Mon Apr 14 09:27:09 2003

In October 2002, I helped organize a group that went to Happy Valley-Goose Bay Labrador to help build a Church. It took about three weeks of having it mentioned before I really even thought about going, and everything snowballed from there.

I'm a handyman. I've done quite a few minor renovations in my house. I have never worked on any large projects. I was willing to go to do whatever I could. Once my name was mentioned in Church, a bunch of people came to talk to me. Within days, there was a group of eight all keen on going. Three of them were carpenters, and it looked like that was what was going to be needed.

I've said many times that in Short-Term missions, it is usually the people who go who gain more than those who they go to "minister" to. I made the argument that we probably could have sent money to hire some local person instead of flying in to help, but stated the point that we had a lot to gain by going.

Initial talk from Labrador was about staying in a hotel and buying our meals. Something must have happened in the small congregation there. Before we left, we knew that there was a place for all of us in people's homes, and food would be looked after. The Church Community Grew closer because we were going.

The group consisted of whoever wanted to go. There were three carpenters, four "handymen", and one who was really keen but didn't know which end of a hammer to hold (so he claimed). We arrived in Goose Bay on a Saturday afternoon. The 240 roof truss pieces had arrived earlier that day. When we got working on Monday morning, it took a few hours for everyone to find a job that they fit in, but fit they did! Vern, who had hip problems and couldn't climb, trimmed boards. Ray, who was keen, but not a carpenter, carried boards to different parts of the Church where they were needed. Cliff, a lineman, slung the loads and directed the boom-truck. Joel and Lawrence, the pastor, were the squirrels up on the roof -- running around moving trusses. The carpenters split up and made all the measurements while some of the rest of us nailed them in place.

In our case, we gave a lot as well as gaining a lot. We were extremely well looked after. In the end, I'm still not sure who gained the most from this.

By Saturday, we were all exhausted. We'd spent five days in the cold, with a little rain, climbing through rafters, hammering, hauling boards, swinging hammers, but having a great time. It was good to get to know each other and some of the local people, but most of all, accomplishing something worthwhile. God had everything in place for us to be there when the heaviest work need to be done. We all had a place, and we got a lot done. We felt bad leaving with work left to do, but we didn't have any energy left.

A few days after we got back, I ran into Cliff in Tim Hortons. Both of us were the same: we would have jumped on a plane to get back up and help if we could have. It was exciting to come back, to talk to our church, to hear about progress on the rest of the building.

Vern was up again a few weeks ago to build the baptisimal tank. It was exciting to hear about the continuation of the work that we did.

I think Kenya will be some of that excitement. Some people say how long a year is to go away. I think it is too short to get established and get good work done, but I'm sure we will be useful. I hope to come back with even more excitement than I came back from Goose Bay with.

Michael