Second Day on the Rez
Well, we have had a full day here on the Rez. This morning we divided up into three groups – A large crew went to 555 in White Clay. We had a large job taking down an old sliding door and putting up a wall in the same day. Fortunately we had seven people from our group, plus 3 or 4 guys from a youth group in Ohio. Some of our crew cleaned up the kitchen and served lunch to “street people”.
A smaller crew went to Pine Ridge and painted a ramp for an older couple, and a few stayed at the Rec center in Oglala to prepare for the first night of Vacation Bible School.
VBS!
We were warned an hour before VBS was supposed to start that there might be a large storm this evening, so we got permission to use the gym in the Rec Center tonight. Pastor Ted picked up three van loads from the neighborhoods of Oglala. Many of the kids are familiar with the Rec Center, the resident grandfather commented that there were only about 15 that he didn’t know out of the 65 that attended. We opened with games and crafts, and the traditional piggy-back rides. We got to see many of the kids we have gotten to know in the past three years.
About an hour after we opened, the kids gathered in a semi-circle around the puppet stage, and we sang a couple songs, a “Thank-you Song”, “Jesus Loves Me” (with sign language and Lakota lyrics), and “From Everlasting to Everlasting.” Then Janitor Sam started cleaning up the mess that was around the puppet stage – and almost got hit by the crumpled piece of paper that Robot S.A.D.I.E. was throwing – Sadie was having trouble making a poster that described the Awesome Wonder of the universe that God created. Sam and Sadie were amazed at the stars and the sun, but Sadie’s brother Circuit was not easily convinced. In the end, though, he too was amazed at what God had created.
After that, Mr. Favand told the story of creation. Lakota people love stories. We had cut outs of the sun, moon, stars, fish, eagles, crows, turtles, porcupines, and people, which the Children held as we came to that part of the story.
We closed with a “Friendship Dance” song. Tomorrow we hope to be able to actually dance a circle dance to the music.
From my vantage point, the children were very responsive, and understood the important parts of the story. Praise the Lord that we had a place to have VBS, because it did rain almost the entire time.
