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."

Missions Moment: Todd Nester, Where I Needed to Go

Todd is a faithful member of our construction team! He's been through it all on the sites down in West Virginia.

Where I Needed to Go

"On the way back (from the site), I stopped at the church, and just as I got to the back road going up to the church, I heard a pop and a squeal. And my serpentine belt came off. My power steering blew out, so I parked behind the church, came inside, and Joe and George took me down to the repair shop in Cherry Falls. And when we got there, we told him we were with the church group and in trouble. They asked where it was, and I gave them my key. They drove down. These guys looked at the truck, realized they couldn't fix it on site, so they drove or towed it to their shop. They ordered the parts. They said, 'We'll give you a discount because you're with the church group.' So, already, just towing it down there if we were in Jersey would be a three hundred dollar deal. I stopped in to see them today, and they said the truck that was brining the pump broke down, so the owner of the truck is right now driving to Somerville (an hour to an hour and a half a way) to pick up the pump itself, bring it back, so he can get the truck together today, and then on top of it, they said 'Well, we don't take credit cards, so if you just wanna send us a check when you get back home. That'll be fine.' It doesn't happen that way in Jersey. If I had broken down halfway here or halfway home on some windy road without power steering, it would have been a catastrophe. I literally parked it in a (parking) space, walked a few feet to the church, and someone picked me up and took me where I needed to go."

Missions Moment: Jacqui Gieske, Answered Prayer

This year Jacqui Gieske, a social worker for hospice KAQ in Newton, New Jersey, returned to West Virginia with the group for the first time in years.

Answered Prayer

"I was standing on the street corner, looking at the mountains, and praying about what God would have me to do today, and all of a sudden, two ladies walked down the street (in Camden) and asked if we had supplies. So they came, and we took them downstairs. We got them all sorts of supplies. All kinds of things, and then they gave us a list with the name of kids and their ages. They're going to come back for some clothes. God answered my prayer."

Missions Moment: George Cutillo, Trust

"Over the years since I've retired, God's blessed me to come down in the Fall and the Spring, and it's just so much," George said.

Trust

"We had gone over (Frank and I) to visit Joy, the manager of the Elk River assisted living home, and we met a man over there by the name of Wesley, and we found out that he had no mattress for his bed. Joy directed us to the Bolair Mart. We delivered a mattres to Wesley the following day, and we sent him a check in the mail when we get home. That was about seven years ago. Well, the business is out of business now (there's a Flood Relief Center there), but that was our experience in the Bolair Mart, and the trust that these people have given us over the years was really fantastic."

Missions Moment: Jesy Nepa, Changing Lives

Photo of Jesy (second left) and Sam (right) courtest of Jesy Nepa.

Jesy Nepa has also been with us since the very first year, and just returned from teaching English at an orphanage in Bolivia. We're blessed to have her with us again!

Changing Lives

"I never remember meeting Sam, but one year (at our basketball camp)she just met us and then hung out with us for the entire week like never left at dinner time, and then that was how it went every year basically. So my most memorable moments are with her but they're all just mashed together, and . . . every time we come back, it (feels like) no time has passed. It's crazy. I've seen her grow in her faith a lot, and it's been really encouraging to me. I think when you come down on missions trips you think like 'Oh, I'm going to change the world, or change someone's life,' but they end up changing yours. Sam changed mine with her friendship, and taught me what being a good friend means."

Missions Moment: Micheal Glock, Trust in the Lord

With the SEFC West Virginia Missions team since its first year, "Mike" is an employee at Lowe's, but also volunteers at Mountain Creek in the ski patrol.

Trust in the Lord

"(The first year) we took the entire roof off (of a house), and then we came back before we could cover it.It rained that night here in Webster Springs. We were all concerned about the house getting flooded, and when we came back to the work site, it was dry as a bone out there. Total God miracle. One hundred percent."