Mission Trip 2007

So, a week ago Sunday, the youth group of our church, accompanied by four adults, set off for a little town in West Virginia for a mission trip with YouthWorks.  The ride was a long six hours, but we kept ourselves and the kids entertained with music and conversation.  We had ten teenagers with us, most of which had never before done a mission trip, nor had two of the adults, myself included.

The ride was uneventful, albeit beautiful as we were surrounded by the rolling hills and mountains of West Virginia.  We were the second church group to arrive at around 4:00 pm, in the smallest town I have ever seen.  We're talking tiny.  The town is a coal mining town, so other than that, there is very little industry.  We saw a few convenience stores, a month old dollar store, a coffee shop and a gift shop in addition to one or two individually owned pizza shops.  There was no grocery store nor any chain restaurants. Actually, other than what I just described, there was very little else, other than impoverished people who wound up being some of the nicest people I have ever met. 

There are no zoning laws in this community, so if you have money, property is cheap, which is why you occasionally see this:



If you look closely to the left of the big house, you will see a little shed with a motor home next to it; someone lives there as well.  It runs the gamut on extremes, though the large homes are few and far between, but they still look strangely out of place in this little community.

There were five church groups in total that week and that evening we met up with our fearless leaders:



From left to right: Logan, Grant, Courtney and Megan

These kids ran the show as they are employed by YouthWorks and to say they are amazing would be a drastic  understatement.  Logan worked with the groups that worked on houses and Grant and Courtney flitted between work projects, while Megan was in charge of kid's club.  The five churches were then divided up into three work groups, mixing up the churches so we were all working with some kids from our home church as well as kids from the other churches.  Two of the groups worked on fixing up some folk's houses and the other group ran the kid's club for the children in the community and paid a few visits to the nursing home to sing and visit with the residents.  There are so many stories to tell, but let me hit a few highlights and logistics of how it all works to give you a grand overview.

Accommodations

We all met at a church that was no longer being used, for meals and "Club".  There is an assignment chart for meals and cleanup and the chart is made up by work groups.  The group I was a part of was the "Banjos" for example.  We had to cook dinner one night and handle morning cleanup on another day.  We were cooking for about 75 people, in a small space, both to cook it and to serve it, but we made it work.  Each person was responsible for cleaning their own dishes in the dining hall, where pans were set out for pre-wash, wash, rinse and sanitize.  Then each person dried their own dishes.  There was always a line and the worst part of it was that the water in the town had a very strong sulfur smell to it that was overwhelming in the dining room.  I couldn't drink the stuff either, so I purchased bottled water all week. 

The girls slept in a school portable trailer that was about two miles away from the church.  The guys slept in another building a block away from the church.  We showered in yet another place and kid's club was held someplace else.  Most things were within walking distance with the exception of the girl's dorm and the showers.  The portable trailer had two rooms, two bathrooms (toilets and sinks only) and we housed about 35 girls in there.  There was always a line for the bathroom, needless to say.  There were no beds, so everyone had brought air mattresses and sleeping bags.  Pretty much, each of the two rooms was wall to wall bedding other than one small path with which to get through.  We were thankful it was air conditioned.

Kid's Club crew was slated to shower twice during the week; on Monday and Wednesday.  The adults had the option of getting up early and showering before breakfast any day they wanted to and Erin and I took them up on that.  The showers were built by the community members just for YouthWorks and were located in an old locker room.  Pretty much, there was a male side and a female side, each containing one room with some cubbies made out of wood for showering items.  The showers were closed off by a curtain and the showering area had about six shower heads and wooden boards were laid off on the floor.  I would shower and watch the water bugs crawling up the walls, but if I wanted a shower, it was better than nothing and beings that one day last week the temps hit 102, I was all for a shower.

A Typical Day

Breakfast was served at 7:30, so that was what time we had to be back at the main church, unless you were slated to fix breakfast that morning, and in that case, you had to be there at 7:00.  Sooo glad my group never had to fix breakfast!  Breakfast was generally cereal, oatmeal, one morning we had egg and ham on english muffins, yogurt, etc.  During breakfast, we also  had to pack our lunch for the day, so on another table there was bread, lunch meat, chips, snacks, etc.  We had to make sure that the cooler for our group had an ice pack in it and that our water cooler contained water.  Breakfast crew cleaned up breakfast while the morning cleanup vacuumed, and cleaned bathrooms.

