Wednesday--Preparing the cook-out

Today was a good day all day. After we began the day with devotion and prayer we split out to begin our tasks for the day. I started painting the other two sides of the church. Chiles was working on the grill that we would use for the cook-out tonight. He did a great job! We had a superb grill and so will the next groups.

Chiles' grill

Kevin and the chicken

Jacob began painting the lines on the basketball court. Chip and Joy went to Faith for a mid-week grocery and hardware run. Betsy and Mickie went into the community to invite then to our cook-out. Kevin talked to the chickens and hung out around the church.
    I left just the gable work front and back to so Thursday. In the afternoon Jake and Chip put up the mounts for the bell tower. When it was time to install the bell it became a full team effort. You can see from the pictures that this involved 7 people, 3 ladders, 2 2x4s,and 1 very heavy bell. We all were very glad to get the bell up. Chip and Jake finished mounting the bell. While they were doing that I hustled over to start the fire on the grill.

And the bell is up!

     I had several little helpers around the grill. They helped me turn the hot dogs and get them into the buns. The ladies were busy in the kitchen preparing the rest of the meal. Joy made a great banana pudding and some awesome chocolate cakes. We had several people stop I throughout the afternoon to visit and have coffee. Before we ate we had everyone come outside for a blessing of the meal and the bell led by pastor Byron. The bell had not been rung in over a year. It was apparently knocked down by vandals last summer. I don't think anyone was happier than Byron and Toni. The cook-out was a success. We had about 30 Lakota stop in at different times. I don't know if the kids say down more than 5 minutes. Byron came or to the fire after dinner and played his flute. Before he did he told three story of the lovers flute. I have enjoyed making connections with the people around the table and through stories.
   One of the ladies at my table tonight was Beth. She is some part Lakota. I think she may be a teacher in Pine Ridge. She was telling me about one of her friends, Leland, who is one of the last storytellers. With this guys help and through some NASA research they have determined that the Lakota are the oldest people group on the planet. They have also discovered a ”j” dialect of their language. She told a great story of an old Lakota gentleman being taken down to South America to meet with a medicine man. They took with them four interpreters to translate for these two. One from Lakota to French, French to English, English to Spanish, and Spanish to the language of the medicine man. As it turns out the medicine man and the Lakota man could understand one another in their own languages because they were so similar. After dinner and the fire put Toni brought out some bead work done by members of the Dakota association. Several of us bought some necklaces, bracelets, medicine bags, or dream catchers. It has been a true joy to be in this part of the country and to connect with these people.
     As a group we stayed up later than any night previous. We were all winding down around 11P. We have to get ready for the final push tomorrow!