Joplin Experience Plus

Wanted to get another update posted here! This one’s mostly about my trip to Joplin J

Orientation—the week that I posted my previous update—went fine. It was great to get a bird’s eye view of the whole SP operation, even though I already knew some of the information from reading most of the articles that have gone up on the website over the past couple of months. We got to hear more about some of the “background” things of SP, such as donor ministries, and we got to tour the campus which was fun.

Thursday the 18th I skipped out on the last few orientation sessions because I had to drive to the airport to head out to Joplin! Lots of firsts on the trip – first time to rent a car (ended up with three rentals by the end of the trip!), first time to drive a long distance by myself (total of nine hours in big chunks), first time to stay in a hotel by myself (which was fine).

Ahead of time I was pretty nervous about the trip, and especially about interviewing people I had never met before. But everything went beautifully and looking back it seems silly to have been so worried. So I grew in self-confidence a good bit from it. J I’m actually going on another similar trip next week, and I’m really not worried about it. Though this time it’s in New York…so hopefully the driving there isn’t too ridiculous…..

Anyway, Friday in Joplin turned out to be a long day for me. I went to the base church at 7:00 a.m. to meet the SP staff managing the project and to have breakfast with that last week’s crew of volunteers. Got oriented to things, then headed out to the home that they would be dedicating that afternoon to watch and interview the volunteers putting the finishing touches on it. Went to the homes of another lady and a family who had each received their houses this year to interview them, then back to the last house for the dedication ceremony.

It was pretty hot outside (almost my first taste of a “real” summer this year because of being in N.Ireland and Boone, both of which are much cooler than Dallas!!), so the 50+ people who turned out all crowded into the house. Which made it pretty hot in there too, but it was a miracle that the electricity was on at all, and everyone was excited to be there and to celebrate with the family. J It was like witnessing a family reunion – and most of these people weren’t related to one another by blood. But they obviously had a special community of relationships.

I ended up interviewing another homeowner there, plus the lady who received the last house. By then, it was time to go back to one of the houses I had visited earlier in the day for a farewell cookout that the family hosted in honor of the SP staff and volunteers. While there, I interviewed a fifth homeowner. I also got to continue witnessing the incredible love and care for one another that was so very evident among all of the people involved. There were a lot of tears too, as the Joplin homeowners bid farewell to the SP staff members who had been living and working there for months.

It was 8:00 p.m. by the time I got in my car and headed back to my hotel room. I felt so very blessed to have had the opportunity to kind of be a part of that weekend of celebration. It was a joy to hear and see what God had done in the lives of both the volunteers and the homeowners. And yet there was a heaviness there too—because all of the stories I heard involved so much loss, although every one of the people I talked to focused much more on being thankful for what God had brought out of the situation. But for me there was also a weight of responsibility. They had trusted me, a stranger, with their stories. And my job was to go back and write articles to share that with the supporters of SP. It was just a lot for one day…but in an amazing, good way.

The next day the Joplin staff had to pack up their office of two years and get everything loaded up and ready to move on to the next place. I helped out a bit, and enjoyed getting to learn more about the people behind the rebuild effort. That afternoon, I interviewed a final homeowner couple. In two days, I had completed 12 interviews, most of which were 45-60 minutes, and taken many many pages of notes (yes, I’m old fashioned that way…..).

Every one of the stories I had the honor of hearing that weekend was amazing and special in its own unique way. And in the days since then, I have had the privilege of attempting to retell those stories. So far, I’ve written five or six articles based on Joplin. None of them have been posted yet because of scheduling issues, but hopefully they will eventually be used somehow. One of those was a first-person blog post for the SP blog that goes more in-depth about what I learned from the people of Joplin…so once some of those stories get posted I will probably post links here.

I had a couple of adventures aside from the work aspects of the trip. One was locking my keys into my rental car. Yep, I managed to do that. Thankfully it was at the cookout and there were plenty of “Good Samaritans” there to help me! The hero ended up being the eight-year-old son of the homeowners. He had a metal bar that we were finally able to poke down through the window (which were thankfully cracked open!) to pry the door handle open.

The other was getting to spend Saturday evening with a couple friends from JBU! Joplin is close enough that one of the professors from our mission trip team was willing to come up to see me! We met up at a movie theater to watch Monsters University, and one of the other students who had also been on the trip showed up with her to surprise me. It was so very great to see them and to have a chance to wind down with them after the weekend. We enjoyed dinner together as well, and it was just a wonderful opportunity to catch up.

Sunday I retraced my steps from Thursday and ended up safely back in Boone! It was a really fantastic trip, even though it was a bit hard to come back and be “stuck” at my desk. In the week and a half since then, I’ve managed to keep busy at work…most of the time. I’ve worked on a few other things in addition to writing up the Joplin articles.

Then on the 26th, one of my best friends from college happened to be in the area on vacation with her family! So we got to spend the evening together, which was really special. I got to meet her dad and sister and see her mom, who I had met in May when I bid farewell to my friend. We had a great time catching up about our summers, and even though it was relatively short I was so thankful for the opportunity J

So yep, that’s pretty much been my life since my last post! Well, add in several trips hiking up the mountain I’m living on, which has been fantastic. :D I think I’ve been up there five or six different times, all to different little places, and all wonderful times to get away for some exploring and/or reflection. I’ve got some more adventures coming up! My parents are going to be here this weekend to see me, and then next week, as I said, I’ll be headed to New York! So I know these last 3.5 weeks of my internship will probably fly by pretty quick! And then? Who knows…. ;-)