Mission: Rhodell 2013

This time the account begins long before the trip; I’ll be brief. We usually have our kick-off in Jan; however, circumstances delayed us till Feb. As Jun approached our team looked pretty sparse; our family of four, Sharon, Karen and her two boys, BJ and Markell. The challenge was that the ideas we were coming up with couldn’t be done with the people we had - what would we do! Then things seemed to explode.

Rose Driver (she leads a puppet ministry) had expressed interest in what we do; she wanted to sit in on a meeting; she had attempted to come a few times but was unable to make it. She was unable to commit, uncertain if they had enough time to prepare. Finally able to attend a meeting, Rose said they would have a meeting of their own the next night and discuss the matter. We were contacted later that week by Rose who said they decided to go with us (praise the Lord). Also unfolding during this time was a call from a woman who put us in touch with a sewing group who makes little girl dresses out of pillow cases (praise the Lord). Then there were the clothing donations and over $1,000 in donations (praise the Lord). Bethany’s art instructor, Jeremiah, was asked if he wanted to come; he said yes (praise the Lord). A few more additions and suddenly we have a group of 21 and financially well off. With each passing year we find the Lord is faithful in the way He provides (and we haven’t even left yet).

Before I start, we want to thank Dee Dee Prince for taking the pictures. As we talk about what the Lord is doing through us in Rhodell, it’s the pictures that give people that “visual” which grabs your heart. So, thanks Dee Dee; great job.

August 11 - We’re shooting for a departure time of 1:30 p.m. Standard tensions and frantic scrambling goes on for us when we realize I needed to pick up Jeremiah! I return with him and realize I forgot my wallet!!! Can you just imagine the kink that would have put in the trip! (God is so good). So a quick run home, touch the “relay point” (my wallet), and headed back for the church. I literally pulled in the parking space, got out, and jumped in the driver’s seat of the van, and we’re off; 2:10 p.m. Not bad.

Well into our trip came our next lesson as a group, a flat tire! Praise the Lord it was on the trailer and not one of the vehicles. We stopped for dinner in Princeton and took prayer requests from our waiter and waitress. Finally arriving at our destination later than we hoped, but still at a reasonable time, we had a quick briefing, a devotion, and called it a night (somehow the kids still had energy to go swimming).

August 12 - Without going into a detailed account of what happened the morning went well. We were in Rhodell on time, had devotion and prayer. The remainder of the morning was putting out the donations and getting ready for afternoon activities. My particular goal was to talk with the Mayor. Mayor Pat was recently elected and it was important to communicate with her what our purpose is and acquire her support. She came to The Open Door at about 1:30 p.m. and each of us spoke about how Rhodell could be a better place to live and visit. She wants to remove the empty and burned buildings but needs volunteers. My wife, Evelyn and the others worked on preparing lunch for the mission team and those at The Open Door. The H.U.G.S. puppet ministry was going to do an opening number at 4 p.m. but by all appearances there was only a handful of kids. What would we do! I found myself thinking about the Rhodell Fire Department. Maybe they have a P.A. system. The fire department did one better. Cory rolled up in the fire department pick up truck and took me around town using the trucks P.A. We got the word out and while I didn’t count the kids we had a good size for the opening (word of mouth would surely do the rest - as well as the Holy Spirit). We finished at about 6 p.m. and headed back to the hotel for dinner and devotion (conducted by Ms. Barbara Batton). The kids, of course, still had energy to go swimming.

August 13 - This was our big day, show time. We’re essentially working on two fronts today. On site, in Rhodell and I have a scheduled 10 minute talk at the Mountain State Baptist Association.

