by Jennifer Chevrier, EM Summer Staff
I started recording all of the things that I'm thankful for this week because as I reflect on these past several days, I can't help but store these treasured memories close to my heart. Jess, Josh and I started our summer last week in Pikeville, KY with a team of 9 hardworking adults, and quickly transitioned to leading a team of 85 high school students this week in Webster Springs, West Virginia. We plunged head first into this new EM community, with new relationships, new challenges, and new possibilities. I came into this week with no idea what to expect, only to have my uncertainty met with incredible love. This was EM's first trip to this specific community in West Virginia and it has quickly turned into a place that I miss dearly.
This week we welcomed in an awesome team of high school students and adult leaders who went above and beyond to love the community of Webster Springs. Yet the best part is, Webster Springs loved them right back! We had the chance to share our lives with homeowners and community members and build friendships that reach far beyond the surface. With 9 worksites running at one time, the team had their hands full but the results were outstanding. Not only did the mission trip team work alongside homeowners to complete various work projects, but hearts were opened and barriers were broken. To see hope restored, stereotypes thrown out, and relationships built was enough to leave me in awe of the way God moved in Webster Springs this week.
One of the homeowners we worked with told us he didn't trust the people around him, specifically his neighbors (we found this to be a common mindset in this area). However, after a few short days of work, a relationship was built between the homeowner and the team, and he started working alongside them to make a difference in his home. The homeowner even showed one of the team leaders how to find the spare key to his house because he would be gone for the next day's work. This may seem like a small gesture of trust, especially if a team was working on his house—but this was a huge step of trust for this man. In a place where people sometimes struggle to let others in, allowing people that days before were just strangers from across the country to become worthy of trust and friendship is what this is all about. When we approach others with respect and dignity, barriers can be broken. When we realize that the major differences between "us and them" is mere circumstance, the "us and them" mentality is shattered and met with compassion.
In seven short days a town in Appalachia that seemed to be in stark contrast to my home in metro Detroit, quickly became a home away from home. To walk into the local stores and know the workers, to wave at the kind faces as I walked down the streets, and to see the positive response to my team's presence in the community of Webster Springs has made it difficult to leave. There is something special about that town and it's hidden in the hearts of the residents. Love, grace, hospitality and laughter: these are the things that the people of Webster Springs poured out to our team in abundance and that is also how a small Appalachian town in central West Virginia stole my heart.
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