Rural Mission Trip: Here we are! Gary, West Virginia.  Since we arrived on Monday we have been hard at work preparing rooms for our mission trip teams to stay in and places for the leaders to gather.  Yesterday we met a woman and her sister from the community who are going to be cooking dinner for us for the summer.  We are so thankful to have them!  From what we have tasted, we can tell that they definitely know their way around the kitchen.

Today we have been assembling and bunking beds as well as cleaning and finding our way around the community.  The school that we are staying in is in the process of being remodeled by our community partners, Jack and Brenda, who run an organization called the School for Life.  It is amazing to see Jack's passion for the people here.  Just today he took us down to Gary Bottom and introduced us to a woman named Candy and her two sons and told us a little bit about her struggles.  We are excited to get to know her story better and build a relationship with her.

This place is different than anything that we have ever experienced before.  Yes, it is full of poverty and the culture that goes along with it, but the people are loving and so kind.  We have so much to learn from them and we are excited to share the Hope that we have with them as we build relationships with them. We know that this summer’s mission trips will be full of challenges and growth.

Team West Virginia

Note: Do you want to be a part of the change and assistance happening in this Appalachian Community? Sign your team up for a mission trip with Experience Mission. To do so go to www.experiencemission.org.