The Last Ride

We, the seniors, are writing this post as we are riding home together in van, one last time. We want to thank everyone who has contributed to our faith journeys, including everyone on the trip, as well as everyone supporting us at home. We had an amazing and fulfilling week at Pine Ridge, and the memories and connections we made this past week will stay with us forever. The piece of advice we want to emphasize to the younger kids on the trip and in the congregation is to make it a priority in your lives to stay involved in church through youth group and the trips every year. Thank you again to everyone, and God bless.

-Brooklyn, Allie, Simon, Bryce, Trevor, Trey, Makenzie, Samantha, Kaia, Olivia

The Final Gathering

Pulling up to the parking lot, late Sunday afternoon, we never thought the week would go by so fast.  In the blink of an eye, we were at our final gathering last night. What an amazing way to end such an amazing week! Seriously.  Through the various posts we’ve written throughout the week, you’ve heard about the eye-opening and life-changing experiences we had with the Natives.  We spent four days building relationships with them, humbly serving them, and just loving them as Jesus would do.

Last night at the gathering, we were able to come together with these shared experiences and connect in the most heart-stirring way.  We worshipped together, prayed together, and acted as Jesus did, with a Foot Washing.  What an incredibly moving, humble moment. The connections that were made on this trip between FLY was very evident as you looked at our group taking in Jesus’ purpose for the washing of the feet.

“Then he said, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You address me as ‘Teacher’ and ‘Master,’ and rightly so. That is what I am. So if I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other’s feet. I’ve laid down a pattern for you. What I’ve done, you do. I’m only pointing out the obvious. A servant is not ranked above his master; an employee doesn’t give orders to the employer. If you understand what I’m telling you, act like it- and live a blessed life.” John 13:12-17.

What a overwhelmingly moving way to feel that connection with Jesus.  He calls us to humbly serve others, to love them, and to share his story through our actions.  We prayed, hugged, and cried together as a group, which was built on an incredibly strong foundation and connection.

We ended our gathering with the 10 seniors sharing their thoughts and advice for us all.  What an incredible group of young adults.  These faith-filled kids led by example throughout the week, and watching their leadership develop as they grew in their faith was so inspiring.  What more can we say other than the fact that they make us so proud! It’s going to be hard to watch them go their separate ways, but one thing that we learned this week is that God has a storyline for us, a plan and purpose where he’ll be with us every step of the way.  You can’t help but think of this incredible group of seniors when you hear this.  It’s been awesome to see God working through them this week, and comforting knowing that that will continue on as they branch out and live God’s purpose for them.

This whole week has been about our storylines; how God is moving through us and carving out our plan. Part of our story is to share His story.  We are called to serve.  What would Jesus do?  He would love first.

Kids club

I had the pleasure to work with some special needs girls on all four days of this trip. One who I had everyday was named Lisa, she was a 21 year old girl who has the mental state of a four year old. Another who I had twice was named Charlene she is 20 and a mental state of 6. The last one was Margrita who is around young adult. It was really fun to get to know all the three girls. Lisa and I became very close through this week, we played tag, hide and seek, and catch, which was Lisa’s favorite. We got to go in the vans and pick of the kids which was really sad to see, and see their living conditions and how they were treated at home. But that didn’t effect these girls, they all had such an amazing personality and all so bubbly and fun. One of the sweetest moments was from Thursday when Lisa asked for me and told me she missed me. We also took Lisa swimming on pool day, she had so much fun and you could tell she hadn’t had fun like this in awhile. Overall it was really heart warming experience and would 100% do it again.

