To Springfield Missourie,, the land of gentle rolling mountains and drips of forests painting the land. All for a mission trip.
There were twenty-eight of them to be exact. All packed, all thrilled, all ready. When they left town, chatter was immediatly roused, but she held back. She wasn’t comfortable with these people. They were older, intimidating, and they all linked together. She was not in the link.
No matter. With dreams and music, the miles stretched on. Frequent stops at gas station allowed them to purchase snacks, but she did not. Partly because gas station offered nothing healthy, and the junk food would linger in her stomach, not benefiting her body whatsoever.
Night fell, and they camped out at a hotel. The beds were extremely soft, and the pillows were comfy even if they were rather small. She roomed with three of her friends; she felt more at ease with them than others. But, they did enjoy caroling to an iPod… while she drifted off the sleep.
The next morning after a contentental breakfast (a glourios break from the fast food she’d been consuming for the past day) the group headed for church. It was a huge Methodist home, and the contempary service was actually entertaining. Burger King followed the service, and she groaned inwardly, but after they hit the road again…
..and landed in Springfield! The scenery was indeed beautiful, and was a nice change from the flat land that she was accustomed to. When they arrived at the church they would be living at for the next five days, they unpacked and the girls discovered that they would be sleeping… on a floor. It had carpet though, and her sleeping bag was her new best friend. She helped fix a non-fast food dinner and branched out a bit with her fellow teens. That night, and every night following, was devotion. The group gathered in the sanctuary and listened to a story or lesson from a fellow youth. This was the spiritual time. This is when the emotions flowed. This was her favorite part. Goodnight.
Hello. Monday morning, work site time. The group was split into two teams, each on a different work station. Her group packed the tools, loaded the bus, and cruised on to…
ever heard of that old widow who keeps thirty cats for company? Imagine this woman, except with a wheelchair husband, and her work site is born. The woman owned five cats, but about eight-teen prowled around her home. Eighteen. Imagine the smell. Nevertheless, the tidied up her yard a bit (by moving moldy mattresses and accidentally hacking down her lilac bush). Within an hour, they were ready for their task: build two connecting decks and steps.
Through the heat, flies, and sweat, the ended up with the foundation of one deck and a small ramp connecting the two. The contractor was pleased, however, so they bounded to the church to sprawl on the couches in the basement, which was their hangout room. There they read, chatted, and watched rousing games of ping pong and “sting pong”: where if you messed up, you must allow the opponent to pelt you with a ping pong ball. After a game, the players had circular whelps sprinkled across them and resembled ring worms. And of course, all the players were guys.
Tuesday. The same site. Indulge in Poptarts, dress, and arrive at the house. Today she talked with the kitty woman, and discovered that she is actually quite a cool person. Her house burned down in 2003, and she’s had two heart-attacks thanks to her cats, but she took everything with a humorous outlook. Not everyone could do that. She couldn’t do that. Also, she found out that her cats’ names range from “Pandemonium” to “Itty Bitty Frozen Kitty.” Very creative, that woman is. After the work, they went to Bass Pro Shop. The store was incredibly huge, with a pond, waterfall, and ducks inside. If one loves the outdoor sports, than they should make a permanent resident inside the building. She bought a t-shirt for her father and an owl bobble-head for herself. Just because.
White Water in Branson for fun day! Branson is a spectacular (with maybe a twinge of tackiness) city with numerous shows every night. There was nothing outrageous at the water park, fortunately. She wasn’t much on large roller coasters, and thankfully there were none there. Just a 75 foot high slide. And she miraculously went on it. Twice. Also, there was a wave pool. So, naturally, her youth group waded into the pool, fought for tubes, and after five minutes everyone had managed to snatch a tube and link hands, forming a giant amoeba of teenagers. When the waves came… nothing described it but “fun.”
On Thursday, the deck was complete. Her group had moved on to tackling the woman’s fence. They would build a new one, dissemble the gates on her current fence, and attach them to the new fence once it was built. But first, they had to do the impossible: dig post holes.
Sure, in dirt it was fine. But they didn’t have dirt. Instead, roots and rock was their gift. Not able to help, she sat on a pile of fence posts, sipping water and listening to the chatter of everyone. She felt bad that she couldn’t put in an extra hand, but she didn’t object to sitting in the shade. Who would?
For Friday, her group was spilt into two, and another site was in mind. She, and six others of her friends, traveled to a trailer park where they would be building a deck and steps for a woman. Later she discovered that the woman smokes, has seizures, loves God, and has a 70 pound pit bull called Hooch. After much sweat, they finished the deck, and she saw God while loading the bus with tools: a random lady stopped by and told her “Thank you.”
Saturday travel. The roof in the bus leaked, the mold grew, and she slept. Sunday, blow out. Driving along on the interstate and what happens? The axle brakes. So, after toting the group to a near by gas station where they were stranded for 45 minutes, another bus comes to the rescue. All was well.
And God filled her heart every day.
