Mission Update
These notes are taken from youth who attended the International Youth Conference for Mission in Geneva Point, New Hampshire, on July 1-12. All youth spent the week in core groups, named after plants, which fit the theme, "We Are The Seeds." Once youth completed workshops, dialogues, and plenary sessions about mission, they spread out as core groups around the East Coast to do a variety of Mission Work. The Women’s Division and the General Board of Global Ministries sponsored the event. These are some of the comments about a few of the mission site visits.
For pictures or to read more about the event, visit http://gbgm-umc.org/iycm .
My group, Allysium, went to Orland, Maine. We went to a place called H.O.M.E.
HOME helps the poorer people in the town, by setting up food banks, thrift shops, shelters...etc, etc, etc. It also encourages some mothers who aren't working to help out in the place. These mothers make handicrafts which are then sold to tourists & people who drop by the place. Ask Mr Brett Pierce. He bought a lot of things!
When we were there, we spent most of the time in the thrift shop. You see, the thrift shop was a COMPLETE MESS! Some inconsiderate people, treat it like a dumping ground. They bring their broken doors, toilet bowls, & stuff like that & dump them there. The guys in the group were supposed to help them get rid of the junk. In the end, we all went into the thrift shop to help sort things out.
We sorted all kinds of stuff, from books to stockings to toys, to just about anything you can find in a house. The sorting took a lot of time as most of the stuff was scattered all over the place.
God Bless
Mark Chan (Singapore)
This is the mission site report for the VIOLAS!!! Our adventure started with a 10 ½ hour drive down to Mountainhome, Pennsylvania. It was a very small, but fairly wealthy little town in the Pocono Mountains. Very beautiful! So anyway, the night we got there, we arrived at the United Methodist church and our host families were all waiting for us. We were so happy to finally be there! They had pizza and ice cream waiting for us, which was very nice of them. Then we all went to our host families houses and got up bright and early the next morning. At breakfast we were the guests of honor at Mountainhome's United Methodist Men's Breakfast! We introduced ourselves and sang the African welcome song for them! They were very impressed! After that we went to our mission site. It was located at the Pocono Plateau Camp. When we got there we grabbed some gloves and were put to work tearing aluminum siding off of a donated trailer that was to be turned into staff housing. So we did that for 5 hours! Very fun tearing something apart! But the wasps that had made the aluminum their home, didn't appreciate it and stung Bobby! When we finished, we went back to our host families houses, got cleaned up, and then we were off to a picnic that the congregation was holding in honor of us! We felt pretty special! Oh, and we taught everyone the [African] tiki-tah dance! That was interesting! Then we got to see their food bank and were taught how it runs. We ended our day at a host families' huge house! We all just hung out and spent our last evening together. The next morning held a trip to the Newark airport and tears as we all had to leave! It was an experience I will cherish my whole life! Well, that's about it! Thanks for the memories VIOLAS! I love you guys! Keep the faith and the smiles!!!
God Bless & Much Love
Megan Hall, Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.A.
I guess I kind of got a different approach to the whole IYCM (International Youth Conference for Mission) thing . Maybe it’s just me, but there was a big emphasis on reflections, how WE each felt, and on our own faith.
I am a "Salvia." Our mission site was a local church in northern Philly. The church runs a summer-day program for neighborhood kids and during the school year runs a free-lunch program. Our group headed out thinking that we were to be doing landscaping, which the
neighborhood was in great need of. But upon arrival at our destination we learned that we were to be running that day's childrens’ activities. So there it was... our "mission."
From there, my group went to work planing and getting ready. About noon the first kids began arriving, and boy were these some kids !!! We had about 25 kids. We started off playing games, like basketball and sports. In the gym we also taught them that "ticky-tah" song, which they all loved. From there, the afternoon continued on with some storytelling and then songs of praise. It was soooo fun !!! But after a few hours it ended with the kids being let out to go run the streets again..... That’s when it really hit me. The whole time the kids were there everyone had smiles on their faces as we laughed and played. But then I saw their neighborhood again, and REALLY looked at it.
There was trash everywhere. Most kids were home alone. A guy was rolling up and smoking weed on his steps. I thought, most of these kids have it bad. Upon talking to one of the missionaries doing work at the church, I found out that their high school graduation rate is a little under
50%. Most kids are from single parent families. And some houses don’t even have electricity. I looked at the murals of graffiti on the walls, of all the people who have died of either drugs or violence in the neighborhood. There was so many. So many lives lost to what ? I began to really
think . But then I guess I kind of pushed it out of my head .....
When we arrived at home, upon talking to [our host’s] husband, I found out that [something] happened around the corner of where our mission site was. A little ten year old girl had been entrapped and sexually assaulted. It hit me kind of hard.
When it came time to lay down and rest, I began to pray. And after my praying I reflected back on the day before me. Two GOOD things began to shine through. One is of all the smiling kids at the church. No matter how bad they have it, or how bad the neighborhood is,,,, they are thankful for all they have, they laugh and smile and are still KIDS. The second thing is of a kid I met that day. He told me to call him "Dido". When he left, he told me goodbye and that he loved spending time with me, and wondered when I would be coming back ....All I could do is hide back all my tears and smile at him and say that someday we will meet again .The mission and the whole IYCM camp changed my life. When I look back I miss everyone and I miss the kids especially from our mission. Then I remember and smile ... Because I know that in a community in North Philly, there lies a church, and in that church there are kids who not only smile, but they pray, and they have HOPE.
God Bless
Robbie Smith, Houston, Texas
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