Our Recap

Wow! What a wonderful week this has been! All of the kids are so amazing, energetic, and loving!! Having them ride on our backs all day was a little tiring, but SO worth it! A lot of the times they don’t get love and guidance at home, so we made sure they had the time of their lives! It was really cool for them to be able to look up to us like we were a part of their lives. People took the kids home from Kids Club and it is so sad to see the houses all torn up and worn out. It makes us realize how thankful we are to have a good built house and have all of the things we need in it. There were some kids who came to Kids Club hungry because they hadn’t eaten since that yesterday lunch from Kids Club. That made us really see how lucky we are to have food available to us at any given time. There were days when we went to Bob and Mary’s. They have this huge warehouse that they built and that they live in full of things that people can come and get whenever they need. We helped paint some rooms and got to talk to Mary about her stories. They are really great people! Everyone in the community is so welcoming and loving. All in all, this trip has been such a great experience and it was great to get away from our lives and our phones ;)
- Avery & Anna

Samantha and Kaia’s Journey

Hello!
This is Kaia and Samantha. We have been on the senior high youth trips together. These trips include Kenosha, Montana, Houston and now Pine Ridge. We have also been on a mission trip to Haiti together. Through these trips we have felt called to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Together we have grown a special friendship and grown in our faith at the same time.

We are so very thankful for our fellow seniors. The seniors on this trip have been together since our freshman year and have grown so much closer through FLY. From being involved in senior high alive and the summer trips, we have built a strong faith family. We can definitely say that we will have these faith friendships and memories for life.

This trip in general will be one that we will never forget. The theme for this week is storyline. Through the week, we have had devotional time in the morning to prepare for our mission work. Some mission work we did was painting at the park and helping out at Mary and Bob’s. Although these tasks seem small, they had a great impact on the community. We (Samantha and Kaia) also experienced kids club in both Haiti and Pine Ridge. Although both were very different, they had the same impact on the children that came. At kids club the goal was to make the children feel loved and cared for because they are generally not getting that at home. Kids club provided something to look forward to for the kids. It has been a blessing to create bonds with different kids. They have so many strengths that will help them make an impact in their community.

When at Bob and Mary’s, we got the opportunity to talk and visit with Mary about her story. She talked about having a foreign exchange student when her daughter was a senior. Years later she told us that her daughter had visited her foreign exchange student. This was very cool to hear that Mary’s daughter and exchange student were keeping in contact for many years. This really hit home for the both us because we have a deep connection with Natsuki ( a foreign exchange student who stayed with the Sueker’s this year). Kaia was impacted by this because it was a great realization that even though people are miles apart, they can still stay connected. It is crazy how Mary’s story was so similar to our experiences this past year with Natsuki. These God’s moments help us realize that even though our lives seem different, there are so many more similarities.

In the moment, it can be hard to realize  your impact when serving. However, when we look back, we are able to see how the pieces fit together to form the whole story.  Although this sounds like the story is over, this is not the epilogue. Our stories will continue as we go back to our community. We will strive to love like Jesus and let his light shine through us all. This week we learned that “Jesus cares more about the sacrifice of the giver rather  than the size of the gift.” sometimes we feel as though we don’t have enough to give but, Jesus can make any size  gift into  something extraordinary.

This trip has been bitter sweet because it is our last trip together as First Lutheran Youth.. We are so thankful for all the experiences we have had on these trips and so blessed for the friendships we have made. If we had not have gone on these trips we wouldn’t have been as close of friends as we are now. It is important to have faith friends to lean on in the good times and the bad. Thanks to FLY for helping set a firm foundation to carry with us to college.

Going into the last day ....

As our last day starts up I find many things to be thankful for. The youth and adults for their servant hearts and loving kindness to each other and the community. The leaders from Youth Works who are doing an awesome job guiding us. And the community of Wanblee... who has welcomed us, taught us and opened themselves to us. God is always good!  We are tired but we are filled. One more day to make a difference, humbly do whatever needed to walk with and learn their stories. We may be different. But we are the same in many ways. Wherever we are... we are called...we are called  to love first. The Lakota  have reminded us of this.... it’s a core part of their culture and it is a blessing.

So.....hopefully (with internet willingness...ha!) you will read more from our participants.

Mid-Week Thoughts

We’ve experienced so much already, and come to love these people and this community.  We’ve built our relationships with the Natives, with FLY, and with God.  Work projects have been an eye-opening experience as we were able to go out into the community and see it firsthand.  It makes us appreciative for all the things that we have in our lives.  The people here have so much less, yet they are filled with love and gratitude.  These projects also give us the opportunity to work together as groups and build relationships that will last beyond this week.  Kid’s Club has been life-changing too.  Most of these kids go through more than we could ever imagine, and yet their smiles don’t show it.  The love that they’ve shown to us has been so inspiring.  We’ve also learned so much about this culture, which is not something that we knew too much about before coming here.  The hardships that this community faces daily has completely opened our eyes.  The experiences and the knowledge that we are going to be taking back with us is going to be something we carry with us forever.  Thanks for all of the support you have given us because this opportunity has been life-changing.

