2024 Sioux Valley Mission Trip

Watch this video to see what we did in Sioux Valley!

Team Members

Day by Day

(Day 1) Monday, July 29 2024

Our team arrived at Pearson Airport at 4:00 AM to get ready for a 7:15 AM departure. It was a drowsy but busy morning at the airport as we had to pack up our boxes. After a quick flight, loading up the bus, a busy period of grocery shopping, a cool bus ride, and a pit stop at McDonald’s – we finally made it to the Veterans Hall in Sioux Valley!

We unpacked our belongings and thoroughly cleaned the Veterans Hall. Then, we got ready for our very first Door-To-Door canvasing session. After returning from Door-To-Door and a delicious dinner, we had an evening team worship. We shared how successful this Door-To-Door session was during the reflection portion of our worship. Team members shared various positive anecdotes: some kids were so excited to find out we were back that they started putting on their shoes ready to leave, wholesome conversations with adults who remember us from last year, and very warm greetings from new faces. 

Right before most were about to sleep, there was a power outage at the Veterans Hall. It would prove to be the first of numerous challenges, but our team would prove to overcome any obstacle, every time.

(Day 2) Tuesday, July 30 2024

Our team wakes up at 7:00AM, but a good amount of members are up before then. We clear our sleeping gear for another day, have morning worship, and eat a splendid breakfast. Afterwards, we go out for another Door-To-Door session. It was a hotter experience compared to the evening before, but nonetheless, still a very meaningful time. Mission team members invited more people of Sioux Valley to join us in our programs. From around noon, lots of children, youth, adults, and elders would start to enter the Veterans Hall. There were a lot of meaningful reunions. Everybody signed in, got their photo taken, and sat with great expectation for the first meal by the “Koreans from Toronto!” 

We had a lively time of worship: Charley led praise, Caitlin accompanied the music with dance, and Lauren did a great job as a children’s pastor providing a sermon. The youth camp kids had a great time with icebreakers, the kids’ church enjoyed a fun time of crafts, and the adults had jewelry making! After the adults came back from their time of worship, we relished a marvelous, Korean dinner.

We then had our first evening program. Most of the mission team members and people of Sioux Valley walked to the nearby park together. We played a few rounds of tug-of-war in the arbor. One round was Sioux Valley vs. Toronto, and our mission team members lost gloriously. Then, everybody chose between playing at the park, at the skatepark, just conversing in the shade, or playing basketball.

At the end of the day, Rev. Simon announced that due to a sudden funeral, we will have to evacuate the Veterans Hall the next day and find somewhere else to sleep. It was a big shock as it added more work, and hindered the plans of many teams, especially the kitchen team. Even with that news, everybody got ready for bed after yet another arduous day.

(Day 3) Wednesday, July 31 2024

By the third day, most were accustomed to the regular morning routine: get ready, morning devotions, and breakfast. Our worship this morning involved praying for specific people of Sioux Valley that mission team members brought up. We did no Door-To-Door on this day because the whole team was busy repacking to move out of the Veterans Hall. All the sleeping bags, boxes of kitchen utensils, kids’ church stuff, praise equipment, and more had to be reboxed. Everybody worked tirelessly to load up the cars to ship off our boxes to either the nearby church or the community center.

After another tasty lunch, Gene led all the kids and youth to the nearby church for worship. It was nice having worship at the church: Charley and Jaiden sang beautifully, and Rev. Dave delivered a nice sermon.

Most of the counselors and kids were cramped in that little, unventilated church, but we made it work. The kids had a fun time making craft butterflies, the youth enjoyed fun thinking games, and then, we even played outside. Even though it was scorching, kids enjoyed time in the playground beside the church, and also a three-legged race.

During this time, many mission team members worked restlessly moving boxes, and the kitchen team worked away making dinner in their sudden new space.

When it was finally time for dinner, the kids made their way to the community center. The kitchen team provided a scrumptious pasta dinner, and everybody thoroughly enjoyed it. Shortly after dinner, we sent off all the people of Sioux Valley, and the mission team prepared to go to the nearby cemetery.

Shelby Sioux, a longtime resident of Sioux Valley, hosted a funeral service for us in remembrance of her late sister Hannah. Shelby and her sisters met Elder Joon and Sarah when they came to Sioux Valley all the way back in 2002. It was a very emotional time, and it widened the perspective of a lot of mission team members. After the service, mission team members got to walk around the cemetery to look at the graves. We all learned just how entrenched death is in the community of Sioux Valley.

When we returned to the community center, we had our debrief and everybody got ready for bed. As we needed to be out of the Veterans Hall for 24 hours, most of the men slept in the church, while the women slept in the community center.

