Hey, good afternoon, Pastor Becky.
Afternoon, Pastor Joel.
What, what people, uh, will not
know, except that now I'm telling them, is that I've
had just some major technical issues
all day, and actually the last couple days with Zoom.
And so, um, if you're feeling bad about,
oh, I'm just not very technically savvy, Pastor Becky
was saying like, oh, well, Joel, you're savvy.
I'm like, oh, I am failing so bad today, right?
It just...
Those days happen.
It's like a, uh, testament or the
same way things happen with day-to-day
life and with ministry.
Like...
It's an example.
Oh, exactly right.
Well, so, um, I, I don't know exactly when
this conversation will, will, uh, go out into the world.
And it's March 14th, Saturday, March 14th
day, and we're all waiting across the state for this
blizzard to hit.
Uh, how's how's it looking out there in Rapid City, Pastor Becky?
So right now, yeah, it was just dense fog and it's like we're
awaiting the snow coming in and, uh,
churches are wondering, when do they
make that call?
Uh, depending on their location and the
path of the storm out in this
area as well too.
So it's it's almost like this anticipation waiting game.
I get this little glee about a possible snow
day because we haven't really had a lot of them, but then
also like out here on this day, like that hope.
knowing that there are places that are dealing with that fire.
Forest fires.
Places like in Custer, Custer Lutheran Fellowship
or they're really jumping in to help out their community and,
um, anticipating, you know, what can they
do to care for those who might be displaced and evacuated?
Yeah, and we've of course,
well, you you know, well, uh, your work as a
rural ministry ambassador out uh, in the Bear Butte
Conference, West River, you know a lot of those places, and so I'm
glad we get to, to chat right now.
Um, This is a long time
coming, a goal I had when The
1st ambassadors started, which was now just a
little over a year ago.
Um, you and the other ambassadors
started January of 2025.
And my goal had been to do
these little interviews with each of you and to kind
of, because we were building the plane while we were already flying it.
And, and those,
we just, I just never found the time.
Um, and so, uh, part
of the reason why I wanted to have this with you this
week is that this is actually your last week as
a rule ministry ambassador, because you are moving on to,
uh, what sounds like a really interesting and
lovely call where you're going to be interim pastor
for Lutheran Memorial in Pier, right?
Correct, correct.
All right.
Yeah, up to a possible two-year.
Uh, interim, long term.
So, yeah.
Um, get ready, you know, go keep continue the
work that they've been doing in their transition time and then get ready for
what works for them.
So, yeah.
So adapting, like rural ambassador, I learned a
lot about adapting to the needs and the
changes, like sometimes, like, I'm not a plane person,
but I think, well, like building the plane as we go, we had, somehow,
sometimes we have to change the model.
The planes, you know, like a restart.
And like moving into this
new thing, it wasn't because I didn't like what I was doing.
I actually really appreciated that, but I
think this is kind of grown out of that.
So, it's, It is, like,
the needs out in Bear Butte have been
different than other places that the ambassadors are.
And so, it's just trying to connect where
those needs are for congregations and then for uh,
roster leaders and, you know, like I just met this
last week with 2 vicars that are serving and
had conversations with them and just talking through
what ministry is like, what their next
steps are, what their needs are, you
know, and they're both, you know, both doing well.
So it's just,
There's just a lot of changes and it's like,
and you never know what the week will look like, really.
There's there's a couple of, uh, threads there that I
want to pull on a little bit.
Um, One is the
fact that all of the ambassadors.
You've all embodied the role
differently, right?
And I think that's actually a strength, but it's, then it
also becomes a little bit hard to define what an ambassador is
because it's somewhat how each
of us embody the role and the needs of
the local community, right, of the people,
because we don't all live in the same place.
And so I think that's
a strength, but then it becomes a little harder to define what it is.
And I think maybe one of the things I want to talk about here
for the rest of the synod as they listen in, is
the fact that there's this kind of openness to what it can be.
