Our Mission

To serve our neighbors in Red Lake, following Christ's example to love one's neighbors as oneself and to reach out with kindness to those in need as in the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan.

Background

The people of Red Lake live on a small fraction of their native lands, which were retained by treaty as their tribe took an approach of negotiating land for peace and ceded most of their tribal lands to the US government in exchange for peace. The people of Red Lake claim a heritage of being the spiritual leaders for the Algonquin speaking tribes and are closely related to the native American Indians extending from upper New York state to Minnesota and corresponding lower portions of provinces in Canada which make up and surround the Great Lakes. Their people identify themselves along lineages referred to as clans of which the Red Lake tribe claims 7 clans within the Red Lake Band which are represented by animals (bear, turtle, bullhead, mink, eagle, pine marten and kingfisher). Their oral history tells of prophecy of the coming of the "bearded ones" and as a result, a gradual migration of their peoples from the upper New York state region, westward to the land surrounding the upper and lower Red Lakes to which the creator provided to them for their subsistence and to care for in return.

The game of Lacrosse was invented by the Algonquin speaking tribes as a means as a to mediate disputes and avoid fighting within the tribal community. Games were played until one side had a significant advantage at which time, the contest was conceded. The racquets and ball used in the game were constructed from native supplies. Oral history passed down in the tribal community tells of games having been played with as many as 300 warriors participation on a field extending for 3 miles length and lasting for 3 days time before point spread deciding the contest. Warriors on the field of play would lie down on the field in the evening retaining their positions and pick up play on the following day.

The Red Lake (Ojibwa) tribe maintains itself as a sovereign nation under the US federal government and shares this distinction with one other tribe in the US as a result of the treaties made during the westward expansion of white settlers in the 1800s. Law on the reservation is unique from that of the state and is enforced by tribal government and is clearly evident in the signs along the road and issuance of their own license plates. The people of Red Lake and surrounding community retain communal ownership of properties and with regard to interaction with federal US government, cede land to the government for building of schools with provision to return these lands to the tribe when they are no longer used. Since all lands on the reservation are held in community ownership, individual usage is restricted to those having Ojibwa lineage and >1/4 Ojibwa bloodline may reside on the reservation. Individuals are allowed usage of a 2 acre plot by petition to the tribal council and by their concurrence, but when abandoned either through death or other, all structures are to be removed and property returned back to its natural state.

For more background information, the following web site was found describing the Ojibwa (Ashinabe) people's heritage... http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Le-Pa/Ojibwa.html

Ministry

Our ministry was planned and coordinated through a program run by Youth Works. Youth works staff included a site coordinator and 4 activity directors which coordinated 5 groups for community and youth outreach. Each group was assigned daily outreach activities together a rotating schedule of site work activities both for cooking and cleaning. Our work groups were formed by splitting members from each participating group and therefore forming friendships and working together with other Christians from St James, Owatonna, & Waseca Mn, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Puerto Rico!

Work activities included both improvement of property and community outreach. Activities that we participated in were painting houses for elderly and needy, providing cleaning services to the old folks home, directing youth activities for both the "sports club" played on the athletic fields and running "Kid's club" crafts, skits, games and activities in the gymnasium.

We stayed in an elementary school in Red Lake, using the classrooms for sleeping quarters and meeting rooms, kitchen facilities for food preparation, library for "The Club Room", and gymnasium and school grounds for outreach activities.

Our day comprised of rising at 7 am, preparing breakfast & a sack lunch, cleaning up facilities, meeting at "the club" for group activity, coordination, and morning bible study followed by a half hour of quiet time for personal devotions, bible study, and reflection. At 9 am we traveled to our assigned work activities. Group 1 (= Mark, Colten, Spencer, Kaitlyn + 1/2 St James group?) performed community outreach in the morning and ran the sport's club in the afternoon. The other four groups (Group 5 = Sandy, Weldon, Sam, Mitchell, Ian + 1/2 Puerto Rico group) rotated responsibility to paint houses on Monday & Tuesday and did community outreach & kid's club on Wednesday & Thursday. Groups worked until 3 pm when the kid's activities concluded and all returned to the school to transport participating youth back to their homes. Participations levels varied from 50 to 100+ students, so presented a challenge to the distribute the youth between vehicles and return them to their homes.

