It is that time of year again!!! On June 17th, youth from across the dicoese will converge on St. John's Episcopal Church in Valentine, NE in preparation for the annual Youth Outreach project on the Rosebud INdian Reservation between June 17 and 22. Once again, we will work in the town of Rosebud and out of "The Church of Jesus", the reservation's oldest Episcopal Church.

If you are interested in learning more about this trip, please visit our diocesan youth webpage at  http://youthoutreach.episcopal-ne.org/ and click on one of the links to read blogs entries from past years, to learn about some ways to raise the funds needed to participate, or to register.

Day 1: Arrival

What a great day! Everyone arrived at St. John’s safe and sound and raring to go. For the first time in four summers, we pretty much had everything unpacked and bed rolls laid out before the dinner bell rang. Breaking into teams, we enjoyed Pizza Hut pizza and got to know one another a little better over our meal. Afterwards, we headed to the sanctuary for a meeting to discuss how the teams would work and some of the ground rules for working with the youth from Rosebud and for roaming around Valentine. With these tidbits of information in the pocket, our youth went exploring with returning missioners showing the team around.

Later in the evening we gathered together for some get-to-know you better games and to have a few laughs. Then it was time for our teams to decorate the van’s windows and draw up a couple of signs for the sides of the van. With these little chores behind us, we all received this year’s T-Shirt. Once our team leaders got their shirts, they were off to plan tomorrow’s bible skit which I am told is centered around the story of the creation. We could not turn off the lights without thanking God for the blessings we have found in the new friendship begun today. So team Crystal helped us do so by leading Compline. I can tell it has been a long day for all, when the lights went out it actually got quiet. Except for a little snoring, it sure is peaceful.

Pictures: Day 1

Day 2: On the Road to Rosebud

A rousing rendition of “Rise and Shine” with the assistance of a few of our young ladies, gets our morning underway. Something strange happened today that has not happened on any other trip yet; everyone got up, got ready, ate breakfast, completed their morning chores, and we had time to kill before we were scheduled to depart. Instead of killing time in Valentine, we called Don in Rosebud and coordinated an earlier arrival. Of course arriving early meant we had lots of time to get organized and begin our service project. Half the team began scraping old paint from the cinderblock walls of the community center and before you knew it we had one side of the building complete. Not necessarily before the kids began arriving, but it still went remarkably well.

As the cleanup progressed and work on the second wall began, the day’s heat index began to climb. It was a hot one, but at least it wasn’t as hot as Sunday (which hit 100). As the neighborhood kids arrived we gathered together for lunch and began to get to know one another. This year it was a little easier as we had fewer kids than normal, but that just meant we got to spend some one-on-one time with them. With lunch complete it was across the street to the Church of Jesus, a skit by our team leaders, and some good old fashioned sing along with some not so old fashioned songs. Everyone got into the spirit and we were off and running.

Back across to the Aaron Clarke Center, service teams were hard at work and the VBS team had the crafts all ready to go. Our main craft today was a planter. Kids decorated a clay pot using crayons along with sticky back foam letters and shapes; they then filled it with potting soil and were supposed to receive three seeds for their pot. The only problem was that Fr.Tom left the seeds back at St. John’s; oops! But the kids still had fun and made some great looking pots. We had a few other crafts for the kids to do. However, everything came to a screeching halt when a man at the house across the street came out on the lawn with a White Red Tail Hawk. He wasn’t albino but he sure looked different. We all headed across the street to get a closer look and the man was nice enough to talk to us for about 15 minutes telling us all about hawks especially their keen flying skills and tremendous eyesight. Back inside we worked on our crafts for a while and when it looked like everyone needed a break, we headed to a nearby field for a game of kick ball. While folks were having fun, the heat got to everyone pretty quickly; so it was back inside for a cool drink and some story time.

