This week has been the 12th mission/service trip I’ve lead from the Naugatuck church.  In preparation for each trip, I pontificate relentlessly about how the trip isn’t really about the things we building but rather about the relationships we build.  I know this to be true…intellectually.  Yet, it has always been one of those things I’ve been working towards believing.  I will relentless preach relationship, but I secretly obsess what’s being accomplished as far as tangible things left behind.  And I’ve always marked our “success” with such things.  In La Romana, there is a hospital.  In Oaxaca, Casa Hogar has a computer lab, the dump community has one more house, and 2,500 plus people around Santa Maria Tepexipana had an extra months worth of food.

After one week at the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation, I am now fully a believer.  We have worked hard – both on construction projects and on running after school camp for the children of La Plant.  Our major construction project all week long has been digging a 250 plus foot trench to run electrical and phone cable through.  It has been grueling work.  We’ve been digging through thick hard clay.  Thursday afternoon we finally completed the trench from end to end.  The electrical wire and phone cable has been run.  I even got to see the power turned on for the first time.  The electric and phone will support the Simply Smiles office and staff housing on the back of the community center property.  Digging this trench was a major accomplishment for nine of us, plus Smiles Staff and some local helpers.  But it’s not exactly the type of thing you say where you feel we made a major difference in the community by digging a trench for office electricity.

No, for me this week, the real miracles of this week have all been relational.  In any of our previous mission trips, we always made meaningful relationships.  But it has never been quite like this.

Bryan and I cooked made to order omelets yesterday at a community breakfast.  For a people who history has been that they have to scrounge just for “leftovers” to be served a breakfast and to know that people cared enough to make it the way they wanted, you could let that we were feeding them not only a good breakfast but feeding their need for dignity.

Yesterday at camp our craft was fabric painting some canvas drawstring backs.  Many, many of the kids brought the backpack around for all the members of our service team to sign.  It was such a symbol of the relational impact we’ve made in the lives of these kids in just a few days.

Camp usually end at 6:30 pm.  By 7 pm the phone in the community center rings off the hook.  The kids from town call wanting to continue to talk (usually to our teens).  The community has known us only for days…and they know we will soon be leaving…yet they want and crave that connection.  They want and crave that relationship.

The truth is there are many types of projects that make an impact on a community, but none of them are as impactful as letting people know you love them.  This week the people of La Plant have made an incredible impact on our lives.  But we also know that we have made an impact on theirs.  That relational love is foundational to anything and everything else that happens here.  That love is what mission/service work is all about.

Oh, and by the way, I don’t want to underestimate the importance of that trench we dug.  That trench to supply electricity to the Simply Smiles office and staff housing are a critical symbol to the people of La Plant.  It let’s them know that Simply Smiles is here to stay.  And the at people will be coming to love on them for years to come.

Gordon

My time here has been the most challenging and rewarding experience that I’ve ever had. I have pushed myself both physically and mentally and wish I had words to describe it all to you. The family back home will never believe the things I’ve done this week. The Simply Smiles team have been amazing, the people have been warm and welcoming and the children…how in love I am with the children.

Yesterday was a quiet camp day and we were crafting with the kids when Stace, an adorable little girl who I had done yoga with the day before, ran up to me and asked if we were going to do yoga again. I was so excited that she enjoyed my activity! There are a million stories like this and I’m sure all of you will be sick of hearing them when I get home.

We are getting ready for the community breakfast and I can’t wait to get some more conversation in with these lovely people. I have learned so much from them and they are thrilled to teach you. Barbara and Kile have been so gracious and willing to share their culture with us and I will hold these memories in my heart for the rest of my life. Thank you Simply Smiles and the Lakota people for this opportunity, I am counting down the days until I can come back!

Jennifer Dupont

A simple day in La Plant is anything far from simple, and the work and love that  the staff  provide for this town goes above and beyond the name of Simply Smiles. When I hopped off that Big Red Bus I was ready to conquer the world, I was determined to work every fiber of my

being into this town, and provide them with the effort that they deserve-and I feel that I have kept this unspoken promise. And its the people of La Plant that make all the hard work worth while, their gratitude, stories and smiles provide a  spiritual Bengay of sorts. We may provide a meal for their stomachs but they have given me food for the soul.

