Emmanuel UMC Brownstown PA – Mission Programs

Jane's Travelogue
My Mission Trip to Webster Springs, W.V.

Bob Rogers, and I, plus 48 other volunteers, left Sunday, April 30th, for West Virginia. Five of the volunteers are our cooks for the week. We all stayed in a Methodist Church. We slept on cots in the Sunday School rooms. There was one shower for men and one shower for women. This worried me for a bit, but then the Catholic Church down the street supplied four showers. Somehow things always worked out; especially when God was in charge.

Our day started Monday morning with breakfast at 7:15. At this time we had to be ready with our lunches packed to head to our job site after breakfast. Three groups headed out to job sites, ours being the biggest group of 26. The home we went to was a bar which they were turning into a home. The people who owned the home are a grandfather and grandmother. Living with them was a daughter, her two small daughters, plus a homeless man. They started to renovate the home 6 years ago when the flood hit with 6-8' of water in the home. This home is in the hills of West Virginia. So the people are very poor. When we got there we had to empty everything out of the house and carry it down the street about a block to store it. Then we were ready to start. Bob Rogers was our Crew Leader. Some of the things we did were insulation, dry walling (6 rooms), install new doors, close up existing doors, put in a hallway, install a bay window, and we even did some plumbing. Usually volunteers are not allowed to do electrical work or plumbing, but we were in West Virginia, so they allowed it. Bob was on a mission to finish the girl's rooms so they would have a nice place to sleep. This took a lot of work because we closed the two rooms off, plus we had to make a door coming out of the bedrooms. The rooms were insulated, dry walled, primed, and painted. We took up a collection to buy carpet for each of the girl's rooms. The monetary donation our church gave also went to paying for the carpet. Bob even washed the windows in the girl's rooms. I told him that I was going to tell his wife. I hope that someone got a picture of that.

We left our job sites each day around 4:30 pm to get back and cleaned up for our evening meal at 6:30 pm. After our meal, we talked a lot about what happened that day. With 50 people we had a lot of different personalities, but the laughter we shared could not be beat! Lights out at 10:30 pm, but most of us hit our cots at 9:30 pm. This week was filled with laughter.

Lots of people ask me why, when I'm pushing 80, I still go on mission trips? One reason is that God has blessed me with good health. The only pill I take is a vitamin once a day. Of course there are days when I have to take a pill for aches and pains. Now the week I spend on a mission trip, I wake up with NO aches or pains. I go to bed with NO aches or pains. I have energy to do the jobs that need to be done. Plus, God helps me with the words to say to the people who we help (for they are hurting). Each day God helps me through this. So I ask you, at the age of 80 wouldn't you want to have a week like this? What an Awesome God we have!

I would like to thank all of you for supporting our Mission trips. If you would like to see pictures and hear our stories, they will be presented at Luther Acres in the Community Room on Sunday, June 3rd at 7:00 pm. Desert will be provided and everyone is welcome.

Jane Imhoff

Emmanuel Goes Global

On August 7th three excited members of Emmanuel UMC will be winging their way to Musese, Kenya to minister to the people of the Musese Grace Worship Center and the surrounding area. They will be joining ten more servants from four other churches for a very busy mission to many in need.

This year a very ambitious schedule is planned that includes three days of medical and eye clinic at the Worship Center and two days of a medical clinic at Nzoia. There will be leadership teaching by Pastor Harry Kaufhold, Bible school for the children and programs for the youth. College students on the team will be giving basic computer skills lessons to some of the youth while three afternoons will be dedicated to women's groups.

As the children are hearing God's word through stories, videos and songs, the women will be sharing their cultural differences, receiving first aid training and doing Bible studies.

Part of the team also plans to visit the local open air market (which has been jokingly named the Kenyan Roots Market) to mingle with folks, invite them to church and plant seeds of our faith.

We will be asking our church family to donate small items to send to Kenya as part of this mission. Please look for more information in the weekly Sunday bulletin, and as always please keep our servants Erin Cuddy, Roxy Kroh and Carol Shaw in your prayers as they prepare for this great adventure.