(Day 4) Thursday, August 1 2024

It was a cool morning and the men made their way to the community center for breakfast. After yet another amazing breakfast by the kitchen team, we had a calming time of morning worship led by Rev. Simon. Mission team members would come up one-by-one and share a specific Sioux Valley person that they think has a special gift. The message of this morning’s devotion was to encourage the people of Sioux Valley to explore their gifts, so they could have more hope.

After another hot yet purposeful Door-To-Door session and another fantastic lunch, the kids made their way to a shaded area in the park. We did as the community center needed to be used by a local committee for a meeting, so we were flexible and decided to use any space we could think of. We had worship at the park with very little equipment. We brought chairs, tables, craft materials, and a guitar. Charley led praise with no microphone, and Rev. Dave did his sermon with just the megaphone. 

Then, the kids made craft baskets with fish and bread inside and the youth kids played fun games like “mafia”. After a long time in the heat playing sports and running around, we finally got the clear to return to the Veterans Hall. 

We entered pretty abruptly into the Veterans Hall, and began cleaning. The kitchen team got to recleaning the kitchen and preparing dinner right away. We kept the kids on one side of the Veterans Hall, and they would play “Octopus” and “Red Light, Green Light” for rounds on end.

After another terrific dinner, we took the kids to the park for one last time. We enjoyed our last times at the playground, playing basketball, and just enjoying our time together. We sent the people of Sioux Valley home, cleaned up, did our final debrief, and had a nice time of fellowship before bed. At this point, a lot of people -especially our young people– were very sick, so Rev. Simon decided we would just prepare for our performances the next morning and sleep for now. Many mission team members enjoyed a nice time eating ramen and snacks, and having fun talking to each other. We cherished our last night in Sioux Valley.

(Day 5) Friday, August 2 2024

This day went by extremely fast as it was the last. Everybody woke up with a sense of excitement and melancholy. There were moments when we wondered how we would make it to the last day, but lo and behold, the last day had already come.

We did no Door-To-Door this morning but had our last breakfast and morning service. Friday’s breakfast featured delicious dumpling soup. Every breakfast was a wonderful marriage of Western and Korean cuisine. We really appreciate the kitchen team. After the morning service, groups went off to practice their acts for the performance night. 

On this day, the Sioux Valley people started coming in earlier at around 11:00. They probably wanted to spend as much time with us as they possibly could. After lunch, we had our final time of praise, dance, and worship. The youth camp went to the church where we wrote “Warm and Fuzzies,” which are basically just kind messages of encouragement to one another. The kids had a fun time of making bracelets, and the youth soon joined. Everybody was making bracelets for one another. Members of the mission team and people of Sioux Valley were exchanging bracelets. It was a beautiful time. After the adults returned from their final session of worship, we had our celebration feast.

The celebration feast featured a ridiculous amount of food: rice, pastas, spicy pork, glass noodles, dumplings, Korean pancakes, and so much more. All mission team members were on deck serving, and the kitchen team worked away dishing more food for so many people. One of the leaders in Sioux Valley donated many juice box packs to us, because they were thankful of our program. We served the juice boxes and enjoyed them. After a hectic dinner, it was time for performances. 

Our setlist was wonderful: captivating music from our young people, an entertaining K-pop performance again from our young people, a moving song from our men, a mesmerizing piano duet by Grayson and Chanjoo, a powerful drum performance by Rev. Dave with a surprise appearance by Sioux Valley resident Justin, and the final group performance by the entire mission team to the song “Changed.”

After all those performances, Rev. Simon encouraged everybody to hold hands in a big circle to sing the song “One Voice” together. Everybody whether they were young or old, Korean or Native, interlocked hands to sing together. Nobody was left behind. It was arguably the most cathartic moment of the whole mission trip.

Then, everybody went around hugging and embracing one another. A lot of tears were shed. The people of Sioux Valley then lined up to get their goody bags with shirts, candy, school supplies and more. Many children and adults said their final goodbyes, and the mission team were busy packing up immediately. After a frantic time of packing, we took our group photo, and before we knew it, the bus came. We loaded up the bus and headed off as it got very dark. We said our final goodbye to the Veterans Hall and to Sioux Valley.

Conclusion

2024’s mission trip was about maintaining the wonderful relationships we have with the people of Sioux Valley. It was about building on the relationships we made in 2023, while also making new connections. From the kids to the leaders, we are so immensely blessed to have met everyone. We thank God for giving us the opportunity to get to know and love all these people. Our hope of establishing new connections with the leaders of the community was fulfilled. We definitely got closer to some of the leaders in Sioux Valley, such as the people working for Jordan’s Principle.

Our hope is that we maintain a positive relationship between the people of Sioux Valley and St. Tim’s as we keep moving forward.

God bless Sioux Valley.

Mission Report Sermon

To learn more, check out the mission report delivered by Rev. Simon Park: Power to Change