Personal Narrative: My Mission Trip To An Indian Reservation

I was sixteen and had just joined a new church youth group. It was my first summer with the group and I was invited to go along with them on a mission trip to an Indian reservation in Bridger, South Dakota. I’d been told many things about the people of Bridger. They had very little in comparison to me but yet they were some of the happiest, most humble people I would have the pleasure of meeting. I was told that seeing what they had and what they made of it would change my perspective on life itself. I decided I would join the group that summer to see if what they said was really true.
The bus ride was about ten and a half hours long, and with it being the middle of summer it was hot and uncomfortable. There were about twenty other teenagers
Anne was twelve and the oldest of the kids that greeted us when we arrived. Although she was the oldest she wasn’t that great of a speaker. She mispronounced most words and got distracted easily like a little kid. Although she talked like a younger kid her knowledge of the community was impressive. She informed me that the little shacks were their houses and that they were government owned. To receive a home each family had to put in an application to apply to live in the houses. Some families were approved, but most were not even though there are empty houses available. The biggest problem with being approved was they had to have some source of income besides what the government was giving them. Anna then introduced me to a family who wasn’t approved a house lived. There I met the twins and their parents. Their home was an old, broken camper that they bought from a man passing by the area. What surprised me about the family is how proud they were about their home. The fact that they bought it with their hard earned money and have fixed it up some was something they were very proud about. And even though it wasn’t what I would call ideal living conditions, they seemed really happy about it and their lives. When we left Anna told me that most people in the community are unable to buy property on their own which is why the family was so proud of their