We're Off

I'ts 5:22 Saturday morning and we're about to assemble our caravan at the church and then hit the road. Last night we finished loading the truck and trailer. It rained. About a half hour before we were to load, it was raining cats and dogs. Thankfully the rain turned into a drizzle for most of the time while we were loading but geez, that's rough on us curly headed girls.

Does Dennis look happy here or what?

Seven TONS of Stuff

We (Brian and I) are just back from picking up the rental van, the rental truck, and from picking up 7 TONS of product from Matthew 25 Ministries!

We have diapers, Bounty - the quicker picker uper, LOTS of laundry detergent, all purpose cleaner. Tonight we will also load on the Avon products from Caring Partners! I may get more pics up again tonight - maybe.

Good news! I talked to Shelly today - the trailers we will be staying in are now airconditioned!

Team members (former and present) YOU should feel very good - Shelly said that word in the village is that we may have BIG numbers at VBS. Each work camp that comes they ask if it's Fairfield. They really look forward to our visit and that is because all who have gone in the past have done such an excellent job!

Click on the pics for a larger view

Two Days and Counting

I think we're ready. In a way I'm always ready and yet never ready. But at this point everything is in place. Well sort of ... I'm aware of two crew members who are ill. One with a bad sinus infection and the other with a dental problem. Please pray that these two get well and begin to feel better. It will be miserable for them if they feel bad out there without the comforts of home.

All the trucks/vans are ready to go. Oh, I do still have to pack a few boxes. Last night someone brought in 6 more electric heaters. I've lost count of how many of those we are taking but it's probably somewhere between 20 - 25.

Today I'm taking a personal day. I'm going to try not to be available unless it's an emergency. I need to get myself packed and a day of sanity would be good before we head out.

Tomorrow it begins. We'll be picking up the rental van then picking up the 24' truck and taking it to load the pallets. Tomorrow evening we load all of the stuff in my dining room, hallway and garage as well as team luggage and bedding. Check back late Friday night or Saturday - I'm going to try to get a short (really short) video up ...

The latest view of my dining room/hall - we need to go

Food Shopping

John, Josh and I went shopping for food again this morning. We had already purchased all the non-perishables but today we bought the cold food.

FYI - we ran into someone from church at Meijer who greeted us with the words, "what a lovely couple". I'm not sure he realized at that point that I was not Sophie. When he did realize it, he didn't say anything but was probably wondering.

So if you hear stories .... it was innocent mission trip shopping. I promise!

Four Days

Pre-trip chaos seems to be the standard. We leave early Saturday morning and we have 2 of the 5 vehicles we're taking needing some sort of work.

Last night Shane was here working for over an hour and a half on the wiring for the truck/trailer. It's still not fixed. Charles is coming over tonight to see what he can do.

Last night Charles checked out the van sine the Youth brought it home from their trip saying something was wrong with it. It will be getting new tires sometime this week.

Tomorrow we buy the last of the food.

One team member is in unbearable pain from a tooth - and has no dental insurance to take care of it.

Yeah, things are going about normal. I've got to remember to start video taping all of this.

Bring on the Jack Daniels

This morning Brian, Josh, and I went to Middletown to Caring Partners International to pick up some product they had for us to take. We laughed when we got there because it was almost all packed in Jack Daniels boxes. There is all kinds of Avon products (lotion, deodorant, perfume, foot cream, shampoo) as well as children's blankets, Band Aids, 2 pair of crutches, 2 canes, and 2 walkers. The estimated value of all we picked up was $2000.00 worth of product.

We loaded it into the back of Josh's pickup and the three of us crammed into the cab of the truck feeling like a bunch of rednecks with our whiskey. A police officer drove past, slowly, but thankfully didn't stop us. Hmmm...how good is this going to look driving onto the Rez with JD boxes.

click on the pics for a larger view

The Freezer

The first year we were at Pine Ridge we had access to a freezer which came in really handy to store all of the frozen food and ice we used. When you feed a crew of 25 or so plus the missionaries, plus up to 100-150 kids each day for 5 days, you need a lot of ice and freezer space. Last year the freezer they had been using was gone, it was old and finally bit the dust.

