Here is a new blog post by Amanda Jensen.  Amanda was Love Light and Melody’s summer intern in Nicaragua.  She recently made her first trip to Pine Ridge, and here are her departing thoughts. Thanks Amanda for opening your heart.  It is beautiful to see…

{Listen to this while you read this post}:

Miumford and Son’s Awake My Soul

My departing thoughts were strung along in my mind like pins on a strangled clothes line.

I thought about how at home I felt in certain ways in Pine Ridge. And how I look forward to going back, whenever that time may come.

I contemplated how experiencing the kind of poverty in Pine Ridge makes me face the poverty in my own heart.

I thought about how much peace and stillness I felt in the midst of so much sadness. That land is laden with poverty and pain, but in that there is somehow peace that this land is good, and that hope is present.

And I believe that healing will come in Pine Ridge. Things will change. God has goodness in store. Undoubtedly.

I don’t believe that this healing will come from being “saved by the white people”. But it will come from within. We talked about that on the trip, and I really think it’s true.

I can’t underestimate the strength and will of the people I met that weekend. They are not defeated. They’re not gone. There is light and spring coming up in pockets on those South Dakota plains.

We have a responsibility to stand beside them. We can’t “fix them”. And we shouldn’t. But we can support and walk alongside. I truly believe that God wants this. That’s part of the healing… the redemption.

I believe. And I pray for this beautiful, beautiful next generation:

Patrick Maxcy is an amazing artist  and a dear friend of Love Light and Melody. He has been on several trips to Pine Ridge,  La Chureca, and Sun Valley with Love Light and Melody.  His heart for people, the passion that has for shining light in darkness always blesses all of us… 

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I saw an child about age 10 today. He sluggishly stepped out of the back seat of a sleek black Land Rover while wearing new white Nike shoes, an extravagant gold necklace & large watch, and eating a self serve yogurt. He whined to his parents at a high volume how tired he was … As I witnessed this, these images from where I was last week raced through my mind.

I visited Pine Ridge less then 2 month earlier. So the idea of spending my Thanksgiving with the families of Pine Ridge sounded great. Tuesday before we left we collected bags of blankets from a local school and we boxed dozens of boxes full of fresh produce and non-perishable foods for several families we knew could really use them. Then the next day we headed North for the 6hour Journey through Nebraska to South Dakota.

One of our stops was to our friend B’s home. While others gathered in his 10x12ft home I climbed a fairly high hilltop. I sat and listened to everything around me. Listening to the quiet desolate land around me and imagining my life if I had to survive or grew up here. Living without electricity or running water. It was one of my favorite & uplifting moments of the trip.

The late afternoon came and we traveled over an hour East to met the YH family. There must have been 20people in their home. All smiling, running around, and sharing their stories with us. Stories of death, amazing family history, songs, fishing, and the abundant stars. The most stars I have ever seen.

After I got back from the first trip to SD I decided to draw a couple of the elders on the land. Each face has so much character and history within their eyes and skin. On the very first day back I was able to give a portrait drawing, I had worked on, to our friend G.P.  He was very pleased as I was.

Throughout the trip I carried around a canvas painting I started but had the families of Pine Ridge help finish. They’d help by painting leaves on a tree using their fingerprints and signing their names. Just like any other kid, all the kids loved getting thier fingers painted green. Creating our own friend/family tree of SD.

We stopped Friday morning to met the great, great, great grandson of a Chief. He shared with us his ideas of ways to use renewable resources on the reservation to continue to try and live better. Then we went by the P. families’ small 3 room home filled with 12 people. I was greeted right away with an energetic “Patrick!” (Smiling now as I think about it.) I jumped right in with the kids and started making snowflakes, paper mountains, & little paper people.

The day wasn’t over as we drove to another section of the reservation. We drove to see our friend BT. , who was featured with her classroom and students on 20/20 with Diane Sawyer. We were surprised when she offered for us to go see her classroom and several of her students from the episode. Trying to learn the Lakota language through kids games and songs was pretty interesting. Meeting several of the single moms and hearing their struggles was eye opening as well. Making me feel grateful once again for all I have.

At the end of the night we decided the tree that had been worked on and painted throughout the trip would be best given to BT. for her classroom. Such an amazing women.