Abby Culp did a really nice job leading the story and it gave everyone a chance to take a seat and relax. Except that is for the service project team who was working hard to finish the prep work so that the next team could begin painting tomorrow. Before we knew it, it was snack time and then time to pack up and head back to Valentine. Once back at St. John’s the thought on everyone’s mind was pool, pool, pool. So off went the youth for a well deserved plunge. Next on the schedule was dinner and like clockwork Sharon, with the help of Joan, had things ready right on time. Funny thing happened as everyone was lining up; a few youth asked if they could go to Subway for a sandwich. We said sure, during the evening free-time, but as that would be a while yet they might want to eat something now. They did, but later in the evening there was one young man who just had to put a sub in the fridge for tomorrow.

We could tell that as our youth came back in from their evening jaunt to Subway, the Tasty Freeze, and the Dollar General, a few of them were showing signs of fatigue (no wonder, they worked hard). But their bed would not get to know them until a little while later. Gathering by team, we did our evening bible study, focusing on the theme for tomorrow’s VBS (Sacred Symbols) and our nightly download of the day’s events. Overall it was a really good day. I was proud of our youth team leaders and the work everyone got accomplished. Did we do everything right; not really, but we learned from our mistakes and vowed to try to do better tomorrow. As is our custom, we closed the evening with Compline (led by our youth teams) and then off to bed. When the lights went off it became eerily quiet. Whether or not this is a sign of a successful day tomorrow, we will just have to wait and see.

Pictures: Day 2

Day 3: Painting

Today we pushed up the wake up time to get an early start on the painting ahead of us. The boys were up before Fr. Tom could provide his unique form of wake-up service and they quickly headed into the kitchen to get a cooking lesson from Bill. The girls on the other hand were a little slower to rise and shine, so Fr. Tom helped them along using a pair of frying pans as cymbals. Needless to say, all were awake and grateful they didn’t need to set an alarm (NOT!). By the time the girls were up and going the boys had breakfast ready and everyone enjoyed a great scrambled egg and ham meal, with left over bagels and bananas. I know the combination seems a little strange, but with each passing day we put out leftovers just in case someone is still interested. After breakfast a quick clean-up around the building, the loading of the trailer, and one last rest stop, we were off to Rosebud.

As we moved north, the clouds rolled in and the temps dropped. It was perfect weather for painting; and because we were early, we had almost the whole team with a brush or roller in their hand. Yesterday’s prep work made today’s job much easier. We actually had the first coat on before leaving to pick up the kids. By the time the van returned, the first coat was dry to the touch. Lunch today was hot dogs, cheese balls, and carrots. I bet you can’t guess what we had more of left after everyone was done eating, carrots or cheese balls. Across the street to the church and our team leaders had another great skit to help set up the day’s story-time. Then it was a few songs to get the blood moving and off to story-time and crafts. Our focus today was the sacred symbols of Christianity and Lakota beliefs; and two we used were the rainbow and the pipe. Of course we had games, more crafts, and snacks before parents arrived to pick up the kids and before we headed out to drop off those who were left. While part of our team spent time with the kids, the other part finished a second coat. As we all looked over the work we all did today, we were all very proud.

By the time the van returned from dropping off the kids, the trailer was packed and we were ready to head home. However, as we passed through Mission, SD we didn’t turn to head to Valentine, instead we continued down the road to the local Lakota Museum. There we saw artifacts, and pictures, and some other pretty neat things. As with any side trip, there were some who were really interested and some who were not. But it wasn’t a long visit and before we knew it we were headed back to St. John’s, the pool, and showers. It turned out to be a really nice day, not near as hot as yesterday. Also, we didn’t see any of the rain that had been forecast. This made it nice for our youth who wanted to wander the aisles at Dollar General or head down to Subway for ice cream.

As the evening began to draw to an end, it was time for our evening bible study. Tonight we looked at the story of Lazarus and how two people can see the same thing and still see something different. One of the greatest examples was John 11:35 that read ‘Jesus wept’. Some thought this meant Jesus was sad about his friend dying, and others thought they might be tears of joy knowing that Jesus could finally show them the power and extent of God’s love by bringing to life what was once dead. Everybody grasped the parallel in this story. One thing that always amazes me about this activity, is the depth of understanding our youth have of their faith and the willingness they have to share what they know, when placed in an environment they feel safe to say what is on their mind without fear of being told they are wrong. There’s a sermon in there somewhere.

