Moving over to LightShine.....

Greetings Followers of The Trinity and The Trailer Park! I will be combining my blogs down to one...so please follow me from now on at LightShine Pine Ridge at www.kcwillis.blogspot.com.  This blog will be deleted in the next few days. I will be blogging more reguarly at that site. I have a few things to say and a few stories to tell. Thanks!

Torn Supremacy

This is a special piece to me. Collaged with torn pieces of reprints of the original hand-written Fort Laramie Treaty. A Treaty that the United States Government broke in so many ways as to render it as torn as this collage.

Collage on board 14x24....ready to frame...signed...$220. With frame and under glass $265. The sale of the piece will help us pay for our trip to the Pine Ridge Reservation later this week.

If it doesn't say "sold" under the piece...it is still available.

Thank you!



$220 Unframed

$265 Framed

Heading to the Reservation

Happy New Year! And so our new year begins with our next trip to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation scheduled for this coming Monday! It has been a particularly cold December and continues now into January. We are happy that our multiple truck loads of goods will include mostly mattresses (this is an essential need to get children and elders off the floor) and over 150 blankets and boxes and boxes of coats.

Our trips to Pine Ridge are funded entirely with donations from friends and family. We need to raise enough money to get us there, keep us there a week or so and get us back home. Please help us help the Lakota people during this hard winter. You can send a payment directly to me through Paypal by using my business address of lightshinelakota@yahoo.com or, for a tax deductible receipt, use the Donate button at LightShine Pine Ridge. You may call me at 719-510-3433 to use a credit card directly. Checks can be sent to us at LightShine, PO Box 36, Whiteclay Nebraska 69365. In most browsers the Donate button below will also work.

Thank you so much for all you have done this past year...if you have wanting to help, but have not as yet...we welcome your joining our family of people with a heart for The Lakota.

God Bless You.....
KC, Meghan and Robert

The LightShine Crew


**To see a 5 minute video of some of our favorite images of 2012 from our time on The Rez check out this link....http://youtu.be/LLbherw5EZA.

Rez Images...2012

Rez Dogs

Meghan and Protector

If you are an animal lover, the Pine Ridge Reservation can be a tough place to be. Dogs by themselves and in packs are a common sight. In the summer they are hot, hungry, and scared. And in the winter they are cold, hungry, and scared. There is no shelter, no spay and neuter program and animal control is an occasional rounding-up of strays, who are then taken out to the dump and shot. The dump is also where unwanted dogs and puppies are...well...dumped. Hundreds and hundreds of animals do not survive their first year on the Rez.

But thanks to dedicated Lakota animal lovers on Pine Ridge, a wonderful Native man who works at the dump, and a white rancher from nearby Gordon named Miss Jean, hundreds, if not thousands of Rez dogs have been saved and are living in homes all across America - including mine. Miss Jean has been known to race the 50 miles to the Rez, when she gets wind of an impending “sweep” of the strays and fills up her truck with as many dogs as she can get her hands on. Sometimes going many miles into the heart of the reservation to find the “lost ones”...those who are wandering in the middle of nowhere far from any handouts or trash cans. It was in one such remote location that my friend Charlie Yellowbird and I were driving one day, when we had to slow down as 2 skinny dogs crossed the road in the middle of nowhere.

Charlie spoke under his breath more to himself than to me.

“Survivors”, he whispered, never taking his eyes off the dogs. He was honoring them with the word; perhaps he recognized himself as the third member of the pack. Survivors all.

 But nowhere on the Rez is this word more appropriate than for the dogs and the humans who live on the streets of Whiteclay. A mere 1000 yards off the Rez, Whiteclay, Nebraska is home to 14 permanent residents who have roofs over their heads.  It is also home to 50 or so who call the streets and the abandoned houses that dot the two-block-long town...home. At any given time there are 10 adult dogs and an assortment of puppies trying to survive the summer, but most won't survive the winter. The Rising Warriors of the streets are family we know and love, and to many of them the street dogs are their family. They share their food with the strays, name them, sleep with them and on more than once occasion have covered the dead body of a dog with the one blanket they possess.
The streets of Whiteclay are dark and violent for man, woman and dog. For every dog who has someone who loves them, there are two dogs who are chased off, kicked, punched and cussed at; dogs who will not know a gentle touch unless someone places a blanket over them when their street hell is over.

Protector

But one four legged girl has it better than most. She is loved by he Rising Warriors...even
revered. They call her “Protector”.  Rumor has it, that when bad spirits try to get into the abandoned house where they sleep, Protector will bark and scare them off.  Many know her, some love her, but to Robert Little Crow, a beautiful soul whose address has been the streets of Whiteclay for 15 years...she is his best friend.  A former radical member of the oft-violent American Indian Movement, Robert these days is more likely to be found being sure Protector is free from ticks and is often seen limping across the street with an empty broken dish of some sort or another filled with water for "his girl." Feed Robert and you will be feeding Protector.

More than once, we have rescued a dog from the Rez streets and taken them out to Miss Jean's ranch, but it has never crossed my mind to grab Protector; she belongs to Robert- she is his guardian angel. But the week before Thanksgiving, myself, my niece Meghan and my nephew Robert decided we were going to pluck a little black and white  mutt named “Oreo” off the streets before we headed back home. Simple enough? Not so much.

Oreo

Oreo had hung out all day long in front of our building, but now that it was time to dog-nap her she was nowhere in sight. Neither was the other pup, Essie, we had decided needed to get off the streets, who seemed to have gotten wind of an ensuing liberation and stuck by our side all day.

My nephew came in and said. “We have to go if we are gonna get out to the ranch before dark, but the dogs aren’t here.”

Not only were the two we wanted not there...there was not a stray in sight. I had never seen that before.  Streets completely void of dogs. “Let’s pray ‘ em in!” I said with a laugh, but began to do just that. All of a sudden dogs appeared from behind buildings, from under cars and the two we wanted, walked right up to us. What happened next was just a little extra “God thing” thrown in to remind us who was in charge of the rescuing around here.

Robert Little Crow

Robert Little Crow hurried across the street as fast as his two bad legs would let him, “KC- wait!” he shouted. The three of us turned around, concerned by the urgency in his voice.

“Take my girl! Please! Take my girl!  She’s gonna have puppies. The last litter froze to death.” He had tears in his eyes. “Please get her out of here. We’ve spent two winters together in that basement over there. But she needs a better life than this.” So do you, I thought to myself.

“Are you sure?” I asked, not knowing if she would come to us, let alone allow us to pick her up to put her in the truck.  Robert seemed to read my mind and he started to call her name. She appeared in seconds, answering the call of her trusted friend.
 
Robert knelt beside her hugging her. “I’ll miss her, I’ll miss her.” He kept repeating, tears streaming down his face.  Now you have to understand...when you live on the streets of Whiteclay you pretty much own nothing. Maybe you’ve been able to keep a backpack with a handful of this and that from being stolen while you were passed out drunk. Everything Robert owned and loved-he was hugging.

Without saying another word, he lifted Protector and put her in the truck. Just like that her new llife had begun...and just like that Robert Little Crow became my hero.

Meghan and Essie on her rescue ride

 Miss Jean’s ranch is miles off the main highway and then miles more into the center of the vast ranchlands outside Gordon, NE. In the back of the van we were using were 3 dogs who had never been in a vehicle in their lives, who had never been put in a small space with other dogs and the sometimes-to-be-feared humans. My nephew, Robert crawled in the back with two of them and Meghan held one in her lap. Protector took quite awhile before she relaxed enough to lay down. An hour and many miles on gravel roads later, we delivered the comandeered canines to Miss Jean’s RezQ Ranch where they were sure to spend this night safe, fed and warm for the first time in their lives.  







I couldn’t wait to tell Robert Little Crow how content Protector seemed and to be and thank him again for what he had done for her and her unborn litter. But what could wait was my telling him two days later...with temps in the single digits at night...that Protector had vanished; in the dark and the cold, more in the middle of nowhere than ever. Was she looking for Robert? Who knows. She was just gone.

 Miss Jean looked for her for days; hours every day, she was so distraught. Never in 25 years of rescuing dogs had she had a “non-feral” dog just vanish. All I could think about was how Protector would not have had any way of knowing how remote of an area she was in. I imagined her hungry, cold, very pregnant and lost wandering the vast plains until she couldn’t. I prayed for God to keep her safe, I placed angels around her (I do that alot) and I asked Him not to let her suffer. I knew we had done the right thing, but I still felt guilty.

 A week later Jean stopped looking and I stopped praying. Protector was gone. God was in charge, as He always is. He knew where she was and he had not let her suffer. I was sure of it. He had protected Protector.

Two days ago it had been exactly a month since Protector had vanished into thin air. Robert, Meghan and I have been back in Colorado this whole time and I have not seen Robert Little Crow. He did not know that we had lost “his girl.” At night in my prayers, when I placed angels around Robert (and Eli and Donovan and Granny Back Pack “etc.) I prayed that God would give me the right words to tell him when the moment came.
 
But thanks to Miss Jean's words on the other end of the phone...those words would not be necessary.

“You’ll never guess who is in my living room!” I knew immediately.

“What the heck!” was all I could say.
 
A friend of Miss Jean’s had been feeding a stray at the hospital for over a week, thinking it belonged to one of his employees. Earlier that day when he saw the guy he pointed to the dog and told him he shouldn’t let his dog run loose like that.

His employee said “That’s not my dog.”  I'd like to think God then commented, “No... that’s my dog.”

Jean’s friend immediately scooped up the cold, hungry dog and took her to the only place to take a dog... Miss Jeans house.
 
“I can’t imagine what she must have been through.” Jean just kept saying over and over again. “It was so cold the first few nights after she disappeared. And Gordon is over 15 miles away!”

After examing Protector, Jean concluded that she was no longer pregnant and we had to assume the puppies hadn’t survived, as it didn’t appear Mama Dog was nursing. But Mama Dog was alive. Robert’s girl was alive. What an amazing end to an amazing story we all kept saying. Amazing? Yes. The end? Not so much.

 Protector slept in front of the fireplace for several hours, seemingly exhausted and not anxious in the least...at first. But suddenly she was up, pacing by the door, unable to settle back down. On a hunch born of rescuing thousands of dogs, Jean examined Protector again.

Milk. She was producing milk.


 She quickly called her friend back at the hospital. “Can you show me exactly where you have seen this dog over the past week?”

  “Sure- why?” he asked.

  “I believe there are puppies out there.” She answered before racing out the door...Mama Dog on her heels. Over gravel roads the 15 miles to Gordon will take you a half an hour.

When Jean parked the car in front of the small hospital and opened the car door, Protector took off down the street. So did Jean, on foot...on a mission.
 
For well over an hour, she tried to keep up with Protector as she ran through backyards, up streets, down streets, sniffing out front porches, almost loosing sight of her several times. Finally, they turned a corner and Protector raced toward an abandoned house. Jean grabbed her hind quarters as she tried to get under the house in a small dug-out opening. Jean held onto Protector afraid that if she got inside the house she might refuse to come out. A phone call to the man who had returned Protector, brought him on the run, along with a thin, young man he worked with...who could fit in the opening.

 “Are you sitting down?” said a voice on the other end of the phone. “Seriously. Sit down.”

 “Ok”, I said, pulling up a stool in the kitchen.

“There are five of them.” She laughed.

“Five what?” I asked, even as I knew what she was going to say.

“Five puppies! Protector has 5 fat, healthy puppies!”

Five. The number of grace.



Protector.
Robert's girl.
Mama Dog.
Surrounded by angels...
by prayers...
by people who care.
Protector.
Protected.

Whisper out loud with me...“Survivor.”

Epilogue:
As we speak...Protector and her Pups are safe and sound at Miss Jean's Ranch...part of our ministry's Pine Ridge Animal RezQ. If you would like to help us help the dogs on the Rez, you may donate through LightShine Pine Ridge/Miracle Center here.

Protector and her puppies all need good homes. If you would like to adopt one of these precious pups please contact us at lightshinelakota@yahoo.com....and of course we are expecting Protector to find a home that will give her a magnificent life and love her for Robert Little Crow too. She is a special, special dog. Please share her story.

Loving the Lakota

Dear Friends of Pine Ridge..... Thank you so much to all of you who sent Christmas presents to kids and elders on the Rez and who have helped us fill so many requests for blankets and warm coats. There is still time to get a Christmas present or two to a family on the reservation. We have many gifts here at our storehouse in Colorado and are only needing help with shipping to get them there.
You helped this little guy get the art supplies he asked for!

But our BIG concern right now...this day...is the single digit temps that are due in the Pine Ridge area of South Dakota over the next 2 days. We have several families who have been needing propane to cook and to heat their homes for a couple of weeks now. They will be facing a very difficult week without it.

The work we do on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and for the Lakota people is funded entirely by you. Please help if you can. For a tax deductible donation, visit our LightShine Pine Ridge site and use the Donate button on the front page. Or simply Paypal to us at lightshinelakota@yahoo.com. Call me if you would like to use a credit card directly. Message me at same address for my number.