This year we decided to purchase a new freezer for them and take it out with us. We wanted an upright one and a roomy one. The prices on those things are rather high but hey, God is not short on cash so why not go for it.

We didn't say much to anyone about our hope of buying a freezer but every so often someone from our church family would approach me and hand me a check or cash with the instructions to use it in any way it was needed. We held that money separately and it eventually added up to about $450.00 - the price of the freezer!

The freezer is now sitting in my garage and is ready to go on the truck this Friday. For those of you who gave - THANK YOU!

Click on the pics to see a larger view.

Notebooks

I hit WalMart early today and bought all of the notebooks for the village of Allen for 2008. I also bought all of the erasers. All we need now are backpacks - about 124 of 'em. What we really need is CASH to get them.

After we have the village of Allen taken care of, we will start all over again and I'll be buying the same things for the village of Wounded Knee. It's our hope to provide a backpack and school supplies for the children in both villages in 2008.

More Stuff

Just got a call today from Caring Partners International. They have product for us! It's good product too - Avon, and not the trial size things but the retail sizes. Monday Brian and I (and maybe Josh) are heading up there to pick up what they have for us. Now to find room for it. We'll find room ... we'll make room. If we can get 30+ kids in a van we can surely get all this produt in the trucks.

Details, Details, Details

Yesterday and today Brian and I have both been in "Pine Ridge mode". We've been taking care of all the last minute details.... getting a check from the church to deliver to Matthew 25 Ministries for the pallets, getting a check from the church (from the mission budget) for the Pass Creek Church, writing thank you notes to people who have given toward backpacks or the freezer or who have donated paper products, and confirming reservations and getting proof of insurance.

It seems the list of those little last minute things never ends. I feel tired already and the trip is still ahead of us. That's OK, we'll all be more than tired in a couple of weeks.

I know my family as well as a few other families who are going are also facing some major stress. Everything from impending surgery to illness, to family chaos. It's no surprise. It seems each year we have this. I think the enemy tries to wear us down before we go - and maybe discourage some from going at all.

So, pretty much, things are going the way they usually do.

If you're reading here, our team would really appreciate your prayers.

12 Days and Counting

It's been an interesting morning. Here's the story ....

Back in January I reserved a 24 foot truck like we always do for the trip. That was to take all of our supplies, the backpacks, and our own sleeping gear and luggage. We also reserved a 12 passenger van which we would take along with the two church vans.

Then, sometime in May (I think) John had the excellent idea of contacting Matthew 25 Ministries to see if we could get pallets of product to take to the reservation. We had worked with them before on the Hurricane Katrina relief trip. We found out that it was going to cost $170.00 per pallet so we held the auction to raise money for the pallets. We were able to raise all that we needed for this project BUT we needed a truck. Again, thanks to a VERY generous man in the church, we were offered his business truck to take. And then yet another VERY generous man offered his 16 foot trailer to pull behind the truck. So the transportation was solved.

Last week we received confirmation that we were indeed getting 8 pallets of product. I contacted the place where we had reserved the 24 foot truck to see if we could drop it off out there as we would now have the second truck and trailer and there was no point in driving back an empty truck. I thought this would save us both rental money as gas money. BUT, they do not rent one-way.

SO, I got on the Internet and began searching for another 24 foot truck. The problem was that all of the truck rental places were charging more for one-way than Ryder was for 2-way.

SO, I got on the phone and began haggling. After several phone calls and many recordings I found a real person and going through that person's supervisor was able to talk them down to the same price as the Ryder truck. So we're good - a good rental rate plus we won't have to buy gas to drive an empty truck back home.

So after going from having a truck but no pallets, to having pallets but no truck, we now have both!

Now as far as backpacks for 2008 - we are really in need of MONEY.

