Side X Side
Youth Summer Mission Trip 2019
 
June 8-16, 2019 / Sioux Falls, South Dakota  
 




Welcome to Side x Side 2019.
 
During the last ice age, approximately 14,000 years ago, the falls of Sioux City were created.  Many Native American tribes inhabited the area prior to the settlement of Europeans and European descendants.  Lakota tribes populate urban and reservation communities in the state and many Lakota, Dakota, and other Indigenous Americans reside in Sioux Falls today.
 
The first American rested in Sioux Falls in 1832 and in 1856 Dakota Land Company of St. Paul and the Western Town Company of Dubuque, Iowa organized to claim the land around the falls as they considered it promising land for its beauty and water power.  
Fast forward a few years when the railroads ushered in the great Dakota Boom.  The population of Sioux Falls grew from 2,164 in 1880 to 10,167 by 1900.  Today Sioux Falls continues to show rapid growth: population increasing from 81,000 in 1980 to 183,200 in 2018.
 
While Sioux Falls was originally centered on agricultural and quarries, today the area is more diversified and more service-based, making the city a center of financial services, health care, and retail trade.
 
Sioux Falls has come a long way from its early days, and the people there are proud of its growth.  While growth is continuing, help is still needed so people of all races, religions, socioeconomic backgrounds, and cultures may have affordable and appropriate housing, and find joy in what the area as to offer.
 
Sioux Falls has come a long way from its early days, and the people there are proud of its growth.  While growth is continuing, help is still needed so people of all races, religions, socioeconomic backgrounds, and cultures may have affordable and appropriate housing, and find joy in what the area as to offer.
God has called you to be his hands and feet in the city of Sioux Falls and its surrounding area.  You have answered the call and will travel to the city to "do the work God has prepared in advance for you to do".  Your work, and the relationships you make will become part of your legacy.  May God shine in and through you as you share your heart and your gifts with the people of Sioux Falls.
 
Thank you for saying "yes"!