And for you, one of the things I really valued is how
you spent so much time with, um, uh,
seminarians who are doing contextual learning, uh, out
in the Bear Butte Conference, uh, uh, those
vicars that you were just mentioning that you were
really the person, the ambassador who is most closely tied
to the rural ministry immersion for seminarians
program, which is also part of what's funded by the,
the, the Lily Grant that we've received, the journeying together in
Christ initiative, that that
really is you doing a lot of that.
And so, And people don't maybe know that, right?
About that, that, that,
that you took on those roles and, and from
our, earlier conversation that I think you, I, I don't know
if you, I know that you felt called to that work, right?
That, yeah.
I really I really appreciate that part of it.
Like, um, just being supportive
and, uh, helping
the, them in their practical
ministry time as well as, They need to study.
Classes, they need to study.
I mean, they're doing, and then they have things in their personal life.
So they're learning right away how to balance
ministry and,
um, family and and all those things all together.
And it's been fun to see the congregations working with
them when the congregations are like, you know, I'd get a phone call
and be like, you know, we think our vicar is doing too much.
Like, we love it, but, you know, we know they're a
student 1st and it's like, ding, ding, ding, you got it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh, that's great.
Oh, see, I mean, so the, just
the fact that I, that I, I want people to hear
that about what a great kind of
thing that is to, to have the synod be able to
have these roles and that each of you as ambassadors
have taken on different things.
And so I, There's part of me that wants to
talk about all the other ambassadors right now too, because they're doing really good things too,
but that just means that I actually have to have conversations with them
for another episode of Post on the Road, right?
Um, uh, to, to see how
these different things are happening around the Synod and and
how this work is kind of growing in
this really kind of organic way, right?
I mean, I think it's just great.
And I can say this now
that I'm really going to miss having you.
I was thinking about on the drive into the office today.
About, like, why is it
that I feel so connected to Pastor Becky Piper?
And I think there's a couple reasons and and I
just want to share them what was in my mind and and
see what, see what you think.
Um, I think one of them, even
in the beginning, when you when you talked about the snowstorm coming and
not having a snow day in a while, I mean, that connects
me back to as a kid growing up in northern Wisconsin,
and how much I loved snow days, right?
Um, and then I
think fairly early on, you and I connected about the fact that we
both actually grew up in the Driftless area,
where the glaciers never touched, and these kind of just,
um, the, I grew
up on the Wisconsin side, you grew up in the Minnesota side, but all of these deep
hills and and kind of cliffs
and other things that happen there.
I think that, yeah, I think that's one of the reasons why I feel like,
yeah, connected in some ways.
And so I just get to name that I feel,
going to miss that now that you're moving on to other things.
That was a part of this is like, I've appreciated
you, and I appreciate the other rural ambassadors like
we get together oftentimes this way via Zoom
because we're all over, but just
the different backgrounds and supporting each other
and sharing the stories and, you know, this
happened or this is what I'm doing and I'm amazed by all
that, but then, yeah, that those things
that pop up and you're like, oh, yeah, that's a connection.
And I think that for me, that's when you think about defining this
work, like how do you define it, if it looks so different, it's almost
like being a connector for the South Dakota Synod.
And it's like, um,
you know, I think about that, um, little get to know you thing.
I've used it, at different times and ministry
where you have, you know, the ball yarn, you hold on to it and you
send out the ball, you hold on to it and send out the ball
to the next person and they hold on to, you end up with this web.
So you're all kind of connected.
That's what we, do, as
rural ambassadors and then with the synod as well too.
Like some of those strands might be pretty long.
Uh, some distance, but there still is that connection.
And, you know, I appreciate the geography
that, like, like I have that deep sense to the driflest region.
And when I came many years
ago, came out to South Dakota, I was like, I had
this almost panic, like it's so open.
And and so it was like understanding people's
love for the space and the geography
they're in, just like out in Bear Butte, either the Black Hills,
the sacredness or the time on the prairie, the slim
beautes, like there's all this beauty and to spend time.
listening to how
people are connected to it and how they care for
those places as well as, um,
that's helped me.
You know, like I have this sense of offer that the prairie space as well.
