A community making a difference in the world

A community making a difference in the world

Thursday, April 19, 2018

One Very Happy Lady

It was another cold and blustery day in Mercer County.  It had rained overnight, which meant there was no way we could finish off the painting work we started yesterday at Mrs Keenan's home in Bluefield (another mission team will be coming in next week and they will pick up the painting where we left off).  There was still a good bit of work to finish off the painting and installing new flooring in the Children's dorm at the folklife center, so a good number of the group opted to focus on completing this project.   Allyson P, Mary C, Chris M, Bobby our foreman and I all headed over to Bluefield to work on installing new handrails on the front porch.

On the way, we stopped at Lowes and picked up a whole bunch of supplies that we needed to complete the project - banisters, ballusters, exterior screws, wood glue.  thanks to everyone who donated Lowes cards.  It covered all these expenses.  Mrs. Keenan was expecting to pay, and we are quite sure she did not have a lot of disposable income.  When we told her our congregation was picking up the tab, and she could use her money to do something fun, she nearly started to cry.  Again, thanks to all of you.

While Chris, Bobby and I worked on the porch railings, Allyson and Mary took one for the team by going into the dirt cellar underneath the porch to clean out all kinds of junk that had accumulated over many years.  That was a tough job.  They also spent a good bit of time raking and cleaning up piles of leaves in the front lawn and street.  Here's a couple of pictures of Allyson and Mary going to town!




The porch railing project was no easy feat either.  Luckily, we had Chris to remind us of all our old geometry lessons from days in school long gone by.  Cutting and assembling the railings and ballusters was enough to drive us batty! It took us about 4-5 hours of non-stop work in the chilly weather to get the job done.

When the project was finally completed, Mrs. Keenan was simply over the moon happy.  Here's a couple of pictures of the finished product. Check the gigantic smile on her face!




Lots of hugs and thank yous were exchanged as we wrapped up our gear and got ready for the drive back to the folklife center.

Whenever anyone I know asks me why I do mission work in some backroad of West Virginia instead of going to Europe or down to some Carribbean island, I think about the smile on Mrs. Keenan's face and all the other folks we've worked with on these mission trips.  You couldn't pay me a million dollars to trade places for these types of experiences.

Tomorrow morning we will all get up and start our journey home.  We've got a couple of cool side trips on the way home, but for me, today was the highlight.

We made a struggling woman who we never met before happier than she has probably been in a long time.  I have to thank God for allowing me to be part of this profound experience.  Thanks also to everyone on our mission team - each and every one of you is an amazing person that filled this trip with laughter, happiness and completely embodied the spirit of "Joyfully Serve".  And thanks especially to our entire congregation for allowing us to represent you on this journey.

Peace and blessings.

Rick

ps.  John - we missed you terribly, and our prayers are with you and your family

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