Sermon Piece

by
Robbie Santiago

Last week around this time we had already embarked on our 8 hour journey to Raleigh County, West Virginia for my first mission trip. We arrived there around 6:00 pm, unloaded the car and met the YouthWorks! staff. All four of them were so special in their own ways. We then got settled into our rooms and had our first dinner with all the other groups. Everybody was tired from their long drives from NJ, PA, Connecticut and Michigan but the staff had a great night planned . Shortly after dinner we went to club. Club was a place where we got our daily announcenments, watched the staff's skits, got our crew challenges each day and had our worship time. After club we had church group time where we gathered with our leaders and youth to talk about the day. The first night we had churchtime, we were assigned our jobs for the week. My group was made up of 5 other members of our youth group. Our schedule for the week was to spend two days on a work project and two days of going to a tutoring program called Energy Express in the morning, then Salvation Army and a retirement home in the afternoon. The house that we worked on belonged to a nice couple who's names were David and Donna. They provided great hospitality as we chipped , sanded and painted the exterior of the house and trimmed branches. During the second half of the week at Energy Express we read books to students, helped with writing and craft projects. I even learned a new game called Dragons and Snatchers (basically another name for capture the flag). Also at Energy Express our crew pulled weeds and painted a playground. On our last day of work we went to a retirement home, where I spent the afternoon visiting with a really nice lady who was really healthy and happy for her age. This mission trip has really made me grow in my faith and I’m ready to go on another mission trip next year!

Jacob's Shoes

by 
Molly Trevor

          This is for those of us who feel like we don't have enough or feel like we deserve more.

          I worked at a work site called Kids Club while on our mission trip in Raleigh County, West Virginia.  Kids Club is a cross between a day care and a VBS for kids aged 5-11 who are in foster care or who come from low income families.  They learn about God and the Bible while they meet other kids their age, play outside, make crafts, go to the pool and the movies, and eat a free meal they might not have been able to enjoy.  Many of the kids need a little TLC, and are delighted whenever new helpers arrive each week, ready to give their time and energy to help care for and play with the kids.  The kids cling to the helpers, sharing their world through their stories of their hardships.  One story about a little boy named Jacob in particular causes you to look at your life in gratitude for all that you have.

          I, unfortunately, only got to spend one day with Jacob, as he was too young to join our class the rest of the week.  However, I learned that every day, Jacob would come to Kids Club in the same pair of shoes.  Now most people wouldn't find this at all strange, but there was something different about this pair of shoes.  Jacob's shoes were filled with holes, had the soles falling off and were 3 sizes too small.  These were his only pair of shoes, so he was forced to force his feet in them to go anywhere.  He also never owned a pair of socks in his life.  Then, some of the kids in charge of his class heard about his shoes.  When they found out his birthday was that Wednesday, they decided to buy him a new pair of sneakers. The sweetest part of it all was when he finally tried the sneakers on.  He was so happy that he started running around, totally excited that he could stretch out his feet and run without fear of hurting them.  You could feel God when you watched him, and it was really humbling, especially when you think about the pile of shoes in your own closet.

          Jacob taught all of us a lesson that day.  We learned how to appreciate what you've got and how to help those who don't have what they need, which was the whole point in the mission trip.  I hope that wherever Jacob is, he's happily enjoying his shoes.

Church Speech

by
Austyn Long

I drove two hours down to see
A group of people just like me.
We didn't quite know what we'd do,
But we knew we'd make a difference too.

We met lots of people and breathed fresh air,
The stories they told were uniquely theirs.
The kids we met were all a joy,
Some played with us like we were toys

I'll never forget the amazing staff.
Tanner's leg hair was shaved in half!
Kris was upbeat, he said that's pretty neat,

Untitled

by

Caitlin Miner

When Jess told us to write a paragraph about the Youthworks trip I laughed in my head because there is so much more to tell you about.

I wasn’t ready for this trip to tell you the truth because we would be doing things I had never done before and it was a little scary.  Although, when we got there things changed for the better or as we would say became DIFFERENT! (This was our theme for the week).  I realized that we were working for people in need of important things that we might take for granted at home. They were elderly who needed someone to talk to and tell their life’s story, or children who needed a companion, someone to help them learn how to read and write.  We were working with Gods family.

During the trip we met new units or as I called them tribes. There were people from Michigan, New Jersey, Connecticut, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. We may have been from different climates but we all had one thing in common. It was our love of serving God.

Our youth leaders were the perfect mix between down to earth along with fun and very entertaining attitudes…And I am not just talking about the staff.  Jess, Lory, and Scott were there by our sides the whole time making sure we were safe and keeping our minds wide open to new ideas or  dipping our feet a little further into the hands of God literally. Our relationships with each other became closer than I could have ever imagined.  Even to the point where we were able to laugh harder than we would or shed a couple of tears together……or buckets of tears.

I was extremely happy to have finished painting a house in two days and working with children at a day camp. We had so much fun helping them to practice reading and writing and painting their play ground.  I met a little boy who had memorized Green eggs and ham and told me his arm was taken by a shark and magically reappeared. Other stories were not too positive to listen to though. Some of us in other groups came back each night telling stories about how kids unfortunately had shoes that were way to small or cloths that barely fit them.  These are just a few heart breakers.

Our faith was tested and new chapters in our lives came into play. By the end of this mission I am proud to call myself a Presbyterian and I can promise we all came back changed, whether it is being more confident in ourselves, conquering a fear or learning how to love our enemies.  These are definitely the memories that will last.