Front #1: My drive will be 40 min from Beckley, where we are staying, to the meeting location in Princeton. Of course, I want to factor in being early enough to set up, meet people - oh, did I mention that I left my “administrative brain” at the site in Rhodell! It’s a vinyl, accordion case where I keep everything, including my talk and a clever visual aide I came up with, not to mention the 20 business cards I brought to had out. I did have 3 business cards with (this is important, so watch carefully). Alright, I had arranged to be picked up by the rental car company at 9 a.m. but I find myself thinking I’m cutting it too close; it’s about 8:40 a.m. and decide to call them so they can pick me up now - they say, “No problem, Mr. Metz. Be right over.” A sense of relief fills my mind. Our group is finishing breakfast and will soon be moving outside for devotion, but I’ll be gone before they start. Eight-forty five, no rental car pick up. I was relaxing in a rocking chair but now find myself rocking a bit. At 8:50 a.m. so of our group is filtering outside; what’s happening, I should be gone! It’s now pushing 9 a.m., do I call them back, did they
wreck on the way over??? Ahh, I see a man pull up, get out, and start looking around…I get his attention and he announces my name. Settling into the car the clock says 9:05 a.m. - not looking good for the home team. He says after talking with me the phones went off the hook (I can see the devil wants to play dirty). Well, I make it to the meeting at 10:02 a.m. I walk in the door and find they haven’t started yet (I could do a Baptist joke here, but I’ll for-go). There were six people there (remember I only have 3 cards - starting to sound like a magic trick). The talk goes well, they ask questions and discuss aspects of what we are doing and the visions the Lord has given us. Of the people there only two really needed my card for contact reasons (it’s not over yet - 1 card left). They even invited me for lunch! Nobly I decline, “I have to get out to the field you know.” It was a good meeting (praise the Lord). But that’s not all! On my way to the Baptist meeting I passed by a sign, “Princeton Church of God” and found myself having what I’ll call a Holy Spirit moment - God wanted me to stop by there. So I did. I’ll spare the details. A young pastor came out to greet me. I asked Aaron if he believed God will sometimes do things out of order from how people want them. He said yes. I said, “I think He’s about to do that.” and told him about what we do and my conversation with the mayor (the need for volunteers). As I spoke, he was getting excited and said they are eager to do that kind of work! All I have to do is call and say the word! Okay, cue business card!!! Is God AWSOME or what. He knew what I needed and gave me an opportunity to trust Him! 

Before we go to FRONT #2 - a flashback: Monday, after lunch the temperature hung in the low 90’s with enough humidity to make it uncomfortable. Karen, myself and the youth went on a prayer walk. leads to reconnecting with a Rhodell woman and her four children…

FRONT#2:  The morning hours were about getting ready for the afternoon, devotion, youth were briefed to be ready to serve when lunch was ready and in other ways as needed, H.U.G.S. was getting ready for hourly performances, Karen prepared her lesson about the beads and spoke with the children about the meaning of the different colors. Lunch was served and there was a good turn out. Kaylee joined our group for lunch and discussion. After lunch Bethany went outside to hang out for some alone time. After a short while three children came over to her starting a conversation. Bethany noticed they had the bracelets on and asked if they knew what the colors meant. Bethany shared the gospel to the three of them, at that moment H.U.G.S. opened the afternoon with a show. Children were asked if they wanted to volunteer to take part in the puppet skit. Afterwards, Evelyn organized an impromptu talent show for the Rhodell kids. One girl sang, another read a poem, a young boy was encouraged to recite his ABC’s. The puppeteers continued with their performances with prize drawings and music by Mr. Noah in between. During all this Jeremiah was teaching art to a small group of kids. The benefit Jeremiah brought to those who took lessons from him was the opportunity to see beauty within the town of Rhodell. A spiritual lesson in how the Lord answers prayer occurred today. In 2012, I began having visions about Rhodell; one of which was a study group for the children of Rhodell. I took this to mean the senior high school students seeing how they are positioned to need good test scored for college. So I’ve spent portions of this past year putting together a study program for 12^th graders to prepare them for their SAT/ACT tests. So, here we are in Rhodell and Angel tells me the 12^th graders are not interested in a study program! Now, abandon the study program? But the vision was from the Lord! I speak with Angel further and ask if she would be willing to work with younger kids, maybe 5 year olds. She’d be comfortable with that. Now we need a 5 year old (and a supportive parent). So back to our current moment…I’m speaking with Lindy, who has a preschool aged daughter and expressed that an after school program would be appreciated!!! Now we just need volunteer teachers. Here’s the point; receiving the vision from the Lord I (we) have to be careful how that will manifest itself. I’ll still be working on the study program for the 12^th graders - I just have a few more years to get it ready.

That night we processed our experience as a group. Emotionally powerful. I don’t mean to gloss over this but there’s no way to recapture in print what was expressed that night.

August 14 - Bicycles and backpacks are the order of the day; we check out and load up. It was felt we should distribute the bicycles to give us time to prepare the backpacks. We know it’s best to do the backpacks first but our circumstances dictated this arrangement. Yes, it was chaotic; but after we returned the Lord minister this to me, it is our role to bring order to this process of bicycles and backpacks. We finished our day having lunch with Paul and Marie and headed back home. It is a pleasure to serve the Lord and to experience the guidance the Lord gives us as we go forward.