South Dakota!

Yes! We do have a computer out here! But don't expect too many updates cuz I'm really busy and there are about 34 of us.. :-)

I've been keeping a journal so I'm gonn post what I have so far if I have time to write it all out, we have to go to the reservation at 12:10.

Friday June 8 10:10

WE had a good yearend program, said a million goodbyes, and we are on our way to South Dakota! I love dirving at night... I love the lights, and watching the sky turn from blue to turqious to grey, and finally to black. I found out that with a little pusing and shoving I can fit my feet in the tiny space inder the middle front seat and stretch! w00t! There are 6 of us in this car and it's really squished, but not unbearable. I am now going to attempt to get some sleep.

2:00 (AM)
We crossed the border at around 12:30 with no problems! The stars are gorgeous but I ahven' gotten much sleep.

5:30 (American time)
We are parked beside a cornfield watching the sun come up and waiting while Melany calls the retreat center to get directions on how to get there! Exciting... breakfast is calling me... so is my toothbrush. :-S I think I got around 3 1/2 hours of sleep... so I'll survive anyway.

10:30 We're sitting at a rest stop on the second leg of our journey with the whole team and much more leg room. :-) There are 12 of us in the van... 11 girls and Andrew. :-) I had many good intentions of doing a pile of history, but so far I've read part of a chapter and studied for a test, then found out I'd already taken it. Grr...
It's a beautiful day, I smell really bad, and it feels like lunchtime!

12:20
We had a bit of car troubles, but it was just the fuel pump has probl;ems so it needs to be kept pretty full. But we stopped and I got a peanut fudge iced cream... mmmm... and then Lee-bee and I split a hamburger. In the car. That was an adventure. The music is playing, the wind is blowing, and life is pertty awesome. But I wish Jessica was here with us! :-( (Glad to hear you got your job Jess!)

Sunday June 10 8:30 (AM)

We got to South Dakota last night around 10... the scenery around here is incredible! We stopped by a river surrounded by these awesome hills, but our camera was still packed... Scott got some awesome pictures though. The hotel is very nice. Today really does not feel like Sunday, and I really realy don't like it. there is no church here in Winner ~ Where the West Begins~ a.k.a. Where Nowhere begins... So we will be having a service of our own up in the biggest suite, which is also the room I'm staying in. Scott is going to be speaking for us so I'm praying for him. It still doesn't feel quite right to be out here in my shorts and T-shirt though... and I'm really really gonn amiss my Dad's preaching. Not to mention I seriouisly doubt we're gonna have chicken soup for lunch! :-D But God is here without these people, and He's in my heart, and I guess I can have Sunday without chiken soup. :-)
It's Jacobs 16 birthday today... I really hope it's a special day for him! We are gonna do our part though... Yesterday on "the sly" or the not-quite-so-sly we bought him a cake and a helium balloon and some pop and stuff so we're gonna throw a little party.

11:22 pm
today went well. Everyone went out for lunch so that's a bit awkward, but they were all ok with Liz Jay and I staing at the hotel and the Williams stayed with us. Scott's "sermon" was really good. We sat around and jammed for awhil so that was cool... some people here are really really talented! I'm looking forward to tomorrow, finding out what it's all gonna be like. We had a pretty awesome lightning display... what an awesome God.

Monday June 11 10:30 pm

Today was good... we went to the resercation for the first time. It wasn't quite a normal day there because the kids were checking and styff so ti wasn't the regular schedule, plus I went shopping for groceries and stuff. There weren't a lot of kids, which typical for a first day. So I didn't have a group... I'm supposed to be the leader of a small group of like 3-4 year-olds.
I guess I should give a bit of an overview of our schedule. 9:00 we have team meeting which are prayer and worship times as well as updates. I really love the prayer times we have together. Then we split up in to devotional small group, I'm in Andrew's group and so far it's been really good. The after that is pretty much whatever needs to get done before we go, then lunch, then we go. Like I said, we haven't getten into our schedule there yet, but the idea is skits, games, message, small group time, then prayer, craft and snack time. Everything is really well organized. After that the team has supper at the communtiy center and then goes and hangs out with the kids. We come home around 9 and then hang out and maybe go for ice cream or something. Thing sare really well planned and structured, I can tell they've done this a lot of time before. There are a lot of rules, but they are reasonable, and really help keep things together. I'm really tired but there's like 2 people ahead of me for the shower so it will be awhile... that's what happens when you have 9 girls in the same room. :-P We did some more jamming too.. I really wish I'd brought my violin because then I could actually play something... I am learning some more guitar though. I don't know how I'm gonna survive 2 week without the piano... I miss it so much!

Well that's all I have right now.. congratulations if you actually read the whole thing!! :-)

Hope everyone's doing great out there... I miss you all and please keep praying for us here and for the kids at Okreek. We are doing an awesome thing there.

Love you all!

Heidi <><