Our final day we traveled back to B.s home, where my friend Scott gifted him his first guitar. We tightly squeezed into his home and listened as he began to play. A mini acoustic concert with B, Brad, & Scott. It didn’t feel real to see and hear his weathered voice singing in the native language. Such an awesome experience. Afterwards I once again ran up another massive hill to overlook everything and try and not be overwhelmed with it all. Then I was greeted by several good friends on the top of the hill to share the experience.

Our last stop was once again at the P. families’ home. Jumping right in again with the drawing and creating. The girls we given several new warm hats which they loved trying on and sharing. I really had a hard time leaving them this trip. Such heartfelt, caring, & creative kids. As usual they made me several pictures to bring back.

We said our “See you laters” to each family and headed back through Nebraska and snow filled Wyoming. Sharing our individual experiences with each other and possible solutions for the future. Too many stories to share, too many emotions to feel, but as always worth every second.

An recap of last weeks Day of Light Event in SUN VALLEY …written by our friend Wendy J. Henkelman.

Wendy is a great friend of Love Light and Melody and a great supporter in the creative and restorative work that LLM believes in… WJH is a Promotions Manager for K-Love and is passionate about shining light in darkness, and using media as a tool to do so…   (Thanks Wendy for your insight on this Day of Light in Sun Valley, for your passion, and for your support of LLM!) 

So, im coming down from a day in which I absolutely saw God move!!  in a handful of really unexpected and yet raw and real ways. . . my spirit was broken as I spent time reflecting and my mind is still trying to gather words to express my thoughts! ~~~

Soul Expressions

 

 

 

 

A beautiful little girl, not quite 2yrs old, with eyes as big as a puppy-dog on Christmas morning wanting  attention.  She had smooth dark skin and pouty little lips slightly turned down.   Her mouth open as she breathes in & out.  Her nose stuffy from the winter cold she has thats made her nose run and boogies stifle her breathing…. eyelashes for days, her brown eyes look at me, studying me as I approach her table.  I say hello and she just stares in return. . . I ask her name with a smile and get nothing in return.  I say hello again and the older kids with her tell me shes spicy (which I can clearly tell – sister’s got a little spice;) I didnt get a name afterall from her caretaker, much less a smile from this little princess, but what I did get was the ability to see into her eyes! Without words it was almost like her eyes exclaimed; “PAY ATTENTION TO ME!!  GIVE ME LOVE!  Rock me, hold me, let me be a little girl”  instead at just under two she has to fight for the attention of a babysitter thats not even her mom and 7 other kids in the household.  She’s spicy for a reason, ya know. This sister ain’t gonna put up with other boys her age and she’ll certainly bite ya back if she needs to.  BUT as much as her defense is up. . . she is looking for someone to love on her. Raise her up and tell her she’s beautiful and worth the attention of a king!

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Now, She has been held back to complete 2nd grade again since she wasn’t keeping up academically.

Her hair a mess and 1/2way done.  Not sure if she even had a jacket in the 20degree weather which had just produced snowfall this morning.  Dressed in all pink, she bounced around spatting off all sorts of fun facts about life   Full of energy and totally could have done things on her own because of being one of the bigger and older kids, she still wanted help with most things: climbing the ladder on the wall, playing freeze tag in the gym, picking out cookies to eat or take home, even just to walk holding my hand…. By her loud and bubbly attitude one could have guessed she though she was a princess. Or at least that she wanted to be one!  I can picture her as she climbed on my back or hung by my side that given the chance to dress up in a pretty princess dress and twirl in front of an audience she would!

Still a Princess...

Only 9 years old and starving for  attention.  A girl reacting and overreacting to life because of the value she felt from the attention she got at home.  Perhaps because no one at home would pay much attention to her, here was her stage for two-hours on a snowy and cold December morning to have a captive audience.  Would we love her?  Would we treat her like every other adult she knew?  Guess time will tell. . .

- These were only two stories from the few dozen kids we saw this morning, and yet each child there had a story worth knowing and sharing! Even though my heart breaks for the amount of struggle and strife these kids are living with and facing on a daily basis, I found myself living in the moment and being excited to see laughter and joy today in the kids lives.  Not a daily thing I’m sure for most of these kiddos: the chance to be loved on and have others invest in their day screams at them: “YOU MATTER!”

by Carl Medearis

Carl Medearis is an international expert in the field of Arab-American and Muslim-Christian relations.