When our transportation returned, we were transported to the high school for showers, followed by free time, supper preparation and 6:00 supper. After clean-up, we had an evening activity. One evening we performed a community scavenger hunt by car to identify locations and learn locations within the community including the fishery, casino, boy's & girl's club building, Christian centers, cemetery, and counting of BB hoops (75). At each location, we took pictures and had an informational reading about the significance of the site.

Two evenings we were educated via talks by community leaders (Keith Defoe, Katheryn "Jody" Beulieu) about the Red Lake people's history, community and life on the reservation, Ojibwa culture and community issues. (These talks are where most of the background information came from). Keith was to teach us the game of Lacrosse, but as a storm came up while out on the field, we retreated to the club room and benefitted from opportunity to learn more about their culture and perhaps more detailed description of the construction of the game equipment from native materials than would have been possible at the field.

One evening was spent on Red Lake at cutoff beach in which we swam and witnessed a testimonial from a local resident that had experienced a personal conversion to Christianity in prison, having come from a background of failing health resulting from drunkenness and drug abuse and had now committed his life to Christ's work. He had been to seminary and was to be ordained on Sept 16th of this year to provide Christian leadership in his own community.

Each evening at 9 pm we again gathered in the club room for an evening worship service followed by small group discussions. Subject of devotions were focused on what we had witnessed in our outreach, how the people of Red Lake had come into poverty, what could be done about it, and how the communities leaders, together with our individual and group efforts were able to bring about change in the community, not simply by performing work, but by example and witness... The day was concluded with prayer and devotions.

-- Weldon Hanson

Personal Statement from Sandy Koster, one of the Chaperones for the Red Lake Trip

July 8-13th, 2007

When Mark asked me to share my experience at Red Lake in about 3 minutes I thought how could I explain something that was so life changing in that little of time? I also realized that I do much better with writing than public speaking so here it goes...

What happened up there will always stay in my heart and has had such a dramatic effect already on my life.......my expectations before the mission trip were to get to know the other confirmation kids in my son's class better and also to feel like I helped the people of Red Lake. What I got out of the trip was so much more than I expected! Mark's words to us all before the trip were that mission trips are life changing and he was definitely right!

-Was great to witness how all of the kids and adult leaders/youth director from GSC worked together and also worked with the others in our Crews that were from the other churches from Waseca, St. James, and the Puerto Rico "to serve Christ" thru the community of Red Lake.

-We had 2 crews from our church. Mark was the leader of Crew #1 the Outrageous Sports Camp and Weldon and I were the leaders of Crew #2 and also Joly from the Puerto Rico church. They were a fun group to work with. The first 2 days we did "Work projects" which consisted of painting Goldie's house. She was a kind Elder lady from the Ojibwe tribe and so appreciative of the work that we did on her house. Then on day #3 and #4 we worked with Kids Club. The children of the Ojibwe tribe come to the Elementary school to eat lunch and then after that they go to the Kids Club. We were able to do crafts with them and also perform skits and songs for them. The older kids enjoyed just running around the gym and playing basketball. Kelly the Youthworks counselor described it as "organized chaos" !!

-Getting to swim in Red Lake---was cold but beautiful. The Ojibwe people consider Red Lake- Holy Water and we had to get special permission to even be there and to swim in it.

-Meeting Rupert Downwind at the Jordain Perpich Extended Care Facility. Was a nice man who performs the Indian dances for the Ojibwe tribe. He told us that the Indian culture doesn't say goodbye, they say "Gayko Waboman" which means I will see you later! I will remember when we left the facility he was in the outer courtyard and shouted Gayko Waboman to us all !

