South Dakota Missions Trip – Reliance

We made it to our first destination (Reliance, SD) last night around 9:00pm.  We had a long but very enjoyable day.  We had a fun evening unpacking the groceries for the VBS we will be doing, recapping the day, and telling fun stories.  These Senior girls are so much fun and I am so thrilled I get to spend the next week with them. 

Here is just a small recap of our day…

• We visited 3 states:  Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota.  *Interesting fact – I have lived in two of those states.*
• We saw how flat Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota are compared to Virginia.  We actually got to see a complete sunset as we drove down the interstate right into it.  (Our mountains at home hinder us from seeing a complete sunset on the horizon.)
• The Missouri river at the Interstate 90 junction in South Dakota was beautiful. So far it has been our favorite place on this trip.  I think we will picnic there sometime this week. 
• South Dakota has some beautiful rolling hills and nooks in between lots of flat land.
• We learned that gas stations in the middle of no where close really early.  Praise the Lord we still had plenty of gas to get where we needed.
• We ate at a new restaurant on our way here called Jimmy Johns.  It is a sub and sandwich shop.  Very tasty!  We all loved it.
• We haven’t seen any buffalo yet, but we have seen huge buffalo statues in the weirdest places. 
• I found out that neon was in style…where have I been???  I am not ready to jump on that bandwagon yet, but the girls still have 7 days to convince me.  
• I almost forgot my phone in my own car before leaving for SD.
• AND…we got trapped on a parking garage entrance ramp at the airport.  The lot was full and wouldn’t let us in, and when we backed up we found out it had blocked us in as well.  We pulled forward again (still to a full lot sign), but God intervened and opened the bar for us so we could get out. 

We are learning that life is all about missions and service.  We are keeping our ears open and asking God to show us small and big things that He would have for us to do. 

This is the hunting lodge that we are staying at while in Reliance.  There are Pheasants everywhere.  The lodge has many pheasants throughout the house and I get the idea that this is what the hunting lodge is for.

This is our rental car.  We got an amazing deal on this car and I now know that God was working all things out.  This car was actually cheaper than the cheapest car available so I grabbed it up.   Now that we are here a smaller car would not have worked at all.  We had to stock up supplies before getting to the lodge because there are no stores near by.  Everything we needed plus our luggage would not have fit.  Poor Johanna had to sit in the back barricaded by groceries and luggage. 

Almost everywhere we look is flat lands.  There aren’t a lot of trees…or anything.  Right around the house are a few trees but other than that there aren’t many.  It is beautiful in its own way.  We have really enjoyed getting to see a different part of our beautiful country.