Well, this is a little different than my mission trip last year. In case you don't know, last year I had a blog entry every day recounting my days in New Orleans. This year was a little different.
First off, the street view above you is where I stayed. It's the white house in the back, slightly to the left of the center of the screen. If you have time, look directly behind you and you will see railroad tracks. I'll explain those below.
I went to West Virginia. Southern West Virginia. To be specific, Northfolk, West Virginia.
Our team was told about how this tiny town used to be one of the richest cities in the United States and is now one of the poorest. The reason it was so rich was because of the coal mining. They basically built a whole city around the coal mining factory and it flourished with schools, churches, and jobs. All the coal would be sent north, by train, to the steel factories in Pennsylvania.
As time went on, the coal industry revolutionized, got smaller, and needed less people so the town essentially became a ghost town as everyone left. Some people remained though.
Currently, the schools are closing and collaborating, stores are closing, and twenty people at a church service is "large."
A team of thirteen Bethel students drove to Northfolk and stayed at that house in the google street view above. We had the whole house, which slept thirty-six people, all to ourselves.
The organization we worked through was called Mustard Seeds & Mountains.
At night, the trains would rumble by honking their horns. Train horns are loud. The more we slept there the more we didn't notice the horns though. Pretty amazing if you ask me.
Most teams come in the summer.
The city lies between two mountains, so cell phone reception is unaccessible as well as the internet. So I was basically "off the grid" for a week. Which is a weird feeling and should be another blog itself.
Our team of thirteen split into three smaller teams to go to work sites where we would repair homes.
The team I was apart of worked up the street from the house at another one of the organizations houses, where more teams would be during the summer. There is where I primed and painted three rooms.
And that's about it. I painted three rooms.
A few other things. I talked with a 93-year-old woman, who cried when we left saying that she, "gets so lonely." Also met a dog named Gimli.
A little sad isn't it? Maybe just a little. We did save the work site manager, Lacy, at least four weeks of work. That felt nice to hear.
After working the teaching leader, Bob, would give a lesson, usually about the poor.
Here is a list of things I learned from these lessons.
1. COMPASSION is a big word, and it's essential
2. Realize the needs around you and use your talents to solve these needs.
3. Go to where needs are needed
4. We are hiding our hurts
5. Southern accents are cool
I would expand on those points but I'm trying to keep this blog as more of an overall overview of my trip, not a lengthy doctorate paper.
Overall, God taught me that not all His work will be noticed, that we should work with a humble heart, and to "open the box" or use our talents to help solve the needs around us.
And, in a nutshell, that is my mission trip. Looking back I wished I would've journaled every day. I probably would've remembered a lot more. Anyways, if you wish to know more talk to me, comment below, write me a letter, email, facebook, twitter, whatever other form of communication is out there and I am more than happy to tell you.