While still I feel tied back to,
you know, that place that I grew up in.
Um, and again, so that's again, that connector.
It connects, but you connect people and you connect place
and connect geography and that all comes
back to these different giftedness of the rural
ambassadors that each one has and.
So it's kind of exciting to know that, that there
can be that difference.
Um, but yeah, defining it.
Like, one set job description.
But it can't be too specific because
then it boxes up the ministry
and the work that could happen.
Yep, exactly.
Yeah, so you were just making a connection for me.
Um, In my mind, I hadn't
made this connection until, um, just
now, as you were talking.
Um, last February,
2025.
I, um, was invited to spend
some time with Brother
Jonathan Oldhorse and Woyatan out in the hills.
And after those 4
or 5 days together, he mentioned about
how this, this, uh, book God is Red, um,
by Vine DeLoria Jr.
was a big touchstone book for him.
And so I got it on audiobook and that 6
hour drive or so from out kind
of deep in the hills back to Sioux Falls.
I listened, and I kept listening, right,
and then picked up a copy.
And, and one of
the theologies that's central to,
um, Lakota spirituality and
and maybe, um, maybe
even indigenous,
um, uh, thinking about God of
theology is that God is a god of place.
Um, whereas much of
what I was brought up in, in kind of European
Christianity, Lutheran,
German, Slovak, right?
Norwegian, for you maybe, was
that God is a god of time.
Hmm, yeah.
And But I,
the, the more I engage in this work, and the
more that I see how you embody
ministry as ambassador, in the hills,
and how the other ambassadors do their work in their places.
It rings so true to me.
Um, that the Lakota
understanding of God as a god of place is so powerful.
Um, Yeah, there's just something
uniquely, lovely about it.
Now, I think maybe one of the other ways that you and I connected was
that we're both a little, or at least I experience
of you as a bit of a bookworm.
Is that true?
That is true.
All right, okay.
So I, I, I say that because
As part of your kind of just ongoing education while your ambassador,
you started thinking about how to be an interim minister
or interim ministry because that's some of what the ambassadors
sometimes asked to do.
And so you picked up this Norman Bedroth book,
um, Interim Ministry in Action, and you
shared it, and you said, with me, you said, it's a really good book.
And so I picked up a copy.
And then immediately the day that
I got my 1st copy was when our newest
ambassador, Tom Opoien, came into my office and everyone,
Tom Opoien, Pastor Tom Opoien, is now an ministry,
uh, rural ministry ambassador starting this month in March.
And I said, Tom, would you be interested in something like this?
He's like, yes.
And so I gave him the copy.
So now I have my next copy and I got,
um, uh, 2 of them.
So the next one I have to give away.
I won't lose my own.
Uh, so, um,
I haven't read it yet.
Um, but you're, you're moving.
It was it was a movement enough that now you're moving into your 1st
official role as an interim minister, right, in Pierre.
Right.
Like, I had done a short term interim,
kind of not as intentional, uh,
in Belle Fourche in between their time.
So, like the book came
along with, um, uh,
continuing education in intentional interim training, uh, that I audited.
So I audited the course, and,
and so the book really is a, that book is particularly
a tool for congregations that they could utilize that.
So it's got some pieces in it.
And again, I always think it's not like taking it as a exact
step by step, you must do this because again, each
congregation has a different culture or place.
Right.
Some of it might not be helpful or work.
Um, So I might have another book recommendation
for you once I finish it on managing transitions.
Okay.
In peace, but it, I mean, I,
yeah, I took the course in light of rural
ambassadors in the, the gear in, we're in places.
We might be doing pulpit supply.
We might be sharing resources, preparation, we might be there
when they're in transition.
And so thinking of pieces or tools or
even our, um, presence,
like when we, as an rural ambassador step
into a situation, we might not know all the story.
So to be mindful
of our own selves going into that and then what could we offer them?
So that's why that, piece and then that training.
I thought there's, yeah, so there's some things about it that
could be helpful.