Bailey, Bryce, Mason, Makenzie, Gabbi, and Anna

June 25th: Our Second Day!

After a great day of working on the service project and the kids club we had an amazing speaker and an awesome worship. Jerome High Horse was are amazing speaker. He was talking about his life and all the difficult times he has been through. He works so hard to not just provide for his family but for others in his community. One of Jeromes main points was that everyone with the same complexion was family. He talked about how in this community they care for everyone as family. He told us a story about when he lived in California he had a friend talking about people with the same complexion in not the best way. He told him that he was his family and if he was going to talk about him that he was also talking about him self also. The friend was very confused but he understood where he was coming from.

He took a part of are lives and showed us that we need to care about more than just ourselves and more about our community. He put his vision in are eyes on how he wants the world to be and we took all that in. He went through a rough time in the past few days. He had to go to a funeral in which this amazing women committed Suicide. They didn’t know exactly why she did what she did but her family decided to call Jerome and wanted him to speak at the funeral. He went and told us all about it but the biggest thing that stuck with me was that he was going to morn her death like she was a loved one. Since as he said before the same complexion he considers them as family.

Another big part of my day was worship. We sang amazing songs and really hit us hard. We all went to the place in are hearts that meant the most to us and sang as loud and as proud as much as we could. I love how the songs we sing are so familiar that they mean to much to us. We love worshiping God and to know that he is with us. We also did a prayer after singing the  music that let us express the feelings we have been bottling up inside of us and made us feel way better. We carry so much silently and it burdens us and holds us down.  We appreciate Gods presence and the love he has for us.  God’s love frees us from this burden so we can love others

- Izabella Hunsley

June 24: First Full Day at Pine Ridge

I woke up this morning ready to start the day, I had breakfast crew which meant I had to wake up at 6:20, which wasn’t too bad especially since it was 7:20 back home. We made breakfast for the adults because us, high schoolers, went to the school for breakfast. They encourage us to eat at the school because when we eat over there during the summer breakfast program, it means they get more meals for the school year.
We came back after breakfast and did devotions, then we played the blanket game. It was a game that explained the history between the United States and the Natives. How the game works is we stood on blankets, which represents land, and we represented the natives before Europeans came over to the New World. The staff would come around kicking our blankets, which represented how natives were being forced into smaller and smaller areas of land. As the game went in so did the amount of people and the amount of land. The game ended with Peyton, Reese, and I shoulder to shoulder on a small blanket. When the staff said let’s play the blanket game, I thought “oh yeah a fun little game to break the ice, kinda” I was wrong. This game told us what history books leave out. These beautiful, interesting people were forced off their lands, forced to change their culture and values, forced to assimilate to the culture of these new people and forced to follow their rules. For 150 years kids were sent to boarding schools, where they had to give up there native language, families, and lives. Some died and these schools, some never game back, and some were banished if they did.
I had the opportunity to go with my group to Bob & Mary’s! Bob & Mary are a couple from Wisconsin, who moved here two years ago. Mary, a retired nurse, had a heart of missions and traveled to places like Guatemala, Mexico, and the Philippines but her heart is in Wanblee. While we were at their house/community center, we painted walls and floors, cleaned, but I think our favorite thing was listening to Mary tell her stories. She talked about all her mission trips, how the kids her call her grandma, how she met Sunshine, the love she has for this community, how she has the kids sleep over during blizzards and so much more. She has the gifted the kids here with bikes, a playground coming in July, and a sense of hope for the future. The kids don’t get it for free though, she has them go pick up trash or sometimes sell eggs, to give them the experience of earning something. When she learned of the kids going without meals over the weekend, she made sack lunches for them to take, she was determined to do this even if it came out of her own pocket, a few weeks after she received action dollars from Thrivent Financial, she said “God provides”. God saw what she was doing here, she was determined to provide these families with food and hope. Around 3 we had to leave Bob & Mary’s, I think of we had the choice we would have stayed as long as we could.
When we got back to the TNT building (where we are staying). We got to take an ICE Cold shower, I don’t think anyone realized how cold these showers actually are. But a large percentage of Wanblee doesn’t have hot water so it seems fitting we shouldn’t either.  Next was dinner and the food isn’t to bad here. After dinner it was gathering time, we drove to a 38 ft cross, no that’s not a typo it’s a 38 ft cross made out of reclaimed objects. We took pictures and sang 1 worship song, we only got to sing 1 song because it started down-pouring on us, so we came back to the TNT building and finished worship. But we also left with a beautiful rainbow in the storm.
Church big group time, is one of my favorite parts of the day, it’s a time for us to reflect on our day all together. First we talked in our small groups, Bryce told us about some high school boys who he played basketball with. He asked them how they like these groups coming here and they said they like it because all people do around here is drink and do drugs. We also were told about Heath who lost his mom, step dad, and  2 year old brother in a tragic accident with a drunk driver, he had to go and identify their bodies, he then ended up going to live with his dad but now lives with his aunt in Wanblee and comes to kids club.
This day challenged me in so many ways- emotional and spiritual...it gave me perspective on how materialistic we are but it also showed me God’s love for us and how he provides for us. This place has already had an impact on my life and i can’t wait to share more when I get back home!

