local missionaries travel to Texas, help others

Ethan Groce` of Atlantic always wanted to go on a mission trip. In order to make this happen, he knew he needed to organize one.

Groce`, a professional carpenter, said he felt it was time to do it. So Groce` contacted the United Me-thodist Committee on Relief (UM-COR), and they sent him a list of names.

Groce` emailed everyone on the list and got the biggest response from the folks in Texas.

Groce` and his team traveled to the Houston and Galveston, Texas, areas from February 28 – March 6, 2010.

The next step was recruiting volunteers. Groce` announced the trip at Fallowfield United Methodist Church, where he is a member, and people volunteered. 11 people from Fallowfield applied.

Eli Shrock, Tom Moore, Jean Groce`, Jim and Kathy Bradley, Arden and Joyce McConnell, Howard Bradley, Ben Byler, Hugh “Fuzzy” Shields, and Ethan Groce’, traveled to Texas together.

Everyone who wanted to go on the trip filled out mission trip applications, medical liability and release forms, and earned their Safe Sanctuaries certification. Safe Sanctuaries is a program that educates church volunteers and prevents sexual assault.

The group traveled in a 15-passenger van. They took turns driving on four 12-13-hour days. Their work days were a little shorter -- eight or nine hours per day.

The mission volunteers slept at Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Santa Fe, Texas. Every-one slept in classrooms on air mattresses. The group did devotions in the morning before their work day began. This was one of Groce`’s favorite parts of the trip: “Most of the people in the group weren’t in my normal Sunday school class, so I got to see other people’s [spiritual] perspective on things,” Groce` said.

Everyone in the group took turns leading “Upper Room” devotionals.

The group started work at a Cambodian-American man’s house on Monday, March 1. His name is John, and his house was severely damaged by a tornado that spun off of Hurricane Ike in 2008.

When Groce` first saw what a disaster the house was, he was shocked. Fortunately, the previous week mission workers from Texas A&M hung and taped drywall.

Groce` could hardly believe how quickly the work went, or how well the crew worked together. After all, not everyone on the team was a skilled tradesman.

At first, everyone took jobs they were good at doing. Later, Groce` assigned them jobs.

The Fallowfield women and some men painted, and others mudded and sanded the drywall. Then the group resided the house. The mission team also did some wiring, painting, and added ventilation to John’s roof.

Groce` adds, “Another amazing thing was there were eight Iowans and 11 Pennsylvanians, and everyone worked well together -- there was no bad blood. [The mission project] had the hand of God all over it. There were no bad attitudes.”

As part of their volunteer work, Fallowfield women cooked breakfast and dinner at church, and packed lunches. The crew ate at John’s house.

One of Groce`’s lasting memories from the trip is John’s reaction to the missionaries: “John couldn’t believe people would come from Pennsylvania to Texas to help him out. He was so grateful for the help. He couldn’t talk much about it; he’d break down and cry.”

John came to the United States in 1999, and lived in California until three years ago. Then he moved to Texas. He lives with his wife, daughter, and grandson. John has become a Christian since coming to the United States.

Groce` encourages anyone to go on a missionary trip if she or he has the opportunity. He adds, “It's work, but it’s not like [a job]. I felt the hand of God all over the travel – we didn’t have any breakdowns or accidents, and the weather was perfect.”