I had seen numerous mission trip opportunities growing up, but I passed on them, since they didn't seem like quite the opportunity for me. When St. Teresa's in Valparaiso formed a sister parish relationship with St. Augustine, and then offered this mission/service trip there, I jumped at the opportunity.
Throughout the week, we did a variety of tasks, like assembling shelving units for a food pantry, sorting clothing donations, cleaning church floors, and even demolition work. The week also had ample opportunities to immerse ourselves in the culture of the Omaha and Winnebago peoples, starting from Sunday Mass, the day after our arrival. It was March 3, the Feast of St. Mother Katharine Drexel, who used her enormous inheritance money to start missions to serve Native Americand and African-Americans, including St. Augustine. Mass that day included elements of indigenous culture, like incense and songs in the indigenous languages.
While I knew about Native Americans and their plight in the course of US history from school, this trip was the chance to get to know them in a much more holistic way. We really put ourselves into their world, and saw the lingering effects of a dark history, like when we went out on a tour of the reservations on Sunday, our first full day there, as Dwight showed us around.
There was one particularly heavy evening on Tuesday during our dinner when two community members joined us, Sarah and Tunny. Sarah told heartbreaking stories about how her grandmother was punished as a child at the school for using indigenous words with her friend. Yet her grandmother found healing and forgiveness, remaining true to her Roman Catholic faith throughout her life.
The following evening, Wednesday, March 6, we immersed ourselves even more deeply in the indigenous culture by participating in the weekly Sweat Lodge ceremony held in the backyard of Nathan's house in the small town of Rosalie. Besides experiencing the intensity of the hot, humid conditions in the hut-like structure, there was a deeply spiritual component to the ceremony that speaks to the experience of what it means to be human. In the midst of the fiery trials of life, when we focus on prayer, acknowledging how real God is, we overcome, through His help, and are made anew. I went into the ceremony somewhat nervous, like everyone else in the group, unsure if I could endure for the entire time. Yet as each of the 4 rounds of the ceremony concluded, my confidence built, and when it was over, I emerged with a great sense of empowerment. Upon exiting the sweat lodge, we each uttered the words, "All my relations", since it was similar to emerging from the womb in birth, and we were truly made anew through the purifying power of the heat and our time in prayer. In some ways, the Sweat Lodge was the defining experience of the entire week.
Indeed, despite the mistreatment they've faced, the Native peoples have demonstrated great resilience and there's so much of their culture that is alive. We saw great hope in how there are many working to build a better world in the reservations, not the least of which is the mission: Decades after the school staff sought to eradicate indigenous culture, the school is helping it flourish through efforts like teaching the Ho-Chunk language. I actually sat in on a Ho-Chunk language class on Thursday, when we all spent time in classes at the school. We also joined the students for breakfast most days and lunch on two different days.
Indeed, relationships with the people were such a memorable part of the trip, and also the ways that we bonded with each other in our group over the course of the week while riding from one place to the next, doing our week, breaking bread, and our nightly reflections led by Lydia, our group's student leader. And all throughout the week, we had opportunities to see God working.
At Sunday Mass, the first reading was the account of Moses's encounter with God in the burning bush at Horeb. Father Dave pointed out that we were on holy ground, where a saint walked--and such places are few and far between in the USA. Yet as I reflected in an account I wrote shortly after that trip, it was holy ground because of the people there working to meet the needs of those on the reservations to give them the chance to flourish in life. Further, it was holy ground people those of us in our group devoted a week to put faith into action by serving there.
And 10 years later, that week still stirs my heart profoundly: It inspires me to continue seeking to put faith into action wherever I am each day, through struggles and joys, while living more closely configured to God's purpose for my life, as I draw upon encounters with God from the past, which is why I still feel connected with those we interacted with in northeast Nebraska, and those in my group I served with there.
All my relations.
Thanks and praise to God.
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