When one thinks of a mission trip, one usually thinks of a Christian group venturing to an impoverished country far away to spread the Gospel, rebuild communities and bring supplies, medicine or food to exotic locations.

 

Nineteen youths and four adults from the Youth of Truth youth program at the Church of Mary of the Visitation in Becker and Big Lake decided to “go local” with their missions this year — concentrating their efforts on helping those unfortunate right in their own communities.

 

Youth Ministry Director Doug Watercott said the idea was born from one of the youth group’s out-of-state mission trip experiences.

 

“When we got back, the youth mentioned to me that we should do a ‘local mission trip’ to address the needs in our own community,” said Watercott. 

 

Watercott’s group usually goes on an out-of-state trip every other year,  so they decided the “off year” would be the time they dedicate their time and talents to helping those closer to home.

 

“This is the second time we have done one locally, he said. “We work with Faith in Action to help set up sights and we also put an announcement in our church bulletin for those who might need help with any type of work around the house or yard.” 

 

Watercott says his youths visited 24 different sites this year. 

 

“The youth actually paid $50 to go out and serve for three days,” Watercott said. “The money was for supplies needed for sites and for food for the three days.”

 

Four groups of five youths and one adult went to the 24 homes with one goal in mind — to serve each homeowner in whatever capacity they could. That meant they were called upon to do interior and exterior painting of homes, staining of decks, building railing for decks, cutting up and hauling away trees, tree trimming, lawn mowing, yard clean-up, weeding, edging, interior cleaning, replacing windows and packing for those who were moving from the area.

 

The 24 sites included homes in Big Lake, Becker and Clear Lake. The youths and adults serving worked from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. last Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

 

One of the groups of four youths and one adult visited Gail Stanley of Big Lake and helped her pack her belongings since she was on the verge of moving from Big Lake to Princeton.

 

“These kids doing this for me has been a life saver,” said Stanley. “I was recently in the hospital and I wasn’t sure how or when I was ever going to get all this work done. I am so grateful to all of them.”

 

The youths — Michaela Manifold, Bridget Buchholz, Jasmine Johnson, Josie Berger and Brittney Kostek — boxed up Gail Stanley’s items from her cupboards and closets, making sure to label the boxes correctly for future recovery.

 

“We are glad to help and love being able to be of service to those in need,” said Manifold.

 

Every homeowner the youths visited were invited to the group’s closing celebration Saturday evening which included a picnic dinner and some awesome music by local musicians Max Kraus, Joey Perry and Andy Johnson. This was also a time for the residents the youths served to get up and share their experience.

 

“Although some of those we served had no means to be able to come to this event, the ones that were there shared from the heart and through many tears their genuine appreciation of all the work done for them by our young people,” said a very proud Watercott. “It was a great culmination to what ended up being an awesome week of service in our community.”

 

Watercott said his kids sacrificed not only their time and efforts, but also housed together as if away from home at the youth center behind the church in Becker.

 

“We slept in our youth center which does not have air conditioning,” he said.. The nights were hot and long but I never heard a complaint. They worked long days in the hot sun and the amount of work they completed is mind-boggling!” 

 

Watercott said when the groups reunited at the youth center at the end of the day, discussions centered around what projects they worked on and how much work got done in the day.

 

“They would say it didn’t feel like work because it was done for the right reasons,” Watercott said. “They knew the people they served would be unable to get the work done themselves and by them helping out they really felt a great sense of filling a need in the lives of these people.

 

The four adults who supervised and worked were Jocelyn Johnson, Christina Watercott, Mary Ellen Richter and Jim Richter. Lisa Kollar from Faith in Action also participated as well as Norb Vossen, Linda Buchholz, Cheryl Hultgren, Jody Conzemius and Ruth Arrigoni.

 

Music and sound was provided by Dave Maiers, Max Kraus, Joey Perry and Andy Johnson.

 

The youths who participated were: (group one) Cassie Lenneman, Rachel Eisenreich, Maddie Schmidt, Jacob Jurek and Caleb Lutz. Group two was Catie Eisenreich, Emma Pace, Samantha Perovich, Reid Kraus and Jacob Scott. Group three consisted of Michaela Manifold, Bridget Buchholz, Jasmine Johnson, Josie Berger and Brittney Kostek and group four featured Jessica Haecherl, Olivia Hultgren, Logan Jurek and Nick Pettit.