Here are recaps from three of our members who went on the Adult Mission Trip in April!

Alex English: Five people representing St. Mark’s went on a mission trip to Guyan Valley, WV.  Neil Dixon, Mike Doyne, Marc Ginns, my dad Dan, and I served through the Appalachian Service Project (ASP).  ASP is about making homes safer, warmer, and dryer. About 45 people from other churches served in the community through ASP during the weekend as well.

The five St. Mark’s representative served a young family who had an eight-month old son.  Over two days, we started construction on the foundation of a room for the family’s baby boy.  We dug footings, mixed (by hand!) and poured over three tons of concrete, stacked dozens of cinder blocks for the foundation pillars, and finally filled in the holes with dirt.  This was hard but satisfying work.  Other volunteer groups will come in and pick up where we left off.

We were acutely aware of the poverty we saw in Guyan Valley.  This was the most impoverished area I’ve seen in the United States with my own eyes, including two other areas of West Virginia I’ve seen on previous mission trips.  We did see nice houses as we drove to and from our worksite, but we also saw many houses that were in obvious need of repair.  The need is great, and ASP is doing its part to make subpar living conditions safer.  It was a blessing to join God’s work in West Virginia for a weekend.  It is my hope that we can return in Spring 2017 with even more members—including women—of St. Mark’s!

 

Marc Ginns: I had the privilege of working on the mission trip to WV and working with ASP (Appalachian Service Project). It was a great experience for a few reasons:

1)     We got to directly help a family who had very little by aiding in the construction of a room on their home.  We saw people in clear need and had the chance to show Christ through our actions and conversation.  We got to know and learn about coal mining from a guy who had done that for 31 years and told amazing stories about the mines.

2)     We got to do some good, hard work outside in beautiful West Virginia. It was fun working with the team we had and we each contributed to the effort. It was very rewarding to see the completed part of the project (in our case, the footings and pillars for the foundation).  Hot days and cool nights led to good nights’ sleep in the bunkhouse!

3)  We were able to meet other people from around the country who came to ASP for the same reason, to serve Christ physically. We met groups from Illinois, Pennsylvania, Raleigh and Cary. It was fun sharing our experiences at our project homes at the end of the day.  There was a lot of laughter and sharing of stories among the larger group.

4)     We got to enjoy good food and local entertainment from the community.  The ladies, who were cooking, did a great job providing delicious food to fuel our work and we also had the chance to absorb some local culture through speakers and singers who came in after dinner to entertain us.

A good time and satisfying to the soul, I am glad I had the opportunity to go on this trip. I would recommend it to anyone interested!

 

Neil Dixon: A couple of weeks prior to our trip to Brenton, WV, the Sunday gospel reading was from the 21st chapter of John:

¹⁵ When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

¹⁶ Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”  He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”  Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

¹⁷ The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”  Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”  Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.

It wasn’t until the Saturday morning devotion, led by a fellow worker from Illinois, that it dawned on me that this is what God had put in my heart for this trip.  The leader read the same scripture and I realized that we (the mission workers) were all Peter in this passage.  What we were doing was not for us, not for the family, but for Jesus.  We were feeding his lambs. Taking care of his sheep.  Showing love just as Jesus shows us love. Some groups were showing it through painting, some through flooring, and our group through digging and mixing concrete.  (And boy did we mix concrete!!) It was a wonderful experience: physically tiring; outstanding weather; excellent food; good fellowship with our team and the others from around the country.  And the opportunity to show Christ’s love to those who surely needed to see and feel it.