We start each day with a handful of work projects and do our best to wrap them up before the kids trickle in for another jam packed day of camp : Art projects, basketball, connect 4, Guitar Hero, baseball, boo-boos, yoga, and the occasional piggy back ride. I have given more rides than a Staten Island Ferry. The Community Center, which doubles as a dining hall, hotel, and activities hall, turns into a giant jungle gym. Kids are making bracelets and munching on snacks, but I love every hectic minute of it.

Meals are a group effort, with mainly Josh and Nancy leading the way. Between preparation and clean up everyone manages to help in one way or another. And let me tell you, you haven’t truly washed dishes until its 40 mph winds, dust is embedding itself in your teeth, and your under the stars with a spuratic spotlight for inspection.

The truth is that I cant explain this place or this experience to you in a paragraph or even ten paragraphs. I can share statistics and show you photos but you don’t fully understand the magnitude of whats being done here until you have La Plant soil under your feet. Ill see you all Eastern Standard Time.

Sam Dunn

Yesterday was quite an eventful day; from visiting Barbra and Roland during our first water break of the day to the drum ceremony at the end of the day.

Yesterday was probably the most memorial day for us so far.

During our first water break we took a trip to Barbra and Roland Roach’s house.  Their house was the first totally rebuilt house on the Reservation by Simply Smiles.  Prior to the rebuilding of their current home they lived in a trailer with many roof leak causing problems; After evaluating the trailer Bryan came to the conclusion that the trailer was gone beyond repair, and recommended they take a look at the house next door, which happened to be Barbra’s childhood home.  The structure was sound, and the mission was a go.  Yesterday we were lucky enough to be given a tour of the house from Barbra and Roland.   Barbra told us that they got to pick the colors of the house, being green for the outside, blue for the boy’s room, and a lovely purple for their room.  After the tour we all gathered around the table in the kitchen and had an hour long conversation with them.  During the conversation Barbra proudly showed us two War Bonnets she had made for her sons (In a Star Pattern).   We also were shown pictures of her family, what a beautiful family!

Onward to the work projects!  This week we are digging a trench for electricity to the staff housing and office buildings outback behind the community center.  Despite the heat the wind was definitely the bigger problem!  At most points the wind would blow so hard it would nearly knock us down!  Adding on to the already difficult weather conditions was the hard clay like soil.  While some worked on the trench, others continued working on fencing the future garden and staking the supply tents.  We typically do this in a rotation.

Camp time!  Arts-and-crafts!  We painted balsa wood model airplanes.  One child preferred to work in Sharpies.  Gordon soon had Sharpie colors all over his shirt and

shorts.  While some enjoyed decorating Gordon and then some planes others loved the bracelets and making a mess with the beads, Gordon and Jen and Nancy had fun cleaning that up! Some have over 100 bracelets! She has all of us beat!  Besides those two we had the typical basketball games, board games, and of course lots of running around!

HEY KRISTEN! Jen and I (Melissa) did yoga with the kids! And as you told me, they absolutely loved it! They begged us to do more today and we definitely will!

A few kids brought over some horses. Josh rode on one. Emily, too. And Olivia got to ride on her birthday.

Then we had a community wide favorite– BINGO NIGHT! (With Walmart gift cards as prizes!)  A delicious snack was provided, Nachos!  (So people eat the Gold Fish Crackers we were using as markers!) Featuring guest number callers: Gordon, Sam, and Melissa.  We had Jen pulling the numbers after a messy incident with the kids pulling the numbers!

Josh, who is consistently providing a wonderful variety of awesome foods, made three-potato salad and burgers.

Our day concluded with a drum circle with Kyle, Steve, Calvin, Colin, and Elliott. Sage was burned and its smoke waved around the circle. Several songs were sung and drummed. Steve told us the history of the drum.  A final song honored Elliott’s brother.

Thanks to Kyle we learned a few words in Lakotan we would like to share with you!

• Chante Skuya – Sweet Heart
• Cuwe – Older sister
• Mi Sun – Younger brother
• T blo – Older brother
• Ina – Mother
• Ate – Dad
• Lala – Grandpa
• Unci – Grandma

So thats all for now!  Much love to our friends and families, we miss you guys!

