West Virginia Mission Trip, Day 6, August 11

Today was our last day to help the people we had been led to by God, and of course we awoke with the break of dawn anxiously to finish our mission.  After a quick breakfast and a group prayer we headed off to our two work sites.

We had originally thought in the planning stages in June that we would be helping victims of last year’s bad flooding in this area.  But it turned out that the need is so great in this area that there are many people not directly affected by the flooding that desperately need help.  On our way through the town of Rupert to get to Joni’s house we passed many run-down houses and businesses, with apparently nobody able or willing to fix them up.  Some may have been abandoned by their owners after the flooding, who did not have the resources to fix what had been damaged.  But one gas station at a street corner had a big hole in the roof, and trees growing inside the store.  I compare this to my community of southwest Butler County in Pennsylvania, where real estate is too valuable to let an abandoned place last very long.  The Post Office that we pass seems to be the newest building in town.

So what did we do today?   With Kelly and Dave at the helm, the dry-wall muddying was for the most part finished in the whole house.  I knew better than to attempt to duplicate their work.  As Kelly said the other day, the 1^st year you are a Learner, the 2^nd one a Doer, and the 3^rd year is when you may finally Teach others how to do it.  Good words of advice from a shop teacher.  Hence sanding was still my favored level of expertise.  Gary showed up to help Donna with installing the rest of the cabinets in the kitchen, as well as put up the range hood, and moving the stove back into place.  Jean was so helpful finding and retrieving stuff, and was willing to once again clean up the mud pans and trowels. Shawn and Greg finally connected all the sewer pipes together, after only one quick stop at the local hardware store, when they realized that the last two pipes just would not line up on their own.  What a sigh of relief from our whole team.  Makes putting the flooring back down seem a breeze.  Of course our only regret is that we cannot stay longer.  For there is still much work to be done:  painting the walls and ceiling, putting in the bathroom sink, tub, etc.  And in the kitchen there still needs to be the countertop and sink.  Hopefully Joni can find others to help her out.  Our group worked through Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and the West Virginia Ministry of Advocacy and Workcamps, run by West Virginia Presbytery.  The next mission group is not expected until October.

 

On to Team Michelle.  Pastor Bob helped to finish the roof, putting the new valley in the metal roof further from the wall, keeping water from splashing on the wall, which had led to some of the problems before.  He also completed the framing for the new wall, as well as erecting the new door.  Elvis was up on the roof, completing the eaves, flashing, and chimney. And working on his suntan as well.  Busy inside were Pastor Peter, Becky, Autumn, Kyle, and Pete.  They finished insulating the new wall, and the drywalling!  Michelle and daughter Tiara cleaned the place up alongside us.  Both were quite impressed with our work, and very appreciative of everything we did this week.  As a reward for such hard work Team Michelle treated themselves to ice cream afterwards.  I think the members of Team Joni had enough sweets at the Fair last night.

 

Once again let’s thank God and our Savior Jesus for a productive and safe week.  Our evening devotions were devoted to reflections of the week, and what we brought back from it.  We had great comments about how are lives were changed.  Kelly was gracious enough to conclude the evening with his beautiful guitar playing and singing, including a backup chorus of Becky, Jean, Kyle, and Donna.  John Denver’s “Country Roads,” about West Virginia, was the final song. We all read a special Thank You card from Michelle, who added that our special personalities made us one of the best groups of the summer!

And so I look forward to another mission trip, maybe next year.

  Signing off and God Bless, Clark.