It is Wednesday and today our crews switch. Those who have been doing Kids Club for the last two days are now moving to work projects and the work project crews will experience Kids Club.
Marvin and Tom: We have another crew who experienced time with Marvin and Tom as they have shared their knowledge and traditions of the Blackfeet Tribe with our youth.
Today's crew went with Tom to pick rocks for the sweat lodge he is building. They headed to a dried up river bed to collect rocks. However, you do not just collect any rock. As I said yesterday all things are done in tradition.
Again here is what today's crew share with me about the collecting sweat rocks. Sweat rocks are grey sparkly rocks that do not shatter when heated up and have water pour over them. These rocks are used in the ceremonial sweat lodge, which people attend for healing and prayers for others. Sweats happen multiple times a week from anywhere from 2-4 hours a round, and a total of typically 4 rounds. The sweat lodge can get up to 400 degrees. Blankets and traps are place around and over the the top of the sweat lodge. Sweat lodges for the Blackfeet people is a place of worship.
As the crew thank Tom for the experience of the day and learning about sweat lodges, they asked him how they could pray for him and his family. Tom shared with him that he was so thankful for their help, that what they did was "worth more then 1 million dollars." He usually goes alone to collect sweat rocks and this was the biggest load he has ever had once. Our youth were touched that Tom said he would pray for each of them. Tomorrow they will get to go out and help finish building the sweat lodge.
Browning: Our other two crews headed to Browning to work on houses there. One crew went back to the neighborhood the crew had worked at on Monday, painting door trim and cleaning up lawns.They also work on building a deck. The other crew began painting and cleaning a house that had been covered in graffiti.
Kids Club: The other half of our group spent the morning prepping and being oriented to the afternoon filled with kids at kids club. The music was again a big hit, and making butterfly's out of tissue paper. Each day I hear our youth saying how much respect they have for Jackie, the YouthWork's Staff who leads Kids Club. They admire her patience and love for the kids of Heart Butte.
Wednesday's Evening Activity: GLACIER NATIONAL PARK!!!!
We have been excited to head back to up into Glacier National Park. Rain has been in the forecast all week for Wednesday night and we have been praying for clear weather so we can have worship in the mountains. As we packed up to head to Glacier, rain was heading towards Heart Butte. But the rain stayed away from our Glacier experience. We went to Running Eagle Waterfalls, which was a great sight. (I know we keep sharing about the beauty of the landscape, but I cannot help it. It is so breath taking I can not get enough of it.) Then we headed to Two Medicines lake where we had dinner and worship. It was so humbling to sing and praise God surrounded by the mountains at the foot of the lake. Especially has we thought about the theme of today: Restored, we are restored by God's love.
Another great day of both sharing love and being loved!
Shout out: Today Madi and John's Unlce Dan and his Godson, Colter camp up to visit us from Bozman. They will be with us until tomorrow afternoon.
The YouthWorks area director, who oversees all of the Montana YouthWorks sites arrived at our site today and to our surprise it was Peter who was on YouthWork's Staff when we were in West Virginia in 2011. It was so good to see him and I was so impressed that he remembered so many of the names of the youth that were on that trip. We have amazing group and we leave a great impressions on the many people we meet and that was true for Peter.
Tomorrow is Thursday our last day in Heart Butte,MT.
Blessing ~ Mel
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