Mission trip lesson #2: BE FLEXIBLE and learn to go with the flow. It will save you and the rest of the members of your team a lot of stress (See lesson #1).
Thankfully, I pledged from the moment we left Cheyenne Saturday afternoon to have a relaxing, stress-free vacation/mission trip with our youth group (including my own two children, who I don't get to spend enough time with). With the exception of a trip to Walmart in Chadron, Nebraska tonight, I have pretty much succeeded so far.
Day 3 started this morning with breakfast at 7:30 (scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, fresh peaches and strawberries and, of course, coffee), followed by a devotion led by Lindy, Robert and Conner at 8. A group prayer standing in a circle, lots of sunscreen and some work gloves, and our mission work was under way!
Sydney, Zack and I got busy scraping one sun shade and picnic table near the Makasan Presbyterian Church ...
... while Conner and Lindy painted this new bench around the adjacent tree ...
... Jimbo, Jake and Gabe worked on removing all of the wood from the other sun shade (which was in much worse shape) ...
... and Clark, Erin and Robert did yard work (thank goodness Clark just bought this new weed whacker! He was a weed-cutting MACHINE, despite the heat!) ...
The rest of the morning was filled with destruction (of two old outhouses behind the church), exertion (as Gabe nearly single-handedly broke up big pieces of said outhouses with a sledgehammer and axe; those summer days in the weight room for football really paid off!), and buckets of sweat.
After a lunch of sandwiches (including egg salad made from the leftover scrambled eggs -- YUM!), Pico de Gallo and tortilla chips and more fresh peaches and apples, the consensus was that no one wanted to go on the hike planned to the Crazy Horse burial site. Jimbo and I took a pickup load of lumber to the dump, scoped out the work we need to do at Madeline's house (where we will work Wednesday and Thursday) and came back to load a second dump load in the truck.
After making apologies to Pastor Asa about changing the plans and not taking the hike in the heat, we decided to instead travel to Hot Springs, S.D., which is about 45 minutes northwest of here, and go to Evan's Plunge (see http://www.evansplunge.com/). One the way, my van's thermostat said 101 degrees, and Jimbo's truck said 100. Either way, it just confirmed what we already knew from working outside earlier -- it was HOT!
And although we went to a hot springs-fed indoor/outdoor pool and water park, the water was cool and refreshing by comparison. What a great two-and-a-half hours of fun we had sliding down slides (this is Jimbo hitting the water at the bottom of a steep indoor slide) ...
... swinging on rings across the water that hung from the ceiling, and even playing a game of "King of the hill ... er, gator ...
Because Clark went to Newcastle, Wyo., on Forest Service business tonight, Jimbo and I took two youth to Chadron with us to get a few more grocery items, as well as some paint, drill bits, etc. for this week's work projects. After pulling into the Walmart parking lot, Jimbo listened to his voicemail messages (cell phone reception on the reservation is horrible, to put it mildly -- or at least for we Verizon users; "Can you hear me now?" "Nope, sure can't.") and heard from Asa that he was in Chadron too. Sure enough, Christine called me a few minutes later to say the van crew was back at the center and locked out.
Sydney, Gabe, Jimbo and I spent more than an hour trying to find everything on our shopping list, but since it was a small, grossly understaffed "regular" Walmart and not a Supercenter like we have in Cheyenne, that was more than a bit challenging and frustrating at times (for a poor college student named Melissa who helped us in the paint department, too; she was the only floor associate working three or more departments covering about half the store -- gotta love this economy we're living with right now). I had to constantly remind myself of lesson #2 during this little errand.
All the way back to the reservation, we wondered whether the rest of our group was still stuck outside the center or had been let in by Asa and Tresita. Thankfully, when we crested the hill, we saw the center ablaze with lights in the windows, reassuring us they were no longer "stranded" in a minivan with nothing to keep them entertained. Our hosts had arrived within 30 minutes of their return "home." We just couldn't reach anyone's cell to learn that fact before we got back ourselves.
Since no one had eaten yet, we finished the day with a 10 p.m. dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, salad and snickerdoodles. Plus, Asa and Tresita had this late dinner with us, so we got to enjoy their company.
All in all, it was a pretty productive, definitely fun and at times patience-challenging day. But it's definitely one none of us will soon forget! We're looking forward to a full day of work here at the center tomorrow without traveling anywhere -- plus, Tresita is treating us all to Indian tacos for dinner! Until then ...
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