2009 Summer Mission Trip
Posted on Aug 7, 2009 by
Sherry Lucas The summer mission trip was productive, as usual, with team members returning home feeling they had been truly blessed by the experience. There were three teams there during the two weeks. 8 members of the New York team from last year partnered with the Texas team the first week. There were 6 new members on the Texas team of 8. The second week a team from Missouri was there. NAIM president, Sherry Lucas, stayed the second week to work with the team.
Bible School was held for four days during the first week and three days the second week. As usual the children were taught meaningful lessons with related crafts. Lunch was provided both weeks.
The teams also visited White River Health Care Center (the nursing home). That is always a highlight of the trip. It's especially rewarding when some of the residents recognize returning team members and their faces light up with smiles.
The first week a painting project was supposed to be done but a surprise team had shown up the week before and completed it. However, a bathroom in the residence needed to be repainted and that was done. The group also helped Habitat for Humanity by crushing thousands of aluminum cans that they turn in to help fund their work. There was a single can crusher available but the team did it the old fashioned way by jumping on them.
The teams overlapped somewhat with the Missouri team arriving on July 4th so they could attend the 4th of July powwow. The New York group visited Wounded Knee and other sites that day but the Missouri and Texas teams attended the powwow which is a way to experience some of the Lakota culture. The New York team left for home July 5th. That evening the remaining teams went to Soldier Creek for an Indian taco dinner followed by Christine Dunham speaking to them about the Reservation. For the past few years Christine, who is on our advisory board, has asked to speak to our groups. She answers all questions and the groups always enjoy her talk.
The Missouri team likes to do work projects on their mission trips and they completed three while on the mission field. Two more bunk beds were built for mission team use and the cupboards in the team residence were repainted. The team scraped and sanded to remove seven different colors of paint that had been applied through the 80 years of the house. As the doors and drawers were sticking we were asked to do this. After this it was time for the big project.
Since 2003, we have worked with the residents in a small town called Ideal. We've taught Bible School and held community meals at Holy Spirit Episcopal Church there. All of the activities, including church, are held in the guild hall. The guild hall is also used as a community building and in the summer the children in Ideal go there for breakfast and lunch.
The building roof needed major repairs. The leaking had been a problem for many years. No one had come forth with plans or a desire to replace it as the building is very old. I'd explained to the Missouri team that, even though the building was old, the Indians wanted it replaced, if possible, as they did not have the resources for a new building. Measurements were taken by the men in Ideal, materials were ordered, and a donor was found to help fund the project. The team completed the work in 3 1/2 days. They put the new metal roof on and scraped and repainted the exterior of the building. There wasn't time to repair the ceiling inside the building but materials were there for the men in the community to do the repairs.
It was a productive and rewarding trip.
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