By Issie Cherevko
St. Paul's, Englewood, NJ
There were three sites that needed our assistance. Two sites were next to each other that involved vinyl siding and the majority of the 41 people attending EAM Work Camp went to these sites.
My site was the AME Zion. Chapel located approximately 10 miles down the mountain. This site needed a new roof over the kitchen area of the parish hall, a new roof over the entrances, and windows bricked up to keep out the cold. There was a lot of work to be completed and the members of "Team Abednego" did an excellent job.
I have not been to Grace House on the Mountain in two years, however, this is my fourth year participating in this extremely spiritual program. What a wonderful experience it is to see the youth of America giving of themselves for a week. Their ability to cope with new surroundings was astonishing. Even though we were from from Illinois, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey and Tennessee, everyone got along extremely well.
We were told that "we were called to Grace House for a special reason". I found out one of my special reasons on Thursday. Marge Lindstrom from Rutherford, NJ came to visit on my site. While we were talking, it became evident that we had known one another before. Her father, was the rector of the church I grew up in. She and I not seen one another in a 43 years
I met a great bunch of individuals who gave of themselves to help others. "It is better to give than receive", however, after being at Grace House for a week, I feel I received more than I can put into words.
By Brian Nolan, Jr.
St. James' Episcopal Church
Hackettstown, NJ
I thought a lot about whether or not to go on the church mission trip, but decided to for 3 reasons: 1) My resume was looking pretty bad as far as volunteer work. I wanted toto something that would really stick out to employers, 2) I needed something different to break up my normal routine, and 3) Ever since I had scoliosis surgery in August 1993, I've had to be careful of what I do. I wanted to do something useful despite my handicap.
When we arrived at Grace House, the welcome was joyous but I started feeling excluded and homesick. God had taken me out of my comfort zone and made me stand in the gap.
Although I had lived in the dorm at college, I had never shared a room with 10 other people with access to only one bathroom. Other things that made me feel uncomfortable was the lack of tv, computers, the internet or even…yikes!…air conditioning in the hot, humid weather. God had taken me out of my normal routine and put me in always the opposite situation. I was also one of the few people in his mid-20s. I felt lost but kept an open mind and asked God to help me find my way.
I was assigned to Team Abednego. There were 13 of us to work on Long's Chapel, an AME Zion church at the bottom of the mountain. The thing that caught my eye the most was how fast relationships were forming. It didn't take long for conversations amongst strangers to take place. Being a little older than most of the people, I felt a little left out at first, but got over that quickly. Another thing that made the work site interesting was seeing how well everyone worked together. Everyone had their own abilities to bring to the work. Despite my back, I was able to aid in many tasks that helped keep everything moving smoothly. I helped with mixing cement, scraping paint, pulling out shingles and, best of all, using the power saw.
In the evenings we had some awesome prayer services, learned some great new songs and reflected on the Bible and the events of our day.
By the last day, I didn't want to leave. I was starting to get comfortable with my new surroundings, I was starting to make many new friends and we hadn't finished all we wanted to do on the church. Everyone had been so friendly, even people we didn't know waved and said hi, the train engineers tooted their horns and waved, the EAM staff went out of their way to provide for our every need. God showed me that you don't need a lot of money to enjoy life and that all can make someone happy just by saying Hi!
Our final hours at Grace House were spent in a great gathering filled with worship songs with a county flavor. It was one of the best gatherings I have seen in a long time. Even while we were excited that we were going home the next day, it was a bittersweet moment.
We had one last Eucharist and sang what is probably my favorite song of the entire week. It's called "Mo Better Lif" and it fits so well because I feel that God gave me a new way to look at life. It was a perfect end to a week full of physical and emotional challenges.
I wish I could share every experience, but there are too many. But the mission trip that I once thought would be just a trip became one of the most powerful experiences of my life. From standing in the gap to having God support me over it, I feel very much stronger and wiser in His world. To quote the songs we sang, I'm having a "Mo Better Lif" "Down by the Riverside" with "Jesus on the Mainline" to tell Him that "I Want to Know You" and become "Worthy". "All in All" the experience felt like an "Amazing Grace" by providing a "Sanctuary" to "Light the Fire Again" so that "I'll Fly Away" with his love for many futures to come.
