Youth Mission Trip, 2011
Youth (and adult) Mission Trip - 2011
More updates! This just in, submitted by David Linton:
The older I get the more the Bible speaks to me. We learn in Genesis that God created all things. The last task he set himself about after all the flora and fauna, was to create mankind! My reading of this story tells me that we were created for probably two reasons: God was lonely so we were created as companions for him and this is a likely reason for our being made in his image. Second, we were created to tend all things of the Garden. In other words our purpose is to care for all of God's creation and I interpret this to mean all things including you and me.
So our small intrepid band of missionaries traveled to Raleigh to do just that. Now you might ask why a caring God would allow a tornado to wreak havoc on a small trailer park in the Brentwood area of north Raleigh. Terrible things do happen from time to time, but I believe part of God's overall plan creates opportunities for caring humans to respond to their call to be the hands and feet of our Lord and Savior. And hands and feet and legs and arms and heads were put to the test in Raleigh, and a shining sweaty example of Christian love blossomed in that trailer park. Good work was left in the path of our daily efforts and memories were created. Lives were changed and the future will never be the same for those missionaries or the lives they will impact as their journey continues to unfold.
Update: Here are two accounts of the entire trip; the first one by Donna, the second by Andrew.
from Donna:
Excitement had been building in me for days, but was somewhat suppressed by my attention to other responsibilities before departing on our mission trip. I couldn't wait to find out what the Lord had in store for me! I certainly didn't have the skills of the other members of our group, but I knew how much I wanted to go and be helpful in some way.
It wasn't too long before we were sent into a mobile home that needed some repair. Al, our amazing on-site coordinator, showed our gentlemen to a damaged end of the structure and started talking “trusses”. Then he said the magic words, “We need to clean to prepare for the family to return.” I opened the refrigerator and smiled, “Thank you, Jesus!”
Each day I worked in holy space, thinking about the families that would be returning, and how I might be able to make that transition a bit easier for them. I could only make a small dent in all the work that needed to be done; but knew that many others would be arriving over the days and weeks ahead, to make their own contributions to bring wholeness to this community.
My greatest joy was having the opportunity to work with this amazing group of people from St. Anne's! As we signed in each day at the Volunteer Center, several of them would write “Everything” in the Skills column. I wrote “Enthusiasm”. Besides my kitchen cleaning, I did receive training and practiced a little drywall sanding. I now have a new appreciation for the efforts of anyone who happens to do that on a regular basis. Wow! That's quite a job!
I left today so happy for the days we have had here, and with a sense shared by others in our group, that this is just the beginning of many more St. Anne's mission trips to come!
from Andrew:
Before going to Raleigh for our mission trip, I began creating a mental image of what I was expecting to see at the Stony Brook mobile home park. I was expecting to see this park filled with tornado debris, trailers in pieces with building materials scattered everywhere, and the owners of the homes walking around still in shock from this natural disaster. Thankfully, this is far from what I saw. Instead, I saw a very clean park that looked very livable, with straw everywhere, where new grass would eventually grow. I wondered if we were at the right place, because at first glance nothing looked damaged.
I quickly learned that my job wasn’t going to be cleaning up debris, rather, doing very general household tasks, along with minor construction work, that any person would have to do at their own homes. (This is because I didn’t have the skills to build decks, unlike Aaron, David, Kirk, and Bob who have much construction experience.)
As time went on, I began thinking that even though the work I was doing was very simple, it was just as important as the initial cleanup. The moment that this idea really hit hard was when the owner of one of the trailers in which I was working walked in, and asked if everything was ready so he could turn on the electricity. I could see the excitement and hope in this man’s eyes as he asked that question. After having alternative living arrangements for around two months, it must be an incredible feeling for him as he nears the time where he can move back into his home. This showed me that while owners can’t move back into their homes with tornado debris everywhere, they also can’t move back in until the rooms have been sanded, the walls mudded, and the refrigerators cleaned, which were my primary tasks.
