Mission St. Croix
Patrick and I had the opportunity to join with more than 75 other adults and teens from our church to go to St. Croix (one of the three US Virgin Islands) to do hurricane repairs. St. Croix was one of several islands (and states on mainland) hit hard by fall hurricanes. Roofs were lost or severely damaged all over the island. Homes were damaged, some wiped out completely. And water damage was everywhere.
Christ Memorial (our church) sent cash ahead of our arrival for the purchase of supplies, and a few guys made preparatory trips to plan projects, work out logistics, and plan and execute shopping. Once we arrived, there were six projects at four locations. Each project was staffed with leaders (adults) and teenagers, and most reports were that the students performed admirably. In addition to the work crews there was a rotating group of students (a different crew each day) that would serve breakfast at a local homeless shelter and "work the streets" inviting people to our concert on the last night. When they were done with their morning duties they would return to base camp and clean...and there was a LOT to clean.
Feeding this army of hard-working laborers was the job of the kitchen staff; four women tasked with feeding 75 workers three meals each day, including one that had to be packed and carried to the job site. That's where I spent my week...in the kitchen.
The four of us bunked in the same room, which worked well because we kept a schedule quite different from the others. Most of the folks would rise around 7:30 to dress and arrive for breakfast. But breakfast had to be started much earlier than that. We would rise between 5:30 and 6:00 each morning to begin working, and the work didn't stop until the kitchen was cleaned at night and we had done whatever prep work needed to be done for the next day. There were days when we didn't get back to our room until midnight. We were on our feet nearly all day long from 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM almost every day.
It was an exhausting, but very rewarding, week. We serve four churches and their membership. We repaired roofs, cleaned school rooms and furniture, repaired buildings, fixed damaged landscaping, and some of our seminary guys even preached at the different churches on Sunday. We also had a couple of opportunities to see the azure blue ocean up close as we snorkeled and relaxed on the beach.
Perhaps the next time we visit St. Croix it will be with dive gear.
Christ Memorial (our church) sent cash ahead of our arrival for the purchase of supplies, and a few guys made preparatory trips to plan projects, work out logistics, and plan and execute shopping. Once we arrived, there were six projects at four locations. Each project was staffed with leaders (adults) and teenagers, and most reports were that the students performed admirably. In addition to the work crews there was a rotating group of students (a different crew each day) that would serve breakfast at a local homeless shelter and "work the streets" inviting people to our concert on the last night. When they were done with their morning duties they would return to base camp and clean...and there was a LOT to clean.
Feeding this army of hard-working laborers was the job of the kitchen staff; four women tasked with feeding 75 workers three meals each day, including one that had to be packed and carried to the job site. That's where I spent my week...in the kitchen.
The four of us bunked in the same room, which worked well because we kept a schedule quite different from the others. Most of the folks would rise around 7:30 to dress and arrive for breakfast. But breakfast had to be started much earlier than that. We would rise between 5:30 and 6:00 each morning to begin working, and the work didn't stop until the kitchen was cleaned at night and we had done whatever prep work needed to be done for the next day. There were days when we didn't get back to our room until midnight. We were on our feet nearly all day long from 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM almost every day.
It was an exhausting, but very rewarding, week. We serve four churches and their membership. We repaired roofs, cleaned school rooms and furniture, repaired buildings, fixed damaged landscaping, and some of our seminary guys even preached at the different churches on Sunday. We also had a couple of opportunities to see the azure blue ocean up close as we snorkeled and relaxed on the beach.
Perhaps the next time we visit St. Croix it will be with dive gear.
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