Mission Trip to Jefferson Christian Academy
Sylvia Downs
During February 2018, Carl and Sandy Keller began dreaming about taking another mission trip. They had been on several and were hooked.
Maranatha was arranging a group in the Northeast and they were thinking about joining. They started saving and planning and discussing all the logistics of the trip. After several days, Sandy came up with an idea. “Why don’t we do a mission trip close to home and save all our travel time and money for lodging. We could use our own tools, sleep in our own beds, and still be on a mission trip. Let’s get a mission trip up for Jefferson Christian Academy!”
Carl took it to the Jefferson Central Seventh-day Adventist Church board, discussed it with the elders and the pastor, and people got excited. Close to home was a big draw for some that couldn’t take a lot of time off. During alumni weekend in April an appeal had gone out for help on the Boy’s Dorm, which was badly in need of repair. It was a great project for a mission trip. The church promised $3,800 and two weeks of work with a Vacation Bible School in between.
On May 20, the Sunday of graduation, the group showed up about 2:00 pm to start gutting the dorm. Beds were taken down and put into storage as the work began. Originally, the plan was to paint the boy’s rooms, fix things up a bit, and do what they could. As Sandy and Carl, who own Bulldog Contractors Co., began seeing the needs of the dorm from the inside, things heated up. The bathrooms and shower stalls needed some serious re-plumbing and fixing. As the work began to get underway, Sandy started advertising the daily mission trip on Facebook, and others got interested. Donations started coming in, people started showing up for a few hours work, and Sandy began to organize the operation. As things progressed, God sent more money and more volunteers and more got done! New cabinet tops for the boy’s rooms and the bathrooms were donated. New mirrors for the rooms and the bathrooms were donated. New ceiling tiles for the whole dorm were donated. New plywood for shelves in the closets was donated. Sandy is a firm believer in “You have not, because you ask not!”
Old doors have been scraped and painted. New light fixtures have been purchased and installed. The whole dorm has been scraped down and painted and eight weeks into the venture a load of new vinyl flooring is arriving for the whole dorm! Sandy has promised that as long as the money keeps coming in, she will be on the job! May God help her to hold up! There is only four weeks until school starts again.
The mission trip that started with $3,800 mushroomed into a $25,000 job. For anyone interested in being a part of a mission trip Sandy says, “Check out your own backyard.” There are many projects that God has waiting for someone to tackle. If He can use you to organize and get things started, you have no idea what He can turn it into!
This is so inspiring. Praise the Lord for people with a vision. That school is so near to my heart. Thank you Sandy & Carl & all the volunteers! God bless everyone of you.