-To see the joy in the children's eyes when they were doing the crafts during Kids Club or when they were playing on the playground. Won't ever forget some of the kids as they will stay in my heart forever. I will always remember this little girl named Naomi who was 3. I met her on the first day of Kids Club. The kids had just finished their lunches in the elementary school and they were lining up to get signed up for Kids Club. This is a very busy time as the Youthworks staff and our crew worked together to get all of the kids "signed up for Kids club" in the Elementary school and then taken over into groups of 5 or 6 over to the Early Childhood School where the Kids Club is at. Well little Naomi had bumped or fallen against the table and was crying and wanted Kelly the Youthworks person to hold her and comfort her. Well Kelly had 100 + kids to attend to during the sign in process and I could see she needed some help so I went up there and tried to see if Naomi would come to me to comfort her. She didn't want to at first and kept crying and wanting Kelly to hold her. Finally Kelly says to Naomi----"Miss Sandy" will take care of you..................she's a nurse. I knelt down to little Naomi and she came to my arms and trusted me to hold her and comfort her. Well after that I barely could let her down or out of my sight as I just fell in love with her..............................................Naomi and several of the other kids loved the craft projects that involved glueing red glitter on construction paper. Sometimes Naomi liked just putting glue on the paper and sticking her fingers in it. When I walked by Walmart the other day and saw all of the school supplies out I just had to smile when I saw the glue and glitter. It brought a smile to my face and brought my thoughts right back to my week up at Red Lake....................

-Was great to witness how God worked thru all of us during the whole week.

Some thoughts on the kids I chaperoned from Good Shepherd Church.............

Spencer--We all had so many laughs on the van ride up and back thanks to your humor! You are one funny guy! I could tell that you and your Crew #1 made a difference to the children that attended the Outrageous Sports Camp.

Sam- I will always think of you when I see a rerun of the TV show Seinfeld. You did a good job as our "Jr. Foreman" for the paint crew at Goldie's house. Appreciated your upbeat attitude during the week.

Kaitlyn- you were so brave to have ventured up there being the only girl on the trip. I was sure glad you were there and enjoyed getting to know you better. You interacted with several of the children during Kids Club and was sweet to see the little girls that were walking and holding your hands with you on the playground.

-Mitch I will always remember little Naomi running to her Mom and telling her how much fun she had playing with you at Kids Club. Great to see the joy in her eyes. Little Naomi touched my heart too and I will treasure the picture I have of her.

-Mark-thanks for leading us all on this mission trip. You did an awesome job of getting our group of "9" from GSC to bond with each other. The kids sure seemed to enjoy your 12,000 songs on your IPOD....We are all so thankful that we were able to go with you on one of the last mission trips that you took from GSC as our Youth Director...........We all won't ever forget that 4 lane change to get to Chipotle!

-Weldon-was thankful you were on Crew #2 with me. You are such a hard worker. Admired how you went back and finished those extra projects on Goldie's house. I know she appreciated that...

-Colton--was honored to get the opportunity to spend the week with you on this mission trip and your Confirmation class of 2007. You made me laugh and cry all in the same week. My son you will understand my tears someday when you have a child of your own.....I also loved hearing about how you met the boy named Little Wolf while you were helping at the Sports Camp and how you quickly bonded with him. I know you made a difference in his life that week. Was truly a blessing....

-Ian-I appreciated your willingness to always help out our crew whether it was with painting or playing with the children at Kids club. I know several of the children enjoyed the time they spent with you during Kids club.

-The thing that keeps going thru my head is from a talk that one of the counselors from Youthworks shared with us one night during our "Club" time. Krista shared that when her closest friends calls her she asks her "how she is serving Christ in her life?" Made me stop to think how I was serving Christ? Or was I just going about my life to serve myself and not following God's plan for my life..........It is so easy to get caught up in the "rat race" and stressors of life and truly forget what we are here to do on earth. I am trying hard to keep that focus since returning from the mission.

-Another moving part of the week was the last night we were at Red Lake the Youthworks counselors do a Foot washing ceremony for us all. The counselors perform the foot washing first on the Adult leaders/chaperones while saying prayers for each of us and then we perform the foot washing on the children from our church. To look at each of these kids that have given so much of themselves all week long to serve Christ thru the children/families of Red Lake was so moving/touching for myself to witness. To pray for the kids to go out and serve Christ in all that they do in their lives........ The prayers that Mark said for each one of the children were just beautiful and something I will never forget and hopefully something the kids won't either..................

I encourage any parents or adults from our church to volunteer to chaperone a mission trip. It is something you will never ever forget and is truly life changing!! Thank you Good Shepherd Church, Pastor Dave, and Mark for giving me this opportunity!!

Take care and God Bless,

Sandy Koster