Hmmm...

After some thought, and a little pestering from friends and family, I decided that maybe I should blog about my summer one last time. Let me confess that while life in Montana was without its technological advances there are other reasons I didn't blog much. Truth be told, this summer was extremely hard for me. There are a lot of things that fed into that, none of which are really mentioning because time has passed, and some of those wounds have healed. I do, however, feel like there are a few things worth mentioning, especially regarding the last week, so here goes.

We received a new team member the Wednesday before our group arrived, so we had about 3 days to get him acclimated to life on the res, and help him help us get projects and work for the team lined up. So we spent those three days awkwardly getting to know each other, testing levels of sarcasm and figuring out how we work best together as a team. On Friday we made our special trip to Billings, to reconnect with humanity, as well as get groceries and miscellaneous supplies needed for our group. Now, funny story- we were driving an open bed truck filled with our groceries, etc... things were going fine when all of a sudden, a bag of the polyfill stuffing we purchased flew out of the back end of the truck. We drove several blocks before reaching a stoplight in which we as a team were debating whether or not we should go back for it. I chose to be the daring one, so I ran down the median towards the renegade bag of fluff, while my team found a place to turn around and come pick me up. It was very exciting and a little adrenaline rushing!

The next day we had a few different things that needed to be done in preparation for the group, so we decided to split up. The other two made their way to Birney, in search of what supplies were needed, as well as what work might need to be done. I decided to stay back at the house and *gasp* CLEAN! Haha- I barely do that at my own house let alone offering to do it at someone elses... Anyway, they took off and I cranked my iTunes and rocked the house, broom in hand. After a couple of hours or so, I wondered what might have happened to my cohorts, so I decided to take the chance that they had gone "into town" to pick up supplies, so I tried their cell phones. They answered and told me that they had decided to go to Sheridan, which was a town that some of the people living in Birney had told us about. It was a real treat, cell service AND a Wal-Mart! So I chatted with them for a minute about how long they'd be and what all they'd found, etc... So, after talking with them I finished up cleaning and decided that I wanted to rent a movie and go for a walk. So, I rented the movie (Book of Eli- didn't even end up watching it that night) and my "walk" turned into a 7 mile trek down the road and back. At which time, I ran into (not literally) my partners in crime on their way back from Sheridan. Oh yeah, funny story about Sheridan-- It's in WYOMING! So, sad day... I missed out on the opportunity to cross the state line, but ended up having a really great walk. The time alone was really great, and it gave me the opportunity to put everything away, the summer, all the things we still had left to do to get ready for the group, even myself, and just spend time in God's creation. Looking around at the majesty and wonder of this funny little town of Lame Deer and just revel in His glory. I even got turned around and headed back home in time to see the beautiful sunset. God really knows how to show off out there in Montana. =) Sure my feet hurt, and I got cold eventually, but that moment reminded me that I have to force myself to stop, take a breath and get away from life every once in awhile in order to really take time for my Savior. It's hard to appreciate the beauty in life if you're going 100 miles an hour- I've learned that it just passes you by.

Now we skip to the groups' arrival. We had three different churches arriving at the same time to do work in Lame Deer. One church was prepared to do the Kidz Club in Birney, and the other two churches were going to help out with miscellaneous work projects within the community. Truth is, we couldn't have asked for better groups to close out our summer. They were all great groups who worked really hard, and served their hearts out. There was one group in particular that I spent majority of the week with- they had been to the community before, in fact for the past 10 years or so they had been coming, but this year they partnered with EM. And they were great. They were flexible when things didn't always go really well, they were enthusiastic, they embraced me as a member of their group, even started referring to me with the affectionate title of "Momma Mandie". But because of having three groups, and minimal housing space, this group was located at a secondary housing site. There was hope that I'd be able to move and stay with them, but do to logistics I was unable to. So, the guy in our group stayed with the group, I stayed back at the other housing site, and then every morning, I would wake up early, drive to the other housing site, and help set out breakfast and eat with that group, while the other guy would take the truck and drive back to the Healing Tree house and do the same with the other two groups. It was crazy... and needless to say, very little sleep was had by most that week, but the time spent hanging out late at night after dinner and worship is where a lot of relationships are built. During the course of evenings we sat around a basketball court singing worship songs, sat by and watched herds of energetic teenagers run around a little church building in search of markers (ultimate spoons), played Euchre (killed it, btw, best 2 out of 3), and Auto-tuned with a friend. I also managed to make 4 trips to the local IGA in one day... talk about exciting!

All summer I didn't laugh as hard as I did in that last week and a half. I also didn't cry as much, because for the first time all summer I felt God ever present in what was going on. There were so many God-moments in that week, but also a lot of moments where Satan refused to let us forget that he was still around. We had some snags with work projects, some miscommunications, some conflicts, and of course the break-in. But all the while, God was surrounding us and caring for us, and revealing Himself to us in some truly beautiful ways.

I have one last piece of news/information for you. Something that many of you might already know, but for those of you who don't, I want you to. I'm moving to Michigan for a year. God's been answering prayers of mine in some really powerful ways, and at this point, I've been all over. 6 weeks in San Francisco, California, 3 weeks in New Orleans, Louisiana, 4 weeks in *ahem* Lame Deer, Montana, and now 12 months in St. Joe, Michigan. It's an exciting time for me. I've always wanted to travel, and while this may not be exactly what I'd wanted in "traveling" I get to spend fairly significant time in all these different places. Places I probably never would have been to on my own. And it's been great. I've made some really great friends along the way, and God's been preparing my heart for this next leg of my journey.

So, now for what I'll be doing there. I am going to be doing a year long internship with the youth ministry at First Church of God in St. Joe, Michigan. Truth be told, that's about all I know. I don't know what all God has in store for me there, but He's been planting seeds and paving the way for me to get there. And I'm pumped! And a little scared. But one night during our evening worship with the groups in Lame Deer, I shared my testimony. And I reminded myself that I need to see myself through God's eyes, and that He doesn't call the equipped or the qualified, He calls regular, old, people like me, and gives them what they need to succeed.