-Melissa Sherwood and Dave Shaw

Next the activities: everyday we wake up at 7 and pack up our sleeping bags and mats. Then, one team makes breakfast and one team cleans up. Then we all go outside and work on building roofs or digging trenches or putting up fences. Some of the little boys come early and like to help us with the jobs that we do. We have a few water breaks throughout the day and we hang out with the kids that came early. Then camp starts at 3:30. It’s crazy, but so much fun. Olivia and I will typically start camp by playing basketball with the boys. Then we might play hide and seek or tag. Last we would settle down by coloring or drawing or making jewelry with the little girls. The other volunteers and I might get 5 bracelets each per day from these girls and they love to see us wearing them. It’s so great. All the kids leave at 6:30-ish and we eat dinner, clean up and settle down. Our team sits in a circle and we talk about the ups and downs of our day, then we go to bed.

Now, in our free time, we do some really cool things. For example, yesterday, we went down to the Missouri River and we went swimming! It was so cool! In both meanings. I was one of he last ones in, but it’s because I had to mentally prepare myself for the freezing water. It was like standing in a bucket of ice cubes. It took about 5 seconds for my ankles to be bright red and freezing. I backed in and out of the water for a minute then I just dove in head first. I stood in there for literally 3 seconds before my whole body was 10 times colder than it had ever been. We washed our hair and left. It was so awesome! I hope the good times continue throughout the week and I can’t wait for the rest of the week to be just as great as it has been.

Hi everyone! Emily here– So far this week has been amazing and challenging at the same time. We have started working on a bunch of projects around the community center. We have dug trenches, worked on putting up a fence around the new garden and finished putting up the roof on the pole barn. The first day of summer camp was great the kids enjoyed coloring and playing with clay. They also love jumping all over you like a jungle gym which is great because they are warming up to us so quickly. Yesterday we went to the river to go swimming for the first time, for us swimming was basically running in as fast as we could and then running back out to try to get warm again. I have never been in water that cold before! If you stay in that water for more then two seconds your whole body will go numb. But I have to say that swimming in the Missouri River is something I can check off my bucket list. There was also the coolest sunset I have ever seen when we were down at the river. It just reminded me that life is a beautiful gift that we can’t waste.

Check out more pictures and updates on the Simply Smiles Facebook page!

Hi everyone! This is Olivia writing from La Plant. It’s been very busy for the past few days. We got here on Saturday night and almost went right to bed. On Sunday morning when we woke up, we ate breakfast then went on a tour of the Reservation. It was very enlightening about all the help that we can provide. The things that have been improved are remarkable. After the tour, we came back to the community center and ate lunch. Then we began the work projects. Ciara and I worked on the roof with Bryan and finished the whole thing! It was very educational. I have never had to stand on a 10 foot roof and drill screws into wood you can’t see. I got the hang of it by the end. Last but not least, we had the community dinner which was great. We made a bunch of new friends and had a lot of fun playing tag, basketball, and hide-and-go seek that eventually turned into tag because no one wanted to count. It’s turning out to be a great adventure and I hope that we can continue to make a difference. Oh, and Happy Mothers Day to all of our friends and family!

Nancy’s reflections:

GIVE ME ONE MOMENT IN TIME  is a song from the Broadway musical, Jekyll and Hyde that is somewhat reflective of our first full day in LaPlant.  It took just ‘one moment in time’ to feed a grateful community, to play with exuberant children, to work on a fantastic new outdoor pavilion, to anchor garages and greenhouses and to visit with many of our Lakota friends.  So…sleeping on the floor each night, using an outhouse and not taking a shower for a week, seems like a small price to pay for being able to give a wonderful community a reason to smile and to feel like you’ve made a difference by simply working hard and being kind – all in just ONE day!!!  I can only imagine what this hard-working group of people – together with the SIMPLY SMILES team – will accomplish in the next five days!!   Nancy

We continue to work on advancing “possibilities” into reality. Whether it be spending time with Lakota family members or interacting amongst ourselves, we are involved in ”being the Church” while we are here.  And while we finish up our week here in La Plant, we continue creating memories, not only for ourselves, but for the folks who live here in a community that is challenged by history and environment and culture. We have spent time not only providing some physical amenities for this La Plant community, but for the future potential of its residents. And in the process, we have grown in our understanding of both ourselves and those with whom we have interacted with.

