Kentucky Mission Trip 2011

Most people head to Florida or North Carolina or someplace warm so they can escape the cold, dreary weather of Michigan during the week of Spring Break. That's what I have done in the past. However, this year, our church announced a mission trip scheduled to go to Annville, Kentucky. Other groups have been there in the past from our church. I considered the trip, asked questions and finally decided to go.

On Saturday, April 2, bright and early (7:30 AM) Dimitri and I met with all the others who went at church. We loaded up two 15-passenger vans with people and luggage. Dimitri and I rode with Pete Z. in his pick-up truck. He pulled the trailer that was filled with donations from church members. This was going to the "thrift store" in Annville.

Off we went. We traveled some 500 miles to our destination in around 10 hours. The only issue we had on our trip there was, somehow, the topper window on Pete's truck popped open and out went my beloved L.L. Bean super-special sleeping bag. One of the vans told us this bright yellow thing flew by them. We decided to take one of the vans and head northbound, then catch the next exit, come back south and then look for it. The only problem was, the next exit was nowhere to be found! Jake was driving and pulled a NASCAR move on a center turn-around and we were headed south. Finally, I spotted it. We parked and I took my life into my hands and crossed over three lanes of heavy traffic to where it had rested in the center by the wall! Awesome. It was intact and unscathed.

We pressed on and our only other stop was dinner at, really, Kentucky Fried Chicken! Then, a few more miles to Annville and our destination: The "Annville Institute". Thought I was checking into an old mental institution or something. We broke into our dorm (Jake put Dimitri in through a window and Dimitri found his way to the front door and opened it). We met Frank Van Hoeve and his 11 year old daughter, Abigail and son Nathan, 7. Jake Moss is the camp director. I did not know it, but this is an RCA sponsored group. We had a prayer of thanks, a description of the work needing to be done, then off to bed.

Sunday, April 3: Went to the on-campus church, Annville Reformed. Breakfast was kindly served to us in the church basement. (Pancakes & sausage). There weren't a whole lot of people in attendance. They have approximately 80 members. Our group doubled today's attendance. Sermon by a fill-in pastor, Rev. Robert Scholten, a Viet Nam veteran; hymns.

This afternoon we took an hour ride to Cumberland Falls. It was spectacular. Seeing "springtime" was also very nice. It got to the mid 70's today. Back to our dorms. Devotions by Pete Z., then off to bed. One housing note: "Women on the bottom; brains on top". (Allegedly spoken by Tom T.) referring to the 1st floor, 2nd floor arrangements. Good night.

Monday, April 4: Let the work begin! Breakfast at 0730. Our first walk to the dining hall. That would make anyone hungry. Hey, pancakes and sausage served up by the camp cook, Connie. Afterward, four people went and unloaded the trailer of donated goods we brought at the Annville Thrift Store. Everything sells for $2.00.

Most of us went to the gymnasium to: 1. put up white pegboard over the existing ceiling, and 2. replace the existing eighteen high-bay lights with newer, more efficient F-bay lights. Some unpacked and assembled, others went up in the attic and looked for the junction boxes under a foot of white cellulose insulation (looked like snow, but was very dusty & dirty underneath).

Lunch: Ham, turkey, white/wheat breads, salad, lemonade.
Dinner: Ham, potatoes, corn, green beans, bread, lemonade.

A few of us went back to the gym and put up our first three new lights. They looked great! Then back to the dorm to ride out the storm that came through (just short of tornados, although they weren't far away). Devotions by Tom and Ryan. A few people played games, read, crocheted or just enjoyed each other's company.

Tuesday, April 5: Breakfast at 0730 consisted of bacon, eggs, toast. Then back to the gym to continue the task at hand. Still others were working at the thrift store or cleaning up leaves and sticks in the yards. It was pretty cold out today after that storm!

12:00 noon: Lunch break for beef barbeques and other fixin's. 12:30 PM, back to work! Lots to do! Some people stayed in the dining hall and fixed the panels that blew off the deck last night. Others off to the thrift store. Our gym-light crew consisted of: Jake, Marie, Dan and Dimitri. The ceiling crew was Pete Z. and Rob the builder. Ground support by MO, Jodi, Tom, Carol, and the kids.

5:00PM Supper: Spaghetti, garlic bread, salad, fruit punch. 5:45 PM back to the gym. Jake & Marie hung four more lights. I pulled (tugged) some wires into the electrical panel. 8:15 PM devotions by the DeHaan Family. Others stayed up later and played games (like Dimitri playing dominoes with six adults). I went to bed.

Wednesday, April 6: Breakfast at 0730- Cheerios, Raisin Bran, sausage, biscuits, gravy.
Lunch at noon: Turkey and ham cold cuts, white/wheat breads, chicken soup.
Dinner at 5:00 PM- BBQ chicken, corn, mashed potatoes.