And I think with the rural ambassadors, I think if they,
maybe get to experience them in their space,
It opens them up to looking at what,
Does their congregation look like and what could their needs be?
Maybe those are different than what they thought they'd be.
Like maybe they're open to something more or
to shared ministry.
I mean, we're seeing a lot of shared ministries or and some of
the financial capacity for congregations.
You know, it's, it can be really hard and smaller
churches, rural places, and I think the
synod leadership has a heart for that.
I've seen and experienced
it and I hope that congregations experience a piece of that.
Also through the rural ambassadors.
like this is part of the why.
Um, that we're, we're doing this and
why having folks connected, um,
through all of that.
So yeah, that that having a resource,
a book, a resource or a course, you
know, you take parts and pieces of that that might work.
Um, and then some stuff you
let go of because it's not gonna fit.
Um, are synod or it's not going to
fit the congregation that you move into, but it's nice to have
something to start with.
For me.
And pieces that are in,
tools that are in that book could be something that,
a rural ambassador
might say that would be a useful piece for this congregation that I visited
or I spent time with their council because sometimes, you
know, I've gone in as a rural ambassador to meet
with a council.
know, since I'm here in Sioux Falls and building
the plane as we go.
Um, I don't have as many, maybe
opportunities to be joining council meetings.
And that's maybe good.
Because I,
you know, I, you've been at this a lot longer than I have.
You know, I've been an ELCA roster now
for just over 5 years and you
have a much longer breadth of experience, not only
as a rostered clergy person, but also as
a South Dakotan, right?
Because how many years have you been here in South Dakota?
Oh, since?
What, when did I start?
My 1st call.
Let's see.
Uh, graduated 2000 yeah, 2005.
So, yeah, long time.
All right.
I've been in this synod.
The whole time, right?
And so I think that there's, there's, this speaks to,
I think, that god of place kind of, uh, piece
because all of the other ambassadors.
You and I are the South
Dakota newbies.
Because all the other ambassadors have lived here their whole life.
Right?
And so that rootedness is
a strength that then allows
them to be that trusted person to, to,
when there's a need or when there's a question.
And so I know the other masters, just like you, were saying,
get invited to council meetings when there's a, a,
a sticky widget or uh, something to consider or
maybe a partnership that those kinds of conversations are happening.
Um, because the trustedness of you're my neighbor.
And um, I want to have
a trusted conversation with you.
So, because I'm the newest one to South Dakota.
I know that that doesn't happen as much for me, and that's, as
it should be, especially if we think about God as being a god of place.
Um, right?
It's just fascinating.
So, and then, but that, that, that thinking, that theology
is, um, just lovely and new to me, and
I'm just so glad that, that, Jonathan Old
Horse brought it to me, right, in the last year.
So that's part of my growth over this year.
So, um, you know, one of the books that,
uh, uh, we've read a couple books now together as, as,
uh, uh, a team of, of rural ministry ambassadors,
the 1st one I brought was this, um, I just found this book so fascinating.
This is the Spirit of Hope by Byung-Chul Han.
And I brought it, it was still in my car, and
there's all these red underlines.
Here's what I underlined, actually page 32 and 33.
Forgiveness relates to the past by
undoing what happened and thus creating free
space for a new beginning.
A little later in that paragraph.
Promises are isolated islands
of certainty in an ocean of uncertainty.
Then moving to page 33.
If forgiveness makes the past manageable.
A promise does this for the future.
According to Arndt forgiving and
promising are 2 fundamental conditions of human action.
When we had a conversation, all ambassadors that were,
it was really helpful to just hear how other people engage with it.
But when I think of, like, forgiveness and promising,
like, I can think of, like, in my mind right away, jump to congregations
that have had things that affect them, and
how it, takes
some time, they get to a place of forgiveness and look back,
and then it helps them focus on that promise
that is for their future, or that they realize that they have a future.
Like, so, and so that the
distance from the event or
the situation that they've been able to forgive.
And then the movement into the
promise of who they are.
And I, as of late, I,
you know, had conversations with some congregation members about
that, about things that had happened to them.
