Day 4

Up and going early this morning. We wanted to get up to the reservation as early as possible to get as much painting done as we could. What a difference a day makes. Clear blue skies and a much lower humidity. Perfect day for what we had planned. Once we arrived, we quickly began preparations for the day's activities. Mother Karen and her team had a lot to do to get ready and the kitchen team was planning out how they would do the number of waffles they were going to do; and Greg, Jacob, and Kyle M got busy with painting the peak of the church. With very light winds, they were able to employ the paint sprayer we brought with us. With the youth team working down low where they could reach, Kyle and Jacob were up the ladder getting the more hard to reach places. Before lunch, they had gotten the first coat on the front face of the church and the top two-thirds of a side wall. With as much as the team accomplished, there was a real sense not only of accomplishment, but that they might actually complete the project as intended.

All the prep work by the VBS team paid off when we had another large group of guests arrive today. Three separate trips into town with the vans to pick up kids had the kitchen team working in overdrive to have lunch ready for all. Between guests and team, the kitchen worked to pull together lunch for 75; very little left over. Our guests gobbled up the sausage and fruit. As for the waffles, it was decided that the extra time and effort required did not make a noticeable difference when compared to the pancakes we normally run on this day. Still, some of our guests were back for seconds, as we some of our own team.

During the after lunch worship, it was really a blessing to see how many of our guests wanted to help lead the songs that we were singing. As is usual at about this time on our trips, a real sense of shared community begins to develop as relationships strengthen. The number of horseback rides increases, the kids invite different team members to sit with them or help them, and the smiles are something that speak volumes to what grace looks like in this world. After lunch our service project team was hard at work. With the end in sight, they pushed hard to complete a second coat on the hard to reach places. The paint sprayer was a godsend. By the end of the day, our painting project is probably at 99%. A few touch ups to do tomorrow, repainting the red front doors, and then a general cleanup and we will be done. Are there areas we could have done better? You bet, but we did pretty good and nobody is disappointed.

With a little help and tools from the reservation seminarian, we were able to unclog a clogged toilet which made the afternoon much more pleasant. It would have been tough trying to deal with only one bathroom for so many people. The crafts seemed to be organized chaos today with so many kids. But in the end, none went away sad or angry because they didn't get to do this or that. Like manna in the desert, there was enough for all.

As our day on the reservation came to a close, it was really hot and several of our team were tired after a long day and a very busy week. The comfort of a shower or soak in the city pool helped rejuvenate our team members and everyone returned to the church refreshed, although possibly still a bit tired. Unfortunately there was no time to rest. We had to get things ready for Eucharist with the members of St. John's. Just before the Eucharist we had two more members arrive in Valentine to join the team. It was great to have this young lady back with us and to bring her mother was a real treat.

Eucharist was celebrated, dinner enjoyed, and visiting with parishioners was the order for the evening. By the time everyone left, the parish hall was cleaned up, it was time for our nightly bible study. As always, the discussion was insightful. Afterwards, we broke into teams to get ready for tomorrow. As our day came to an end, our youth once again led Compline and it was then time to say good night. The teams quickly are crashed after a long hot day, and this blogger is about to join them.