It’s a task that would make many adults cringe: Build a fence when you’ve never built one before.
Dig up stumps. Wield sledgehammers. Push and pull post hole diggers. Mix concrete by hand and lug it in a wheelbarrow. Do it from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the summer heat of northeastern Florida.
It was hard work, but a group of junior high and high school students got this job done, among others, on a recent mission work trip.
“I think the most challenging part was not giving up,” Grace Cunningham, a sophomore at Greenfield-Central High School, wrote in an email. “We knew what we were doing was for a good cause, but the heat and mosquitos made it hard to keep going.”
Grace was among seven youths from New Palestine United Methodist Church who traveled to Jacksonville for a week to help an older woman whose home was damaged by a hurricane a few years ago. The fence they built will allow her dog a safe place to play outside and will keep the dog close by.
TEAMeffort, a ministry with headquarters in Florida, matches youth groups with work trips in the United States and abroad. It pairs teams with tasks suitably scaled to the size of the group. It also handles logistics such as housing and having the right tools at a work site, with the intent of freeing youth leaders to focus on investing in the students during the trip.
Multiple youth groups are often working in the same vicinity. In the evening, they come together for a service of worship music and teaching led by college-age interns serving with TEAMeffort. Sometimes a few of the youth help with the music too.
The Rev. Anthony Stone, pastor of the New Palestine church, said he appreciates the wider perspective students get from being in these services with other students, some from other denominations.
“They got to hear faith elements from people who aren’t me in a new environment,” said Stone, who went on the trip.
Stone has gone on two other TEAMeffort-planned trips to other cities in the past, before he came to New Palestine. He said sometimes it’s hard to find serving opportunities such as this for students the ages of those on the trip (12-16); some organizations have a minimum age of 16 to volunteer.
For three days teams rise, eat breakfast, and have a short devotion at the worksite before starting. After the day’s work, there are evening services.
On Thursday, there’s a half-day of work. That evening, students have more time to reflect on their faith and what they’ve been learning.
“A moment that will stick with me is the night we went to the lake,” Grace said. “We were given a piece of wood to put our worries and regrets on. I think this night made me … grow closer to God.”
Maddy Stone agrees.
“It’s just kind of a time for you to reflect on what you’ve learned,” said Maddy, a sophomore at New Palestine High School. “That’s a very memorable part of it.”
Another lasting memory for both teens is the mornings the two woke up early, listening to music together and watching the sun rise over the lake outside the bunk-style lodge where the group stayed. “This was a time I was truly peaceful,” Grace said.
Working together has more closely bonded the youth, Maddy said.
“By the end of the week we were a lot closer,” she said. “We had to work together. We kind of just got closer and more into the routine of being together a lot.”
Their work is part of a larger story happening at the home in Jacksonville. Their trip was for a week, but TEAMeffort has paired various teams, over the course of about four years, with the woman they helped. Other work at her house has included restoring water and building a ramp.
And while the New Palestine group was there, TEAMeffort staff said they’d noticed a change in her.
“They told us when we were there … her mood had improved,” said Maddy, the pastor’s daughter. “She’s starting to get more hopeful, enjoy life more.”
“She showed me,” Grace said, that through “a little help and some small conversations, you can make a lasting impact on someone.”
