterday we had our first day of work projects and everything went very well. Some of us painted houses and the school, some of us worked with Children's Club, and some of us tutored the children in reading and vocabulary. It is amazing to watch our youth work with the children here on the rez. They are so caring and patient with them.

This evening, we will take hike to the top of Camel's Back.

Photos!

We were finally able to upload some photos of our trip so far. I am not sure if they are showing up in the slide show on the right, but if you click on the link to our Flickr site, there is a folder of photos for SD 2010. Hope you enjoy them!

We are having a great time so far. We all slept well last night and are ready to get to our work sites this morning. We will have groups tutoring children from the school this morning, painting houses, and working at Children's Club this afternoon. Pray for us as we begin this exciting time.

We're Here

Yesterday we made it to St. Louis and went all 630 feet to the top of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, more commonly known as the St. Louis Arch. We also drove through 3 more states, which brings our total to 8 so far.

We drove past the MANY cow pastures and cornfields of Nebraska today and made it to the camp around 5:00 mountain time (7:00 Roanoke time!). So far internet access is slow, and free time is hard to find, but we will try to update when we can. Just remember we are very busy! Thanks for thinking of us and praying for us often.

And We're Off!

24 Youth
8 Adults
4 Vehicles
5 States (so far!)

What a day! We had a great day traveling yesterday, a scrumptious dinner at a Steak and Shake, and beautiful scenery. Everything was fantastic until we ran into some extensive road construction in Kentucky. We did make it to Grayville, Illinois though, and a Super 8 has never looked so good!

Today we will cross the Mississippi River, go to the top of the St. Louis Arch, and begin our journey through the cornfields of Nebraska. We have not had time to add pictures yet, but will do that as soon as we are able. Thanks for thinking of us!

Here We Go Again!

This Friday the youth from Second Pres, along with Northminster Pres, will once again head out west to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Check out the comments and pictures from last year to see what this trip is like, and keep us in your prayers as we prepare for this amazing journey.