And where they reflected and,
um, said, you know, they, wow, yeah, I was a
participant in that, you know, before I wanted to just pass that off.
somebody else, but I was a participant in that.
And moving, it's like what
that looks like for them now in moving forward.
Versus, um, maybe situations where
that forgiveness and promise, like it feels like
there's some being stuck.
in it.
And so it's like, if they have, there's no, how
do you have the promise if you haven't been able to let go?
It's not that you have to, I mean, you want to,
You don't completely forget because if that situation arises,
you want to have tools and things, like for that, But,
um, you get stuck and
then there's no, there's not room for the promise.
So congregations might be struggling through that and I've seen like they haven't quite yet.
Um,
Had that sense of forgiveness.
Um, relationship
with a synod or relationship with a previous leader or something.
And so then it's like, how do we move into the promise where,
It's not just the concept or idea.
Right.
It lived experience, yeah.
Yeah.
I, um, you
know, I, I, I didn't know if I would, um, go,
uh, here in this conversation, but I, I, I think I do.
I want to, I want to say again, I mean, this is
a private conversation you and I had, but it leads to this idea of
being stuck, right?
And um, so the the book I'm, uh, this
last year, because of all the driving that this work is, I'm
doing audiobooks, a lot of audiobooks.
And it almost becomes a, um, a way
that I, um, kind of triage.
What do I really want to spend time reading when I can actually physically hold a book, right?
And so, um, one of the books that I,
um, engaged with at seminary, um,
but really just to like write a paper, right?
Uh, was A Failure of Nerve by
Edwin Friedman.
Have you read this book?
I have.
It's been a while.
The idea of being stuck, right?
This, this, um,
It's, it's part of this book, um,
uh, it's trying to address leadership,
uh, in culture and in lots of places.
And so I was, um, thinking about,
I think it would have maybe been the 1st or 2nd week.
Really early on when when when we started.
And I made this dumb statement.
Um, and and I want to
say the statement because I don't want to hide the fact of how dumb it was.
It
was, I think it was in an email, right?
And I was comparing something and making a, a really,
um, just biased slur and I, whatever it
was, I don't remember what it was
I was describing, but I was like, ah, it's kind of like the redheaded stepchild.
And immediately
after I wrote it and sent off that email, I was like, does Pastor
Becky, have red hair?
Oh, right.
And I was stuck.
This is what I was thinking about today on the driveway to the office.
Um, that I was
so fearful.
about
crashing the plane.
We had just started.
that I think that that,
I didn't immediately,
um, out
of my own fear, right?
That I didn't immediately address it.
But you
unstucked me because you did, that you reached out to
me privately, and said, that's not okay.
And I was like, yes.
And so I was out, right?
it was it was so helpful.
And I think it's one of the reasons why I have so valued over
the last, you know, 14 months.
The fact that, that, Because
we got through that, because you said that wasn't okay,
and I agreed, and then we talked about it a little bit as a, in the
next ambassador meeting,
that there was, It
seasoned the last year really well.
But my failure of nerve wouldn't have been addressed
if you hadn't said something.
And I feel like that's a that's a model that
I want to lift up for people who listen to these little
podcasts and the people as they go to their council meetings and
as they engage in community.
Um,
Yeah, because we have a route for that.
Like what I appreciated, because I mean, I felt like,
I felt like I could go to even
say, oh, hey, maybe you didn't realize this, like this is how this
is how I experienced this matter with this.
Like, sometimes, like, I know I use
a phrase and not understanding
the meaning behind it, and then if
somebody is able to point that out, it's like, now I know.
Now I know better.
So I can do better.
And the fact that you were willing
and wanting to have the whole ambassadors talk about that
so that when we meet together, it's like, this is how we can address, let's be open.
If we hear something or and
like modeling that, because I think you're right,
like, is this is a model.
I mean, we often have that for congregations
and behavior together.
Like, you know, you go to the person.
I mean, scriptural, you know, you
go to the person or then, you know, there's a model for that and
how often do failure of
nerve, you know, we don't, we just like, I'm just going to be quiet about it and it'll go away.