With Compline over and the lights out, St. John’s has returned to a place of restful peace. This of course will all change tomorrow when we once again enter into the fray and follow it up with worship and dinner with some of the parishioners. This is an event we all cherish deeply. But more about that tomorrow; good night.

Pictures: Day 3

Day 4: Here we go again

This morning’s wake up was brought to us by our friendly neighborhood rescue whistle. However, instead of Fr. Tom having the usual fun of waking up the kids, one of our youth who for at least today was an early riser, took charge. Of course we all know who got the blame. This is now day three and the morning business is almost a routine, not quite, but pretty close and once again breakfast, chores, and morning worship went off without any real hiccups. We had only one problem, yesterday we woke up to temps near 80, today it was 65 degrees. During the night we had a storm roll through and the cooler temps stayed behind. A few kids didn’t pack any jeans as recommended and only a few had some kind of sweat shirt. Thinking it was going to be a fun day with the weather and the number of kids who would have to remain indoors we weren’t really sure what would get done. Still, we were on the road a little early again today in hopes of getting a jump on painting places we didn’t get to yesterday.

When we arrived at the church, the temp was down to 57 degrees and the wood we needed to paint was still damp from the evening rains. However, a quick check of weather radar for the area gave us hope we had seen the worst of it. In fact, within an hour of our arrival (as we were beginning to formulate an alternative plan) the clouds thinned and the sun began peeking through. By the time we picked up our first guest, the sun was shining and the temps were rising. It turned out to be another perfect weather day for working outside and the slightly cooler temps made the community center feel cooler too.

Lunch was breakfast today and the kids seemed to like the pancakes and sausage. Outside, Fr. Tom was asked to help the team leaders with their skit during which they discussed the similarity of the Lakota medicine wheel and the resurrection story. Afterwards it was off to story time and crafts. One of the crafts was challenging today and our team didn’t have it down as well as they would have liked; so things went a little slow. Nobody really seemed to care and the slightly larger group meant we were spread a little thinner too. In the end, the kids got done what they wanted and the rest they took home for later. The team that shined today was our service project team. They worked really hard and accomplished much more than any of us had imagined they would.

We did have something really great to give thanks for today, Don Eagle was celebrating a birthday and his grand-daughter and several of our youth created and decorated a card we presented to him, along with a candled cupcake and a wonderful rendition of “Happy Birthday”. The only real problem we ran into today was that our kids were showing signs of being a little tired, especially a few of the girls. It shouldn’t really surprise anyone, we have a few girls who find it difficult to go to sleep at night (no one understands how this is possible) as they huddle in a corner to whisper and talk while others try to sleep; ah, the joys of communal living. Back at the church, even though it had warmed up near 80 again, a third of the crowd decided not to swim but to shower and then walk around town (which they did after showering, go figure). Those who went swimming said while the water was still a little chilly, it sure felt good after working up n the reservation all day.

Everyone headed back from the pool a little early today so that we could be ready for worship and dinner with the folks from St. John’s. It was nice to visit with them and to thank them in a small way for all they did for our team. Troy from North Carolina was able to join us for dinner before getting ready to head out; he and several of our youth enjoyed great conversation with the members who were able to participate. During dinner, Fr. Tom nailed down the dates for next year (June 16-21). At the same time, Troy and Fr. Tom compared calendars and set up a planned meeting of our two teams later this summer. Working with Don and our team leaders, the idea is to put together a five year plan to split up work so that our efforts complement one another and the people of Church of Jesus.

As the last of St. John’s folks left, we moved right into bible study and a recap of the day’s events. Overall, it was a good day. Not the best for day three, but by far not the worst. One of the questions teams had to tackle was where did they see Christ today. The answers were interesting and some were deeply thought provoking; as were some of the suggestions offered by returning participants about tomorrow and Friday. Hard to believe this is already coming to an end. But now is not the time to reminisce; we’ll have time for that later. So for now, good night.

Pictures: Day 4