Sunday, July 7, 2013

Appalachian mission trip reflections


God, I believe, calls each of us to a ministry.  And God may call us to many different ministries over the course of our lifetimes.  God, I also believe, gives us opportunities to explore new possible ministries, to develop skills for ministries, and to exercise leadership, including spiritual leadership.

There were lots of these kinds of opportunities during our Eastern Kentucky mission trip.  And the trip affirmed for me the concept of call.  Let me elaborate on each of these.

Because our mission team was so small, everyone got a chance to shine and lead.  This was the case even though on a trip with a bigger team, some of us might have been eclipsed by others who were more outgoing or more assertive.

Our chances to lead came at our home base (the house next to the First Presbyterian Church of Hazard – where we cooked, ate, cleaned, played, and had devotions), at the work site (at the two houses which he tried to help the Housing Development Alliance finish), and out on trips where we experienced the beauty of the mountains and learned about the issues that mining raises.

I took a photograph that I love of the three young people – Hannah, Emily, and Ethan – scrubbing the floor of an HDA house that was almost done.  But Emily is taking a break to chance the station – or whatever – on her smartphone.  I was initially skeptical when the kids started listening to one of their phones at this site.  But the kids had all just cleaned a pile of gross garbage out of the front yard and the street, they were into the music, and they seemed to be working even harder to the sound of the music.  I eventually was happy enough that I moved on to our second house, leaving them and Hilda to finish up.

Later that night I was leading food preparation for dinner when I decided there were a couple of more food items we needed.  I wondered whether I should stop cooking and take time to drive to the grocery store to buy those items.  But, after a while, I decided there was no need for me to do  this, when I could simple send the kids to the convenience store a couple of blocks away, which should have what we needed.  And off they went on what turned out to be a bit of an adventure, but they came back with what we needed, and I was happy for them to take the lead on this.

Many of you know that I’ve been involved in a bit of a career transition.  It now looks that I may teach college next year.  It’s been almost 10 years since I taught college students, and occasionally in the past I wasn’t firm enough with my students or I wasn’t very popular with my students, or both.  While on the mission trip, I was sometimes firm with your kids, and they usually listened to me.  And often they still seemed to like me, which was I nice combination that gave me some good experience and confidence going into teaching. 

On those long car rides, they kids also share with me some insight and information on youth culture, which I’ve fallen a little behind on, and on school norms.  For example, they told me that kids a year or two or three away from high school shouldn’t be surprised if they were told to put their cell phones, tablets, and laptops away before class.

Finally, your kids and Hilda and I, along with the carpenters, electricians, HVAC people, and landscaping team formed, I thought, a pretty effective cross-generational, cross-gender, cross-class, and cross-cultural team.  Many of my classes will definitely have to also be this if I am going to succeed back in the classroom.

So, I thank God and you all for this opportunity to serve, learn, grow, and lead.  I’m also thankful for experiences that confirmed for me that I might have a new call and prepared me a little for that call.

May it be so.

-Perry

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