Monday, June 23, 2008
Kyle, SD Story
While on the mission trip God amazed us with a small view of how great he is in providing for Christian's needs. A group from Plymouth, Indiana was in Kyle while we were. In fact the group from Plymouth had 34 members on their team. 17 adults and 17 teens. The ratio seemed right 1 on 1 coverage of teens always seems appropriate. The Plymouth had contracted with the local schools for all their meals. We had brought the majority of our food(and more) with us from Modesto. On Wednesday while eating our evening meal we were discussing what to do with the leftovers. We had quite a bit of food leftover from the previous days of the trip. We decided that we would graze on leftovers the following day. God however had something else in mind. For reasons we do not know the cafeteria staff did not show up to cook for the Plymotuh team that night. Our team was running on fumes. We were tired, we knew we only had one day left to work. Their leader came in to our abode and asked if we had any spare food. I ask Sheila and the team if we could feed them. It was an amazing burst of energy. Our leftovers were just enough for their meal that night. Also that day their devotional material and study was on the providence of God, how God takes of His people and provides for them when they are not expecting it. What great timing - they needed food and we needed to see God's hand at work. What am amazing God we serve!
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Kyle Mission Trip 2008 Report
Kyle Mission Trip 2008
The Kyle Mission effort started with a seed planted by Chuck Baker during the fall of 2007. This effort’s primary goal was to establish a “beachhead” for future work among the Oglala Lakota Sioux Indians of Kyle, SD. The method used to achieve the goal was to be a combination of service projects, seminars and community gatherings.
Our initial contact at the Reservation was made with Steve Hernandez with Pejuta Haka College Center. PHCC is the Kyle facility for Oglala Lakota College and serves as point of communication for the local community. Steve is involved in building this community in a variety of different ways and was very instrumental in the success of our trip. Steve helped us make contact with the Headstart Program and with the Emergency Youth Services personnel.
The projects that we chose to tackle during the mission trip were as follows; a renovation project for the Youth Services Shelter; a deck project for the Early Headstart Program; a collection of tennis balls for the Headstart program and a series of family oriented seminars and gatherings. The projects chosen challenged us by virtue of the short amount of time we were to spend working on them. The variety of tasks and the limited number of personnel that we had on the trip made for long days and short nights while we were working in Kyle.
In addition to the tasks mentioned above we were responsible for our meals and hydration during the trip. Members of the team devoted time and energy to cooking, cleaning and general maintenance of our living area. We also planned to feed a large crowd of people during one of the nights as well as showing a family/Christ oriented film. We also made meals available for anyone from the local community during each of our regularly scheduled meals. No one was turned away hungry from our camp.
Early Headstart Deck
The deck project turned out more daunting than we expected. The scope of the project was larger than we anticipated. We thought we were going to do cosmetic and appearance enhancements to the deck and ended up doing a demo and rebuild project. The project took longer than we anticipated but the outcome was that we have a left a serviceable, accessible ramp that will last for years to come.
Youth Shelter Renovation
The Emergency Youth Facility needed and still needs today a lot of work. The facility experienced water damage this past winter when the pipes broke during a freeze. The break was not noticed for several days and water sat on the floors for quite some time. We were able to take out the carpet in the facility, take up the tiled flooring material and take out all the damaged sheet rock in the ceilings and the walls. Additional, all the cabinets were removed from the kitchen area because of their poor condition. This shelter served as our command center and campsite during the trip. Several children from the Pineridge shelter came down and painted a few of the room in the facility . This project was very successful but leaving the place unpainted and bare to the studs in many places reminded us of the work in many other places that needs to be completed.
Seminars and Community Gatherings
The seminars were designed to provide information in two of the most critical areas of poverty stricken communities throughout the United States. Meth Awareness and Gang Information are relevant for communities all over North American and especially in low income areas with high incidence of addiction. Chuck Baker embraced these topics well and was welcomed by the locals and local law enforcement for the quality presentations that were given. These community events showed increasing attendance each night and increased friendliness by the local population to the team members each night. Our numbers were 31 for the first night, 55 for the second night and 126 for the final night. Chuck made major in-roads, being invited to speak to the local JDC in mates while we were in Kyle and being invited to speak at a Gang Awareness event that is to occur next year sometime.
