Pleasant Valley United Methodist church sponsors and participates in several mission trips each year.
Adult Mission Trip - Campton, KY - 2011On Saturday, May 7 an eager group of 6 long-time parishioners from PVUMC (3 women and 3 men) departed the comforts of home and travelled by car 8.5 hours to Eastern, Kentucky to help out the good folks of Campton in any way they could. While Campton was once booming, the economic downturn of the past few years has greatly impacted this tiny town of about 2000 with businesses closed and a large percentage of its people unemployed and living in poverty. Upon arrival, we were greeted by Dave, Director of Impact Missions, who not only coordinated the work for 5 days, but would care for us and provide our housing.
Home for the week was a small A-framed building that served as a current local Methodist Church. At night, we slept on our cots and/or air mattresses in what was their sanctuary, but come morning we would roll up our beds for the day. Our daily wake-up call was to the sound of a ringing cow bell, and the slow activation of the overhead fluorescent lighting. While there were separate bathrooms, there was no hot water. There was a kitchen from which most breakfast, lunch and dinner meals would be served from. Breakfast was served promptly at 8:00, following morning prayer, and we were turned out for morning work from 8:30 until Noon. Lunch was usually until around 1:30, when we would resume work for the afternoon until usually 4:30 or 5 pm. We would shower at days’ end at the local high school gymnasium.
In the mornings we worked to help a local man, Jeff Barker, who lost his home and everything to a fire last December. Someone donated a mobile home to him, but it had no under-skirting. It took us about 10 hours in sweltering heat to complete the job. While Jeff had very little, he had a grateful heart. Each morning when we showed up, he would greet us with a cooler filled with iced soft drinks and water, and would then work alongside each of us helping to get the job done. He could haven’t been more nice and more grateful; he thanked us with a Hallmark card. The other local family in need also lived in a mobile home and had a bedroom where the ceiling had caved in and would leak water whenever it stormed. Living in the single wide trailer was a lovely elderly woman, her 4 dogs and 2 cats. It took approx. 10 hours to complete the work there. To show their gratitude, she and her son surprised us the next day by bringing lunch.
Our afternoons were spent doing finishing work on the new church building that was soon expected to open its doors. The Pastor had been doing most of the work himself, on budget and on time, with volunteer help from some of the parishioners. We painted, framed windows and doors, painted, cleaned, hauled trash and painted some more! Our final task to complete before going home was to hang up a lighted cross that had once been on display on top of the church. After some minor repair and fixing up, it was carefully hoisted the 15 feet to its final placing only to suddenly crash to the ground when the rope broke. It broke again. This time there were time constraints and the concern for being able to find the parts necessary to fix it. With prayer, patience and perseverance, Frank was able to successfully repair the cross. We all anxiously and quietly watched as Frank once again carefully hoisted the cross to its final resting place, this time using new rope. (Our cars were packed for the drive home, yet we wouldn’t leave until this one final task was complete.) Shouts of Praise the Lord filled the parking lot when it was safely in place and Frank climbed down. Our final photo op -- beneath the cross restored. What a fitting end to a joyous week spent doing the work of the Lord -- reaching out to help others less fortunate and in need, serving as examples of Christ.