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News > UM Men on a mission in Mississippi
UM Men on a mission in Mississippi
11-24-2009By Bob Riepl, First UMC Crystal Lake
Kneeling: Bob Riepl, Front row (left to right): Jeff Fry, Jack Gilmer, Dennis Butson, Bessie Cate's son, Kendrik, Bessie Cates, Jim Nelson, Dave Scott, Dave Staley, Middle Row: Bill Muilkens, Don Rosborough, Ryan Dinelli, Carl Moon, Brad Hawk, Back Row: Hank Whitley, Ude Immega
During the last week of October, fifteen men from the First UMC of Crystal Lake stepped out in faith. They stepped out to follow what our leader, Jesus Christ, directed us to do: help others in need.
Leaving on October 24th and accompanied by an assortment of power tools and skill set we drove to coastal Mississippi. Over the past year the congregation has raised, through various ministry projects, the money to fund this project–to build a house for someone in need on the Gulf Coast.
Along the way we attended Sunday worship with a local Methodist congregation in Wiggins, MS; witnessed the Hurricane Katrina destruction still very evident in the absence of buildings on the coastal highway, even 4 years after the storm; then settled into our home for the week at Camp Hope, MS.
Over five days of hard work, these 15 men of varied skills learned to work as a team to frame a new house for a woman named Bessie Cates and her family. Some men had substantial skills in this type of work, others nothing but great eagerness, but together they learned how to frame a house. It was fascinating to be part of the project and see how working together we could achieve so much. By the end of the week the house had been framed with almost the entire roof in place.
On the last day of work we were graced by the presence of Ms. Bessie while we worked. We spent time talking with her as we all eagerly conveyed our joy in helping her get a house she hasn’t had for four years, and our joy to represent our church in doing so. Miss Bessie and her three children are currently living with her sister. She recently got a job at a ship building facility, and her daughter LaQuinka works at Office Depot, but together they are still very low income and loss of their house has been a major blow to them.
Ms. Bessie is so very grateful for our church’s assistance in funding her new home. We presented her with a new Bible inscribed to her from FUMC Crystal Lake. She then tearfully and very meaningfully hugged each one of us, while many of us also had tears in our eyes as we hugged her.
We headed home the next day knowing that the week had been well spent:
we were comfortable that volunteers were coming from other churches over the next several weeks to complete the house;
we had been blessed by the Camp Hope staff in their incredible hospitality all week; we had gotten to know each other better as we served in this men’s ministry;
we were so thankful for our church’s support on this mission;
we had followed our leader, Jesus Christ;
we had all been changed by the experience;
and, we knew that most of us would be returning, many at the beginning of March for the Dedication of this house.