Brandon Twp.- An ecstatic 73-year-old man, an appreciative 80-year-old woman, excited children, grateful nursing home patients and mothers in prison were among the people a local church youth group helped on a recent mission trip to West Virginia.
The experience was not what some of the 21 youths and eight adults from Seymour Lake United Methodist Church expected.
‘I think we got back just as much as we gave,? says Matthew Yettaw, 13, a member of the youth group called Strangers. ‘We built new friendships and built on old ones.?
The group traveled to Webster Springs, West Virginia, on Aug. 6, and returned home Aug. 11 with a new perspective.
‘It was such a humbling experience,? said Julie Quinnell, 16. ‘We expected extreme poverty, but we saw them as people and God’s children, not people in prison or in poverty.?
The mission trip was organized by youth leader Cindy Jenko, 49, who had assistance from Christian Outreach International, an organization based in Florida that plans mission trips around the world. West Virginia was chosen as a destination because it was somewhere the group could get to by driving, although it was an 11-hour trip.
The group stayed at a church in Webster Springs and showered at a local elementary school. They spent their days working on numerous projects including scraping old paint off a small country church and repainting it and painting the laundry room of a home, as well as rooms in the attic, which Karleigh Jenko, 15, described as ‘very hot,? but adds that afterward it looked ‘so good.?
Even more rewarding than the building improvements, however, were the relationships built with people the teens met.
They recall a 73-year-old man jumping up and down yelling, ‘Hallelujah!? and repeatedly thanking them because they had painted his rooms. They worked on the roof of an 80-year-old woman, who climbed to the roof to offer lemonade and express her appreciation.
‘Every person we went to help, they offered whatever they had in their fridge,? says Quinnell.
Following the work projects in the mornings, the group did a variety of people-centered activities for the afternoon, including visits to nursing homes where they would perform skits and morality plays, sing songs and read scriptures to the residents, as well as simply sitting and visiting.
‘Their favorite part was knowing someone cared enough to visit,? says Quinnell. ‘One resident only got visits from a brother every two weeks. We sat and held hands. It was enough knowing we cared.?
The youth group organized a Vacation Bible School for children from low-income housing one of the days, playing games, sharing snacks, and having a party at the community pool with the kids able to swim for free.
On the final full day in West Virginia, the Strangers group had perhaps the most impacting event of their trip when they visited a minimum security women’s prison that is one of very few in the country that allows women to have their babies younger than 18 months-old with them.
‘It’s amazing the community they have there,? says Karleigh Jenko. ‘They were so trusting, letting us hold their kids. We expected hardened women, but they weren’t. One came up and told me, ‘Thank you so much. I was having a hard time trusting people, but after today and talking to you and listening to your testimony, it has helped.? It was so touching.?
Cindy Jenko was happy to see the kids from the youth group step up to the plate and do whatever was asked of them.
‘It gives you hope for the future,? she said. ‘Teens get such a bad rap and this restores faith in youth.?
The teens raised the money for the trip through fundraisers at the church. Besides getting to know the people they were sent to help, the youth got to know each other, too.
‘Twenty-nine strangers went down to West Virginia,? said Yettaw. ‘Twenty-nine brothers and sisters came back.?