VICTORY! The ceiling AND the lighting are complete! We went from 18 old lights to 18 new lights; doubled the light output; cut consumption in half and gave them two-level lighting with capabilities of switching one or all rows. The deck porch is also completed AND it looks like some work on a handicap access ramp by the reflections pond is done, too.

After dinner tonight, Pete, Marie and Abby went to the horse barn and groomed the horses, particularly "Blue". Later, Frank came over and saddled up the horse and went to a nearby riding area. Marie got to ride, then Frank took the horse for a ride. Apparently the horse was moving at a fairly fast gait and fell going into a turn, falling on Frank and breaking his ankle (pretty bad). He had surgery Friday and came home Saturday. Sounds like he'll be laid up for a couple months.

Later, after devotions by "Woody" and Alec, we took a tour through the [haunted?] "Lincoln Hall" on campus. Our guide was Abby. This is an old school house with three TALL stories and an attic. A lot of the equipment dates back to the 50's and 60's. A few of us went all the way up into the clock tower. That was awesome! Back at the dorms, a game of euchre and then off to bed.

Thursday, April 7:
Breakfast at 0730- Cheerios, Raisin Bran, bacon, toast.
Lunch at noon: Mac & cheese mixed with ground beef, peas, white bread.
Dinner at 5:00 PM- we ordered pizza and ate outside our dorms. Gave Connie a night off.

Today we finished applying board on the gable of the dining hall, added tin roofing over the remaining exposed section of the asphalt roof and Rob worked to reconstruct a bathroom in the dormitory. Mary and Carol, who worked diligently in the thrift store all week, completed their work over there.

This afternoon, spelunking! We drove about an hour north to Sand Gap on some crazy, winding roads called "state highways". These roads have no guardrails, about a one foot shoulder and drop hundreds of feet if you miss! Legend has it the reason the roads wind so much is because the Indians that were doing the surveying (way back when) were paid with moonshine. They must have drank before they surveyed, not after. That's supposed to be a secret, so don't tell anyone.

We finally made it to our destination. Jason sought and received permission for us to drive his truck and our two huge vans onto the property. We drove down some two-lane cow paths and parked in a cow pasture (literally!). We had to hop over a gate, walk down another narrow cow path, hop over at least three more gates, crawl under barbed-wire AND THEN navigate down some rocky, steep slope down into an old river bed. A couple of people went back to the vans. I don't blame them. It was hot and a lot of work. A few of the more agile ones made it ahead to the cave and already went in. Abby was to be our guide, again, but this wasn't the cave she knew. The main shaft of this cave was blocked by some bars and nobody was getting in there without a torch! We took a few photos and headed back by going upstream. Jason knew a short-cut, however, it was steeper getting to the top. Mountain climbing was what I likened this to! It was beautiful down in the riverbed, by the way, flowing streams, spring flowers.

Once we arrived back at the vans, there were cows, big beef cows right there by the gate. They just watched us leave. Our vans actually made it back out of this steep climb. Then we back-tracked back to our compound. Later in the evening, Jake, the campus director took a few of us on a tour around the county. He showed us what we missed this week in the area, including the Lord's Gym, an off-shoot ministry of JCM situated in McKee. (See notes on the county, below).

Devotions were done by Dimitri (his subject) and myself. They centered on 1 Timothy 6:6-10 about contentment.

Friday, April 8: Breakfast- sausage, biscuits and cereal. A few photos, good-byes and on the road by 8:15 AM. We arrived safely back at the church by 5:00 PM (thank you Lord!).

We came, we saw, we conquered!
We laughed; we cried.
We worked hard; we relaxed.
We went to the top of mountains and dropped into the depths of the earth!
We made new friends; caught up on life with old friends.
...and then we headed home.

13,000 people; 16% to 18% unemployed.
92 churches. 75% were not in the Annville Reformed Church this past Sunday. 40 people is the average attendance here.
Only three churches can claim an "over 100" population.
The industrial park has six businesses which employ about 200 people total.
Biggest employer: The public school system.
Tobacco subsidies were ended by the government and production dropped some 75%!
A "big farm" is approximately 20 acres here.
Many homes have multiple generations within.
Drug problems run rampant.
The town of McKee (County Seat) is the second poorest county seat (in terms of income) in the United States.
Two-thirds of the county is situated in the Daniel Boone National Forest.
Jackson County Ministries (our sponsor) has the only public pool in the county!

Written by: Dan Maly
Edited by: Marie Geerlings
(Basically fixed my grammatical errors, punctuation, spelling, choice of words, structure, facts and everything else I didn't learn in high school). Thanks!