Day 3 Browning 2017

by carrollministry

So today the boys started off the morning like any other. Thanking God for all he does and freezing our toes off taking showers. Riveting I know. Breakfast, however, was on a whole nother level. Zef and Krista made French toast, hash browns, and sausage that could rival even the best breakfast line cooks, or at least it did in my humble opinion.

After eating and praying of course, we all packed into the cars to drive over to the school. This time the roads were quite exciting. There had been three to four inches of snowfall overnight and it was all, as some of my colleagues say, “sick pow dude.” This “sick pow” meant that if you passed an oncoming semi (we passed 5) that you were going to be flying blind for several seconds. Yes, the mini blizzards following the semi-trucks made normally easy drive quite invigorating. Thankfully we all arrived safely.

I was very excited to tackle another day with these wonderful children. What I think is remarkable about these children is that they have so much love and so much joy that I can’t help but have a great time with them. Even though today I spent a large portion with Fallon correcting long division, I still loved every minute. This also lead to quite the shenanigans later.

Fallon and I were also able to help some kids out one on one with some math. It was cool to see how eager they were to learn once some of the distractions of the classroom were eliminated. Later we got to give more one on one help with some reading and social studies, but we were hardly useful. He handled all of it on his own, rarely needing help.

Near the end of the school day we had the opportunity to go to Mass with the community. It was a beautiful service and it moved the hearts of all of us. The sign of peace is still something that amazes me. The people really make it a point to make sure you know you are loved. Not only that but complete strangers are hugging, how neat is that?!

After Mass we were blessed to listen to Olivia Davis talk to us about the realities of the history of the Blackfeet people and where they are now. It was a real eye opener to the injustices that are still being performed on the reservations, not just from the government to the tribe, but inside the tribe as well. Being ostracized from both communities for being “too Indian” for the white community and “too white” for the Indian community, Olivia was able to show us some of the struggles of these people. She really hammered home for me that things do not get done by just hoping they get done. The government injustices she described are not something that happen overnight and will not be fixed overnight either. What she did leave us with is the realism of the community. The Blackfeet are brutally honest and they are not bad people. There may have been a few bad eggs but the people are loving and welcoming if you give them a chance and they should be compensated for the injustices of the past.

Remember that long division part? Here is the shenanigans, but there is a little back story. For Language Arts Mr. Palaccio asked Fallon and I to create a rap battle about each other, but we could only say nice things about each other. What a nightmare. I am not a poet and everyone knows it (now). So we went off to the office to try and write something that would not make us look too foolish. It was about 20 minutes of nervous shifting and laughing at the awful lyrics we would have to perform. Luckily, they ran out of time and we did not need to duke it out, but that was not the end of it. Dan got word and just ran with it. So here is the rap that he came up with I hope you enjoy.

–Alex Broyles

Welcome to Broyles time

Hot from on high

I roast long hand division like a savory numeric pi

I got the black wavy locks

Teeth like chalk

And I be dividing digits like Jesus did flocks

Of goats and sheep

Count em

Little Bo Peep

Cause when I pick up the lead I’m gonna bring the heat

Ticongeroga na-na-na-number two “hoooooo”