These past 3 weeks have been
Cah-ray-zee!
It's been cloudy and raining all night and now into the morning. So, as I drink my coffee (I suggest you grab one too!) I'll try and recap all that's happened the past few weeks...I had the great privilege to be a part of my brother's wedding. It was a busy week filled with nail and hair appointments, party favor parties, and family dinners. The week climaxed in one beautiful evening filled with "I Do's", dancing, and love. Congrats to the beautiful new couple: Brady and Tirza Martin. Bienvenidos a la familia, Tirza, te quiero mucho y estoy bien agradecido que puedo llamarte mi hermana y mi amiga.
Click here to see the professional pics from the wedding!
This last week I was in South Dakota on an Indian Reservation.
There were 10 of us all together that drove for 7.5 hours across a few states to reach the small town of Kadoka. Going into the trip, I thought it was going to be just like any other mission trip I've been on but let me tell you what:
i was so wrong.
Upon arriving at "Youth Works" we were split up into what they called 'crews'. There were 3 other church youth groups that met us there from around the country. Each crew (comprised of people from different youth groups) would do "Kids Club" for two days and then do "Work Crew".
My crew did "Kids Club" first and...wow. It was one of the most culturally-shocking things that has ever happened to me. We were told the kids were probably going to be shy and that they all come from really rough, poor neighborhoods. Well, the latter part of that statement proved to be true but let me tell you what...these kids were ANYTHING but shy.
None of the kids told us their real names. They would yell cuss words and other profanity at us. They beat other kids up regularly. They threw handfuls of rocks at us. One 7 year old said, "I'm allergic to white people" as a 3 year old chimed in with agreement. We got kicked, punched, slapped and spit on by countless kids all under the age of 10.
Needless to say, after the first day we all had some crazy stories and were NOT wanting to go back to Kids Club. But, we did. The next day seemed to go a bit smoother but it was still quite insane. Instead of trying to break up fights, I decided I would just hang out with one or two kids at a time. This proved to be an awesome blessing because I met Spring & Prairie. I got to talk to them about their families and God.
One of my favorite moments is when I asked her if she knew God.
She responded, "Yes! We call him the Indian in the sky."
Another girl said she didn't know who God was.
I told her He was the one that created everything.
She said, "Really?!? Did he even make the rocks?"
"Yes!"
"Did he make the sky?!?"
She asked me about every little thing she saw. Her face lit up with excitement and amazement each time I told her that GOD made it! She said she was so happy that God loves her...and oh man, my heart melted.
All the bad moments and spit in the face did not even matter at that point. It was all well worth it. God is so good and it was one of the biggest blessings to be able to touch a few of the kids lives. They were rough on us the first few days but once we built up trust with them, they softened up. After that, all they wanted was a hand to hold and a buddy to play with.
The other two days we spent building a deck for an elderly lady, Carol, in Wanblee (the Indian Reservation).
In the end, we made lots of friends from around the U.S., we learned a lot, our hearts broke for the destitution in the community, we grew closer as a youth group, and were able to have an incredible time.
So praise GOD! :)
My song for the week is:
One pure & holy passion