He acts as a catalyst for a number of current movements in the Middle East to promote peace-making, as well as cultural, political and religious dialog leading toward reconciliation. He is the author of the acclaimed book on these issues, Muslims, Christians and Jesus.

When my buddy Brad Corrigan  invited our family to spend Thanksgiving at the Pine Ridge Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota, we immediately said yes….then thought about it…

We’ve had a tradition the last few years of spending that precious holiday with some of our dearest friends here in Denver. Doing the usual. Eating and watching football. It’s a lot of fun and very relaxing. And we love it!

But this just seemed like the right thing to do. For several years in Lebanon we had collected some of the kids’ toys and traveled to the Bekaa Valley and visited nomadic Bedouin Arabs for this day of giving thanks.  It was funny because each year as we’d ask our three young children to collect some things to give away, they’d invariably come back with their nicest and most expensive toys to donate – causing conflicted thoughts in their parents.  

So we loaded up the car and caravanned up north for the six hour drive – into a different world. We might as well have been in the Gaza Strip – in some ways worse.  It’s unbelievable.

I know, I know. I can hear it already from some (and have heard it already from many).  “They are drunks.”  Or, “Why don’t they make something of themselves. They’re free to move out and move up, why don’t they.”

And it’s true, they could move out and be upwardly mobile. It’s the same argument that I hear a lot about the Palestinians. Why doesn’t Saudi Arabia give them a bunch of land? They can just move there.  And they could.  But the Natives like their land.  It’s home. It’s much like the comfort we feel every Thanksgiving with our friends here in Denver eating, drinking and watching football – it feels good. We like it. We don’t want to leave.  Multiply that feeling by a million and that’s what the Native Americans feel. They don’t want to leave.

And besides, they’re sort of stuck.  No money. No one who wants them.  In a cycle of poverty.  No economy.  Piles of government regulations that make starting businesses and being entrepreneurs nearly impossible.

They have a rich history with an amazingly complex culture.  The Lakota Sioux of the Pine Ridge were the proud Native Americans of the plains around Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. They inhabited one of the most beautiful pieces of American soil – the Black Hills.  It was their land. And the U.S. Government was happy to acknowledge that…..until, gold was found in those hills.

That’s when they were relocated (forcibly, of course) to the flat lands of south central South Dakota.  So similar to the Palestinian situation.

So we gave blankets and coats and food. We visited. Laughed and cried. Asked tons of questions. Got an education. Had our hearts deeply moved by a man who can barely walk who lives in a shack that’s about 12 feet by 10 feet square.  His shanty is in the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere. He has no electricity and no running water.  Imagine using an outhouse in the South Dakota winters? Only a wood burning stove, and he can’t even get his own wood.

He told us that he wakes up in the winter mornings and has to shake the snow off of his blanket before he gets up. We gave him a new afghan.  He was so happy. So joyful. So grateful.  Thanksgiving.
We visited a lady who lived in a trailer house.  She had no electricity and no heaters. She ran the stovetop burners for warmth but she said those ran out quickly. I asked what she and her kids did then to stay warm and she smiled and said “We use these blankets.”  They were the ones we just gave her.  Thanksgiving.

We visited the great, great, great, great Grandson of the famous Chief Red Cloud.  He teaches his people about alternative energy. He’s full of life and hope. His grand kids kept running in and out of our meeting yelling things like “Papa, we love you,” or “Papa we miss you.”  Darling kids.  Thanksgiving.

Much of the talk in our car between places, the five Medearis’s discussed whether it was “good enough” to simply give some blankets and some food to a few people when the need was so vast and the issues so deeply entrenched.  Should we/could we do more?  What about the government?  The church?  The locals?  Should we focus here or there? Where was everyone else?  Why were we there?

And we wondered if Jesus ever felt that way?  The issues were so big? The Romans. The Greeks.  Herodians and Pharisees.  And then a handful of mostly confused followers who didn’t know what to do.

So we felt we were in good company!

Thanksgiving!