Around the time the owner walked in, Kirk told me something that made this experience even more powerful. He told me that a trailer once stood wherever we saw straw on the ground. The tornado had completely ripped some of these trailers to shreds, leaving a lot of empty space around the park. The straw on the ground served as the reminder of the devastating effects the tornado had on Stony Brook. That was when I felt like the work I was doing, even though very simple, had a much greater impact on this tornado-damaged community. I really understood the difference I was making, and that felt good. Our mission trip has been a humbling experience that made me appreciate everyone in my life and all of the opportunities I’ve been given, because you can lose everything just as fast as some did at Stony Brook mobile home park.
our "day by day" log of the Mission Trip:
Day 1: A group of parishioners left the St. Anne’s parking lot Monday, June 20, traveling in a small caravan of pickup trucks to Raleigh, NC. We were headed there to help with recovery/relief work following the devastating tornadoes that had struck there on April 16. Our specific destination was Stony Brook mobile home park, which had suffered some of the worst destruction that day, including the loss of several lives.
It was great to finally be on the road! As is often the case with these trips, our plans had taken quite a few twists and turns, from the time we first began thinking about it. Some of the final details had only been confirmed, in fact, during the last couple of weeks, so we traveled with a certain mix of both excitement and questions: would we be able to do some useful and productive work, that actually enabled people to recover and get on with their lives?
Our group was both young and old, skilled and non-skilled. But we had talked in advance to Al, the supervisor of volunteer work at Stony Brook; and he had assured us that there was plenty of work, of all types, to keep us busy. Once we arrived and checked in, we met Al; dressed in neat military fatigues, with a full belt of tools strapped around his waist, you could tell he meant business!
The first task that Al gave us was to complete some sheet rock work that had been started in one of the homes. When we walked into the trailer, it was apparent that the residents were not living there at the moment; all of their belongings – furniture, clothes, etc – had been piled up floor to ceiling in the living room, in order to make room for the repair work that was being done at the far end. The bedroom there had suffered water damage when the end of the roof had been lifted off by the tornado. By now the roof had been repaired, and new interior walls had been put into the room, but it still needed to be taped and mudded. Fortunately for us, David Linton, part of our group, was quite skilled in this type of work; so he provided “on the job training” to the rest of us (see pictures in our Photo Album).
Once we finished that task (we have to wait at least a day for the mud to dry, then we can sand it and apply another coat), we asked Al for another assignment. Looking around the park, you could see a number of homes, still standing, that were in really bad shape. Most had signs posted – “Unsafe Building” – to keep people out. These homes had so much damage that they were beyond reasonable repair, so they were marked for bulldozing. We were targeting homes that had less damage, ones that were feasible to fix and move back into. Al assigned us to a home that, like the first one we’d worked on, had suffered damage at one end of the building. This home was still in the ‘beginning stages’ of repair, however; we could see that it was probably going to keep us occupied for several days.
(to be continued….)
Day 2: Tuesday found us back at the mobile home that we’d been “assigned to” late in the previous afternoon. Al came by again and gave us more specific directions on what was needed here. On the inside of the home, some new sheet rock needed to be installed, to replace what had been damaged by rain coming through the now-open roof (it still had blue tarps covering it). We would not be able to actually install the new sheet rock, though, until the top of the home was repaired with permanent roofing; and the materials for that were not yet on hand (a large piece of metal had been ordered for this, but it had not arrived yet). In the meantime we had some “preparatory work” to do, in a closet and bathroom located at that end of the mobile home: removing all remaining pieces of the old ceiling, and cleaning the area where new sheet rock would be nailed up. This was not pleasant work! But several of us took turns working in this tiny, enclosed space - pulling out old insulation (not asbestos, thankfully!), pulling nails and staples out of the ceiling joists, and making secure, clean places to attach the new ceiling pieces.
On the outside of the home, a new porch and steps needed to be built, at both the front door and the back door. Fortunately there was material on hand - for the most part - to do this job.
Our group also grew a bit this morning, as Bob and Beverly arrived – a welcome addition to the crew! Also, Kirk’s son Aaron, who lives in Raleigh and does construction / remodeling work for a living, was able to join us. This was an unexpected advantage for us, since Aaron was not only skilled at this work, but was able to bring many specialized tools that were helpful for deck building. We had only brought basic hand tools and power tools, of course, since we had been unable to learn in advance exactly what specific jobs we’d be doing.
This example, by the way, illustrates an aspect of our work that was a little frustrating at times: it did seem to be a bit unorganized, as if no one knew exactly what work needed to be done, from one day to the next (sometimes even one hour to the next!) Of course we understood the situation here; most all of this work was being done by volunteers, and sometimes it’s hard to make a work schedule for workers who may or may not actually show up. So we didn’t blame Al for this; it was just the nature of the situation.
