On July 15, 19 high school kids along with Ross & Kathy Jelsema and Doug & Karla Bandstra left for Cary, Mississippi, for a week long mission trip. It had been 12 years since we last took a group to Cary so while we were somewhat familiar with Cary Christian Center, we also knew that there were many unknowns as well. Our travels went very well taking into consideration we had two van loads of kids..
. We did break up our travels staying in a hotel Friday night in Mattoon, Illinois. We arrived Saturday night in Cary around 8:00 PM, extremely thankful that our living quarters were air conditioned! The kids were also thrilled to find out that we would be attending a church that started at 11 o’clock (after driving that many hours Ross and I were pretty happy to be able to sleep in too).
We arrived at Mt. Ollie Baptist Church at 10:45, not sure what we’d find. We were warmly welcomed and really enjoyed spirit filled time of worship with some fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. It always is so special to experience worship with a whole new group of fellow believers. A comment from one of our students was, “It was refreshing to see people so passionate about their faith, not worrying about anything but bringing praise to God.”
On Monday morning we were ready to get down to some serious work! At 8:00 we were asked to join the Cary Christian Center staff for their morning devotions. What we found was a group of believers who were so committed to the ministry of which they were a part. Because of the recent financial struggles they have experienced, the staff decided that they really needed to give their ministry back to God and renew their commitment to whatever he wanted the ministry to be. The 30-40 minutes we spent each morning with them every day was the highlight of our day and served as an inspiration for us to go out and serve with the attitude of Christ.
The one consistent thing that each day brought was hot, humid weather. I don’t know the temp each day, but it did get between 95-100 decrees during the day and the humidity was stifling. I’m not sure that it ever got below 80 at night. The other thing that was consistent along the way was the amazing attitudes our kids possessed each day. You need to know that when it comes to that – our kids really get it. There were no complaints despite the conditions and additionally there was always a purposeful joy that they served with. Our projects consisted of drywalling & painting a trailer, a whole lot of clothes sorting in various thrift stores, washing & cleaning of vehicles, and many other tasks.
On Thursday night we welcomed to Cary a group called “Pedal For a Purpose” who had ridden their bikes close to 1000 miles over the previous 10 days. They were raising funds for various causes including Cary Christian Center. They had asked us if we would take them in for Thursday Supper and Friday’s breakfast. It was an awesome way to meet others out serving and we were blessed to be able to spend time with them. On Friday night we enjoyed a catfish dinner provided by Robert, our work coordinator for the week.
If you were at church on July 31 you were able to hear some from the kids and hopefully were blessed by our theme song for the week, “Carry Your Candle.” I want to share with you that you only heard a small sample of what we were blessed to be a part of as leaders. I truly believe that the experiences we share during these trips have a lifelong effect on each person who attends. We are truly thankful for the support that we feel from you! Not everyone is able to have these experiences on a regular basis and we recognize that as a blessing from God. If you have a chance, ask one of the young people about their trip.
~Doug Bandstra