May 2006 Trip
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VIM Alaska

by James Repshire
 

            On May 28, 2006, nine Volunteers in Mission departed Kansas City on their way to Juneau, Alaska to participate in another mission experience sponsored by the Edgerton United Methodist Church through the Kansas East Conference.  This group of team members was made up of individuals from three different United Methodist churches—Edgerton UMC, First Light UMC in Gardner, and Paola UMC. 

            This was the first of what will likely be many mission trips to Alaska sponsored by Edgerton UMC.  Plans are underway for another trip to the Eagle River Camp for next year.  Details will be forthcoming.

            Our trip to Juneau and Eagle River Camp was a unique experience in comparison to the mission trips that most of us have participated with in the past.  Normally we are used to working side by side with local people from
local congregations.  That wasn’t the case at the Eagle River Camp.  We worked directly each day with Rocky, the camp director, and with Don, a volunteer who oversees all of the camp’s construction projects.  Rocky and Don are good folks and it was a pleasure to get to know them.  We look forward to seeing them again in the future.

            Our project on this trip was to begin an expansion on an existing lodge building.  Each summer this camp hosts several hundred youth from all around the area and over the years they have realized the need for a bigger lodge in order to host the growing number of participants.  The first step of our project was to tear off an existing open porch so that we could begin the work of pouring the footings that will hold up the new addition. 

            Once the porch was removed, the trenches for the footings were dug by a backhoe; we then proceeded to form up the footings and pour them.  Our team worked well together and we finished the work the camp people had hoped we would be able to do while we were there in just a few days, so there were many smaller projects that we did with our spare time—splitting wood, staining outhouses, general maintenance type of work, etc.

            While we didn’t get the opportunity to form relationships with local church members as is so often the case on mission trips, the spiritual aspect of this trip was not at all disappointing.  Alaska is a breathtakingly beautiful area.  God’s presence is evident everywhere.  Our personal experiences with this beauty most assuredly helped each of us to grow to a better understanding of God’s Magnificence and presence in our daily lives.  Mountainous scenes of majesty coupled with glaciers, bald eagles, bears, whales, icebergs, a ferry ride through the Inside Passage, a train ride to the top of White Pass near Skagway during our side trip—all these things were indications of God’s Majesty and Glory and presence in our lives.  Each of us, in our own way, experienced God.

            This year’s team members consisted of: Julie Canfield and James Repshire, team leaders, from Edgerton UMC, John and Marilyn Lawrenz from First Light, Jim and Delores Funk from Paola UMC, Bob McTaggart, Tari McTaggart, and Phyllis Harris all from Edgerton UMC.  If you are interested in learning more about the Alaska VIM project, these team members would be very happy to share their experiences with you.

2007 Trip