Browning, Day 5, De La Salle, March 14, 2025

by carrollministry

Today was our final day with the De La Sale Blackfeet school. Throughout this week I had the pleasure of being with the Little Flower Academy, the 4^th and 5^th grade classes combined and the youngest age group in the school. This experience has been amazing. These kids are amazing. One of the most remarkable things to me was the ease and freedom with which they are able to be children. Earlier this week we learned from one of our speakers how one part of the Blackfeet culture is this ease with which they are able to acknowledge the unpretty and mournful realities. They have a natural and cultural inclination to share with one another in their mourning and suffering as opposed to hiding it from another, and just within one week I have been able to see the ways in which this makes many of them a people who are easy in openness to relationship and easy in giving their love. And so I think despite all of the compounded trauma and adverse childhood experiences these kids have inherited, they are so resilient and kind and childlike at least in part due to this part of their culture. I was blown away by their love, their joy, and their strength in the classroom to struggle to learn new things.

One particular joy from today was just in saying our goodbyes to the kids. One of them gave me a goodbye note today in the morning, saying I wasn’t allowed to open it until later. She had given it to me while in the middle of a giant game of Sharks and Minnows with the 8^th graders so I couldn’t understand when “later” was, but it worked out alright. When we did leave that afternoon and began taking pictures and giving our hugs and saying goodbyes, she gave me a hug and then said ever so quietly that I could open the note now. She had thanked me for helping with math, “the other things,” and wished us save travels back to college. All of my goodbyes were every bit as precious and surprising in how much the kids already cared for us. It is a remarkable touch of the hand of God in this community to have so many wonderful kids who truly get to be kids, and who get to embody the love the Creator has for His children.