Missions Moment: Joe Darazsdi, "You're A Good Guy"

This year, Joe led preparations for our annual picnic held at a local church, and volunteered daily at the basketball camp; his daughter Emma worked in the kitchen.

"You're A Good Guy"

"On Thursday at the BBQ, Heidi came to the prayer tent. Heidi is nine years old. Immediately, I felt the need to speak with her. She did not know the creation story. She did not know Adam and Eve. But she knew the father Abraham song. We sang the "father Abraham had many sons" song twice through. She knew Noah and the flood. Turns out she knew the story of eating the fruit too. I explained that was Adam and Eve. After sharing the gospel, she prayed to accepted the gift of eternal life that Jesus purchased on the cross for us. Singing with her was precious. She pointed to me and exclaimed, 'You're not bad, you're a good guy.' Wanting to keep this precious moment to myself, it just seemed more important to share it after all."

Missions Moment: Jeany Lally, Relationship

Jeany Lally just graduated with her master's degree in counseling from Liberty University, Virginia, and has been building relationships in West Virginia that will last. This year, the coaches watched as children they coached in the past became the coaches and mentors of the newest children.

Relationship

"We started the first day talking about salvation, the lost Son, and we're talking about our character development in Christ and what he does in our hearts, when we are fully committed and following Him in our relationship with Him. Really trying to get on their level for them to understand what a relationship with Jesus is like. And the kids are retaining information. Their memorizing their Bible verse about how Jesus is the rock in Pslam 62, and they're going up. They're reciting the verse, and they're getting a prize for it. We're seeing God moving in a lot of ways. We're getting a lot of opportunities to talk to parents, meet parents (during) open gym, and reconnect with those that we already know, so that opportunity is really great to invest in people's lives, talking about God, and encouraging. That opportunity has been great to see over the years the forming of the relationships, and to bless people by visiting and being with them as well."

Missions Moment: George Cutillo, What Life is All About

George Cutillo says, "the Lord's blessed me with this, and this is something."

What Life is All About

"My first trip down here, when Frank Virtue asked me to come down for him, I said 'Frank, what am I gonna do?' I didn't know what I was going to do, and we opened up the basketball camp on Monday morning. And there was this little guy, Zach, running up and down in bare feet. And I had never seen anything like this before in my life. Frank brought him over to me. I asked Zach, 'Where are your shoes?' He said, 'I don't have any.' I said, 'We gotta get this kid a pair of shoes.' (At the Catholic Charity in Webster Springs I bought three pairs of sneakers for seventy-five cents), to try on his feet. I brought them back to the school. When I put the shoes on Zach's feet, the smile that showed ear to ear on his face changed my life. A seven year old boy showed a sixty year old man what life is all about. Not what I thought with my business background and what I was shooting for, but the happiness (of that little boy) from that day on. And that was my first experience of Webster Springs."

Missions Moment: Bill Sybesma, A God Thing

Bill Sybesma comes down to West Virginia with his family, and happily works with our construction team.

A God Thing

"I remember either the first or second year that I came down here. Sitting in the basement (of the church) at night, and just watching the interaction of all the people. And I was so impressed with the young people just playing games and laughing for it seemed like hours. And I realized that my kids were a part of that group. And I thought about how all these kids saw each other every Sunday and never seemed to mix the same way they did, when they got here. It was just a God thing that uses even places like a church basement to bring people together that might not have gotten to know eachother before. Even last night, listening to the laughter in the basement, sometimes the kids got pretty loud. They were just enjoying life, and I just appreciate how God has taught me that different people can get together and love eachother, whether it be in West Virginia or here, wherever we are. That's the lesson I learned."

Missions Moment: George Cutillo, Joy

George shares an experience he had because of the graciousness of the people down here. "You never know who you're going to run into," he said.

Joy

"I asked him (the mechanic), 'How do we handle payment for the (Todd Nester's) truck?' He said, 'Uh, don't worry about it. We'll cross that bridge when we get it (the truck) done.' The truck (after it drove to Somerville for the parts) carrying the parts here broke down and caught fire on the interstate. He said, 'It'll be ready in the morning.' Me, having owned an auto repair shop, I'm going, 'Oh boy, it'll be ready in the morning.' Now, that was the first wrong thing. And God said to me, 'What is wrong with you?' So I get back there last night to pick up the truck, and I had said to him, 'Can we take care of this through check?' And here I learned another listen. He told me, 'All you owe me is for the cost of the part.' They've got have five to ten man hours into the truck at this point. Me and my persistence wants to pay him more, and he said, 'Boy, you're going to be persistent. Aren't ya?' And then I finally got the message. God wacked me in the back of the head. He said, 'Don't steal his joy.'"

Missions Moment: Sean Nelson, A Light at the End of the Tunnel

John Nelson has been coaching the basketball camps for at least three years at two towns in the county of Webster.

A Light at the End of the Tunnel

"I got into the song (about a mother and a father), and she climbs under the table and starts crying. And we went under there and asked what was the matter. She says she doesn't have a mommy. She doesn't have a daddy. And she's been in some foster home situations, where she's been abused. But there was light at the end of her tunnel because she was excited about going into a new foster home. She didn't come to our (basketball) camp the first day, but she did come the second day. She started smiling the whole day, and I took them out in little shifts onto the playground for a while. And I happened to get onto one of the swings, where she was swinging. And she was singing religious songs to all the other girls, so she's come a long way from not wanting anybody to sing at all to sing Bible songs to the kids. Very special." She had three or four siblings who were adopted together to keep the family united.

Missions Moment: Bill and Joyce, Faith

Bill and Joyce are residents of the Elk River View assisted living home in Webster Springs. Though both blind, they have faith that is not.

Faith

"You guys are an incredible inspiration when you come here," Bill said, "We really get excited every year for y'all to come. It kind of gives us a new life because you come revved up for Jesus and we are too. It just connects. Can't explain. It just gives you that extra ounce of energy that you need all year. There's not a lot of believers here, if you know what I mean. And a lot of them stick it (their faith) in their pockets. My Bible tells me to love Jesus. Y'all just make us happy anyway. That's the way it is."