West Virginia Mission Trips - We now come to the end of our first mission trip and I cannot believe it is over! It has flown by and I know I can speak for all three interns in saying it was one we certainly learned a lot from and will never forget. Both groups completed more tasks than we had planned and we had to find new projects throughout the week for them to complete. This is a good thing though, and such a blessing to everyone who got help from them.

Both houses that had rooms being finished were completed by the afternoon on Thursday, and the projects around the school made a huge improvement as well. The families whose houses had been either finished or painted were generous and friendly all week long, and hopefully quite unforgettable to the teams who worked there. Those families even made lunch for the men working there everyday. This lunch meal sometimes turned out to be coincidentally the same meal as dinner that night a couple times, but that made for laughs and memories on both sides.

The last day of Kid’s Club was just as enthusiastic and elaborate as the rest of the week. The kids were sent home with bags filled with crafts, snacks and prizes, and with hearts filled with seeds planted about the word of God. There is one older woman in the community who brings many kids each day and is very familiar with the kids that live around Gary. “

I’ve been here a lot of years and seen many groups put things like this on, and if I don’t like it the first day I never being the kids back, but this group has really got something special,” she said when asked about this week’s group. “I like when groups teach the kids not only about the Lord but teach them character traits as well, and this group does that. You can tell they really care about the children and take time with each one of them, no matter if the kids are difficult or not. It’s really great to see.”

After all the morning and afternoon work the groups got to spend their last night here up on Miracle Mountain for some time to relax. We grilled burgers and the kids played football and horseshoes. The wooded mountainous view was beautiful and it seemed the perfect place to close out a great week. We had a time of worship and short devotional about living for the Lord whether you are on a mission trip, just coming home from one, or have never set foot on the mission field at all.

We are truly grateful for the teams coming here and we cannot thank them enough for all the hard work they put into every project everyday, for the friendships they extended us and for blessing us in such large ways! At the same time, we look forward to the rest of the summer and what the Lord has in store for us next! Thank you for all your prayer and support!

To serve in West Virginia with Experience Mission on youth mission trips or a specific mission trip for all ages, call us at 360-732-0986. To check out additional media about West Virginia, visit our news website at www.ExperienceMissionNews.com. Register now for a future mission trip with Experience Mission.