In 1998 a group of interested individuals met to ponder the possibility of an all church mission trip for Excelsior Covenant Church (ECC). At these organizational meetings we brain-stormed about places to go and created a mission statement: To share Christ's love by serving others, proclaim Christ's love by sharing the gospel and to grow in Christ's love by working as a body of believers.

The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Southwest, South Dakota home to nearly 40,000 Oglala Lakota Sioux was chosen because of the desperate needs we saw when making an investigative trip there in February of 1998. After having visited Pine Ridge, seeing the bone crushing poverty, sensing their despair, and learning about Lakota history, how the early, well-meaning missionaries proselytized these gentle people, we realized that a mission trip to Pine Ridge had to be custom made. It is on our hearts to share with the Lakota people the Good News of life in Christ. But we've recognized the absolute need to be prudent in how to carry this out.
Gentleness and respect must be our approach. We must continue to listen, learn and love unconditionally while searching for ways to build bridges between Christianity and the Lakota people, their spirituality and their culture. A quote from Francis of Assisi seems highly appropriate when seeking God's wisdom in exactly how to share the gospel with the Lakota people on Pine Ridge. "Go into the world and preach the gospel and use words if you need to." Bible verses that provide guidance are: Matthew 5:16, "Let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven" and from Eugene Peterson's `The Message', Galatians 6:2, "Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens and so complete Christ's law."

For the past eleven summers Excelsior Covenant Church has sent a team of people to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The range of ages of the team members has been from 7-77. Over 142 people (several have gone each year), have had a glimpse of the intense, difficult life the Lakota people endure. We have sought to share Christ's unconditional love through construction projects, children's activities and one on one relationships with the people on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. We continue to seek God's wisdom and direction. Please pray for this ongoing ministry, that we may be able to bring to the Lakota people a ray of hope, planting seeds of faith, as we, with joy, seek to serve this most forgotten people with Christ's unconditional love.

PINE RIDGE TRIP '99 (written by a 12 year-old team member)
Our trip ran from August 7 to the 14th. It was a totally awesome experience. Due to some trailer troubles on the way out, the trip took nearly sixteen hours, four more than usual. We arrived late Saturday evening, tired and extremely grateful to arrive in Pine Ridge, our home for the week. On Sunday we visited the Wounded Knee Memorial and then spent the evening at the annual National Oglala Lakota Pow Wow. Both of these are remarkable things to see in Pine Ridge.

Bright and early that Monday morning we went out and started our work projects. Half of us went to the deck site where they started constructing a large octagon-shaped deck for the 12 residents of the 'Unci Na Tunkasila Tiyospaye' (an apartment building), the name translates, "Keepers of our Wisdom". All the residents are disabled in some way, or elderly, and the deck was amazing to them. They just looked at it and smiled. And a smile was just fine, because you know, a smile is worth a thousand words. Others went to Geraldine's street to start constructing four outhouses. Most of the younger team members went there and whenever we had a break in the job there was always a kitten to cuddle, a dog to pet, or a Lakota child to play with. The children there, I know, are definitely one of the highlights of the week for most of us. Always smiling and wanting to help, they had such great spirits. We were in awe of how happy they could be with what little they had. Sometimes we would feel guilty with not being happy with all that we have. I'm sure this taught a lesson to us all.

Every afternoon all we 'wasichu' (white) children would invite the Lakota children to come and participate in the activities we had planned. Monday we built birdhouses and painted rocks, Tuesday we took the kids to the grocery store and bought each family a grocery cart of food, Wednesday we took 13 Lakota kids to Evan's Plunge, a water park in Hot Springs, Thursday we had a movie day, and Friday we had a track and field day. We all grew to love the children there dearly, learning their names, and interests. As the deck slowly went up, the outhouses were finished and painted in three days. It was amazing to see how teamwork can make things go so much faster. So for the last half of the week the outhouse team, was now the miscellaneous team. We built a small porch for someone, put up two basketball hoops, fixed up the interior of a house (which was one-room, with two single beds, and it had to house six kids plus the parents). We also planted irises along the back of the apartment where the deck was being built, and put our finished painted rocks there too. By friday night the deck was complete. The last night Geraldine and some other women from her street made us a dinner, and invited us to come to a block party in our honor that night. The food was a vegetable stew, and some traditional fry bread with some berry sauce to dip it in. What an awesome close to our awesome week. We hope that we have made a difference and look forward to going back next year.