It's Great to be Back at Spirit Lake!

Friday, May 24.

We awoke to an overcast sky and sprinkles.  Not a great start to Memorial Day Weekend.  We've about 4 1/2 hours to travel to reach our destination at Spirit Lake Nation. Excited and happy to be almost there. Those 4 1/2 hours seemed to take forever! Isn't that always the way it is when you're anxious to arrive at your destination?!

At long last...

We're getting closer...

The rain and mud continued to follow us...



And closer...



Until at long last...

 WE ARRIVED!!!!!!

Cooper was quivering with excitement! He was so excited to see his friends, Mazy & Grace (aka, the girls)...

But especially Mazy!!



Mazy was pretty happy to see Coop, too!!  Not to be forgotten, Coop was happy to see Mike & Libby too!! But most of all, he's happy to be back on the Reservation where he can play, run, eat, sleep, play, run, eat, sleep, play...you get the picture!!!

We were pretty happy to see Mike, Libby & the girls too!!  Lots of hugs and scratching (the dogs) all around.  We spent most of Friday and Saturday hanging out and getting caught up with Mike & Libby.  Lots have happened since we left this past September both on the Reservation and with us.

Sunday, we worshipped at the UMC in Devil's Lake. After service we went to Mr. & Mrs. Jay's for breakfast.  We've missed that restaurant!!  We came back to the Ministry Center where we awaited our first mission team of the season...

A small (four people) but mighty team from Marysville, Michigan.  Oh, did I mention that they're fun and funny as well...

They were an awesome team!!!  In between eating, (excellent food, if I do say so myself, LOL)...

Dining Hall and Kitchen

                      Hanging out in the Christian Life Center (Mike & Libby's apartment is upstairs)...

And sleeping...

Dorms

 

  

Bath house

This team accomplished a lot of work in difficult conditions.  The weather was cold and rainy; and with the exception of a few bright hours here and there, it was a pretty miserable week.  This strong and mighty team built shelves for the food pantry in Tokio, helped unload the truck from Great Plains (canned goods for theTokio food bank), moved tools from the old shop

to the new shop; cleaned the old shop,

   new shop is at the back of the food pantry

sorted boxes upon boxes upon boxes of food for the food pantry here on the Ministry grounds,

 

and put together the basketball net. 

And through it all they had FUN!!! Lots of laughter and good natured teasing.  This team from Marysville (mom Debbie, her young adult children Andie & Dan, as well as their friend Chris) get it.  They understand mission.  They served with compassion without judgment, loved with compassion without judgment.

After a great week, we had to say goodbye to this team…they will be missed.

After the team left, we decided to go into town for lunch.  On our way back from town (about one mile from the Ministry Center) we came across a..

ROUND UP!!!



 Ron taking pictures

Calf being dragged to branding

Branding

Castration

Bulls were howling, calves were crying, moms were angy that their babies were crying.  An interesting experience to be sure.  So glad we were able to witness it.

Looking forward to a quiet and relaxing weekend.