Musings from a Pastor, Educator, Wife, and Mother





Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Mission Possible II: Rebuilding Pulaski

As I sit here on my own front porch watching the slowly setting sun, my skin is a few shades darker and my eyes, well, they feel a little bit more tired, but I smile, because this week these eyes have witnessed God's hand at work in wonderful ways.  

The planning and preparation began months ago.  Myself and some other colleagues in the Presbytery of the Peaks Cluster One Churches wanted to engage our youth in mission work.  We are all smaller congregations with a few youth and our hope as we began "Mission Possible" last year, was to begin to build relationships between our churches' teens so that we could sow the seeds God's love in them in a positive way.  We wanted them to understand that the Church needs them, they are indeed the present of the church, not just the future.  With that in mind, we set our sights last fall on Pulaski, VA.  A community that little over a year ago was ravaged by a tornado.  Pulaski is in our Presbytery and we felt it important to go and support the community in its efforts to rebuild.  "Mission Possible II: Rebuilding Pulaski" was born. 


Sunday afternoon we loaded up our team of 9 youth and 8 adults and made the 3 hour trek to beautiful Dublin, VA.  About 5:30 we pulled down a long tree-shaded drive to New Dublin Presbyterian Church.  We were greeted there by the most genteel and generous people you will ever meet.  After Rev. Andrew Taylor-Troutman gave us a tour of church we gathered and broke bread with the membership of NDPC and heard from some of their members about recent mission trips in which they had participated.  Following this was a time for our group to get to know one another better.  Our membership was in fact from a variety of churches with youth from Cumberland, Guinea, Farmville, and College churches with adults from their churches as well as myself from Appomattox and 2 from Buffalo Presbyterian (we also received generous financial & material support from Bethlehem, Buffalo, Douglas, and Eureka Baptist.)  We played some games which were filled with much laughter and smiles as we all began to learn each others names and break the ice.  We finally had some devotion time before bed.  
Monday morning we loaded up and went into Pulaski and got our work assignment and arrived on site.  Our assignment was pretty straight forward: shovel lots of dirt into wheelbarrows and haul said dirt to fill in around the house and put down seed for grass.   In addition to this we also had a garage that needed footers to be dug out more and prepared for concrete to be poured.  Monday was a pretty hot day so we preached a lot of 'hydrate!' and it paid off, no one got too hot or ill from the heat.  Our lunch was provided both days by Our Daily Bread, which is in part funded by the presbytery's 2-cents-a-meal collections. Rev. Andrew was the deliverer of these delicious meals for which he was instantly labeled hero for eternity!  Our lunch breaks were taken on the back deck of this home in the shade and the kids would line up along the ramp there which became "the child gauntlet" when one needed to pass through.  We were definitely ready for our showers at the YMCA by 3pm and we packed up just before the afternoon rain shower began.  After we were cleaned up we headed out for dinner, MK's Pizzeria.  We really enjoyed the local cuisine, it hit the spot!  That evening we were giving passes to the Pulaski Mariner's Baseball game.  We really enjoyed ourselves, the game was great (Mariner's won)!  The boys finally went out into the parking lot and managed to get a foul ball!  Unfortunately, someone's car in the parking lot also caught one!  We were actually recognized by the announcer at the game, which was a special moment for us as a group to be welcomed by the community.  In our evening devotions one of the girls mentioned that she had noticed it appeared that a teenager lived in the house and it made her realize just how easily it could have been her family who had lost their home.  It was great for me to see them really making a connection.

