While there, they will be working with 12 other people from our church to put on an ESL day camp. This is my dad’s fourth year leading the trip and his organization, AIM (Affiliate International Ministries), heads up the trip. It is the best time and experience. I went in 2006.

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Please keep them in your prayers!

xoxo

I’m currently in Eagle Butte, South Dakota working with the kids at the Cheyenne River Youth Project. This week has been one of the hardest weeks of my life. The kids here capture my heart everyday but break it all at the same time. In 2 days I’ll be back on the road heading back to my comfortable life in my house with my family in a town where people get what they want and need every day. At the same time, these beautiful kids will still be in this broken town that needs love and hope. This Cheyenne River Youth Project brings that to them daily, which is why Anomaly supports them each year. All I can continue to do throughout time is pray. Please keep everyone in this town in your prayers. They need it so badly.

Duwan

Junior & Justin.

Malachi.

Another side of this trip is the melting pot of our team. There are so many personalities, backgrounds, and talents. We have all seemed to collide half way through the week. Everyone is still on edge and I am personally uncomfortable here. I am here for the kids. I am not here for the people on this team. People have focued so much on themselves that they have come to lose sight of what’s important in this place. I have definitely been one of those people at one point or another this week. I have been praying for conflict to resolve as well as patience and understanding of people.

This is one of the last days with the kids. It has been incredible with them here. I will miss them so much once I leave. It was so crazy. The past 2 years, I’ve worked with an autistic boy, Gavin. Last year he did not remember me and I started from square one. I was dreading doing that this year. The first 2 minutes I was with him, he looked up and said he remembered me then gave me a huge hug. It set the mood for the rest of my week with him. Everytime I see him he runs up, hugs me, and we hang out. I love this kid so much. It kills me that he isn’t having the correct treatment for his disability right now. I wish the school system up here could provide that for him. He is literally one of the sweetest kids I have every met. I love him with every piece of my heart.

Gavin.

So far this week we’ve had the carnival. It was a huge success. So many parents and adults came this year, which was great to see! We never have a huge turn out of them and we did for once. It was refreshing to see that parents actually are somewhat invested in their children’s lives here. I got a chance to talk to a lot of people because I was the photographer for the event and also worked on promoting the concert. The people here are all so sweet.

Cailyn and Erin.

Thom, Joe, and I.

Cotton Candy.

Joe.

 Rock the Rez, the concert, is happening today at 4:30 p.m. Everyone has been given jobs and is running around working on those. I almost feel useless because I have delegated everything to everyone. I hope this is a great success and we can reach people with this. Hopefully the storms will stay away so we can keep it outside for the day.

Tomorrow night is midnight basketball, which is where the teens can come for the night and play 3 on 3 in the gym throughout the night. This is such a great event that they have for the teens. It really helps them stay off the streets and trouble on Friday nights. So many of these guys have such potential with basketball. They work so hard and could definitely make a future with it. They are all so talented.

So far this trip has broken me but also healed me. I am not ready to leave yet. I wish I could stay another month. I’m convinced that the thing that can help change this place as well as the world is love. In the end, love changes everything.

xoxo:

Anna & I.

My last blog ended with summertime about to begin. This summer involved a lot of change for me. I spent most of my summer out-of-town visiting people, going on mission trips, and just hanging out. I’ve never been away from home that long. It was really refreshing and helped me learn so much about myself as well as learn new things about the people who mean the most to me.

My first trip of the summer was to Chicago, IL for a family reunion. This was probably one of the best weekends. I was able to spend endless amounts of time with my immediate family as well as extended family. I never realized how incredible and loving all of my family members are. I think I take a lot of things such as family for granted most days.

Katie, Mosie, & I on a boat in Chicago.

Abby, me, Katie, Ollie, & Matthew jumping in front of the bean.

