OFF AND RUNNING

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."   

-Jeremiah 29:11 

We are off and running for another great year at Flandreau Indian School. Students returned last Wednesday and school began the very next day. I recognize a lot of faces but there are a lot of new ones as well. I’m really looking forward to getting to know new kids!

It’s hard to put my finger on exactly what has changed but things seem different this year. Maybe I’m reading more into it than there is, but it seems like students came back ready to learn! A lot more reserved than last year—there are even kids carrying books around with them! I don’t know if the fact that we started a few weeks later meant that kids were getting a little impatient waiting for school to start or if it’s something else. Maybe it’s just the new DNA of new students on campus.

We kicked off our chapel worship schedule for the year this past Sunday for the 2011-12 school year. We had 23 students come out for our first week! There were more students than we had any Sunday last year—nearly 10% of the student population.  We are off to an amazing start!

In chapel we talked about allowing God to show us something new this year. Sometimes we have expectations for certain outcomes or expectations of how we think situations might turn out but we end up in a completely different place than we thought we were headed.  We have hopes and desires but sometimes God knows better and leads us in a different direction. What’s important is not to be mad at God for bringing us to a different place or situation but to be open to what He is trying to teach us.

Who’d have thought just a little over a year ago that we would be in South Dakota working with such amazing teenagers? I certainly had no idea that places or ministry like this still existed in the United States and yet God knew exactly where we needed to be to have the greatest impact for Him.

I am excited for what God has in store for us this year!