Remembering Rosebud

Now it's Cole's turn to tell his mission trip story. Read on... Earlier this summer I went to an indian reservation in South Dakota, called Rosebud. our main purpose of going there was to get to know a few the kids and develop a good relationship with them, then hopefully tell them about God's love. One of the kids that i got to know was a 5 or 6 year old named Mark. Mark young enough that he still had a pure heart that hadn’t been corrupted by the many temptations that the teenagers had to face, like drugs or alcohol. Even so he still had many troubles with his family life, we were talking one day and he told that his mom didn't live with him. We spent a lot of time together playing and talking, just getting to know each other. We had some good talks about the bible, he really liked the books mark and james because his name was Mark James. I talked to him about how the world was created, the ten commandments, and finally how Jesus loved him so much that he was willing die a horrible death just for the sins in little Marks heart. We ended up one night drawing with sidewalk chalk. I drew the bridge illustration, how man was on one side, a cross representing Jesus in the middle and God was on the other side. I told him the only way to get to God was to walk across the cross and ask Jesus to forgive his sins. Mark then proceeded to get up from where we were sitting, Grabbed a piece of chalk, drew a two foot Cross on the ground and walked across it saying that he wanted to follow God now. So I got up and brought him to the Veterans center, where we were staying for the week, and prayed with him to become a Christian. We spent a lot of time together for the rest of the week, and when I had to leave I started to tear up because we had become really good friends, then he drew me a picture of us to playing together and I had trouble getting in the car and saying goodbye to Mark, a good friend, and a new brother in Christ. Cole Haverkamp