The next trip I ventured out to was back to Chicago but this time around it was for a mission trip to Humboldt Park, Chicago. Humboldt Park is in the North side of Chicago in a highly hispanic community. I was able to spend the week working with the kids at a place called Yippee. The Yippee program runs everyday from 10 am-3 pm. This program pulls the kids in from the streets, feeds, educates, & gives as much love as possible to the kids. It was one of the most eye opening experiences of my life. These kids became attached to anyone who gave them only a few minutes of attention. While our group was there we were able to participate in karate lessons, teach the kids games, learn some of their games, hang out at a park, eat with the kids, & take the kids to the Brookfield zoo. This trip helped me form relationships with the kids there, the other teens from across the United States, as well as our team from Messiah. The first day we were there we were playing a game and this 12-year-old boy, Jose, had to stand by me & he went on about how much he didn’t like me & didn’t want to be standing by me. That really made me think about why I came to Chicago and what I should be doing there. That night I prayed that I would find a way to connect to the kids. Throughout the rest of the week Jose would randomly come up to me and start talking. We ended up bonding over Soulja Boy…thank goodness I knew the song “Kiss Me Through the Phone”. On our last day with the kids, we were on a way home from the Brookfield Zoo and I was sitting in the same area as Jose. He turned to me and asked why our group had to leave. I tried to explain to him that we all had families back home & we were only allowed to stay one week then another group would come in. He then tried to give me any idea he could think of so I could stay in Humbolt Park the rest of the summer. His favorite idea that he had crafted was that I could get a night job at the laundromat his mom works at so I could pay to live there then I could come see him & everyone else during the day. Sleep is overrated anyways. God really showed me how visible He is that week. He was able to answer my prayers, even if was just a little music knowledge. The second to last day I had to fly home because I was leaving the next morning to head up to South Dakota for a mission trip with my family. I could hardly pull myself away from the kids, the other groups, and my own group. I ended up crying the whole flight home and once I reached my house I decided that I was not going to go up to South Dakota. I felt like my heart was still in Chicago when the rest of my body was just following the routine of packing up and heading out again. Needless to say, I still went to South Dakota with my family the next morning.

Jose and i in the park.

The kiddos & i in the park.

The kiddos.

Carmen & Rachel.

The girls.

Adam, Austin, Adam, and i on the beach in chicago.

The group on the beach.

Daniel.

That takes me to my third trip of the summer! I packed up once again and  headed up to Eagle Butte, South Dakota with my family as well as 65 other people. It was my second summer heading up to Eagle Butte with my family. The whole trip up there, I was unhappy to be in a car with my family instead of hanging out with the kids in Chicago. But, once we reached the Cheyenne River Youth Center in Eagle Butte, I got out of the car and started to walk away from everyone else and look around and at that moment I realized that God had a purpose for me in this community. I wasn’t exactly sure what it was yet, but there was a purpose for me being there. The months leading up to going to South Dakota I planned this concert called Rock the Rez. It seemed like a pretty cool idea when it first came to my attention. While I was thinking how cool the idea was I wasn’t really thinking about the logistics of it all. What I came to realize was that not many bands was to travel to the middle of nowhere to play a show for a community, even though they would be paid for doing so. I was extremely blessed to find this band named A Rotterdam November that would be a few hours away that weekend. After weeks of e-mailing back and forth, we seemed set to go. In my heart I wanted nothing more but for Rock the Rez to be a huge success. On the other side of things, my head kept telling me that this would end up failing and Katie and I would end up having to play this concert for hundreds of people, which would be worst than anyone could ever imagine. It was Thursday morning, the day of the concert. I got up in the morning and prayed that everyone would turn out…decent. About 11 a.m. a long term volunteer walked in and gave me the news that the band was here. From that point on, everything was completely out of my hands. I just stood back and watched everything take place in front of me. Everything ended up turning out far better than I could have ever expected. On top of this all, not only did the band come to play the show, they ended up staying an extra day so they could hang out with the kiddos in Eagle Butte. All of this was purely the work of God. I am still unsure how the concert all came together in the end but all I know is that it was truly a blessing to not just me, but the community in Eagle Butte, South Dakota.

Rock the Rez.

Mimi suffers from fetal alcohol sydrome.

Angel.

Gavin.

The carnival.

The kiddos & i.

After spending most of my summer away from home, I made my way out to Pittsburgh, PA to catch some down time with my grandparents. My grandparents are one thing in my life that never changes. I’ve always just known they were there if I needed or wanted anything. This summer one of my friends lost his grandpa. After hearing him talk about his grandpa I took some time to think about my own grandparents and how I take them and their stability for granted. I am so blessed to still have them in my life to love and care for me and my family. So, I took a little less than a week to hang out with them. Our week consisted of; watching movies, sleeping in late, eating out, shopping, going on a few special trips, going on walks, napping, drinking gin & tonic, and just catching up about life. It was wonderful to be able to take a break from everything as well as reflect on the past month with them. I was also able to be there for the anniversary of my Aunt Pam’s death. I think that really helped all of us. We were able to talk about my Aunt Pam and remember her and the incredible things she did.

My grandparents.

Buildings in Pittsburgh.

Overall, the summer is one that I will never forget. I felt like I really grew up this past summer and let some things that had happened the past few years go & make peace with them. Now, I’m back in school to spend my last few months in high school. It seems really weird that I’ll be living on my own in less than a year. But, I have never been so excited and ready for something before in my life. I absolutely love my house but I think I am ready to go off to college and study what I love (entertainment management) and become successful with it. Well, thanks for reading this! I apologize that it is so long…I’ve had a lot to catch up on. I will try to regularly update this.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain