Mission Wounded Knee to Make Historic trip to South Dakota Prisons
"He brought me up to be proud of my heritage as a Mohawk, but first of all to my heritage as a child of the King." –Jonathan Maracle, about his father.
(Sioux Falls, SD)—On October 25, a group of 17 volunteers along with Native Christian band Broken Walls will set out across South Dakota to bring good news to inmates in three prisons and to the Lakota people on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations.
Broken Walls will be touring correctional facilities in South Dakota, October 25-November 1, 2008. The tour is sponsored by Mission Wounded Knee, a ministry to South Dakota reservations that has conducted 12 ministry tours since 1999. This is the first time they are visiting the state prisons.
This year's journey is called "Journey of the Father's Heart." According to Bruce Bartelli, team director, the team including Jonathan Maracle and Broken Walls will be going to the Mike Durfee State Prison in Springfield, South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls, and to the South Dakota Women's Prison in the state capital of Pierre. They will also be visiting Pine Ridge and Rosebud during their nine-day tour.
"We are excited about these concerts," stated Jonathan Maracle, lead singer with Broken Walls. "This will be historic as I don't believe a Native Christian band has ever given a concert in these prisons." (Photo: Brokenwalls.com)
Maracle and Broken Walls have just been nominated for the Native American People's Choice Awards in six categories. Their latest CD is entitled The Father's Dance.
Maracle is the son of the late Mohawk elder Andrew Maracle. Just before his father's death, Jonathan recalls how he challenged him with the following words: "You must have a passion for souls; Jesus was the lover of souls and we must be like Him."
"As I sat across from him, he began to share. 'Johnnie, got to take the message of Khenoronkhwa to the world.' Then he looked at me with so much passion and tears (that I began to cry as well) and said, 'Yesos Khenoronkhwa, Jesus is the loving medicine.'"
Jonathan states that his father was a full-blooded Mohawk who loved Jesus with all his heart, but never turned his back on who God had created him to be. "He brought me up to be proud of my heritage as a Mohawk, but first of all to my heritage as a child of the King."
"In 1999 when the first Mission Wounded Knee tour was conducted, Bartelli says it was only going to be a one-time trip. "We were only going one time as helping a Lakota brother who lived in Oklahoma with a personal dream to take a semi-truck load of food, clothing and household items to the community of Wounded Knee (hence the name of our mission).
"The Lord laid Native people on the hearts of Believers in our region and we did get a semi-trailer full and a team of eight people delivered the load to Wounded Knee on October 4, 1999," continues Bartelli. "We distributed from the front lawn of a Lakota medicine man who was keeper of the sacred drum of the Lakota prayer society. Over 700 people came from 10:00 am to past midnight to receive the blessings of the Lord…."
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