summary.

I like it when Luke plays electric.

It looks like he's pointing his guitar at me.

He might be.

He may have had no idea that I snapped a photo.

This is me enjoying watching Luke play electric.

It was a whirlwind trip to South Dakota.

Approximately 2,800 miles traveled in the time span of Wednesday to Monday.

On the way up there, I was administered a heavy dose of meds that put me to sleep for the whole 22 hour ride up to the Rez.

I am not on my computer, nor do I have my memory card so I cant put any photos on the blog of my trip.

It was a different kind of trip.

It was laid back, but stressful at the same time.

I never really knew what time I was supposed to be at what place.

But I did know that we had free breakfast every morning.

It was some of the best breakfast I had ever had. Ever.

So besides enjoying breakfast and being confused on what I was supposed to be doing for the day, this particular mission trip was unlike anything I had ever done before.

The people we encountered basically wanted nothing to do with us except for getting a plate of food.

We had activities for children every day from 3:30-5ish.

We then served a meal at 5:30

We had a small service with a couple of worship songs, a drama, and a short message about our Lord after the meal.

The people would somewhat leave in shifts.

Some left as soon as they finished eating.

Some left during or after the worship music.

Some left after the drama.

Some left during the message.

Some stayed. Some stayed.

Its hard to not focus on the numbers.

I have to confess, a few times my thoughts were "We came all this way, and they didnt stay. They didnt stay"

I could not see that anything we were doing was effective.

I pray to God that we were effected.

I pray that the people of the Lower Brule Indian Reservation saw the love of God and experienced His love through us.

I had a conversation with our youth intern, Bird, about how what we were doing at the reservation was true evangelism.

It was people in one place.

Us throwing out the gospel.

We didnt care if the kids were running around and screaming as the speaker was talking.

We didnt care if the adults weren't watching us.

We were putting out the message of Christ for them to hear and not looking back.

Bird commented that that was how the church was started.

People coming together and not letting anything stop them from spreading the Word.

I think he was right.

In our first service, I had never felt such a pressing need to pray.

I was sitting there, with a lady I had met that morning, and a few others from our group.

I could not think of anything else but to pray for the people.

I eventually moved to the back of the outdoor area with a few other people and we prayed throughout the service.

Again, I had never felt such a pressing need on my spirit to pray for the people.

I prayed over and over "Lord, draw the people unto You"

By that point I realized that the way that I had always been ministered too and conducted my own ministry was not going to work here.

We were definitely not in the Bible Belt.

My Bible Belt ways were going to serve no purpose here.

All I knew to pray was that the Lord to draw them to Him.

And He did.

Some people made decisions.

It was beautiful.

I had a conversation with a girl who was about 16 on what being a Christian means.

I know that I am still trying to figure it out.

It was beautiful to share with her.

I went to a prison.

I had never done prison ministry before.

It was me and 5 more adults. 3 ladies. 3 men.

The security guards searched us.

I didn't know that it was going to be that..... uh.... .thorough.

I figured it would be just a quick swipe down my body.

Nope.

Full on search.

I giggled.

We thought that we were going to be divided (men in a room with men, us ladies in a room to ourselves).

Nope.

All in one room.

What I had prepared to say was kind of woman related, I shared it anyway.

In a room full of men.

haha.

The other adults I was with were such rock stars.

Such cool testimonies.

Such beautiful stories about how they came to know the Lord.

I want to share my testimony more.

Or basically, just tell more people about Jesus.

The kids.

They were wild.

They were so in need of attention.

We tried to give it to them.

I was not as much involved with the kids as some of my other group members were, but when I was out there, it was so hard not to get frustrated and yell at the kids.

I wanted to yell at the kids.

My southern roots kicked in and then I had to remember that these kids have not had the same upbringing as me.

I had to pray for compassion.

I kind of got to know about 3 small girls and 1 teenager.

Jolette, Mimi, and Tameah and then Shay.

Shay was a rock star. She liked good music and skateboards.

Jolette and Mimi were best friends and they were about 8 years old. precious children.

Tameah was 3. She sat in my lap for 3 days.

Every kid needs some loving.

Coming back to MS was difficult.

22 hours in a church van with 10 people.

I would rather not do that again.

I am currently in Clinton trying to work out my schedule for the fall.

I am a History major now.

I need to make my schedule.

I probably should have done that instead of writing a blog....

oh well.