South Dakota 2007

A Youth Perspective: My Mission Trip Experience
by Priscilla Rangel

This summer in South Dakota was nothing short of AMAZING. It was my first mission trip with the FUMC youth, and I couldn’t help but feel like a part of the family. We stayed at a high school at the Crow Creek Indian Reservation and traveled in vans to get to our work sites. Two construction workers for the Tree of Life construction company, Peter and Travis, steered us in the right direction while we worked on the houses. We were separated into groups and worked at two houses and a church; we did a lot of painting, tiling, cleaning, and we just had fun. During the week, we ate lunch at a park by the water of the river, and sometimes, we ate back at the high school. Those were good times all on their own. At the high school, we met kids that lived close by, and we also enjoyed the company of a couple dogs that wandered the school. Don’t worry: we gave them plenty of food, and most of us gave them unique names.

On our fun day we traveled far to the Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse memorials. When I say we traveled far, I mean we did some intense driving back and forth. That meant about a billion bathroom breaks, and I’m sure a couple hundred energy drinks. Of course who could forget that we ate dinner at the wonderful Perkins (ha ha yummy).

I’d have to say that one of the best parts of the mission trip was getting to learn all about the Sioux Indian culture. We even experienced one of their rituals--the sweat lodge. The girls stayed in the sweat lodge a little longer than the boys because of sudden rain, which made most of the vans get stuck in the mud. That was fun! We came home muddy and sweaty, but I’d say it was worth it. A couple days later, we went back and attended a Sioux Indian Sundance. It was really remarkable getting to watch all of the youth boys and chaperons, as well as the girls, help in a part of the ceremony by carrying and lifting a huge cotton wood tree and placing it into the ground.

Our last night in South Dakota was bittersweet, as we heard the last words of the seniors and just hung out for the rest of the night. All in all, it was definitely one of the best times of my life so far, and the trip has made me even more excited to attend the Mexico trip and future mission trips with the youth.