I've purchased all of the school supplies for the village of Allen for next year. But our account is now almost empty and I still have to purchase 124 backpacks. Walmart has raised their prices over last year too. BUT I did find a place online where I can buy backpacks cheaper. Right now we need about $800.00 to purchase those backpacks.

That will take care of the village of Allen. I was really hoping to be able to purchase backpacks/school supplies for the village of Wounded Knee as well but at this point, that is not looking like it will happen very soon. A number of people have promised checks but I've yet to see any of them. We can always wait and purchase school supplies later - the only reason I had wanted to buy them now is that now is when Walmart has the REALLY CHEAP school supplies available. After August or so, they will be gone and we will have to pay a higher price for the same school supplies.

But hey, I've see God do bigger things before and I'm sure that if it's His will, He will provide for it. And if it's not His will, we have no business doing it.

Good News!

We just got word from Matthew 25 Ministries that we will be getting the following:

• 3 Pallets of Diapers
  
• the remaining pallets will consist of laundry detergent, paper towels, cleaning supplies and soap

We will also be taking a check from the mission budget at church for $1,500.00 for the Pass Creek Church.

Backpacks 2008

WalMart has their school supplies out so I hit them early today. We now have all of the folders, pens, pencils, glue, and crayons for the village of Allen. I still need to get notebooks, erasers, and rulers - they didn't have those out yet. I'll be checking with them in the next few days to wipe those out too. Once we have all the school supplies I'll be buying backpacks. Once we get all 150 backpacks and school supplies for the village of Allen, I will start stocking up for the village of Wounded Knee. I want to do one village at a time since I don't have any idea how much money we will raise and I want to make sure we have enough for at least one village. I'm really hoping that we have enough for both villages in 2008, but we'll have to wait and see.

Now for the story that if you're sadistic, you'll find funny.

Walmart generally opens the cases of school supplies. Occasionally you can find cases of notebooks that have not been opened, but most of the school supplies are opened, which means - you have to count each individual item just in case someone took one or two out of the case.

If I need 450 folders, which I did, then I have to count out 450 folders individually. It's a pain but whatcha gonna do. Today I was in the middle of counting folders, all 450 of them, that is typically a challenge in and of itself because if you have ADD (as I do) you can lose count very easily and have to start all over again.

Today it was a bit more of a challenge than normal because as I was counting the sound system was throwing out congratulations to various associates from around the country for their years of service at Walmart. So, here I am counting and over the loud speaker I hear, "Thanks to Sally for her 18 years of service at Walmart. And thanks to June for her 14 years of service. Thanks goes out to Ben for his service of 21 years, and a special thank you goes out to Bill for his 24 years of service at Walmart". That went on for a while. I kept wondering how many people have that many years of service and how much longer they were going to keep repeating numbers while I was trying to count.

EVENTUALLY they said, "Let's go to some music now". Oh THANK YOU, I thought, grateful that they were not going to be shouting out numbers anymore. Then, to my great dismay, the song that came over the sound system was "One, two, three, like a bird I sing". Oh gosh, can we stop with the numbers already?

20 Days and Counting

It is officially "Crunch Time". 20 days from today we will be pulling into Pine Ridge Reservation!

Here is what is happening this week....

Today I went shopping for misc. stuff to complete our VBS Celebration of Hope African Safari Party. I had this pic that Cody took on his Honeymoon blown up to a poster size and mounted on foam board. This will be our "Pin the Tail on the Zebra" game. Connie is busy making "tails" for it. Cute isnt' he?

I also bought face paint so Cody, Josh, and Jeremy can paint the kid's faces like tigers, lions, and so forth.

I finished buying last minute items for the VBS Droplets presentation I will be doing each day and I finished up the Crew Devotional / Schedule booklet and have begun printing it!

John has contacted Matthew 25 Ministries and they assure us that they have product for us. He should be hearing from them today to finalize plans for picking up the pallets.

