Week 1

First team week video:

We finished the first team week with flying colors! It was a great team week.  One of the highlights was seeing a bunch of men in their sixties and seventies playing with Native kids as if they were their own grandchildren   The children really enjoyed it and the teams did great. The teams began demolition on our Church and they did a great job.  The next team weeks will begin repairs and renovations.  We have a really great group of interns this summer and it's amazing serving with them!

Youth Basement:



Former bathroom, washroom, and bedrooms (and soon to be former stairs)


Future Sanctuary:

Demolition

Yesterday, the teams began demolition on our Church, tearing out walls, flooring, and electrical.  Here are some pictures showing which walls were marked for destruction:

Tomorrow, I'll have some more pictures showing what they've destroyed.

Art Day!

We recently hosted an art day at our Church building.  Jan Whitefoot, a local artist, led the event and had a variety of crafts for the children: painting, making Native dance sticks, coloring, and beading.  It was great to have her incorporate Native artwork into our kids’ lives, especially as many struggle with identity.  We had 33 children and they LOVED it and all of them were asking when we could do it again. 

We have scheduled another art day with Jan in May, and hope to work with her on a regular basis.  These art events are great for the kids and the community.  Would you consider making a donation to sponsor this art program?  You can do so by mailing a check, marked Children’s Ministry – Art to Sacred Road Ministries PO Box 400 Harrah, WA 98933 or by clicking this link.   Here are some pictures:

Painting blocks of wood:

Decorating the dance sticks with paint pens:

Beading:

Coloring Station:

Spring Teams

We had great Kid's Clubs this spring and these are some of my favorite pictures.  We were rather tired afterwards, but they went really well.  One of the best parts about the spring teams is that we get to reconnect with children we haven’t seen since August or October.  Some children come to Kid’s Club but not Sunday Church so we only see them when weather is good enough for Kid’s Club.  The first team week, we were only at Totus Park, but the second and third week we were at both Totus and Adam’s View Parks.  The number of children at Adam’s View has increased and we had 70+ children several times. There were a couple highlights from Kid’s Club, but I’m saving them for my monthly update :) In the meantime, here are some pictures and the videos from the week.  You can see more pictures by clicking here.

Games Night

This past Thursday, we had a games night with the Youth Group and it was great to see them smiling and laughing together.  They had lots of fun playing 15 crazy competition games that Chuck ran in an Olympic style competition with points being assigned for each activity and the youth broken up into 4 Teams.  The best part was seeing them have fun without putting each other down, complaining, or calling each other cheaters.  They made human pyramids, ate nasty jelly beans, fed each other while blindfolded, scavenger hunted, caught ping pongs with bucket strapped to their head, popped balloons, and more.  It was a Great Night and hats off to Chuck and Heather!  Here are a few pictures:

Eating pudding while blindfolded

 Human Pyramids

 The death of a Pyramid:

Van Rides (Take 2)

Last October, I wrote about how much fun it is to ride in the vans with the youth because we sing together.  It's also great because it gives us a chance to talk.  One of the 6th grade boys we have lives way out in the middle of nowhere, so we end up driving for around 7 minutes with just me, him, and Morgan G.  This guy, like a bunch of the kids here, grew up in a rough home and has an especially tough exterior.  But when he's the last kid dropped off, he slips into being himself, just talking like everything is ok.

Last week, he gave me a lot of grief during Youth Group but on the ride home, I was able to tell him about how I've observed how smart he is, and how glad all of us are that he's coming to Youth Group.  Last week, he was well behaved, but then during the small group time, he started bouncing off the walls like a crazy in a crazy place.  When we were heading home, I pointed out that he was going with the program then lost it, and did he know what the reason was.  He thought for a second, then said, "I got bored." We then got to talk about what we both could do differently.

Tonight, we have Youth Group again, and I hope to see some more small growth with this guy.  He's taking little steps and improving gradually, and who but God knows what will happen with him?  Please pray for him and the other youth as they learn to relate to others, live in community, and learn about God.

(FYI, the van in the picture has nothing to do with Sacred Road; it's just funny)

Sledding

Here are some pictures from last Saturday, when we took 30 children sledding at our church building.  We hadn't seen some of them in a while because of bad weather, so it was great to see them again and have fun together.  They LOVED it and many were asking when we are going to do it again.  They had so much fun which you can see in the following video.  The best part of the video is to hear the buzz of many happy sounds in the background.

Koda:

Christian:

Group Picture:

Cold Feet:

 The Hill:

To see more pictures on Facebook, click here.