May 21, 2021

Greetings in the name of the Lord,

It has been a very tough year on the Reservation. COVID came in March 2020 and the Tribal leadership shut down the Pine Ridge Reservation to all visitors, even posting guards at the highway entrances. Our mission group has not been able to worship together since March 2020. To make matters worse, the building that we used for church gatherings had a fire in it. In addition, the previous Tribal leadership was VERY anti-Christian. I felt like the man in Amos 5 who fled the lion to meet the bear, fled the bear and upon entering his house all winded from the fleeing, rested his hand on the wall only to be bitten by a serpent! The Serpent, that old evil foe, is alive and well.

There was a time during all of this that I was not sure that I would have a mission to come back to. But our Savior is King at overcoming the Serpent and breathing new life into people and things that appear dead and lifeless. I met with the Tribal leadership this last month and pitched the idea of cleaning up and restoring the building we used. We would work together with the tribe to make a community building and in return, we would get to use it for our ministerial needs. They loved the idea! Not only that, but they also committed to putting it in writing and offered day labor and a dumpster service. Basically, anything they could do to help. I about fell off my chair, or at least the wall I had rested my hand on!

Now for the hard part, we have a building to repair. I have enlisted the help of Willie Eichmann, a former Laborer For Christ, who headed up the project of building the addition on Divine Shepherd Lutheran Church in Black Hawk, SD. He will oversee any volunteer or contracted labor. The SD District has approved our budget and I am now asking for any volunteers from our sister churches in South Dakota who would like to help. The last two weeks of May we have/will be working with the tribe laborers to do general clean up and demolition.

We are looking to start with any volunteer help the first week in June. We could use both skilled and unskilled labor. I will list below the type of help and a general timeframe of when it will be needed. If your congregation would be interested in helping, our mission would appreciate it. If you, then, let us know what you are willing to do, when, and your overall skill level we will plug that into a more firm schedule.

 We have options for staying in Rapid City and daily transportation to the Reservation. We could also use help in these areas, as well as feeding and assisting volunteers while in Rapid City. Please contact me on my cell phone at 605-391-1566 or at asutton@alsuttonelectric.com. Thank you in advance for all of your prayers and help!

Rev. Albert G. Sutton
Missionary at Large to the Pine Ridge Reservation SD District,
LCMS

June 1-15: Continue demolition. Low skill level

June 1-15: Some excavation, installing 200 feet of a French drain. We could use a backhoe. Skill level high and some less skilled

June 16-30: Framing and structural repair of pole barn type building. A mix of High skill and medium skilled labor

July 1-15: Sheet rock installation. Mix of medium to low skilled labor

July 1-15: Some electrical and plumbing rough in. mix of high to medium skilled labor

July 16-August 15: Tape, texture, paint. Mix of medium to low skilled labor

Aug 16-31: Finishes, doors, windows, plumbing fixtures and light fixtures Mix of high to medium skilled labor

Anytime during project: 1 reznor heater to move and some gas piping and ventilation.

Anytime during the project: feeding and assisting volunteers while in Rapid City

*High Skilled = has done/does the work professionally

*Medium skilled= works with tools has helped or been around the work before

*Low skilled= can work with tools, willing to learn and assist