If you haven't heard, a very generous man in our church bought a case of the coffee we are selling to give to Serve City. It's amazing how much good a package of coffee can do. Not only is it helping people in Third World countries, and helping us raise money for Backpacks, now it's helping the homeless in Hamilton too!

Time is moving along quickly! We will be there before you know it!

Backpacks 2008!

I've begun shopping for backpacks and school supplies for the 2008 trip!

Today Brian and I found 24 backpacks for $6 each! We bought 3 boxes of them, 24 in total. Cody's old room is now officially the Backpack Room.

Be praying we get some good donations really soon.

In July school supplies are much cheaper so we need to be buying them this next month for the 2008 trip.

We only have $200.00 in our fund after buying these backpacks so we really need some donations soon. It normally takes anywhere from $1500 - $2000 to provide backpacks and school supplies to the village of Allen and we are hoping to be able to expand this project to include the village of Wounded Knee as well.

Here's a pic of the backpacks we got today!

What We're Taking

Or I should say what we plan to take in addition to the usual stuff.

• 150 Backpacks with school supplies (all the money was donated for this)
  


• A 17 cu. ft. upright freezer (all the money was donated for this)
  


• 8 Pallets of "product" (baby items, personal care items, etc.) (all the money was donated for this)
  
  
• 12 - 15 Electric Heaters (I've lost count)
  


• VBS materials (safari hats, animal print bandannas, animal print sunglasses, safari crafts)
  


• A new target toss game (pictured)

Shopping!

John, Josh and I went shopping today. We bought most of the non-perishable food for the trip, then bought a freezer. After packing up the food, here are some pics of what my dining room looks like now.

The Coffee is Here

The coffee arrived today and will be for sale starting this Sunday! Money raised will go toward purchasing backpacks and school supplies for the children at Pine Ridge Reservation

Comments Disabled

Not many of our team comment here and that is fine but wanted to alert you that I've disabled comments entirely on this blog. Some person who is obviously ignorant of what we do there has been posting that the Pass Creek church is getting rich off of us. Anyone who is in any way knowledgeable of that church, the reservation, or our group that travels there knows how utterly ridiculous that is. But ignorant people who want to stir trouble abound. This visitor is from Wall Drug, SD and spent a total of 6 min. 14 seconds on our site and felt they knew enough to make these accusations. I will not permit this blog to be used in that manner.


If anyone in our church family or any team member has questions and wants to see our bookkeeping - you only need to ask. In fact, I encourage you to do so - you'll appreciate what we do even more. We remain fully accountable to any supporter of this endeavor.

My apologies to any team members or church family member who would have liked to have been able to use this blog to communicate via comments. It's sad that when you try to do a good thing someone has to give you grief for no good reason but that's the world we live in.

Coming Soon

Soon you will be able to purchase Equal Exchange, Fairly Traded Coffee and Chocolate Bars at church and support our efforts at Pine Ridge at the same time. Here's the deal...

• You can buy the coffee and 48% of the money from your purchase will go toward purchasing backpacks and school supplies for the children on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

It's a situation where everyone wins and we have an opportunity to make a difference in many ways.

1. First, we will be making money to purchase school supplies and making a difference in the lives of children on the reservation.
   
   
2. We will also be helping the farmers who in developing countries by purchasing Fair Trade coffee.
   
   
3. And, we will be raising awareness about Fair Trade products.

That's 3 different ways we can make a difference!

Will it cost more? Yes. About $10.00 per pound of regular coffee and about $3.50 per bar of chocolate, but your money will be doing so much good on so many levels and the products are so much better

About Fair Trade

Fair Trade ensures that the farmers who grow the coffee in Third World countries are paid a fair wage for their crops, that they do not have to work in hazardous conditions, and that no child labor is used.

Some things you may not know ... The farmers who grow the coffee we drink are often paid less than it cost them to grow their crop, keeping them in a cycle of poverty.

