Day 3: Flexibility

Jordan and Malachi...adorable little boy that loved "J"

Our first full day on the reservation was met with many challenges. First of all, as I mentioned yesterday the teen center where we are staying is in much worse shape than last year. The grass is several feet tall and completely overgrown with weeds. Aaron spent all morning and worked through lunch trying to get the grass under control. Did I mention that most of the time it was pouring down rain? He was such a trooper and completely covered in grass when he was finished. Flexibility.

My big project this year is coordinating the carnival on Wednesday. The reservation has 1000 people and last year we had 600 at the carnival!And so, needless to say, this is a very big job. Once we arrived at the teen center we (Amy and I...carnival co-chairs:) organized the thousands of prizes packed in banana boxes in a secure room. We were so proud of our organization. Well, it didn't last. This morning we were informed that our "secure room" had to be cleared out...ugh! And so we spent most of the day moving and organizing the bazillion boxes that we had just done yesterday. Flexibility.

Every evening we feed all of the kids at the youth center. We have two separate kitchens...one in a building with the little kids and the other for the teens. To feed all of these children is quite a chore. Not to mention that they are all starving and have A.D.D...:) Tonight was our first dinner with the kids and the menu was chicken strips, french fries, corn, salad and fruit. When we pulled out our chicken strips they were frozen into a giant mound. We had to basically hacksaw through them to get them on a cookie sheet. And then to top it off we have an oven that only cooks on a quarter of the oven so the food has to be rotated constantly. The kids didn't mind and ate every bite. Flexibility.

All in all we had a very full, busy, amazing day. This was our first day with the kids and it was such a joy to see the kids that we fell in love with last year come through those doors. As you can see from the pictures everyone found their special child. I can't wait to see what relationships develop this week.

Last night we had an incredible experience that I wanted to share just so that I will not forget. After 9pm all of the children go home and we lock all of the doors. Last night at around 10pm we got a knock on the door. For some reason someone opened the door and there stood a man named David asking to speak to a counselor. Aaron just happened to be walking by when this was going on. He took some chairs and he and Donn went out to speak to the man. This man stated that he was down on his luck and needed someone to talk to. He has four children and his wife just left him and moved out of state. Aaron instantly felt a connection to the man and realized after a few minutes of speaking to him that he was adopted as a child and grew up in a town just south of Kansas City called Grandview...this is where Aaron is from! We are in the middle of an Indian reservation in South Dakota...really? How insane is this? At the end of their conversation the man asked for a favor which was to pray with him. This is even more amazing since the liklihood of finding a Christian on the reservation is next to impossible. God works in some crazy ways.

Here are some pics from today:

Aaron weed wacking the jungle...for 7 hours straight!!

Donn and Aaron after their 7 hours of yardwork.

Rachel and Keisha doing airplane.

Aaron was outside mowing in the rain when he saw Keisha standing in a field nearby by herself. Aaron recognized her since she was wearing the Mizzou sweatshirt that Rachel gave her yesterday. He turned off the mower and went over to her and asked if she would like to see Rachel...she smiled very big as he scooped her up and brought her inside. It is so unbelievable that these kids just wander outside and walk around in the rain without an adult having any idea where they are.

Rachel and DeJuan...he is a very sweet, high energy special needs child. He loved Ray!

Madi painting some nails... Madi giving some DS lessons Madi getting some math tutoring from Malachi. :)

Sam with K.Lnn

Sarah with Sunrose and Jordan with K.Lnn

Mizzou pom poms...M-I-Z-Z-O-U

Olivia doing some DS teaching with Cassy

Livi and Cassy doing some gymnastics.

Look at the hair color difference...not many blonds here.

And so, first full day was not one that we anticipated but we rolled with the punches and got through it. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little more smooth. Keep us in your prayers.

1. Pray for the rain to STOP! We need good weather for so many reasons I can't even explain them all.

2. Pray for the health of our team. We have colds, coughs, broken toes, migraines, stomach aches, etc.

3. Pray for the pastor that we met last year when our team rehabbed his church. His wife Ann has had some cardiac issues and her condition is getting worse by the day. She is hospitalized several hours away and they have 5 young children that need their mom.

Thanks for checking on us...