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Being
Missionaries in Maine
Everyone arrived at the Campground during the afternoon and proceeded to choose a camp cottage to stay in and to unpack. Some of the men went directly to work rebuilding a deck on the largest of the cottages. Our group met together for dinner in the “Shalom” cottage around 6 p.m. on Monday and had a fellowship evening and retired early to prepare for Tuesday’s challenges. One of the immediate challenges was the appearance of a snake in one of the cottages, followed by his reappearance the next morning with his cousin of a different color. At this point the two teens in the Merriam cabin decided to move into the bunk beds in Shalom with the Parsons family. Fortunately “Charley” and his cousin did not reappear during the week. Tuesday morning some of the crew went off to the Distribution Center in Columbia Falls where we carried in boxes and bags of clothing and blankets we had brought with us. We sorted them out and placed them on the appropriate “shelves” for the migrant workers and their families to look over. The items are sold for $1.00 per large bag or given away with a prayer for those who do not have a dollar that day. Since it was a rainy morning we were fairly busy and got to meet several of the families. The Spanish- speaking group from R.I. were working with us at the Center. A few of our group could also speak Spanish and could also interpret for us. We returned to the Campground for our lunch when the Center closed at noon. Tuesday all day the men continued with the carpentry and the women did various chores such as scraping the areas to be painted the next day. A few of the women went back to the Distribution Center at 4 p.m. and returned for dinner with the rest of our group at 7 p.m. Pastor Ruth and Bill Lord went from the Center to a Migrant Campground Worship with the group from R.I. and Pastor Betty. The worship was followed by distribution of Bibles, blankets and health kits and sox. Wednesday all day most of us concentrated on scraping and painting the Shalom cottage. A few of us put together health kits for an hour or so until we ran out of toothbrushes. A few people did brush and wood cleanup throughout the camp. A hot water boiler was repaired in one of the cabins thanks to our electrician, Kern. We finished up for an early dinner and then all of us traveled to a Migrant Campground Worship along with the R.I. group again. The minister from R.I. gave a heartfelt call in Spanish to all the workers to come to know God and to accept His gift of abundant life. Pastor Betty emphasized what he said and invited the people to come to a Friday night worship at the Distribution Center which is located in an old church building. We distributed blankets, health kits, sox and stuffed animals and talked with many of the workers, even getting hugs from one of the women. It was an inspiring and eye-opening evening. Thursday some people went to the Distribution Center again for the morning and a few continued the painting and the men continued to do various carpentry projects on the cottages. When the women arrived at the Distribution Center they discovered a gift of a large box of blueberries for our group, left by one of the migrant families from Texas, as a thank-you to us for being there for them. This was very humbling for all of us. Thursday evening at dinner the group surprised Alice with a birthday party with streamers, balloons, blueberry pie with candles and ice cream and we all played “Pin the Tail on the Donkey”, won by Jane Smith. We concluded the evening at Shalom cottage with a wonderful Communion Service with each one of us giving communion to another person in our group. We then went to the Campground Chapel to meet with all the other groups to view the DVD done by Bill Lord and narrated by Pastor Betty. It was a full day and a wonderful conclusion to our time there. Friday morning we each departed, as we were ready, to head home to Cape Porpoise and Kennebunk. We had worked, worshiped, been in fellowship, and become good-will ambassadors for Pastor Betty and DownEast Maine Missions. We ate awesome home-prepared meals that we took turns providing each night. We had wonderful desserts, some prepared by Eleanor Whitehouse to take with us. In summation I would say we received far more than we gave. We saw glimpses of the face of God many times in our four days there. We discovered that you do not have to leave the state of Maine to find a third-world mission and we were humbled to know how grateful the people were for our coming to them. Pastor Ruth, Dick and Julie, Annie Quigley, Debbi and Bill Lord, Jane Smith, Karissa Sharkey, Kern Ramsdell, Alice and Roy Bruton, and our team leaders – Rich and Debbie Parsons.
The Church on the Cape |
On Monday, August 14th,
thirteen people left from the Church on the Cape to travel to the
Jacksonville United Methodist Campground in East Machias, Maine to do
anything asked of us in order to minister to the migrant blueberry
workers, the local community, or the campground itself. Bill Lord was
the official photographer and recorder of the week’s events with the
goal of creating a DVD to be shown throughout the New England Conference
to emphasize the work of Pastor Betty Palmer and DownEast Maine
Missions. We discovered three other groups giving their time for
DownEast Maine Missions were also at the Campground. The youth groups
from Hudson, MA and Concord, NH spent their week working on housing
rehabilitation for the Neighbors Helping Neighbors program and the
Pastor and his Spanish speaking group from R.I. worked where needed and
went to the Migrant Camps every night to bring the word of God.