On Tuesday, we returned to our work site to finish what we started. Even though we were doing same work, I never once heard a complaint and we actually felt like the second day went much faster than the first, even though we worked a bit longer.  I think it says something about the maturity and dedication of the young people and the adults as well that we got into our rhythm and worked to see results, rather than grumbling about the task at hand.  Shoveling dirt may not have been as glamorous as building a home, but it was just as important and meaningful for the family we were helping. About lunch time we received word that our General Presbyter's husband was in the hospital.  We immediately stopped our work, circled up, and offered prayer.  This brought tears to my eyes to think of how connected we all are, sharing support, pouring out love, sending waves of it home to them.  Later in the afternoon a few of us got to go do some painting on a house a few blocks over.  We did not get as much done as we would have liked but we met a few of the neighbors there who were so kind as to go bring us some paint stirrers and paper towels when we discovered we did not have any.  After another smooth trip to the YMCA we went to Patty's Kitchen for dinner, another local favorite.  I am so thankful for these two restaurants for allowing us to make reservations and bring a tired but somehow still rowdy group into their restaurants!  

Tuesday night when we got back to New Dublin Pres (did I say how awesome it was that we were able to stay there!?)  we had some scripture passages from 2 Corinthians (8:1-9:15 & 9:1-9) for the kids to reflect on.  I divided them into two teams and they had about 45 minutes to come up with a skit for our Pulaski Peace Theatre (come on it is a good play on Masterpiece Theatre)!  They did great!  These kids to have just met each other worked extremely well together and accepted input from everyone.  We had a good mix of ages too and I was pleased to see that this did not hinder them from giving us a thoughtful interpretation of the scriptures and how they applied to our work in Pulaski.  They had begged us to let them play outside so following the skits they went for a walk down to the end of the lane while waiting for darkness to fall and then (given permission) they went out to play in the graveyard. A couple of the other adults and I thought it would be fun to scare them while they were out there, and while we probably were not very good at sneaking up on them, we had an excellent time trying!  To close out the evening we popped some popcorn and watched Finding Nemo before bed.  

We closed this morning with devotions and Rev. Tom Robinson, pastor at Farmville PC talked a little bit about the inspiration he felt from the trip.  I believe we all felt that a spark had been started to revive our efforts to bring our youth together more often, to do more activities along with mission work.  It seemed like the kids were receptive to this idea.  I believe some of the girls were already making plans to get together over the weekend.  Before coming home today, the Tornado Relief folks had also cleared it for us to go to Randolph Water Park so the kids got to go swimming before we returned home.  The park had a great little beach area for smaller children, a lap pool, and most tantalizing of all a 38 foot spiraling water slide!  What a great reward for some hard work!  

While I am sad that none of the young people from my church could attend this trip for various reasons, I am so thankful that after all of the planning, I was able to go.  I love doing this kind of ministry with youth, it really rejuvenates me and my passion for the church.  I could not have asked for a better group of teens and adults to go with.  I don't think I have ever seen a trip of this nature go so smoothly.  The truth is a felt the Holy Spirit as she took the form of calloused hands and aching muscles.  I tasted the bread of life in each meal we had together and I saw the Body of Christ each time I had to climb over the "child gauntlet" to get to afternoon meal.  I saw the face of Christ in each person as we worked side by side.  We didn't have enough tools all the time for everyone to be working at once, but we all made sure to take turns to give each other a break.  As we worked we cheered each other on for a job well done and we laughed and talked the entire time, which made the work seem light.  In these three days I saw a hope for the church as all of us, of various ages and genders worked together. If one did not feel confident in knowledge of a particular task, we followed the direction of the person who did.  If one needed sunscreen, band-aids, hats, gloves, or water...there was a ready shout of, "I got it!"   Why can't our larger congregations, our presbyteries, and our denomination at large get along with each other as this tiny-microcosm of Presbyterians did?  We were all from different backgrounds, all at different levels of skill, all at different places in our journey of faith, and yet we were able to accomplish something, however great or small it was, together, without letting our egos get in the way.  Not for our joy, but for our neighbors, and not for our glory but for Gods glory! If these kids are to be the "future of our church" we are headed in the right direction!  What's more important is that they are the present, so we can all begin taking our cues from them, right now!Amen. 



"Each one must give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  And God is able to make grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work."-- 2 Corinthians 9:7-8