By KIMBERLY BROWN
Tuesday, July 15, 2008 9:19 AM EDT
Kyle Mayberry, 13, and Taylor Steele, 12, both of Taylorsville, N.C., sort molding at the Habitat for Humanity of Northeast Georgia warehouse on Thursday. Mayberry and Steele were part of a group of 20 teens and preteens attending Student Life Missions Camp, held at the Georgia Baptist Conference Center in Toccoa. KIMBERLY BROWN/Staff
"Actions speak way louder than words," says 16-year-old Graham Marshall of Taylorsville, N.C.
Marshall is part of a group of teens from East Taylorsville Baptist Church who spent three days of their summer vacation helping out at Habitat for Humanity of Northeast Georgia in Clarkesville.
The teenagers came to Georgia to attend Student Life Missions Camp, being held at Georgia Baptist Conference Center in Toccoa.
Led by their pastor, Jamie Steele, the group of about 20 teens and pre-teens drove from Toccoa to Clarkesville for three of their five camp days to help at the Habitat for Humanity store and warehouse. Their jobs included organizing and painting the Habitat warehouse and helping to clean and organize Habitat's ReStore thrift store.
Another group of East Taylorsville Baptist youth, Steele says, chose to work at the Salvation Army facility in Toccoa.
"[The camp] offers two tracks," Steele says. "Games all day or missions. Our students want to do missions."
Jacob Bumgarner, 16, says he came to Clarkesville to help with heavy lifting, but realized there was something more going on with the volunteer work.
"I didn't really think about the godly aspect of it, but when I got down here, I began to realize that we really are making a difference in people's lives," he says. "It really kind of kicked in that, just by being here, God's working through me to help reach other people. Every piece of molding we sort might go into somebody's home that really doesn't have anything."
Marshall says he hopes that his actions will set an example.
"I pray that, as we're doing these things here, people will look at us and ask, 'why are you different? You're a teenager and you're working.' That gives us the opportunity to share what we firmly believe in."
The time spent in the Habitat warehouse has made both Marshall and Bumgarner realize they don't need to travel far to perform missions.
"One of our church's big sayings was 'across the street and around the world,' which means we've got to reach people not just in Uruguay and Montana, but right across the street from our church," Bumgarner says. "It's awesome that we can come down here and do this kind of stuff. I love it and wouldn't take this time away for anything. But it'd be kind of hypocritical if we went home and didn't do anything in our hometown."
Marshall agrees.
"If I could tell the people in Clarkesville one thing, it's that we've come all the way from North Carolina to do this, but this is their hometown and they can do the same stuff," he says. "We realize this week that we can go home and do the same stuff in our hometown. We have Habitat for Humanity in Taylorsville. People are needy anywhere you go."
Habitat for Humanity of Northeast Georgia President Dennis Magley is pleased with the work done by the East Taylorville Baptist teens, and he's always happy to have volunteer groups.
"The kids are doing great," he says. "We've got them painting, we've got them organizing. They're getting a lot of good stuff done. It's going to brighten up the place."
Magley says another group of Student Life campers is scheduled to help July 22-24. There also are groups scheduled from the local Latter Day Saints church and a group from Camp Coleman in White County.
Any individuals or groups who would like to volunteer should call the Habitat office at 706-754-5313 or call Magley at 706-768-5548.
"To me, the mission field starts when they drive out of their church," Magley says. "We're a local mission for the local churches."
For more of this story, click on or type the URL below:
http://www.thenortheastgeorgian.com/articles/2008/07/15/news/top_stories/01topstory.txt
No comments:
Post a Comment