Academy Days 2011- S.W.A.T.

Mission Trip Newspaper Article

Hospital Food, Muscle Cars and Friendships!

(Article taken from the March 29, 2011 Hutchinson Leader Newspaper.  Article written by Doug Hanneman.) 

When Maplewood Academy students planned their 2011 spring mission trip, the original destination was the Central American nation of Honduras. But high airfares kept them closer to home, and the group instead drove to Clay County in Kentucky’s Appalachian Mountains.

Clay County is one of the poorest counties in the nation.  Unemployment is about 50 percent, and two-thirds of the county’s 24,000residents receive public assistance.

Knowing that, students from Maplewood-Seventh-day Adventist high school in Hutchinson-Figured their 10-day stay in Kentucky could be a life-changing experience.  Upon their return last week, they said the change of plans was indeed a blessing.

The 17 students and five adults-including teachers Linda Vigil and Principal Marshall Bowers-who made the 1,880-mile roundtrip journey worked on several projects during their stay.  They helped a family of seven with their new home, sorted files and moved equipment at a hospital, and assisted in activities at three schools. 

Gratitude shown by those they served left them with a feeling that they’d like to do more.  “It was a great experience,” said senior Angie Schebo.

Planning for the trip began several months ago and each student raised $900 to cover coats.  The mission was arranged by WeCare Missions, a program of Andrews University, an Adventist school in Michigan.  Upon arrival, the group’s daily routine was coordinated by Manchester Memorial Hospital in Manchester, the county seat.

Helping a hospital

The boy’s stayed in the basement of an Adventist church, and the girls stayed in a home owned by the hospital.

“Every Morning we got our orders from the hospital,” said senior Landyn Thom.  “We’d eat our breakfast there.  For hospital food, I thought it was going to be awful, but it was great.”

At the hospital, the students took on a monumental project-alphabetically sorting 5,600 patient files contained in large boxes, each weighing between 50 and 70 pounds.

“Before we did that, it took two days for the hospital to find a file,” Hanson said.

“That was one thing that really made me proud of the kids,” Vigil said. “They said, ‘We’re going to finish this job’ and they did.”

The hospital also had a warehouse of equipment and supplies- ranging from scrubs to vending machines to old syringes-that needed to be prepared for waste disposal. Some items had never been used. And some were donated but were outdated.

“Our job was to take everything we saw and either clean it or throw it,” Thom said. “We took all the stuff and put it on trucks.”

Helping a Family

Another project was refurbishing a home that the hospital had purchased for a family. The “new” home was an improvement over the family’s old home, but it still needed major work.

“Maplewood’s project was to fix up the outside,” said Junior Jacob Guptill. Working with two hospital maintenance workers, Guptill built a porch on the back of the home and dug a trench to strengthen the foundation supports under a shed.

Meanwhile, Hanson and others cleared tall grass and debris from around the home and drained a pond. Others repaired the home’s windows Schebo added.

“We took a vote for what we should get them,” Thom said. “The girls were favoring something educational. The guys wanted to get them something fun.”

Their final decision: a football, basketball and Wii video game console, which they bought from Walmart.

“The little boy was clutching the basketball all the time we were there,” Thom said.

Time with school children

The students’ schedule also included visits to two public schools and daily visits to an Adventist elementary school. “Every morning we preached to the kids and had a little time for prayer and skits with them,” Hanson said.

At the public elementary school, the group conducted a health fair, similar to one conducted at Maplewood Academy several weeks ago. And at a public junior high school, the students played basketball and baseball. One day, the group provided praise music during a church worship service.

The students said everyone they met in Clay County was friendly, though there were a few surprises.

The Walmart they shopped at was small and much different than Hutchinson’s. “They called it the ‘forgotten’ Walmart,” Guptill said, explaining that the store seemed to miss a few basics. “They had never heard of a Swiffer,” he said.

Another surprise was the vehicles people drove. “They like driving muscle cars down there,” Thom said. “I saw a lot of mustangs and trucks.”

One day, the group took a break from their work duties and traveled to a site where they were able to climb rock walls and rappel. The opportunity to do something fun outdoors in mild weather was a welcome departure from Hutchinson’s long winter.

 “Everyone had a good time,” Hanson said. “I definitely want to go back.”

Mission Trip 2011-Kentucky

These are just a few pictures from the Mission Trip of 2011.

This is the house the family was living in. 

The families new home we worked on. 

Singing "Awesome God" from the week of prayer for the Elementary School. 

Josh's "G1" covering (ducktape to cover his air cast) 

Singing with the kids.

Rock Climbing at Torrent Falls. 

Hiking on the last Sabbath.

 Hiking at Yahoo Falls.

Filed over 5,600 medical files. 

 

Shining, sharing lights for God!

Check out a new short video featuring Maplewood Academy students made by Andrew Christiansen.

Mission Trip Update #7

Dear Friends,

We arrived safely back at Maplewood Academy around 3:15 this afternoon.  It was a long bus trip and our bodies are sore from sitting so long on the hard bus seats.  We thank God for His protection during our travels which totaled about 2600 miles.

The students and staff are tired, but we are also very thankful that we were able to serve God in Kentucky.  We were so blessed.

Thank you for your prayers and for allowing your child to go with us on our mission trip. 
Have a great week.
--
Linda Vigil
Bible/English Teacher
Maplewood Academy

Mission Trip Update #6

Dear Friends,

Well it is Friday afternoon and we are practicing for church service tomorrow.  Our group will do the praise singing, special music, children's story, prayer, and Mr. Bowers will preach the sermon.  There is a group cleaning up the church and other living quarters.

This morning we traveled back to the house with the CEO of the hospital.  He wanted to see what all we had done. Plus we drove the students by the home that the family had lived in and it was quite silent in the bus as the students saw first hand what this family had lived in.  There are definitely many hurting people here.  We heard amazing statistics about the economy in this area.  More than 50% of the people are unemployed, over 2/3 receive government financial assistance each month, and only 10% of the students go on to college.

We met four of the boys and gave them a gift. They were quite shy but it was so nice to see their faces smiling.  We prayed for them as we left.

This is my last email, so once again I thank you for your prayers and ask that you continue to do so especially as we start traveling on Sunday morning.

Happy Sabbath from Kentucky!!!
--
Linda Vigil
Bible/English Teacher
Maplewood Academy

Mission Trip Update #5

Dear Friends,

Okay, we are tired.  Our entire group went out to the house we are fixing up for the family with six boys.  The weather was sunny and warml, so we were able to do work outside without any difficulties.  We were asked by the hospital to do work on the outside of the house.  So decks were built, cement poured, windows scraped, painted, and glazed, pond drained, barn foundation shored up, weeds pulled and grass cut all around the yard, and the inside was picked up and cleaned.  So we are tired out, but the kids worked tirelessly.  God has truly blessed us with great young people.

We have taken lots of pictures and will be anxious to see all that we have taken. The kids have a heart for ministering to others.  Four kids told me tonight that they wished they could stay here and continue to help people. 

Tomorrow we hope to meet the boys in the family, but if that doesn't work out we will go to a mission project called Red Bird Mission.  We will also finish up our week of prayer and prepare for the church service on Sabbath.

We head home early on Sunday morning, but will stay at Wisconsin Academy that night and come home to Maplewood on Monday.

Take care and I will try to post again if possible.

Thank you for your prayers.
--
Linda Vigil
Bible/English Teacher
Maplewood Academy