After our week of service and during our 3 day road trip back down to Los Angeles, we
took a little bit of time to reflect on the SLAM trip experience. The youth wrote "30 second Highlights" testifying to how God blessed them in our time together. Here are a few of those testimonies:- From Joseph, "It was awesome because I learned that I didn't complain when I worked around my friends and they were my encouragement. They made me want to try my hardest and I did and it wasn't easy but it felt like something I should do..." This was really cool because at the trip's outset I challenged Joseph to have a good attitude in our service project. Throughout the week he hardly complained at all!
- From Anthony, "We worked hard at Johanna's house. It was fun because I got to use the weed whacker and every one worked really hard. I learned that it's better to serve even though you don't get nothing in return." Anthony is a generally quiet and easy-going 9th
grader. On our trip he demonstrated an amazing dedication and focus in our times of service. He was downright ferocious. During lunch breaks he'd finish up his sandwich in 5 or 10 minutes and declare his readiness to continue weeding or chopping wood. For my own sake, I encouraged him to rest just a little bit longer.- From Karla, "It was great because I met these wonderful people that are really into their culture and they
always love giving and teaching about what it means to them to love God. It was fun and we all worked together in a lot of things. I would love to do it again." At first Karla seemed a bit unsure how to receive the Native style of worship and asked our adult staff for prayer. By the end of the week she grew more comfortable with new ways to worship our God and even went to learn some Native style worship songs on the drum.- From Phillip, "What I learned in Wapato is that Native Americans were treated very badly and had most of their land taken away. The treaty of 1855 wasn't really fair." I was really glad for all the time I had to spend with Phillip this trip. He's been a relatively consistent youth group member the last couple years, but has never fully committed to the youth group. It was great to bond with him more deeply a
nd to see him bond with the others as well. I'm praying that he'll develop into one of our student leaders in the coming year.- Finally their was Chryshanda. Prior to the trip Chryshanda was very new to our group and shy by nature. In fact, the night before our departure she made up her mind to not come - but at the urging of her mother, decided to come after all. Boy am I glad that she did. During our time away she really wrestled with
the injustices done to American Indians by the US government and Christian groups. She remarked, "It's good to have a week to stop thinking about ourselves and help out people whose lives are also pretty hard." She even spoke up in the 75 person worship circle and praised God for the opportunity to be in Wapato.Even with no paintballing or zip lines or swimming pools (well, I guess we did get to swim in a river in Oregon!) our youth are excited to serve on missions again in the near future. In fact the primary complaint was that the trip wasn't long enough. I'm not sure if my aging body could have handled much more, but maybe a longer trip will be in the works for the future.
Peace to you,
Elliot
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