Like, it, doesn't really go away.
Right.
And, and well, and like, you know, one of those things that's,
that's true about our, our, um, our ELCA
congregational constitutions, right?
The scripture that is lifted up within the Constitution of every congregation
is Matthew 18.
And it is that, um, yeah,
uh, this is how we are to talk to one another when we're in disagreement.
And so I think that's,
yeah, really good.
Um, Well, I,
all that was in my mind this morning is I knew that this
was going to be, Well, one
of the time, so the last time that you and I officially kind of have this on
the same team, though, we're obviously always on the same team.
Right?
Uh, and I do agree with the idea that
there's there isn't really us and them, there's just us and more of us.
Um, and Christ
breaking into our place is
to, in a lot of ways, show that that place
over there is also where Jesus is.
Um, and it could be as close
by as the town next over, where it might
be as, you know, distant as halfway around the world, which
sometimes that's what it feels like between Rapid City and Sioux Falls.
So, um,
Because I'm trying to, right, keep those conversations going, right?
Especially when we have like a group like with the ambassadors reading,
uh, the Gift of Small, Alan Stanton.
And um, and I sent copies of
all that to the um, small town and rural task force.
Um, and of course, uh, in
the in the year since I read, uh, God is
Red by Vine DeLoria, um, the First
Nations Psalms has come out.
Um, Okay.
And so that one is, um,
something that is a lovely, just stays in my backpack, right?
Um, and now I'm gonna, you know,
um, Because philosophy
is not everyone's cup of tea, but I, um, when
I was preaching, uh, for
you, uh, When was this?
Was this February 15th?
Was it a month ago?
That I was.
My gosh, it probably was already a month.
Yeah, so a month ago.
I was filling in for you at Grand River Lutheran Church in Buffalo.
And um, And
after the service, uh, I
drove a highway that I hadn't driven before.
Which is kind of rare for
me because I traveled so many years as
a musician all across the states and
and all across the world.
And so I was on a new stretch of road.
And I remembered how, how awesome that
felt back when it was all so new in the late 90s
and I was traveling, because I grew up in a small town in northern Wisconsin
and I, my, I didn't travel, right?
My, my folks, um, my
dad ran a, uh, he's chiropractor and had his own health clinic,
my mom was a nurse and when they would leave, they would have to close shop.
And so the only real trip as a kid growing
up was to go and see um, the grandparents in central Illinois.
Right?
And that my mom's folks and my my
dad's folks were in small town, Wisconsin too.
And so, um, I got
this wanderlust as of 18 year old in college.
And so just traveling like that, um,
a new road always felt so welcoming to me.
And that happened after leaving Buffalo and it
hadn't happened in a long time.
And so I'm driving through, and I get to the,
is it the Slim Buttes?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, isn't it gorgeous?
It's just amazing.
You come up on this thing and it's just like, what is this?
And I don't even, what's the what's the highway?
Now, see, I almost like, I feel like maybe I'm
dishonoring it because like now people will go on and go find this
place because it's just this little gem, right?
yeah, right, yeah.
Uh, be quiet about it.
But, um, what's that, what is that road that goes between Buffalo and Bison?
Yes, Highway 20.
Highway 20.
In the West, leaving Buffalo,
take Highway 20, you go through this area called the Slim Buttes, which
is just fascinating geography.
And then I come to Bison and I come to Bison to hang
out with Eliza Blue.
who is uh, uh, a musician
here in South Dakota.
And, and she's, she and I, we end up, She
and her whole family, her husband, her kids.
We're all just hanging out on the porch and and just talking
about life.
And so, um, because I
am such a fan now of this Korean German philosopher
who wrote this book that we read together, that
now, I'm sorry, you know, like this one I'm reading.
The Crisis of
Narration, uh, The Burnout Society, right?
These are all super accessible.
Um, uh, especially if you're into Korean,
German Catholic philosophy.
But here's his newest one and so
I ordered 2 copies and and I got one to
Eliza and one to me.
