Memoir

For most teenagers, summer represents pleasure and enjoyment, at least for a while. Eventually, summer days become dreary and seem to never end. No different, my summers unfold the same way. However, during the week of June 8 to 16, 2007, I experienced something like never before. I went on my first mission trip with my church youth group. We traveled to Huntington, West Virginia for a week with World Changers.
The World Changers program falls under the North American Mission Board. They have several camps in different places across the world each summer in which teenagers can participate. The 2007 theme, "Obedience, Choose to Serve" definitely sums up the week in four words. After much prayer and Bible study, I knew that God wanted me serve him through some type of mission work. In response, I obediently chose to serve when this mission opportunity arose. The camp my church chose stayed at Huntington High School. Girls stayed on the top floor of the school, while the guys stayed on the bottom. Each church that participated had one girl room and one guy room. On the hard classroom floor, my friend Melanie and I slept on my queen-size air mattress that lost air every night. Between texting on cellphones and frequent bathroom breaks, the girls from my church felt lucky to get just five hours of sleep each night. As for showers, the school had a total of sixteen. The guys had a locker room with eight and the girls had a locker room with eight. There were over 200 girls on the trip. We had three hours between getting back from our work site and dinnertime for 200 girls to get clean in eight showers. Can you imagine? I can illustrate it in one word: chaos! I had to wait at least an hour everyday for my turn to take a shower. I only got one hot shower the whole week. Cafeteria style, the food fell short of disgusting, but certainly could have tasted better. For breakfast we had a combination of eggs, grits, cereal, toast, biscuits, and donuts. Lunch and dinner varied, but some meals included pizza, chicken, sandwiches, and spaghetti. The school provided a salad, fruit, and dessert bar, too.
Organizers assigned each participant to a crew he or she would work with during the week. The Level Heads, my crew, had the mission to reside a house. Leaning sideways, the house alloted to us was not in the best part of town. The teenagers on my crew were: Mikki Dillard, Victoria Hull, Kayla Dyar, Elizabeth Brittingham, Jeremy Tabor, Steven Falen, Jake Thompson, J.T. Graves, Ashley Garrett, Bailey Coggins, Hunter West, Claire Robinson, Savannah Lowe, Chad Thompson and Doug Mackey. They were with churches from Alabama, Georgia, Illnois, and South Carolina. Chet Johnson, Missy Powell, Celia Keller, and Becca Bennett, our crew leaders, gave us the first task of nailing pink insulation over the old siding. Then, the real work began. Crew leaders gave each member a job. Some had to nail the siding, some had to clean up, and others measure and cut. I had to measure and cut! I cut the pieces of white siding with an electric saw to fit the measurements I took. Anxiety overtaking, my mother told me to not get hurt. Surprisingly I did not cut myself, but it I did get really messy. With each piece I sawed, sawdust, gritty and odiferous, flew everywhere. Hurting my ears, the saw made a loud buzzing noise. We worked seven-hour days for five days before we completed our assignment. The most memorable experience of the week happened when I got to cut the last piece of siding and watch as my teammates nailed it up. The smiles on the faces of the family that lived there made everything worth it. They could not believe the transformation that had occurred in their house. It looked like a brand new house even though it was actually eighty years old.
This trip taught me many lessons. My parents always tell my brother and me to be thankful for what we have. I met people who lived in a house that was falling in. I saw kids that did not have food to eat and money to buy shoes. I have learned not to complain about life because it could truly be much harder. I also now have a greater compassion and desire to help others. It could be as simple as helping someone who does not understand their homework to volunteering at the Habitat for Humanity shop or sharing what I have. I wish everyone could have had the opportunity I had. I plan to go on more mission trips for the humbling aspect. I know this is a trip that will be unforgettable because God really touched my heart that week.