The morning started off with a breakfast (which included yet another air guitar lesson led by me).  Our work today was split between cleaning up a park, cleaning a roadside, and organizing a food pantry. The youth of Country Club Christian Church worked side by side with youth from a Hindu temple, a Jewish synagogue, a mosque, and Mormon temple today. The boys on the trip proved their masculinity by lifting logs over their head while Justin grunted for them...The girls did just as much work...but didn't want Justin to grunt for them.

This morning we woke up and had a feast of bagels and yogurt (delicious...very much so!)  We drove to a church where we experienced a poverty simulation. In this simulation we were paired with other youth from different faith traditions and were given different family/economic/and life situations. We had to pay bills, we had to find and keep jobs, we had to take care of our pretend kids...

Justin Zeigler, Director of Middle School Ministries, is leading a team of ten 6th/7th graders and adult sponsors on a mission trip to St. Louis this week.

We started our journey leaving the church pretty close to our time. As we drove (and listened to 3 1/3 hours of music compiled by Connor) we sang along to John Mayer (and I forced the youth to listen to some classic "Journey" music), had a McDonalds stop, and of course stopped by the bathroom a number of times.

Cheyenne River Youth Project
Eagle Butte, South Dakota

The last two days have been very busy as we have prepared to help with the shoe project, organize a book giveaway and continue to categorize and properly store personal items for families with special needs.  The shoe project began this morning with several dozen families gathering to shop for shoes. Our kids served as hosts, helping to find the correct sizes, styles and colors.