Tennis Ball Collection
Our efforts in Modesto to collect tennis balls for the Headstart program chairs exceeded the goal of 1000 balls by 300 balls. These balls will give the children in the program a better chance to learn and keep the cost of floor maintenance down at the same time. A cool way to recycle and have multiple positive results.
Summary
The 2008 Kyle Mission Trip has positioned the Davis Park Church of Christ to reach out to the Oglala Lakota people of South Dakota. We met or exceeded the goals associated with this year’s mission trip in every way. I would recommend that we continue our relationship with the people we have encountered during this trip and seek new ways to serve this population and bring Jesus Christ into their lives.
The Kyle Mission effort started with a seed planted by Chuck Baker during the fall of 2007. This effort’s primary goal was to establish a “beachhead” for future work among the Oglala Lakota Sioux Indians of Kyle, SD. The method used to achieve the goal was to be a combination of service projects, seminars and community gatherings.
Our initial contact at the Reservation was made with Steve Hernandez with Pejuta Haka College Center. PHCC is the Kyle facility for Oglala Lakota College and serves as point of communication for the local community. Steve is involved in building this community in a variety of different ways and was very instrumental in the success of our trip. Steve helped us make contact with the Headstart Program and with the Emergency Youth Services personnel.
The projects that we chose to tackle during the mission trip were as follows; a renovation project for the Youth Services Shelter; a deck project for the Early Headstart Program; a collection of tennis balls for the Headstart program and a series of family oriented seminars and gatherings. The projects chosen challenged us by virtue of the short amount of time we were to spend working on them. The variety of tasks and the limited number of personnel that we had on the trip made for long days and short nights while we were working in Kyle.
In addition to the tasks mentioned above we were responsible for our meals and hydration during the trip. Members of the team devoted time and energy to cooking, cleaning and general maintenance of our living area. We also planned to feed a large crowd of people during one of the nights as well as showing a family/Christ oriented film. We also made meals available for anyone from the local community during each of our regularly scheduled meals. No one was turned away hungry from our camp.
Early Headstart Deck
The deck project turned out more daunting than we expected. The scope of the project was larger than we anticipated. We thought we were going to do cosmetic and appearance enhancements to the deck and ended up doing a demo and rebuild project. The project took longer than we anticipated but the outcome was that we have a left a serviceable, accessible ramp that will last for years to come.
Youth Shelter Renovation
The Emergency Youth Facility needed and still needs today a lot of work. The facility experienced water damage this past winter when the pipes broke during a freeze. The break was not noticed for several days and water sat on the floors for quite some time. We were able to take out the carpet in the facility, take up the tiled flooring material and take out all the damaged sheet rock in the ceilings and the walls. Additional, all the cabinets were removed from the kitchen area because of their poor condition. This shelter served as our command center and campsite during the trip. Several children from the Pineridge shelter came down and painted a few of the room in the facility . This project was very successful but leaving the place unpainted and bare to the studs in many places reminded us of the work in many other places that needs to be completed.
Seminars and Community Gatherings
The seminars were designed to provide information in two of the most critical areas of poverty stricken communities throughout the United States. Meth Awareness and Gang Information are relevant for communities all over North American and especially in low income areas with high incidence of addiction. Chuck Baker embraced these topics well and was welcomed by the locals and local law enforcement for the quality presentations that were given. These community events showed increasing attendance each night and increased friendliness by the local population to the team members each night. Our numbers were 31 for the first night, 55 for the second night and 126 for the final night. Chuck made major in-roads, being invited to speak to the local JDC in mates while we were in Kyle and being invited to speak at a Gang Awareness event that is to occur next year sometime.
Tennis Ball Collection
Our efforts in Modesto to collect tennis balls for the Headstart program chairs exceeded the goal of 1000 balls by 300 balls. These balls will give the children in the program a better chance to learn and keep the cost of floor maintenance down at the same time. A cool way to recycle and have multiple positive results.
Summary
The 2008 Kyle Mission Trip has positioned the Davis Park Church of Christ to reach out to the Oglala Lakota people of South Dakota. We met or exceeded the goals associated with this year’s mission trip in every way. I would recommend that we continue our relationship with the people we have encountered during this trip and seek new ways to serve this population and bring Jesus Christ into their lives.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Kyle Team Arrives Home . . .
