The week of July 25-31, about 25 youth and several adults participated in Mission Week. This was a week of local mission work that took us to several different locations across Montgomery and down to Mobile, Alabama. We spent the first part of the week serving together, playing together, and resting together. We stayed at the church overnight each night, and while some folks had to come and go a little bit, for the most part, we were all in solidarity about our purpose for the week...to serve our community by the example and with the love of Jesus.
We spend Sunday night in worship and discussion about our expectations for the week and what it meant to be having a "local" Mission Week. I was uplifted by the conversations and enjoyed hearing some of the youth who had recently returned from a mission trip to Jamaica speak about their excitement to be responding to and continuing the work they began there in their own community. We spent the rest of the night playing games, and I set a bad example for the kids by doing lots of stuff on my laptop to apply to seminary.
The next morning, I stayed at the church to do more application work, and the teenagers met the Senior Saints at a local nursing home/assisted living facility to sing and visit. From the reports I heard, the kids were less enthused than some of the adults would've liked to see, but overall the experience was as usual as anticipated for the teenagers. That afternoon, some of the group worked in the church kitchen to cook a meal for the Friendship Mission, a local shelter for men suffering from homelessness. Another group of us went over to the Mission and picked weeds and veggies from their garden. It was hot, there were bugs, and we needed lots of sunscreen, but the experience, which was only about an hour and a half, brought the group of us together. I know I had some conversations, shared some jokes, and found some commonalities with some of the youth that I hadn't really known before. It was a perfect example of how community is built and strengthened through service with one another. Later that evening, when the "cooking group" brought the meal, some of the teenagers served and we all visited with the men who live at the shelter. Most of the group had been to the Mission at least once before, but even the "newbies" talked to the guys and got to know some of them. One of the youth girls and I talked with a guy, Robert, who had offered our group some ice and punch after we worked in the garden shared about his family and what he likes to do with his days and what he does for a living and how he likes to run at the city park down the road. We shared about our families and laughed with him. I made a new friend, and I saw smiles of lots of other people making friends, too.
That night, I went home to finish up my application to Garrett. The next morning I met the group back at the church and worked with a few of them in the church's food pantry while the other folks went to a local elementary school to do some yard work and painting. In the food pantry, a few of the girls helped Stephanie with some cleaning and a couple of girls and guys helped me sort some clothes for the children's clothing closet. Again, we formed bonds with each other, and we were able to help the regular food pantry volunteers distribute the food to some visitors. The teenagers were eager to learn about this outreach ministry of their church. I saw the learning on their faces and the gifts that they were willing to see in themselves and share with others.
That afternoon, a group stayed in the kitchen again to cook and prepare some things for a meal with the folks at the Family Sunshine Center, an organization that helps families transitioning out of domestic violence relationships/families. Another part of our group went to a local elementary school to help a teacher move classrooms. We worked as a team and helped each other carry boxes. We dusted and swept up bugs and carried really heavy boxes...things none of us would volunteer to do in own homes or with our own families. A couple weeks later, the teacher we worked with came up to me and shared how grateful she was for the group coming to help her. She explained that she had just been offered her new job (which is why she was moving to a new classroom) a day before, and she had to be out of town for the rest of the week, so she only had that one day to get everything packed and moved. She really enjoyed having the group in her classroom and she was completely relieved for having had such a help during a stressful time.
We couldn't all go to the Family Sunshine Center because of space, confidentiality and the sensitivity of the guests and the Center, so a small part of the group went shopping to stock the food pantry, and the rest of us went to share a meal with the residents at the FSC. There were 4 families and 7 or 8 kids there. We at hotdogs and potato salad...and then we played. The kids were pretty excited, but sort of slow to warm up to us. We were the same way. Some of us bowled in the hallway. Some of us built houses and castles out of blocks. Some of us played wicked games of UNO. Some of us even hula-hooped. We saw hope in the eyes of children that we anticipated would have none. My heart opened a little more, knowing that these families had come from places where love was NOT the norm. We didn't talk to any of them about their specific situations, as advised and requested by the FSC staff (and we understood), and we didn't need to know. We were just there to love and play...and it was beautiful to watch teenagers do that.
That night we worshiped together and shared about our experiences. We respected each other and listened to each other. We looked forward to the next day, when we would travel to a new city for an experience that we knew little about.
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