Applachia Missions

I remember my first mission trip was to the Appalachia Mountains with Rev. Puckett. I was so eager to help and experience a mission trip for myself; my older brothers always made them sound like so much fun. They were very eye opening. I always thought of myself as "not rich" until I was introduced to the true poverty of the mountains. The people were poor when you looked at their monetary value; however, what they lacked in money they made up for in character. They were very warm, loving people. They worked hard and didn't want a hand out, but they did appreciate a helping hand. The first mission trip I had a great time with some youth from New York.

I did another Appalachia mission trip with Rev. Coombs and Amy Coombs, his daughter. Again we worked with some youth from New York. This time we worked more with the people of the community. My favorite memory to share from the Applaachia mission trips is when we were building the interior walls for an elderly lady. She came in just after a few days and said, "My house keeps gettin' littler and littler." The way she said littler was so bizarre; we were quite sure what she had said. This community shared a two room "community center". We were all astonished at what they called a community center. However, looking back it was the true definition of a community center. The only phone was located at the community center. It was one of the few buildings in the community that had running water. This is where people gathered if they wanted to share with each other. It really was the center of their community; it didn't matter how small it was. It was this mission that made me realize that their was work that we could really do in our own backyard.