-Old Union Mission Trip 2025: Canton, NC (8-14)

 Thursday, August 14

This is Clark your faithful blog journalist. I hate to sound like a broken record but today in Canton it  started off cloudy with just a little bit of sun on the way to our worksite in Hendersonville. Once at the two houses we were greeted not by the HfH people, but by the friendly neighborhood tomcat. The HfH guys were delayed because they had to decide what we had to do today and if Mill Springs would be an option. But because of all the rain we had last evening in most of this area, the Mill Springs site was still too muddy for us to work there, so we continued our work on the same two houses. 

While we were waiting for the HfH guys some of us took a stroll across the footbridge over the small stream, called Brooklyn Creek, to the park across the street from the two houses. We could see where the stream had been high enough last night to flatten the vegetation along the banks after the heavy rains, that the locals would call a 'frog strangler'. The playground was full of puddles not there yesterday.  The sun did come out later in the morning and it remained mostly sunny and rather pleasant through the afternoon.

Clark, Mary Rae and Bob Y continued caulking the trim around the doors and the windows frames, which I think is not as easy as it looks. (my Mother would still be so proud of me.)  The two site managers, Alex and Don, gave us a quick tutorial on how to perform the task. Alex made it look like child's play. He worked as a carpenter at his old job, but got tired of all the complaints by homeowners.  In contrast, since working for HfH the past two months he now gets only praise by the grateful homeowners  By the way, it is nice having the site managers present almost all the time each day. On past mission trips it wasn't always so. The progress on the first house is about a day behind the second house as door painting and spackling kept several of us busy today on the first house.

Ann from the Presbytery of Western North Carolina stopped by to check on our progress. She was very grateful for our presence here. Perhaps she was surprised that we had traveled so far as most of the mission teams she deals with are more local. Also joining us today was a young intern for HfH, Jennifer, who worked right alongside of us. 

Some of the crew moved from house two to house one as work there moved closer to completion. The doors are back on their hinges, the trim is mostly painted. Jeff helped install the kitchen counters, sink and range hood, making it look much more complete. Geoff and his brother Mark are transforming a set of heavy balusters above a half wall. They've sanded, primed, sanded, painted, sanded and painted them again. Of course this didn't all happen today!

Sally, Judy and Mary Rae came back to the church early to prepare us a wonderful dinner of two kinds of chicken over a bed of rice and many assorted veggie toppings. I had a hard time deciding what to do with all of them-put them on top or to the side. And we cannot forget the pies, apple and cherry, and cheesecake for dessert!

Devotions tonight was led by Bob Y of Plains Church in Cranberry. Tonight we heard a familiar passage in Mark, the story of the Rich Man who asked Jesus how to inherit eternal life. He had tried to follow the law since he was young but then Jesus pointed out that he should sell his many possessions and give them to the poor. This, however, saddened the man who really treasured his possessions. Despite this Jesus showed that he loved the man in spite of his flaws. Bob presented us with an interesting idea. We all know the story of the Good Samaritan. What if we took someone in and continued to care for them, until they found a job and a home? What comes after the story in the Bible, what more could we or should we do? 

Kudos to the nice lady from the Canton Presbyterian Church who washed clothes for several of us. I was really glad to have a fresh set of clothes to wear today.  We remember the unique Old Union Church motto which is: "Encourage one another and build each other up." That is from 1 Thessalonians 5:11.  You might say that it is the founding principle of why we all came down here.  On the thought of mottos, I've noticed along the way out of Canton, shortly after we pass the abandoned paper mill, that  there is a building that looks like a small church. It even has a white steeple. But the sign in front of it says, "Saving Grace Animal Hospital." I've often wondered if this building had at one time been an actual church.

As Pastor Bob (my assistant today) and I are working on this blog many of the group decided to go to Inspiration Point, a beautiful spot overlooking Lake Junaluska with a large cross and the Smoky Mountains in the background.  Wished I could be there.

As I wrap up here I must say how everyone has done such a good job here so far this week, and as Peter said after devotions we have all played an invaluable part for the team.  Since today is Thursday you know what that means.  Only one more work day left, and a dozen donuts are on sale tomorrow at my favorite grocery store!

Now let me finish as usual by saying that you should keep praying for us until we get home.  Don't forget to pray for Gloria, Laurie, and Chris-Ann.  We hope to finally work at Mill Springs tomorrow so we pray for another day like today,  God Bless us all and our churches.  Signing off and ready to eat some pie, this is CT