The Kyle Mission Trip is over. We arrived home at 8:30 last night. Two grueling days of driving at the end of an exhausting week. The trip exceeded expectations on our end as we made in-roads into the community in and around Kyle.
Our Thursday night, family night was a big success. We had (20% of local populaion) in attendance from the community. We fed them Indian Tacos, Beans and Rice. The Indian Tacos are made on Indian Fry Bread, a delicacy in that part of the world. We had three local ladies cook the fry bread for us. It was wonderful. Highlights of the trip also include parting gifts from several organizations for our team members. One Lakota man did a song for us and had us dance in a circle to the song as he "blessed" our return home. I will be posting pictures and giving more stats in the near future.
Our Thursday night, family night was a big success. We had (20% of local populaion) in attendance from the community. We fed them Indian Tacos, Beans and Rice. The Indian Tacos are made on Indian Fry Bread, a delicacy in that part of the world. We had three local ladies cook the fry bread for us. It was wonderful. Highlights of the trip also include parting gifts from several organizations for our team members. One Lakota man did a song for us and had us dance in a circle to the song as he "blessed" our return home. I will be posting pictures and giving more stats in the near future.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Kyle Update #2
Kyle Update . . .
Tuesday proved to be a very busy day. Wayne, Darren , Art and Shane worked on the deck project at the early Headstart Facility. We finally started building it after revising the revised plans several times. The wheelchair ramp has to be about fifty feet long to meet ADA code. Not that code matters, there are no inspectors watching over our shoulders. Wayne is determined to build it right.
Shelia continues to cook stellar meals. Each day we have more locals for lunch and dinner. I would estimate that we are having more than 30 additional guests each day. Chuck's seminar on meth was great. I hope we can have him do it in Modesto sometime. At the seminar we had 31 adults and 9 children. A good showing in a town of 1000 people. All of the woman are working hard each day, doing a variety of activities. Things are coming along just fine.
Tuesday proved to be a very busy day. Wayne, Darren , Art and Shane worked on the deck project at the early Headstart Facility. We finally started building it after revising the revised plans several times. The wheelchair ramp has to be about fifty feet long to meet ADA code. Not that code matters, there are no inspectors watching over our shoulders. Wayne is determined to build it right.
Shelia continues to cook stellar meals. Each day we have more locals for lunch and dinner. I would estimate that we are having more than 30 additional guests each day. Chuck's seminar on meth was great. I hope we can have him do it in Modesto sometime. At the seminar we had 31 adults and 9 children. A good showing in a town of 1000 people. All of the woman are working hard each day, doing a variety of activities. Things are coming along just fine.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Kyle Update. . . .
We made the trip with very little problems and it was a blessing to arrive in Kyle safely. We have a lot of work before us, however we have completed many tasks already. Wayne, has learned some old lessons concerning thermocouples, and only has hairloss and sunburned looking skin to show for it.
Our first task was to make our living quarters livable. We were able to do that in a few short hours, next we gutted out all of the water damaged sheetrock and flooring from the house. We are going to start getting the house reading for interior paint next. We have also taken out a large deck in front of a daycare facility and as we speak Wayne, Darren and Art are installing a new accessible deck and handicap Ramp. We have a lot of traffic around our basecamp, people are curious as to why we are here and what do we want? We continually tell them we are here to get to know them and provide assistance to their community while we are here.
Tonight we are having our first seminar at the Little Wound School. We will have three nights of activities, please pray that these go well.
Here are some pictures of Kyle, SD.
Our first task was to make our living quarters livable. We were able to do that in a few short hours, next we gutted out all of the water damaged sheetrock and flooring from the house. We are going to start getting the house reading for interior paint next. We have also taken out a large deck in front of a daycare facility and as we speak Wayne, Darren and Art are installing a new accessible deck and handicap Ramp. We have a lot of traffic around our basecamp, people are curious as to why we are here and what do we want? We continually tell them we are here to get to know them and provide assistance to their community while we are here.
Tonight we are having our first seminar at the Little Wound School. We will have three nights of activities, please pray that these go well.
Here are some pictures of Kyle, SD.
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