Mostly, though, I'm excited to finally start this adventure that's been in the making since, oh, November? Before then, really, if I think about it. About 5 years ago, a family from my church decided they wanted their last big family vacation (the oldest child was graduating high school) to have a mission component. Though our church offered a number of mission opportunities, there was nothing that really fit the needs and interests of the family, so they looked into other opportunities within the larger United Methodist Church and found the Spirit Lake Ministry Center on the Spirit Lake Nation reservation in North Dakota. They spent the week doing light construction and repair work on homes and tribal buildings on the reservation, and also around the ministry center. They helped with children's programs on the reservation, and they had opportunities to participate in Native American cultural activities. Then, like every other mission team our church sent out, they came back and told everyone all about it.
For the next couple summers, our church sent teams to Spirit Lake Nation. My friends, Ron and Dawn, loved it so much that they became volunteer coordinators, choosing to spend their summers coordinating and overseeing volunteer work crews. They've been trying for two summers to get me out there, so this November, when I finally was able to move from working in private preschool+daycare to the public school system, I texted Dawn "Guess what? Summers off=I can come to the rez!" To which she responded "You know, I think they're looking for a Sidewalk Sunday School coordinator. I think you'd be perfect!" Emails were exchanged, phone calls were made, and voila! I've gone from planning to volunteer for a week or two to a paid position for the summer!
I get to spend my summer break in mission with children. Could life be any better? God is good!
No comments:
Post a Comment