Tuesday July 12, 2011

As I suspected, the building grew very quiet quickly after the lights finally went out. As everyone headed to their sleeping bag, one of the girls found she had some visitors surrounding hers. She found ants crawling along the base of the wall and over her suitcase. We brushed everything off, applied a treatment along the base of the wall and swept out the area. Even though there were a few squeamish thoughts of sleeping in the area, they were soon fast asleep and we saw no return of wandering ants today. We were up earlier today. With the scope of the project we faced, we decided it was best to get up to the reservation an hour earlier. After a breakfast of pancakes and sausage we loaded up the trailer. It was a bit more crowded in the trailer this morning, we had a load of lumber to use on the ramp rebuild.

When we stepped outside this morning we also noted it was much cooler than it had been the day before. Overnight a front rolled through with lots of rain. Some heard the thunder but said they rolled right back over to fall asleep. There was also a slight mist and we wondered how this would affect the work ahead of us. All the way up we drove through some pretty thick fog, probably a little less than a quarter mile visibility. Just outside of Mission, SD it all of a sudden cleared up. It was still overcast, but the fog and mist went away and there was hope that we would be able to get everything accomplished we had planned.

That extra hour was a real gift. In that hour we were able as a team to finish clearing the ground around the church and getting the lawn mowed. What a difference that made. At the same time, some of the team finished ripping out the old ramp and began to frame the new supports. By the end of our time, the upper part of the ramp was rebuilt and the lower ramp supports were in place and the posts were cemented in. All in all it was a very successful day. Our service project team worked extremely well together and when other team members had free time, they were over there chipping in as they could. There is something about the sound of power tools and sledge hammers that seems to attract a crowd. We noticed that traffic on the church street picked up as spectators checked out what we were doing.

As for VBS, our numbers were up slightly today, but not as many came as we had hoped to. We reminded ourselves later that day it didn’t really matter how many kids came, if we could make a difference in just one life, or our lives were enriched by the efforts of just one person, we knew that was what God really intended. We began as usual with lunch and headed across the street for worship that again included a skit a few songs. Today’s skit was the Prodigal Son. The crew did a great job and our guests seemed to really enjoy their work. Song time was even more fun as we repeated some of the songs from yesterday and more of our guests felt more comfortable to participate. There were arms flying, fingers pointing and even a few foot stomps along the way and through it all, Jesus was praised.

The kids all headed over to story time and found Bob Orr ready and willing to share with them. The kids all loved him. Their favorite craft today was the glow in the dark beaded cross. Every guest wanted one so our team worked with the little ones to help them put it together. Some of the kids had to go into the bathroom and close the door to see if they really glowed and they came out happily saying they really glow. We then went out to the field to play a little wiffle ball. Only one minor incident, one of our own base runners ran into our third baseman while they were trying to field the ball. One young lady walked away with a bid of a headache, but all were well.

Before we knew it, it was time to pack up and head back to Valentine. Unfortunately, while the day had warmed up to a pleasant 75 degrees, the pool had stayed closed. This left us with a bit of a dilemma, shower or no shower. To shower meant we would have to go to the campground and some of those who were hear a few years ago still remember that experience. A couple of the adults braved the rumors and took off to check things out. When they returned and reported clean showers and warm water (not hot) a crowd quickly gathered for the chance to clean up. On the way they were reminded about sharing and when they pled back into the van, there wasn’t one complaint about the showers or the water temperature. Later, after dinner, some of the kids (and a few adults) all headed to Frosty’s for ice cream with a stop at Dollar General on the way back. I am sure glad we can help the local economy. It is amazing that there are any sodas or any snacks left in the store.

We closed out our night with a Bible study on tomorrow’s topic, Pentecost followed by a discussion of how the day went, what we did good and what we could do better. Everyone agreed it had been a good day and all of us hoped for another great day tomorrow. As Compline was finished, all headed off to bed and another good night’s sleep.