I just returned from South Dakota. I mentioned last week that we were headed for the Pine Ridge Reservation to work on houses and develop relationships with the Lakota people. It was a great week even with the high temperatures. Our group met youth from two other churches and had life changing experiences. None of our youth regretted giving up a week of their summer vacation to help others. We saw some beautiful scenery in the Black Hills and the Badlands but it was the relationships with the Oglala Sioux people that made the trip. A few of those experiences follow.

Alex lives on the reservation. Dying of bone cancer he has committed his remaining life to talk to youth about staying away from drugs and alcohol. Alex and his daughters dance for youth groups every week. In between dances he gives an emotional talk about the destructive power that drugs can have on young lives. You can see the love that his daughters have for him as they frequently make eye contact while dancing.

Angie lives in a small trailer house with an extended family of 10. The Lakota people have strong family ties and due to extreme poverty share their houses with grandparents, sons, daughters and cousins. Angie had the cutest smile that I saw often as we worked together on her grandparent’s house. Her brother was telling me his grandfather had just killed two rattlesnakes by the trailer and that he himself got bit by a rattlesnake not long ago. We were in rattlesnake country and he had me going until his sister told that he was just telling me stories. “Don’t believe a word of it”, she said. As we left the work site Angie gave me the longest hug that I have had for a long time. We knew we would probably never see each other again.

Jacob is 6. Jacob and his three brothers ate with us everyday. Jacob’s mother was escaping an abusive relationship caused by alcohol and drugs. After hearing their story we couldn’t complain at all about the heat we were experiencing while sleeping in a non-air conditioned school. Jacob and his brothers slept down by the dry creek bed in an old van with a broken window. It was a tent before that. The temperatures got as high as 111 degrees.

Betty was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1974 and told by her doctors she had a year to live and to go home and get her things in order. She left Estes Park, Colorado with $36,000 in savings and dedicated her life to helping the Lakota people. For over 30 years, each Christmas she delivers a semi load of gifts to the children on the reservation. She has provided over 25 homes through donations from others. She even gave her own home away and now lives in a small trailer on a friend’s property. Betty was so appreciative when we helped repair her home. She talked non-stop the whole time. Betty has outlived both of the doctors that gave her a year to live.

Among the extreme poverty of the reservation, there was a lot of love, both given and received.