Growing in Faith and Applying it:
Jamestown Youth’s Mission Trip to Fairbanks
Last Tuesday Fallowfield United Methodist Church’s women’s group invited Jen Arnett of Jamestown to share her July missionary journey with the Jamestown Presbyterian Church youth group to Fairbanks, Alaska. The trip was spearheaded by Linda Kappelt, the youth group’s leader. Cindy Loveridge and Doug Seeley assist as youth leaders.
The youth group raised $30,000 in one year to finance the trip. Fundraisers included a car wash, pancake breakfasts, an adult spelling bee, soup dinner, baked potato bar, and selling chocolate-dipped cashews at the Jamestown Christmas Craft Fair last December. Several of the youth group’s members, along with Jen Arnett and leader Linda Kappelt, also volunteered in 2017 at Fallowfield’s Crawford County Fair pie booth. They all did a great job serving pie and sandwiches.
Linda trusted the youth group to make the decision as to where they should go on their mission trip. She offered several suggestions, and the kids chose Alaska, partnering with Next Step Ministries. That was the beginning of the journey. Having raised the funds, the group of 14 youth and 16 adults left July 14, 2018, from Cleveland Airport and flew to Chicago, then from Chicago to Fairbanks.
The group stayed in a hotel the first night, then went to a Presbyterian church the next morning. Imagine the congregation’s surprise when 31 visitors arrived for worship service.
They stayed at Door of Hope Church the rest of the mission trip. The 24 girls and women slept on air mattresses in classrooms and in the hallway. The men had a different room. There was no hot water there; they had to shower at a rec center after work each night.
Next Step has 14 sites in the United States, one in Guatemala, and one in Haiti. Next Step Mission’s staff are college students from around the country. They are trained in Missouri and then shipped out. These young people are sort of like camp counselors. The youth group worked well with Next Step’s staff. The adults in Jamestown’s group sort of stepped back and let Next Step run the mission trip.
The youth group really connected with these college students. Jen said they were really trendy, earthy, and upbeat. There were breakfast devotionals each morning and lunch devotionals on the mission work site.
They had packets to do at breakfast and lunch, which they discussed at evening worship service. One prompt was, “Where did you see God today?” and the other was, “It’s a God thing.”
The youth group members saw God in the sky and clouds, and in having the opportunity to help people.
The counselors also shared their stories. All of the counselors had life-changing experiences. One had someone in his life who battled drug addiction. This counselor’s faith got him through it. Jen perceived the youth group opened up about their own faith because they were struck by meeting strong Christians who are younger than their parents. Jen said there was a lot of singing, sharing, and tears. Hearing about faith from their teen counselors helped the kids grow in their own faith.
“Why are you here?” was another big question the Next Step staff impressed on the youth group.
Next Step’s staff cooked and prepared all the meals. One thing that stuck with Jen is that they drank water all week – no juice or milk. Next Step’s staff gathered water from a spring and filled five-gallon coolers. There was no ice all week, either.
God blessed the group with good weather all week. It was in the 70s and 80s during the day and in the 40s at night. They only had a little rain while there. They were in Fairbanks when Alaska is sunny all day and night. The darkest it got was more like dusk, Jen said, not a black night sky. Thankfully their work days were not extended because of the amount of daylight.
The areas where they worked were fairly poor communities. Jen’s group spent their first day working in a single mom’s yard. She is in her 50s and she is both a foster parent and has adopted special needs children with severe conditions. Some only live for a year after she adopts them, but her goal is to let these children experience life while they are living. She takes them to Disney Land and Disney World, among other places. Needless to say, she has no time for yard work.
The youth group cut five to six feet of brush leading from her house to a shed in the back yard. Jen said it was a jungle. Once they uncovered the shed, they discovered a lawn tractor inside. They were able to get it running and mow her yard, too.
This single mom was so grateful. She has very strong faith in God, and this inspired everyone in the group.
They took the brush to the city dump, where everyone takes their garbage, brush, and recycling. This was eye-opening to the group.
Days two and three were spent at Golden Heart Christian School. This private school has 20 students. Jen’s group completed and painted a set of stairs for the school. They also worked on two porches and a picnic table.
They travelled 30 miles to a private home on the fourth day. This family sells vegetables through Community Sponsored Agriculture (CSA). The group weeded around lettuce and rhubarb, then picked lettuce. The farmer’s wife made fresh lettuce salads and a rhubarb dessert for the group.
The vegetable garden had to be fenced in to keep moose out. Jen found it interesting that potatoes can be planted outside the fenced garden because moose don’t like potatoes.
Other youth group members worked with Will and Yvonne Mayo, who lead Vine Ministry. Will is an Athabascan Indian Chief. Vine Ministry is trying to bring missionaries to Alaska. There aren’t many missionaries in interior Alaska.
Some youth group members spent the week building cabins to house missionaries. Jen noted that men in the group ran the power tools. These are small cabins, just big enough for people to sleep in. They ate moose soup at Vine Ministries.
Other groups from Jamestown worked on waterproofing cement blocks on a new house and chopping wood.
Linda chose Next Step because it’s all about takeaway: How are you going to apply what you’ve learned about mission work to your own community? The kids had several ideas, and the one they’re applying now is visiting the residents at Lutheran Village. This senior citizen living facility is just across the baseball field behind Jamestown Presbyterian Church. They visit the residents once a month and have lunch with them, play bingo, or make crafts.
Jamestown Presbyterian youth hope to work with His Work His Way in Greenville next June and are considering taking another mission trip in 2019.
I hope this inspires you to take the next step in whatever mission God places in your life. Have a wonderful week. Blessings!
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