Any end of the year donation will be put to good use quickly! Thanks to you all and many blessings this holiday season.

KC and the LightShine Crew

The Fabric Of Faith

 Taken from www.kcwillisministries.ning.com....sharing.



In this section we will post the art workshops and faith-based conferences and seminars of KC Willis. Right now these are taking place on the Reservation and in Colorado...but I am open to booking other locations in 2013. Contact me at lightshinelakota@yahoo.com if you would like one of these classes to take place near you.


Be sure and see the other amazing workshops and special multi-day events happening on the Reservation under the tab "Lakota Art Institute" at www.kcwillisministries.ning.com.

 ___________________________________________________
The Fabric of Faith...Five Smooth Stones.


This is a great opportunity to participate in a multi-layered study of Grace, Faith and beating the giants in your life, while creating a mixed media collage piece with one of America's best known fabric collage artists. In this 2 day class, KC Willis will walk you through a teaching of David and his life, along with a whole new way to look at the scraps collected by The Twelve on the day Jesus fed the 5000. Together these two teachings will offer you an insight into your past, present and future that may very well change how you see your world and its problems...and remove any walls you may have between you and the power of God.

Step by step the conference will explore techniques in collage and mixed media through the creation of a Teaching Tapestry. A Tapestry that will be built on creative skills and the lessons learned from David's flaws, failures and fearlessness, brought to completion in the teachings and the life of Christ. Under each piece of fabric will be a lesson learned from the scraps we have taken onto our own boat as we make our journey in this world and each will determine the strengths we have in the form of our own 5 smooth stones that we carry inside. The scrolls on the piece will house private thoughts on facing the giants...new ways of conquering that you will discover in the workshop. Learn how to "kill" at fabric collage and slay a few giants in your life in this powerful and fun 2 day workshop.

Offered on and off the Pine Ridge Reservation.




Longmont, Colorado........2 days... $250
February 22-23, 2013
April 26-27, 2013

Pine Ridge Reservation.....3 days....$335
May 2-3, 2013
July 11-12, 2013
August 12-13, 2013
  

The version of this class taking place on the Rez will have an extra day to it, so that you may travel the Reservation with KC and get to know the people and the land of this amazing place. Will be quite an experience, I promise you.


You can always change the dates, but cash refunds are not offered as this money is used immediately towards humanitarian efforts on the Reservation. If you can not reschedule then I will furnish you with a tax deductible receipt for the amount you paid for the class/donation.
________________________________________________

The 10:38 Project

This special Conference will be offered in a choice of 2 different locations; the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and in Longmont, CO.

With it's foundation centered on Acts 10:38 "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with Power and He went about doing good...healing all who were oppressed for God was with Him..." we will make an exciting study of Jesus' life and how we can walk The Road of Truth and Grace. We will also refresh our understanding of the Holy Spirit (The Forgotten God) and how we can use the power of both to heal the oppressed as we walk through this world. You will receive information, but more importantly you will receive revelation on how this can impact the work you do for God, both in the life you lead where you reach out to others and in your everyday life.

10:38 Pine Ridge will be two days of teaching just north of the Reservation in Hot Springs, SD at our "teaching house", and one day on Pine Ridge walking with God and the Lakota People. This will really be amazing. The Conference in Longmont, CO will be two days in a workshop setting. A workbook and KC's teaching notes are included in both Conferences. Conferences are limited to 8.
Hot Springs is a small town nestled at the base of The Black Hills and has a good selection of hotels and motels (lodging is not included), as well as great local restaurants, coffee shops and art galleries. Most lodging facilities will furnish a breakfast and lunch is included. Dinner is up to you, but we will most likely go as a group to one of my favorite places nearby. Hot Springs is one hour from the Rapid City airport, which is where I suggest you fly into. Denver airport is a little over 3 hours away and is an option.

The Teaching House has a guest room that will house 3 comfortably. First come first serve for an additional $40 per night.

You can always change the dates, but cash refunds are not offered as this money is used immediately towards humanitarian efforts on the Reservation. If you can not reschedule then I will furnish you with a tax deductible receipt for the amount you paid for the class/donation.

Longmont, CO Dates
January 25-26, 2013
March 22-23, 2013
July 26-27, 2013

Pine Ridge Reservation Dates
March 7-8, 2013
May 9-11, 2013
October 3-5, 2013

Longmont Conference Paid in Full $250

Pine Ridge Conference Paid in Full...$550