My service experience from over this summer, at Camp Joy (Christian Appalachian Mission Project Joining Other Youth) was certainly a learning experience. Aside from learning physical tasks such as putting up siding, painting, putting up gutters, replacing windows, puttying windows, painting and more painting, I learned other things as well. I learned how to appreciate what I have and to see how the residents of the area we were working in (Paw Paw, West Virginia) are able to appreciate the little that they have. True, they have homes, which is way more than most people could ask for, but they also live in one of the most run down areas that I have ever seen. But the people there are able to appreciate what they have, and they even want to share it with those around them. The woman whose house I spent the most time at told us a number of times how she can only go to the grocery once a month, and can not spend much money when she is there, for of course she does not have much. She told us how much she loved lasagne, but could never make it because it was too expensive. But near the end of the week there she kept trying to go to the store to buy makings for lasagne for us, but we didn't let her. She was so compassionate that she was going to spend her little bit of money on us, rather than helping herself. One thing we did allow her to do was make us some beans and potatoes, both of which she grew in her back yard.
I was able to see the importance of working for the common good through camp. We were told by our youth leaders that it was important for us to be on our best behavior, because the children and teens in the little town were watching us. Most of them had not and never will venture far beyond town limits, and thus seeing a group of teens from suburban Maryland is quite the interesting event. We certainly got to know that they were watching us, for one group of teen boys thought it entertaining to throw water balloons at us all afternoon. But we needed to be on our best behavior and show the Paw Paw residents what was a good way to react, for the pastor at the only church in town told us that they saw God through us.