Getting to know this La Plant community and its residents has been truly a joy and a blessing, for we will leave this place more richly rewarded than we have given. We have appreciated and made real what we talk about “at church,” and put it into practice. For if we were not put here on earth to look after one another, then why are we here?

This is Beth and Elsa. We cannot believe that it is already Thursday. So far the group has worked on multiple projects including: building storage garages, new raised garden beds, raising a new pavilion for the community center, and multiple clean-ups of the grounds. It feels like we have given everything a big jump start for the summer. The highlight of each work day has been when the big red bus pulls in in the afternoon with Bryan and the kids for camp. On Monday, the first day of camp, it was fun to see adults and children working side by side on decorating the fun foam name tags with glitter, pompoms, and craft paint. It was messy fun!

The children of La Plant are beautiful in each individual way. We are truly grateful and proud to be working with Simply Smiles in helping the people of La Plant. We are impressed with the Simply Smiles staff, and humbled by their commitment and compassion. We are looking forward to the Friday night community cookout under the soon-to-be-finished pavilion. This has been a rich experience and it will be hard to leave!

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The contrasts here on the reservation could not be more obvious. You are all at once dazzled by the great expanse of territory and endless vistas as far as the eye can see. You find yourself asking who in their right mind could ever get tired of such beauty, such rich land and the opportunity to live here forever to soak it all in, day after amazing day. You notice open spaces like you’ve never seen before and yearn for just a moment to dash off and explore every hill and valley. And then you meet the people who live here, and you hear and see their pride, their honor and their traditions, and again you ask yourself how anyone could not want to at least visit here upon their first opportunity.

And then you hear of the struggles. The struggles to live, to struggles to stay warm in the frigid winter and cool in the scorching summer, to have food enough to eat, to stave off the temptation of drugs, alcohol and personal abuse born out of a lifelong struggle to maintain a minimal life against so many obstacles not of their own making. And suddenly you are faced with a powerful but obvious question: why? Why do such an honorable, proud and wonderful people still suffer at the hands of constant everyday challenges that most of us could never imagine?

The answers are so complex and by no means simple, and you just have to listen and process and appreciate a history that would humble the most confident individual. But the more you listen, and the more you witness what Simply Smiles has started here by listening and living with the Lakota, the more you appreciate the power of relationships and understanding as a tool to heal and move forward with the complexities of life.

Thank you, Simply Smiles; but most important, thank you, Lakota nation, for welcoming us into your home and offering us the privilege of your hospitality. Long live the Lakota.

And then I visited Ford’s trailer.  I am not too clear about all of the connections but Ford was promised the trailer as senior housing, a place for him to live with some comfort and dignity.  Thank you, Charlie, for letting me cry on your shoulder after I looked inside.  My eyes are filling up with tears again.  No one, no matter their age could live in such a place.  I don’t have a picture to send, I have a picture in my heart which I will never forget.  If what I do here this week makes any small difference in the life of the elders who live here, then I have received a great gift.

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I’m Steve, the group historian.  Great deal of work done today.  We took apart the old pole barn and got a good jump on building a new one.  Dug a few holes by hand only to discover that this soil is like concrete!  Some of the Lakota men showed up with an auger on a Bobcat Tractor.  Bless them!  Made the diggers smile.  Got a good start on covers for raised garden.  In the afternoon, we played games with kids  –  great joy for them and us.  Then some of the crazier of us plunged into the Missouri River.  We  got clean (more or less) and actually refreshed, but it was painfully cold.  At least one of us (me) will never do that again!  Also, saw a herd of buffalo on the way to & from the river.  We don’t see that at home; nor do we see such fabulous sunsets.  Can hardly wait for tomorrow for more hard work, terrific group camaraderie and more playing with kids.

Check out more pictures from the week at www.simplysmiles.org or the Simply Smiles Facebook or Instagram pages!