With chocolate, the story is far worse. "While chocolate is sweet for us, it can be heartbreaking for the hundreds of thousands of child laborers that pick the cocoa that goes into some of our favorite treats. In 2001, the U.S. State Department, the International Labor Organization and others reported child slavery on many cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast, source of 43% of the worlds cocoa. Subsequent research by the
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture revealed some 284,000 children between the ages of 9 and 12 working in hazardous conditions on West African cocoa farms. Of these children, it was reported that some 12,000 child cocoa workers that had participated in the study were likely to have arrived in their
situation as a result of child trafficking". - From The Global Exchange

In the very near future we will have a way of having our favorite treats and putting our money to better use.

Be looking for more information coming soon.

Rethinking Evangelism

We've been talking in our meetings about evangelism and how our approach must differ from the classic 4 spiritual laws approach. RWK over at Today at the Mission says it far better than I could. If you're on the Pine Ridge team, please read this.

Something To Keep In Mind

I"m not sure how the knowledge escaped me all these years - maybe I should read more travel books, namely the Custer State Park guide. Apparently Custer State Park is mountain lion territory. They give the following tips for what to do if you encounter one of these kitties.

• When hiking, walk with others. A walking stick can be used for defense.
  
  


• If you come upon one, shout, wave and hold your jacket open. Try to look as large and threatening as possible.
  
  


• Maintain eye contact with the cat at all times.
  
  


• DO NOT crouch down.
  
  


• DO NOT run.
  
  


• DO NOT approach the cat (who would do that??)
  
  


• Throw sticks or stones that you can easily reach without crouching or taking your eyes off the cat.
  
  


• If the lion attacks, fight back

Good luck!

Very Cool Indeed

Lifted Magazine gave us a plug! They are a friend on the Backpacks for Pine Ridge MySpace and heard about ut that way. They have begun showcasing a ministry each Monday and we are the first! How cool is that!

News From The Rez

I just talked to Shelly. They are really looking forward to our coming out this summer. She says the kids especially are excited and having a hard time waiting for us to get there. It's good to know that they know us and still look forward to seeing us. ;)

She left some prayer requests for us:

• Mike - a 30 year-old man in the church who is having heart problems.
  
• The kids and all the workcamps this year - that everything that is done will benefit the Lakota people. Barry and Shelly really have a heart for the people there and it shows. Last winter they gave away their own blankets out of their house to the people who were looking for a way to stay warm.

Please keep these in your prayers. And remember to pray for our group too - that we will be sensitive to the needs there in everything we do. It's easy to get big ideas that sound good to us but we want to be sure that we are acting in their best interest and not our own good feelings.

It will be time to leave before we know it!

Just Some Updates

Things are rolling right along. Here are some updates on our projects.

John is gathering more items for the auction. You'll be hearing about that at church very soon. We are also looking into putting some things on Ebay. This fundraiser will help us to pay for the pallets of products we will be taking to the rez.

We are getting more backpack/school supply money. (thanks Chrissie for your help with this) I am also working on this by building our Backpacks for Pine Ridge MySpace. Check it out. God is so weird. That page has so many different kinds of friends - we've got Bikers, Indians, Rockers, Graffiti Artists. I don't know if this will help bring in any support but hey, it's worth a try. MySpace is pretty powerful so we may as well use it for good.

I've also got an idea that may help raise money for the backpack project. It's too early to say anything about it but I'm hoping to be able to let you all know about it soon. It will be a BIG deal and pretty exciting. And it will be in Fairfield - out in the community, not at our church.

Here is a graph that shows where we're at with the backpack money. Click on it to read it better.

June Meeting Update - For Those Who Were Not There

Dianna came to share her story with us. She is from Liberia and has an amazing story of God's provision. I asked her to come for two reasons, 1) her story is worth hearing, and 2) it's a way for us to hear about Africa firsthand. Sometimes Africa can seem like a long way away and that it has very little to do with us. It's easy to ignore things that do not affect us or anyone we know. By hearing Dianna's story and meeting her, we now know someone who has been affected by the conditions in Africa and the next time we hear a news report about the wars there, we will feel more connected. Or at least that's my hope.