About mid-morning, we were joined by another entire work crew – a team from the N.C. Baptist Men’s group (quite a seasoned bunch of ‘Disaster Recovery’ workers) arrived at the mobile home park. There were twenty or thirty of these folks, who brought along several trucks and trailers of tools, materials, and many skilled workers (which did include women, by the way, in spite of the group’s name). This large group split up into several teams, and each was assigned a different job at a different home. It seemed that it was a common job, at many of the homes, to build new porches and steps; and in fact one of the teams was assigned to the home we were already working on, doing just that. So we divided up the work at that home: we continued work on the back steps, which we’d already started, and the Baptist Men took the front steps. Everyone worked together, in a gracious spirit of cooperation, and it was obvious we were all “part of the same team.”
After lunch we had another addition to our crew as Lawrence, along with Isaac and Caleb, arrived on site. We continued to make good progress on our jobs. By the end of the day (this one was a long day!) we had the basic structure of the back porch and steps in place. So, reaching a good stopping point, we headed back to the hotel, looking forward to a refreshing swim in the pool. Later that night Andrew arrived; this brought our team to its largest size of the week.
More later...
Day 3 started with a mild respite from the hot temperatures we'd had on Monday and Tuesday; a slight overcast kept the sun hidden, and the temperature was much more pleasant for outdoor work. Our full-capacity crew began work on three jobs – the two that we’d worked on, in one home, on Tuesday, plus the first one we’d worked on (mudding sheet rock) earlier in the week. (The sheet rock mud that we’d applied on Monday morning was now dry, so we could go back and sand it down, to prepare it for another coat.) Beverly and Donna, who had been working to clean up the kitchen, faced an obstacle because the water in that home had now been turned off, while a plumber made repairs to the drain system. But everyone found something to keep busy, and we saw good progress in our work, on all fronts.
Today when we stopped for lunch we took our “official” group photo, since everyone was present at that time. (All who had our “Mission” t-shirts had worn them today for the picture.) Following lunch, Lawrence, Isaac, and Caleb left, headed back to Winston; it was great to have all of them here for part of two days.
Also after lunch the sun did return to the skies and made its presence felt! (A check of the weather report, later, showed a high temperature of 96 for the day, so we were not just imagining the heat!) Fortunately we made good progress on all our tasks, and by 4:00 had finished the back porch / steps (see Photo Gallery) and had come to a stopping point on our sheet rock work. So we decided to call it a day, and hit the swimming pool back at the hotel.
After supper that evening, we all sat around together, and “compared notes” on our thoughts about the Mission Trip, so far. Some interesting comments were heard! (more on that in a bit). We also took time out and held a short evening prayer service (“Compline”) together. All in all it was a very good day.
Bob and Beverly will be taking their leave in the morning, so we’ll be back down to a crew of five. It remains to be seen, yet, what Day 4 will bring: will Al be able to find some new tasks for us, to keep us productive? Only tomorrow will reveal what’s in store.
More to come…
Day 4: Al was able to find another task for us. Another home needed some more “inside work” – preparing the ceilings for new sheet rock installation. This was similar to some of the work we’d done already, so we knew how to do this by now. And, this home also had a kitchen which needed cleaning, so Donna fell right into that. We worked through the morning, but by lunchtime we were just about finished with what was needed there. We notified Al that we’d soon need more work; he said he’d have to check his list and see what else he could find for us.
By 2:00 or so it was apparent that Al didn’t have anything ready for us. We went back to the first trailer we’d worked in, to see if it was ready for another coat of sheet rock mud, but apparently another crew had already done that, earlier in the day. We began to wonder if perhaps we should call an early end to our week’s trip; if there was no more work for us, we could just go on back to the hotel and then head home. But the boys wanted to try one more time to find some work, so we decided to go ask the Baptist Men’s group if perhaps we could help out on one of their jobs. We walked around the trailer park and located Ken, their leader. Ken went down his checklist, and we thought we had a couple of possibilities; but when we went and looked at them, neither one was quite ready for us yet. But Ken and Al agreed that we’d be able to do one last coat of sheet rock, back at our first home, in the morning; so with that, we called it a day at 3:00.
Day 5: Got an early start to this day. Our plan was to head to the work site early enough to finish that last job that was waiting for us, then be able to return to the hotel and shower / pack in time for a noon checkout. This was relatively light work, so we were able to easily finish in just a couple of hours. Al and Ken both thanked us for our contributions to the recovery work at Stony Brook. As Caleb had said, earlier in the week, “it felt good helping people”; it also felt good to be heading back home!