Makenzie Enderson

Participants Joining in this Journey!

Pine Ridge Mission Trip
Small Groups

     Beth Roelfsema        Eric Luther               Bailey Tomasek            

      Brysen Babcock        Reese Jensen             Anna Rose                      

      Prince Black               Avery Anderson        Gabbi Schlenner           

      Kaia Sueker                Bensen Kuecker        Makenzie Enderson    

      Shelby Ormberg        Rebecca Gelster         Mason Anderson         

      Trey Weber                Trevor Fales              Bryce Paulsen                

                                        Kelli Remme

                   

    Kathy Bloemker         Teresa Schumacher       Hans Zahrbock             

     Sophie Anderson        Emma Myhre                    Brennan DeVos             

     Addy Arndt                Saphi McFarquar              Chase Douglas              

     Brevin Runia             Tanner Myhrberg                Regan Luther                 

      Dawson Reese          Austin Sommervold          Eli Cole                            

      Samantha Nielsen     Brooklyn Sukalski            Allie Kock                       

                                        Aubrey Bjella                    Charlie Jacobson

     Ryne Myhrberg         Eric Myhre               Bill Weber

     Carter Versaevel         Bellamy Sukalski       Alex DeVos

      Bella Hunsley             Taylor Gilbertson      Allison Gelster

      Jack Bly                      Peyton Whitesitt        Courtni Nielsen

      Malia Bloemker          Tanner Fales              Eli Houseman

      Jenna Mortier              Olivia Peterson         Simon Zahrbock

      Rebecca Downing       Landon Frost           Maddie Murphy

                                       Tonya Tomasek

FLY Mission Trip to Pine Ridge 2019

"Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life..."  Psalm 23:6

Storyline.....

What if you knew, deep down, that your story is valuable? Uniquely yours? Important? That's God's goodness and unfailing love is present in your life, through all your highs and lows?

What if you knew that Jesus sees your true, unedited story and still deeply loves YOU and pursues YOU?  Brokenness of some kind is a part of everyone's story.......but it isn't the full story.

And how would your story be greater if you knew deep down that God loves everyone this way and we are called to also?

In our week, we will be hearing the stories from the community of Pine Ridge....sharing our stories and ourselves....and interweaving our stories together with the story of Jesus.

God moves in and through our stories and I can't wait to see how this trip will touch and change the youth and adults from First Lutheran.  This trip will touch you like none other!  I promise!!

Lord, please open the hearts and minds of our participants to learn, grow, and show love and grace to others.  Help us all to see JOY in everything we will experience.  Let this trip and YOU change us for the better!   In Your Name we pray, Amen.