TRAINING DAYS
On May 17th, I arrived in Muenster, Texas for a two week training session that would prepare me for the rest of the summer. This is a group photo of the other missionaries I will be working with. Alongside training, we also painted a speak room for a group of Carmelite nuns that live in Muenster.
At the end of training, we split into two teams who will serve in different locations around the U.S. this summer.
My new friends, David and Josey, are on my team. We will serve several weeks in each of the following locations:
- Jenkins, Kentucky
- Black Mountains, North Carolina
- Harlan, Kentucky
- Arecibo, Puerto Rico
Each week we will host a new group of high school youth groups to lead. Each day, we will begin with a daily Mass at a local church, and then we will work on repairing the houses. In the evenings, we will play games with the high schoolers, lead them in faith-building discussions and activities, and share our testimonies with them in order to build them up in their faiths.
Jenkins, Kentucky (Week 1)
My first week of mission work was in Jenkins, Kentucky. Jenkins is a small town close to the border of Virginia. A long time ago, it was a coal mining town. Now, however, it is very impoverished. Because of Jenkin’s location in the mountains, it is also very susceptible to flooding. There was a recent flood in 2022 that destroyed many homes and there are many low income families who cannot afford to fix their homes.
A youth group from Indiana arrived at St. George’s church. During my time here, I have been working with and preparing the youth group to work on different houses that need repairs.
These are photos of one of the houses that we worked on this past week. Their shower needed to be replaced, and there were many missing or damaged wall panels. Over the past week, we were able to build a new shower for them, frame the walls for bedrooms, and fix many of the exterior siding on their house.
The family was very thankful for our work. We were even able to dig out a trench around their house to keep water coming from the mountains from reaching their house and to plant a garden.
In addition, we also worked on a house in the area owned by an older man, Roy. Due to his declining health and poverty, he has not been able to repair his house and it has been rotting away for many years. We were able to install new floorboards into Roy’s house and remove many of the rotted beams so that his house was more structurally sound and smelled nicer.
These houses were two out of the five houses that my team worked on during our first week.
Jenkins- Week 2
For my second week in Jenkins, I continued to work on Edgar and Janine’s house with a new group of high schoolers. We finished installing drywall in their bathroom and installed plumbing for a new toilet. We also fixed a hole in their ceiling and installed a new garden hose spicket outside.
I have been teaching the high schoolers how to use power drills and saws. They all enjoyed working on the house and the family is very thankful that we came.
We also did yard work outside. We installed an underground pipe to help drain water from their backyard and we used machetes to clear out a patch of overgrown grass.
Edgar and Janine were very thankful for all the work we had done for them the past two weeks. They said that we were their angels. One thing that stood out to me about their family is that while they did not have much, they had a very strong family and that made their house a nice place to be.
The team also replaced the drywall, insulation, and trim along another family’s house that was over 100 years old.
North Carolina – Week 1
Next, we traveled to Asheville, North Carolina. Our worksites were in Black Mountain, North Carolina, which is near Asheville.
Two years ago, Black Mountain was hit by hurricane Helene and many houses were ruined by excessive flooding and mudslides from the Appalachian mountains. My group came here to help low income families rebuild their homes after the flooding.
We partnered with a local organization this week that has been in the community rebuilding since the flooding.
My group and I installed a moisture barrier in the crawl space under a house and built a patio.
You see us wearing protective suits and preparing the plastic before we went under.
We also installed drywall and painted a nursing home.
This week, a Religious Brother from Rwanda joined us in mission. His name is Brother Ligobert, and he is part of the Missionaries of Peace of Christ the King. He has been teaching me more French and he has been sharing about his mission to teach kids in Rwanda and about the importance of forgiveness and mercy.
North Carolina – Week 2
We moved to Spruce Pine, North Carolina to continue our service to rebuild homes for low income families that were damaged by Hurricane Helene.
We went to work on Kreston and Brian’s house. A few years ago, hurricane Helena caused a lot of water damage to their house and roof. Since then, Kreston was also injured and so she has not been able to fix anything. She had told me that the state of her house had left her in depression, and that she had not left her bed for weeks. When we arrived, she was overjoyed not just because we were fixing her house but because she had some people to talk to. She said that once missionaries started arriving, she no longer recognized herself because she was happy again for the first time in a long time.
We went to Harlan, Kentucky halfway through the week, where we will continue our mission work under father Terrace.
Harlan, Kentucky is about an hour away from Jenkins, Kentucky. Like Jenkins, Harlan was a coal mining community that is likewise very impoverished.
We spent the next two days working around holy Trinity Catholic Church, which is where we are staying. We dug out a moat around the church’s soccer field, and used the material to build a dam to stop water from coming in. We also cleaned up inside the church and carved out incense holders for the priest to use.
These past four weeks of service have been very influential both for the families we are helping and for the high schoolers who join us on our mission trip. My goal as a CMT missionary is both to help impoverished families in their homes and also to reinforce high schoolers in their Catholic faith. Over the past three weeks my team and I have been working hard to accomplish this and we could not have done so without your support.
Harlan – Week 2
During my second week in Harlan, we did not not have a high school group with us and so my team got to rest after a long month of mission work. In my time off, I worked on a house that had electrical issues with Caleb, one of our contractors.
This House is owned by the North family. Kendra and her boyfriend own this trailer home and live next door to the rest of their family. One thing that stood out to me about the North family is how close they all are to each other and how generous they are to each other despite their poverty. Even though they do not have much to live off of and even most of their house is without electricity, their strong family bonds keep this family alive and well.
You are an important part of the mission!
Please pray for our team, the work that God has called us to do, and the people He has brought to us to show His great love and mercy. Support the work of CMT as a Mission Partner by making a donation. To learn more, email Belinda at belinda@catholicmissiontrips.net.
