Post #2 from the Senior High Mission Trip to Hamlin, WV

Firefighters’ Story: We went to work in a trailer park. The trailer park was owned by a man named Vernon. He was amazing because he would let people who didn’t have home live there without having to pay. Whenever he would come by to see how we were doing, we could always count on hearing a story from his life when he was younger. Rusty was the man who was going to move into the trailer when it was finished. He also told us stories of his past, especially from when he was in the military. We also learned that he had three ruptured disks in his back, and it was very painful for him to do much. However, while we were outside painting the trailer (we couldn’t tell if the paint was very light green or gray), Rusty was inside working on the interior of the house. The inside needed much more done than the outside. The trailer had dealt with some flooding, and the floor needed to be redone. Most of the windows were broken and needed to be replaced and the walls were a mess as well. There was a large pile of junk behind the trailer that included an old bathtub. There was siding at the bottom of the trailer that had been taken off so the people could go under the trailer to work too. Aside from this, there were large spiders, mosquitoes, and red wasps. Despite all this the trip was absolutely amazing, and I would not trade one thing out of it. We had the chance to give someone a better home and meet really great people from other youth groups outside of Ohio. We were definitely beyond the limits of our comfort zones, but it was definitely for the best. written by Ally Ballentine