Diocesan Youth Summer Mission

by Jessica Novotny
"I see one third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, and ill-nourished. The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide for those who have too little." Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Recently nine people representing the Diocese of East Tennessee took a mission trip to the town of Hurley, Va. The Rev. Stephen and Patricia Askew represented St. Paul's, Chattanooga. Cindy Mallalieu, Danny Attele, George Duvall, Rebekah Duvall and myself came from St. Matthew's, Dayton. Lisa Parsons represented St. Timothy's, Signal Mountain.

We drove seven hours to arrive at the Hurley Peoples Community Center. We were a bit unsure about what to expect. Hurley is a beautiful area. It has many hardwoods and a river runs through the town. With little traffic on the roads you can hear the birds and insects clearly. The roads are winding with no painted lines. Two vehicles can barely pass each other without one having to pull off the road. All the people live far apart, and if someone lives close to you, they are usually related to you.

That night while we were eating dinner, Mattie, who runs the center, introduced herself and another volunteer group from Ohio. She also gave us our assignments. Patricia, Lisa, Rebekah and I were assigned to sorting a huge pile of miscellaneous objects while Cindy, Danny, Father Askew and George were assigned to replacing rotted porches for a lady named Rose. Her husband died a year ago and she could not fix the porches on her own.

After the discussion, we said good night and slept on mattresses on the floor. We were a little nervous about the next day. We hoped all would go well.

Monday was successful. My group finished their pile while the other group removed the roof of the back porch and began building supports for it. After finishing our sorting, I talked to Mattie's daughter-in-law. We talked about a lot of things. She told me her son, Brandon, was born one month and two days premature. She said that he was in ICU and almost died. Today, Brandon is a healthy two-year-old boy. That night we had dinner that the town made for us. It consisted of fried chicken, ham (from one of their pigs), potatoes, tomatoes and a salad. The town made our dinner every night. After dinner we had "art time." We designed cloth patches by either painting or drawing on them. When our patches were completed, a lady named Reffie took them home to make two quilts - one for Hurley and one for our group. Reffie has lived in Hurley all her live and has three grown children. Her husband died this past year. She is very active with her church.

Tuesday, Cindy, Lisa, Rebekah and I installed a shower for a woman whose husband died about six months ago and she was unable to finish remodeling the bathroom by herself. In order to install the shower, we had to take a wall of the house down and take the bathtub out. We were missing a lot of pipe and other tools, so we had to wait until Wednesday to do the majority of the work. Patricia, Father Askew, Danny and George continued building porches. Since my group finished early, we returned to the center. On the way back, Robert, who works at the center, told us he had lived in Hurley all his life. He and his wife, Charlene, had been married for thirty years and they have two children, one boy and one girl. They have two grandchildren and more on the way. They were married when he was nineteen and she was sixteen. Robert said that he is more in love with Charlene now than he was when they first married. Robert worked in the mines and came very close to death when he was electrocuted with 400,000 volts of electricity. He has never worked in a mine since and does not plan on it. He currently works at the community center and does a lot of manual labor. Charlene also works at the center, helping Mattie with paperwork.

Wednesday each of us went back to the same assignments. All of it went well. The bathroom had only about an hour more of work to be done on Thursday. The back porch was completed and the front porch stabilized and only had to have the boards hammered in place.

That night we went to Grundy to see the airport. It is for private rather than commercial aviation. The view was beautiful. From where we were standing, you could look down into a valley and see where all the foothills of the mountains looked like they met. And just where they met sat a little cabin with a creek running around the cabin and down through the hills. It was very peaceful and reminded me just how incredible and beautiful this earth really is.

Thursday was our last working day. Danny and George helped Robert deliver materials to work sites. Patricia, Father Askew, Rebekah and I finished the porch. Rose thanked us and said we were the most kindhearted people around. Cindy and Lisa finished the bathroom. After lunch, Cindy, George, Danny, Rebekah and I went to Robert and Charlene's house to help them put nails in a bridge Robert built. Robert built the bridge out of railroad ties over the creek running in his front yard so that a 40 ton truck could pass over the creek. Robert needed us to help him sledge-hammer eight inch nails into the ties. We were half done when Robert broke the hammer.

When we were leaving for the Community Center, Charlene gave Cindy a live chicken to take home. That night, we all had a farewell cookout in the park. Robert took us to a special cabin. We hiked up this steep hill and even the people that were in shape were out of breath by the time they reached the crest of the hill. The builder of the cabin showed us around. He had a corn mill, a storage shed and several other handmade buildings. He had built the cabins as a home for his wife and himself. She died in 1978 and he rarely goes up there because the memories are just too painful. He is around 78 years old and doesn't look a day over 55. He was in the best shape of the whole group. That night he shared a part of his heart with us.

On Friday we received a tour of a strip mine. It was very interesting. We saw all the machines, some valued at over a million dollars. One loading machine had wheels that were easily 12 feet high and could carry more than 150,000 tons of rock and coal. We also learned that people are less likely to get Black Lung if they work in strip mining because they are not underground and constantly exposed to coal dust. Once the company strip mines an area, they cannot mine it for several years and have to plant trees and grass. We were allowed to take home some pieces of coal as souvenirs.

When we returned to the center, we were all reluctant to leave. We had grown so close to these people; we fell in love with them in such a short period of time. They were so kind to us and made us feel right at home in a new environment.

This is the first time I have ever been on a mission trip. I really enjoyed it, as did everyone that went. I personally feel that a spiritual growth took place in me while I was there. I was able to see that the people of Hurley did not have much materially, but they were happy with what they had. That taught me that I can be happy with what I have, too. God is working wonders in Hurley. By going to Hurley, I met new people and have found new friends. This showed me that someone does not have to be in the same financial situation I am to be my friend and to be able to relate to me. I was given the opportunity to meet people and live as they live and see things through their eyes. For that I am truly thankful to God.

Another positive aspect that developed was the close relationship among St. Paul's, St. Matthew's and St. Timothy's. We all would like to visit each other's churches and plan to keep in touch. The people of Hurley now know more about our churches and us and we know more about them and their church. Mankind has the ability to bring two towns together and hopefully, someday, a nation together. We can help others achieve their goals and in turn receive joy from that. We can go the extra mile to help someone in need and know that we are making that person's life a little more stress-free and enjoyable. But most importantly, we can spread the word of God by helping others and letting them know that we care for them and so does God. By going to Hurley, we gave them the greatest gift we could, unconditional love for our neighbors.

"Kindness is a language the dumb can speak, and the deaf can hear and understand." Christian Nestell Bovee.

Novotny is a communicant of St. Matthew's, Dayton