The week in March was the first time in a few years that we stayed in Oaxaca City to focus on our urban initiatives, and it turned out to be an unbelievable week. The Choate group brought so much energy and compassion to everything they did- from making great friends at Casa Hogar, to finishing the very last outside wall at the Center of Operations, and even helping our friend Lula kill all 35 chickens for the community meal, the Choaties (plus our two from Hotchkiss!) helped us further all of our relationships in Oaxaca CIty. And we got to host our very first Oaxaca City community meal! The group helped Zach, Kristen and I invite our neighbors who surround the Center of Operations in Coyotopec (our little suburb of Oaxaca), as well as our friends from the Oaxaca City garbage dump to our home-cooked traditional Oaxacan chicken barbecue. This was the first time we were able to reach out to our neighbors surrounding our Center of Operations, as our weeks in Oaxaca were focused on construction work and our jungle project in Santa María Tepexipana over the last few years. For this reason, we were a little apprehensive about knocking on people’s doors with invitations in our hands, but everyone was so nice and welcoming when we told them our plans. And then on Friday night, over 150 people came to our very first community meal! It was absolutely incredible. The Choaties served a chicken dinner to every person who came in, and we were able to meet, sit, and talk with so many families and make a bunch of new friends. Although I absolutely love every day at both of our projects, this first community meal was one of my favorite Simply Smiles moments. It was awesome to see our friends from the dump at our camp, and so humbling to meet our neighbors for the first time and start brand new friendships. It was a great week in Oaxaca, and a fantastic way to start off the volunteer season.

When we got back from Oaxaca, we had our three Keep Hope Alive events to prepare for. Zach and I talk often about how crazy our lives are; like how we are killing a chicken to serve a family in Oaxaca one day, and preparing for our biggest fundraiser of the year in the office the next. Never a boring day with Simply Smiles, and more than that, it is just so awesome to be part of every aspect of the organization.

So after working alongside Bryan on the intro video, the presentation, figuring out every detail of each event, they all went great! We were all so excited about the outcome. Through the three Keep Hope Alive events, we raised over $215,000! We can hardly put into words how grateful and humbled we all are to be a part of this strong Simply Smiles community that can create true positive change for our friends in Oaxaca and on the Reservation, in just a few nights.

After our three weeks and three Keep Hope Alive events in Connecticut, Zach, Kristen and I returned to Mexico to lead the Silver Lake volunteer group, and we had another great week! The group embodied the definition of “Flexibility is Fun,” worked so hard every day (in the 100 degree sun) to help us build the majority of the walls of the second floor of our bodega building, and made lasting friendships both at Casa Hogar and at the park with our friends from the dump. During that week we also invited two families from Santa María Tepexipana to visit our Center of Operations in Oaxaca, which was incredible. We got to hang out with Ana Cristina, Mari Cruz, Chucho, Gilberto, Martín, Yaretzi, and even Abuelita, Juan’s grandmother! Kristen, Zach and I have missed our friends from Santa María very much, so it was so great to catch up, and so much fun to have them interact with the group.

The best part of the week though by far was our second-ever community meal. It was a little surreal to host our friends from the village, our friends from the dump, and more of our new friends from around Coyotopec at our Center of Operations. This time we helped Lula cook chicken mole, a traditional Oaxacan dish (and my favorite food of all time, which every Mexican thinks is hysterical), and our friend brought a mariachi band to play throughout the night, which was a game-changer. I made countless jokes with all the families who came about how they can turn the dinner into a dance party if they wanted (although they didn’t want to see me attempt to show my moves). And then, as many of the families had finished their meals and were headed out, the Silver Lake crew actually started a dance party! It was ridiculous. We all started dancing with all the little kids that were still there, and then the families started to join in- even Juan’s 80-year-old grandma started dancing with Kristen! It was so much fun. Our dance party included families from Santa María, the dump and our new friends from Coyotopec. It’s still funny to try to describe our epic dance party at our Center of Operations. I am sure that the memory of dancing ridiculously and laughing until it hurt with a bunch of gringos for an hour is not one that many of our friends in Oaxaca will soon forget. Again, it turned out to be one of my favorite Simply Smiles moments ever.

And now, Zach, Jamie, Josh, Bryan and I are headed West on the Big Red Bus to the Cheyenne River Reservation to start our spring and summer season. We are all so excited to see all our friends in La Plant – to hang out with Juanita, Kobey, Alexis, Teigan, Aden, Edward, and everyone else for four straight months!

The first group arrives next week, and we will be hitting the ground running with building our greenhouses, starting our season of summer camp, repairing homes, and starting the initial steps to building Ford’s new home! It is going to be so incredibly great, and I’m sure, filled with many new Simply Smiles favorite moments.

From somewhere in Indiana,

Sam