Despite the early hour, we loaded into the van again and successfully drove through Nebraska. We saw corn. And then we saw some more corn. And after that, we ran across more fields of corn. We came to a new understanding of Nebraska's nickname. . . "The Cornhusker State". I sure would hate to be the one husking all that corn.
Micah managed to listen to all of TobyMac's songs on my Zune at least five times on the way to Manderson. We finally had to instate a Van Rule: no one (and by "no one", we meant "Micah") may sing along with TobyMac while listening to his songs on an MP3 player. Other Van Rule: no one (and by "no one", we meant "Micah") may turn their MP3 player up so loud that the whole van could easily sing along with TobyMac.(Side note: Toby, if you're reading this, I'm sorry. We really are big fans, I promise. We buy all your CD's on the day they're released. Really. We love you. . . just not enough to hear you and only you for approximately twelve hours each day.)
We rolled through Gordon, NE, early in the afternoon. Gordon has a nickname. . . "The Last Town to Carry Cell Phone Signals". So we gassed up our vehicles ('cause Gordon is also "The Last Place for Gas for Many, Many Miles"), called our loved ones one last time, and left civilization as we know it.
I got excited as soon as I started seeing landmarks I recognized from last year. . . the Welcome to South Dakota sign, the Massacre at Wounded Knee sign and world's smallest museum, and finally the buttes of Manderson that encircle the town. We unloaded our bags/beds/foodstores, and I got Micah settled in at the men's house. We had one house for 36 men, and one house for 23 women. You read that correctly. . . one bathroom for 36 men and one bathroom for 23 women. Micah was really excited to be "on his own" and kind of shooed me out of the house after I inflated his air mattress.
Sunday morning we woke up, ate a good breakfast, and enjoyed our first worship service in Manderson. Micah got a little camera-happy and took about twenty pictures during worship/prayer/Bible study. . . until I took his camera away for the duration of the service.
About half of our team then set out for Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial, while the other half stayed behind canvassing the community and serving a small hot dog supper to the locals. Micah spent most of the trip cracking redneck jokes with Caleb Dickerson (age 7, son of one of our pastors on the trip) and generally making their van giggle.Micah was totally in awe of Mt. Rushmore, and we spent the mere hour we had there running around as fast as we could to learn as much as we could.
Last year, I didn't realize how many educational opportunities are offered there. This year, we got very close to the base of the mountain, listened in on part of a guided tour, and took pictures of Micah "picking" President Washington's nose. 
Then we moved on to the Crazy Horse Memorial. If you've never heard of it (and I hadn't when we went last year), I would strongly recommend reading up on it. 
We watched the video of how the memorial came to be, and then ran through the museum/exhibit. Micah's favorite part was seeing the original air compressor that the sculptor used to begin blasting. . . it is still operational, even after 60 years.From Crazy Horse, we drove to the Badlands National Park for a sunset worship service. The Badlands really are bad. . . I would hate to be stuck in them. We took communion as the sun was setting and experienced the sheer vastness of God's mighty creation.
Next up. . . the beginning of ministry to our Lakota friends in Manderson.
http://www.crazyhorse.org/
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