Spring 2018 Mission Trip | St. Mark's Lutheran Church

Neil, Marc, Alex, Kevin, and Ron at the worksite.

St. Mark’s sent five members to Guyan Valley, West Virginia to serve with the Appalachia Service Project on April 12-15.

We were assigned to help a man named Aaron and his two young children. Aaron’s home burned down and so he bought a double-wide trailer for he and his kids to live in. The new home needed numerous renovations that he was prepared to self-finance. Unfortunately, he lost his job just after purchasing the home and was unable to complete the much-needed renovations. He applied to receive aid from Appalachia Service Project, and he was chosen to receive help with these renovations, free of charge. He is working again now, and ASP is still helping him and his family live in a home that is “Safer, Warmer, and Dryer.”

We installed drywall, flooring, and trim, and we also painted parts of the interior of the home. This was hard but fulfilling work! More groups will come to work on the home after us, and ASP hopes to have Aaron’s family in their home by late May. There are many benefits to serving on such a mission trip, including:

-Having the opportunity to serve God and neighbor through our labor

-Getting to know our fellow mission trip participants better, both on the worksite and back at the ASP lodging center

-Learning new skills

-Laughing a lot!

We will return to Guyan Valley, WV to work on another home in Spring 2019, likely in April. We will work to make the full details of this trip available to the congregation by November 2018, so that you have plenty of time to consider if you’d like to join.