Which brings me to one of the topics for this month's meeting.

It's all about RELATIONSHIP.

As much as I would love to see people know Jesus and as much as I love charity, I do NOT want us to go out there to evangelize or even to only do acts of charity. Those are all well and good but I firmly believe that relationship is the key. Once we build relationships with people, they become more than just a mission project - they become our friends, and we are not likely to allow friends to deal with the harsh conditions of poverty without acting. Neither will be be reluctant to share our best friend, Jesus with them. Either of these, charity or evangelism, without relationship is meaningless.

That is why I keep saying that in spite of whatever else we do at Pine Ridge, the playground is where ministry happens. Being with the children, loving on them, playing games, giving piggy back rides, and pushing them on the swings is what our trip is really all about. They will not likely remember what we teach in the VBS classes but they will remember that someone loved them.

We also talked about preparing emotionally and physically for the trip.

We will be living communally for 9 days. During that time we will face some challenges, including:

• Having very little rest
• It will be HOT - over 100 degrees
• There is absolutely NO privacy there - you can't even go to the bathroom to find a moment alone because there will be people in the bathroom too.
• The food, although far better than most mission trips (thank you John), will still not be what we would eat at home every day.

So, how to we prepare emotionally to deal with these challenges?

Being at your best spiritually and physically will help. Here are a few tips:

• Stay prayed up. You may not have the time for a lot of prayer out there - pray now.
• Rest. Especially the week before we go - get as much rest as possible
• When we stop at the hotel in Des Moines, sleep. It's a nice hotel with comfortable beds - take advantage of the last chance for a decent night's sleep.
• Take care of yourself out there. Take breaks to avoid becoming overheated. Don't feel guilty about taking a 15 - 20 min. break. It's better to do that than to overdo it and need to go to the clinic and miss half a day.
• Drink plenty of water out there. Carry a water bottle and keep it filled and drink it. It is easy to become dehydrated out there.
• Remember - IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU. Don't expect things to go your way.

You will also be encountering a different culture. We will not only be in the Great Sioux Nation and among Native American culture, but we will also be in a culture of poverty. You will see things that will rub you the wrong way. You will see things you may not agree with. Remember, it is not our place to judge them for the choices they make. Here is a quote I like:

Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing
exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the
well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed. ~ Herman Melville

Child Abuse. See Amber for information about how to deal with any child abuse we encounter.

I also need to mention meetings. We are getting sloppy in our attendance at meetings. Last month we had to cancel the meeting because too many team members were not able to make it. This month we had the same situation although we did not cancel it. This is disappointing to say the least. I cannot stress enough how important it is for EVERYONE to be at the meetings. A number of people ask on occasion if we are doing anything important at the meeting. OF COURSE WE ARE. If we weren't, we wouldn't have a meeting. Here's the deal - we have 27 people going to a different culture for 9 days and we need to pull together to accomplish some things and we basically have 7 hours to prepare. We meet on average once a month for an average time of an hour. Every meeting is essential. If you've never gone with us - you really need to be there or you will simply not be prepared and that's bad news for you and for the team and for our mission there. If you have been before and think you know what it's all about - you've not been with the current team before and even if you know "the drill", you still need to be part of the new team.

One thing I am doing is to go back and re-do the chore schedule to reward those who have been at every meeting. They will not have bathroom duty - at all. Which means that those who miss meetings will have more bathroom duty.

As for the July meeting - you have to be there. It's the last meeting before we leave and you will be getting last minute instructions.

Memories of 2006

Click on the pic for a larger view

What a crew!

The things we do for these kids

But just look - they're so worth it

Even when there's mass chaos

Tug of war

We worked hard

Awwww....

We laughed hard too

And we cried hard sometimes

Accidents happen

And we thought this price was bad

You just never know what will happen on these trips

Our missionaries! Barry & Shelly