First Day of Pine Ridge and Travel and Training Week

First I would like to say thank you to everyone for reading my blog. This is going to be very convinient for be because I will not have to send out emails and make phone calls on a daily basis. If you would like to contact me I have cell reception (Funny how im the only one with verizon and i'm the only one with reception...guess verizons map is bigger...AT&T you suck) but posting on this blog will also work on a daily basis. Thanks again and I look forward to keeping you all updated about my current situations....On to the fun stuff.
Training week was very fun. Enough said.
Ok for real it was fun and I had a great time getting to learn about my fellow group members. It was a lot of practicing worship which was a very long and time consuming process. It is all for the greater good however which makes it all worth it. Various construction meetings kept us busy and we had good food all week. The final night we all had communion (Body and Blood of Christ) and each had a chance to pray within our groups. Everyone was very thoughtful with their closing prayers and I asked god why some of his body was still stuck in my teeth.
This is a story of 10 people......who live in a trailor....in Pine Ridge....ok its not exciting. Today the 7th of June is the first complete day of our Pine Ridge, South Dakota trip. Yesterday my 9 other group members and myself moved into a trailor that houses 11 people. The trailor is nice and allows us a lot of comfort that what is normal here in Pine Ridge. Our main contact out here is named Curtis and he is hooking us up with all jobs and location for student worship and housing. Yesterday we traveled from Madison to Pine Ridge and it took us about 13 hours which actually seemed like a somewhat of a short drive...except for the time one driver constantly hit the rumble strip. Anyways upon our arrival we were met by our trailor neighbor named Floyd. Hes a Lacota and told us the story of the land. He is in no way related to Floyd Landis however, his pants may have been as tigt as biking shorts. Curtis then told us about Pine Ridge and the people that live here. Its a long story but I will try and tell you as much info as I can. Pine Ridge has been the sight of many conflicts between the US government and the Lacota Indians. If you dont know the res (reservation as they call it) is located 80 miles south of Rapid City, 7 miles west of Wounded Knee (sight of Chief Big Foots epic battle) and just south of the Badlands. Long ago when the whites were fighting the natives Crazy horse would kill whites and run ride to the badlands through a gully which was the only entrance. For this reason the whites were never able to catch Crazy Horse. He later surrendered because of the fact that it was becoming winter and his men had no food to live off of. Later in prison he was killed via stab wound. Whites say he was trying to escape. Natives say he was murdered. Next week is the crazy horse ride in which natives ride 60 miles horseback from the prison he was killed to the fair grounds in Pine Ridge. Ok ..so.. getting to the present. Pine Ridge is a very poor town of around 3000. A couple facts just to get the point accross is that the high school grad rate is 25%, The unemployment rate is 75%, Most kids have one child before the age of 17, and 80% of the people here have a addiction and serious problems with alcohol and drugs which makes itself quit evident through the many people passed out or lying beside the road and outside of bars. Curtis told us that the reason for the children before 17 is that the men of the city have lost their warrior spirit. They say this is due to the white man and different things. The fathers of houses abuse and assault their kids therefore they run away and find "love" with male teens. They then get pregnant and the vicious cycle starts again. Another interesting fact is that all people of Pine Ridge are classified as prisoners of war. This is because there was almost a civil war between the people here and the US government. The people of PR were then held by US military inside the confounds of the res. Upon seeign the town it is apparent our help is needed for these people and we are all willing to do anything within our safe grasp to do so.
Today we spent all day getting the location ready for the kids. This mean I was located on a zero radius cub cadet lawn mower all day. Riding lawnmowers like that are to cool for words. We moved various objects and got the pews back in the chapel for worship upon the kids arrival. It was a very succesful day and I look forward to many more. In closing I would like to say I miss you all and I look forward to hearing from you in the future.

God Bless,

Matt

Interesting Fact: There is a dog here that has about 12 ticks on him... Half are the size of nickels