Fires and Floods in South Dakota

We experienced first hand the very literal fire and flood that the missionaries face who work in the native American reservations of South Dakota. 

At 5:30 in the morning on Saturday, while it was still dark, we were rudely awakened by Timmy banging on the camper door where the girls and Jonathan and I were staying.

"The house next door is on fire!" he hollered.

We jumped out of bed and into our clothes and rushed out. Police and fire trucks were already there.

It was a vacant house belonging to Keith and Tasbah Lavery, who had hoped to fix it up. 

The neighbor across the road was missing a gas can, and Keith was quite sure he knew who had set fire to the house, someone who within three hours was in custody already for another crime.

Keith asked Sam to put on a fireman's suit and run the fire truck pump panel, but before long, the decision was made to just let the house burn completely down. It wasn't worth fixing after it was burnt this much.

So we watched it continue to burn.

We had arrived Thursday evening to work at the church in St. Francis, SD, which had also burned down two years ago and been rebuilt by Hutterites. We had picked up a young electrician friend, Benjamin Sanders, at the Denver Airport, and driven another 7 hours and stopped in to see the church and figure out what needed to be done. 

Here Jonathan and Benjamin are unscrewing the plywood that has been put up in the doorway.

A "before" picture. Later the basketball hoops would be gotten out of the way so we could work and frame up walls, etc.

The weather was beautiful most of the time, not beastly hot as it had been the last two times we went to South Dakota. Crystal, Sam and Carrie arrived to South Dakota from back east about the same time we arrived. Sam and Carrie had attended my niece Katie's wedding in Ohio, and then gone further east to visit other relatives.

Crystal had spent a week in PA helping Elon and Anita's family before and during the time of Anita's mother's funeral.

Now we could be all together again working as a Mission Helps team with others.

The girls helped all they could in between cooking in the fellowship hall in the background of this photo. Rose especially loves to find ways to help her brothers. 

 

The first long wall going up across the front of the church, to separate two Sunday School rooms and furnace room from the sanctuary area.

We ladies helped with that part.

Timmy loved helping Benjamin work with the electrical. Here they are working on conduit outdoors.

Benjamin spent several days wiring the entire church, putting in all the receptacles for lights and fans and outlets and switches.

Benjamin and Keith Lavery

 Friday evening we were invited to a missionary/community/youth get-together at Laverys in Mission. There were snacks, fellowship, and music.

On Sundays, the church folk meet in a hall that has been graciously allowed them by the Catholic campus a few blocks away. I quickly captured this sweet picture of Becky Patton with Bruce Stevens' daughter and a Sunday School girl. There had been a bug theme for that week's VBS.

Ron Patton leading the children's choruses.

Crystal shared a children's story and had children take turns holding up the illustrations for her.

We ladies enjoyed cooking meals for the crew except for Sunday when the Pattons invited quite a number of people to their home for dinner. South Dakota Sunday dinners are unforgettable!

Sunday night we attended back at Mission where we stayed every night. I liked this decoration at the corner of the platform.

Monday evening Paul Light, Jr., arrived from Mitchell to help. Thanks to him, the job of nailing up plywood for the ceiling went a lot more easily than it would have with just our two boys.

The boys (or should I say, young men now!) had a great time working together and then visiting together in the evening.

I baked extra batches of granola for breakfasts.

Danny and Hannah spent most of their time hunting for birds to snap pictures of for their bird notebooks and ripsticking or scootering. But Danny helped, too, like vacuuming the sawdust out from the frame of the platform before the particle board was nailed down.

Keith Lavery kept buying and bringing in materials.

The Mission Helps crew. Benjamin Sanders is on the back left, and Paul Light on the back right.

Benjamin working high up with electrical.

Serving three meals a day kept us ladies busy.

One day one of the Smith boys invited Timmy to ride horse with him later in the afternoon. Timmy made a new friend!

Six windows were installed with security grating.

By Wednesday evening, the work was winding down, and the young people were pretty excited to be done with those long, hard days of work.

While the Pattons grilled delightful, ranch-raised rib steaks for us, 

Benjamin and Timmy celebrated the work being done by racing around on the concrete floor on Hannah's ripstick or Danny's scooter! Looks like Danny's scooter needs to grow up to fit Benjamin!

And we enjoyed fresh ice cream that the Pattons churned for us from their fresh cream.

 I hope to post more pictures later of the work we did for Poffs the next day at Martin, SD.