The Journey
It was still dark when we gathered in the little country Church parking lot on the morning of Sunday October 6th. Our delegation included 7 adults and 6 youth. Mr. Ed, not the horse mind you, brought a mobile shop filled with everything including but not limited to a miter box, gloves, both latex and work, a compressor, nail guns, staple guns, various staples, nails and screws, several ladders, a table, a grill, trash bags, tool bags filled with an ascundry of screwdrivers, wrenches and pliers, pry bars, bits, drills, screw guns, chainsaws, work lights and pretty much any and everything required to both supply and feed a work crew at just about any job site.
Everyone said their goodbyes as mothers said goodbye to their children’s and wife’s to their husbands. For some of us it would be the first time they had ever left their families behind. We did not realize it yet, but it would prove to be a week that would build new friendships, bring some closer to Christ and simply change lives. We all piled into the shuttle bus that would be our primary mode of transport for the next week and away we went.
The bus pulled out onto hwy 36 and headed north. There was great conversation as we had a fun, laugh filled ride through North Georgia and Tennessee. We learned of the great mountain lion of turtle cove, fish birds and the dangers of barbed wire. As we crossed the border of Kentucky we exited I-75 and reached the edge of an eastern American wilderness. The shuttle bus came to a stop at the base of the Cumberland section of the Appalachians. Our youth had lunch and we cruised through the local Walmart. We had to procure a few last minute items. The coffee was onboard, but we had forgotten the coffee maker.
With everyone back on board we said goodbye to restaurants and gas stations, so long to cell service and modern creature comforts. We drove headlong up into the twists and turns of the Cumberland Mountain range and then descended down onto the Cumberland Plateau. We had arrived.
The Arrival
Our delegation was headed to Red Bird Mission in Beverly Kentucky. Founded in 1921, Red Bird has provided aid, education and Love to the communities in Southeastern Kentucky for almost 100 years. The first missionaries arrived in July of 1921 to teach elementary grades to the isolated families of the Red Bird River Valley. With Teachers and schools came the need for medical facilities. As a result nurses arrived in 1922, the first full time Dr. in 1926 and the first hospital in 1928.
The modern mission has expanded to include supplies for fresh drinking water, clothes, a fully volunteer fire station, Meals on Wheels for the disabled and elderly, a septic service to install septic tanks in homes to help rehabilitate the local water supply as well as year round crews to help repair and maintain homes and facilities within the region. Red Bird Mission truly is an amazing place.
As we pulled into the misty mountain mission, I love a little alliteration, we unpacked into our dorms and settled in before dinner. Men and women were separated and the only service available was a wifi connection in the dining hall. We would only be on-site for breakfast and dinner so a lack of connection with the outside world would be somewhat of a shock to some of the youth, and let’s be honest some of the adults also. But I must say by the end it had become a bit liberating, I’ll get to you when I get to you because quite frankly that’s when I can get to you freed many of us from the daily grind of returning calls, answering emails and getting lost in massive text threads.
The Work
The mission itself would house us and feed us. We would have an impressive spread for breakfast and dinner. Our lunch was packed as ham and cheese sandwiches, and after breakfast we were off. My father and I would take the Mission van with all of our materials to the job site, while Mr. Ed would bring the mobile shop and our Pastor would load all of our work horses, I mean Youth, into the Church bus. We would wind around the mountain to our host for the weeks home where we would unload and get to work. Mr. A as I’ll call him was a gentle old man. Born nearby, he spent his youth laying brick in Louisiana. A few bad investments, a falling out with family and Mr. A found himself to old to work and living on the side of a mountain in less than stellar conditions. We had come to change that.
We would rip up his floor, demo his ceiling. By the time we left 4 days later Mr. A would have central Heat for the first time, An Air Conditioner that worked and a brand new bedroom. The youth, which included my 11 year old daughter, would staple, hammer and saw their way to a major sense of accomplishment. We would also have part of our crew do some work on the mission property itself. Sorting clothes for the general store, cleaning and working on the 18th century cabin that is the cornerstone of the mission.
On Tuesday we had Kitchen Duty and I was able to use my professional skills to organize and manage one of the fastest, smoothest, cleanings the dining hall may have ever seen. Most of the time people pile into the dish area t drop their dirty wares. I noticed the first few days that this caused a massive backup and not something I would want in my restaurant. We organized our group into bussers, scrapers, I along with Big A ran the dish machine and the rest pulled the clean dishes and put them up. We had the whole dining hall of well over 130 people, bussed, tables wiped and cleaned, floors mopped, dishes cleaned and put away in about an hour from the word go.
Down Time
On the huge front porch of the dining hall was a cornhole set. The volunteer fire department sold ice cream to raise funds for replacement gear and maintenance. Our evenings after dinner usually involved ice cream, not so quiet walks and of course countless cornhole competitions. I don’t know who was the overall victor, but I’m sure the events would have qualified for a spot on Comedy Central. With personalities like Cool Hand Luke, The Architect of Alden and the Hedon of High Point I sometimes thought we were watching a wrestling match more than a cornhole competition. We would fellowship and laugh until the most senior of our adult delegation call us off to settle in for the night.
It was a very special week for me in other ways as well. I remember some of the greatest moments in my youth were our mission trips. We would venture off to the reservations of Mississippi to help and offer some fun to the children of the community. I remember how important that was to me. How even to this day the adults who shapparoned us on all those trips hold an important place in my heart. I realized at some point this past week that I to was doing a service and creating memories for the youth I was with. It also scared me to the bone when I realized that I now was the responsible adult in any group I took to do anything. A sobering reminder of both time and age, it will be an experience I will never forget.
The Greatest of These is Charity
We come full circle. We spent a week in the wilderness of Kentucky and we touched lives. But it was more than the lives we touched for they in return touched ours. To feed a fellow man who is hungry, to clothe someone who is cold, to repair a rundown home for a stranger. Granted he was not a stranger by the end of the week. By doing acts that empower others, to make them feel human, to show them love when often others show them neglect.
Charity is love at it’s purest form. We love our children, we love our mothers and fathers these things are expected. To love those that are strangers, maybe those you consider enemies, to show compassion when others don’t. These are the things that matter, these are the things that are transcendent. Ask anyone who feeds the homeless or does any kind of charity work in any community and the answer to why will always be the same. To give love to others when you don’t have to or are not expected to is the gift. For it is said that those who give freely will also receive in full measure and beyond that which was given. I can’t speak for everyone that went to the mission last week, but I can tell you my heart for one, runneth over.