So this is, we're reading it together.
Um, in praise of the earth.
Oh, okay.
And so, I don't have a
review for it yet.
Uh, but, um, this is, this
is my, when I have time to physically be in the same
space, which might be because of the snowstorm.
I get to read it.
Yeah, because I won't be driving.
I just saw it was maybe it was the South Dakota Library Association.
They put something about, um, they put the state of Dakota
on and they were talking about the snowstorm, and based on how
much snow parts of the state we're going to get, they
listed it based on how many books you should have available to read during that time.
So if it's 8 to 10 inches, you
know, you should have 8 to 10 bucks.
And I was like, I love it.
I love that.
That's great
Because like that learning, but yeah, that
Slim Buttes area, like I, one
thing I've appreciated with some of the driving around is the exploration
of places and I, then I have a list
of things that I'd like to do to explore.
I love, and I've always done that.
Like, I'll go to a, a place that's, you
know, everybody, like, everybody goes and does this when they're here.
I'm like, well, what is something that most people don't do?
And then that's what I seek out.
Or it's like, over to the Slim
Buttes, and there's a little campground there,
but it, there's a viewpoint,
and I, there's some kind of trails, they're not like highly
marked, but I just go, kind of explore.
And I know I, I would, you know, post a
picture and people be like, 0 my gosh, there's mountain lions, you know, be be, be careful.
I'm like, I also live in the area where there's mountain lions too.
Right, yeah.
That's a part of it.
But just the, like being,
Even when I've done that, they'll be
like, okay, here's another 2 people that are exploring
or I can see off in the distance, somebody on a horse, you
know, they're enjoying that area too, but,
you know, the cave hills are, uh, also interesting
uh, location or like kind of taking
a road and seeing the area.
There's more there in some of these rural places.
My aunt, I think somebody's
like, oh, Pastor Becky, you're off in the middle of nowhere.
And one of my aunts from Minnesota said, oh,
Becky, you're in the middle of somewhere.
And I'm
like, yes, we're in the middle of somewhere.
I mean, it's like, oh, you can't go live in the middle of nowhere.
You're in the middle of something, please.
places and congregations
and small towns and it's like you are in the middle
of somewhere and relating it to that.
So what, in praise of the earth, was that title of that book that
you're gonna...
Yeah.
So that's a...
Like ministry in the middle of somewhere.
what we're doing.
That's exactly right.
I mean, and I think, um, I mean, I
think this maybe is the, the,
natural ending, right?
What a great way to end this conversation. to
say that, um, we're in the middle of somewhere.
And that leads me back to that.
Um, just key insight
of Vine DeLoria, uh, Lakota,
um, spiritual leader, who
wrote God is Red, when he highlights how God
is a god of place.
that you're never in the middle of nowhere.
And,
um, That's, that's
powerful, and I think, um, Yeah,
some of the learning that I, I, I got
to do with you this year.
So I'm really thankful.
And I think that's it just
says something like, like, we are
learning as we go along as well.
Like there's things that we're learning.
Um, and that's,
It's been great, and
it's like, you know, I joked about getting a, a
title still, so I can say I'm still a part of the group.
Honorary ambassador.
We need we need to actually create that Ambassador Emeritus.
I love it.
But, you know.
Well, yeah, the connect,
like the connections between folks remains,
you know, you have a new ambassador, come on, um,
that, um, is going up to
do something else, uh, in ministry, but then it's like there's
those connections and the congregations, you know, they're
they're still connected too.
So we,
I appreciate it, appreciate your work and the
work that continues on for rural ministry.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Thanks for being a part of this team.
I mean, it's just been a great year together and.
And just so you know, South Dakota Synod, we are in
conversations about who will be the next ambassador
out in Bear Butte, maybe even more than one.
And so, uh, those that information is coming soon too.
All right, everybody.
The storm is coming.
But, um, know that
you are in the middle of somewhere.
And that God is there with you and God is there with us.
God bless you all this week.
Thank you, Pastor Becky.
Take care.
All right, bye bye.