After eating and cleanup, we all met upstairs in the sanctuary (a large room with a few pews around the edges for the adults.  The kids met on the floor) for morning devotions for about thirty minutes, then we were dispensed to our work groups.

We worked with our groups on either houses or kid's club until around 3:00.  House work groups showered everyday at three and then we all had free time until around 4:30.  If you were on dinner prep that night, you had to be in the kitchen at 4:15 if you were a youth and the adult leaders met with Grant everyday at 4:30 for half an hour.  We would exchange our stories that had happened during the day and Grant would give us "the next twenty-four hours" and what that time would look like.  It gave the adults time to compare stories and to get to know the other adults who were not in our work group.

Dinner was at 5:00 and after eating and cleanup, we always had an evening activity.  One night it was swimming in the next town over (about 40 minutes away), one night it was taking in the bluegrass band that played exclusively for YouthWorks on Tuesday nights.  Our last night there, it was a community cookout, inviting members of the town to join us. 


Many of the youth the night of the bluegrass concert

There was also an activity on Wednesday where the kids divided up into groups to work out a budget for if they lived below the poverty line.  They had to budget housing, food, transportation, health care, etc for a family of four.  Once they had done that, they were given another sheet and asked to cross out what they were willing to do without.  This sheet contained all the extras that they didn't budget for on the first sheet: school supplies, Christmas gifts etc.  This really made the week hit home for many of the kids as the residents of this little town struggled with making ends meet everyday.

After the activity, there was a snack and a little more free time before Club began.  Club was a time to worship and for Courtney to share a story or mini-sermon if you will.  She was a wonderful speaker and really had the kid's attention and the adults as well!  Club was over at 10:00 and then we were dispensed to our church groups to discuss the events of the day, to pray, to continue worship or anything we saw fit to do.  Then it was back to our sleeping quarters and lights out as close to 11:00 as possible.  We never made it any earlier than midnight.

The Work

The work was amazing and not because it was easy work, but because we knew we were truly serving people who needed the help.  My group ran kid's club, which is a VBS that runs all summer essentially.  The same community kids come all summer but each week, their youth and adult leaders change as the next group of churches arrives.  Megan is their only constant for the summer and it is easy to see the bond she is forming with the children.  We would arrive at the church where the kid's club was held just after 9:00 (and the church from the outside was more of a store front) and begin planning and setting up for the day.  We had songs to lead, crafts to help the kids make, a skit to prepare and sandwiches to fix.  For some children, that lunch we prepared could be the only meal they eat that day.  We sent vans out around 11:30 to start picking up the kids and as the walkers arrived, our youth teamed up with each child to play games and just to give them one on one attention, which they desperately needed.  Once everyone arrived, we ate lunch and then played games for awhile before we would officially begin with songs.


The kids loved the penguin song, which the youth from the previous
week had taught them.

After songs it was the skit and then the craft or games.  Before we knew it, it was 2:30 and time to start getting the kids home, clean up and head back to the main church.  The kids formed incredibly strong bonds with the youth during the four days and it was painful for many of the teens and adults to let go at the end of the week.

Two mornings, before kid's club, our group journeyed up the mountain to visit the residents in the nursing home, another amazing experience, where simply a touch and a smile would brighten the day of someone unable to speak or communicate.

The other two work groups worked on two separate houses.  I know less about this as I was not there but some of the stories came through to everyone.  One work crew got a family of eleven running water in their home for the first time in three years.  For three years, in all kinds of weather, these folks would carry pans of water up the hill from their neighbor's well.  Another home had a yard full of scrap stuff that needed to be cleared and hauled out.  The home owner was just so overwhelmed with everything but as soon as the work crew showed up to help, he pitched right in beside of them. 



Houses were painted, rotten flooring ripped up and replaced; anything that needed to be done, the kids jumped in and took care of.



What I learned

At the beginning of the week, I was doubting the wisdom of coming but as the relationships began to form, both in club and with the community, I realized just how happy I was to be there.  I was sleep deprived,  smelled like sulfur water and my hair had been wash and go, but there was just something special about being a part of last week.

Many of the people in this community have little; no computers, video games, cars or nice houses.  But they knew their neighbors and helped each other.  With no cable television, people sat outside in the evenings and chatted with their friends or headed down to the adorable little coffee shop for a milkshake or fried bologna sandwich.  We met people who had nothing that gave to us all week in friendship or little handmade jewelry or trinkets.  My heart was touched deeply by these people and who they were. 

I came to realize that though we may have much and for that I am very thankful to God, it is the people in that little community of friends, who are truly blessed.