CLEVELAND, Oh. (EYT) — Four adults and six teenagers from Grace Baptist Church in New Bethlehem recently spent a weekend serving the Cleveland, Ohio community. Over the course of three days, they had the chance to plant many seeds. Some of them were literal seeds while others were seeds of hope.
Casey Sturgeon, who led the trip, said that the mission trip began to take shape last year when Grace Baptist’s mission team helped a pastor from the New Bethlehem area relocate to Smyrna Alliance Church in Cleveland. Following the move Sturgeon said there were a handful of follow-up trips to visit and each time these visits took place, one major difference was noticed between Grace Baptist Church and Smyma Alliance Church that intrigued Sturgeon and other members of Grace.
“We were amazed at the cultural differences between the two churches. Especially in the area in which Smyrna Alliance Church was located. We were always met with stories of all the new people they were meeting and especially all the new youth that were coming to their church. Mission team members began to feel led to create a youth mission trip to collide our youth with their youth in hoping that our cultural differences would allow for us all to be stretched a bit outside of our comfort zones and allow Jesus to begin to break down a few walls we all tend to place around us when people are not like us and live culturally different.”
The seed that was planted in 2017 began to sprout in early 2018 when youth leaders from Grace went on a “scouting” trip to Smyma to begin planning a trip of their own. While in Cleveland, Sturgeon said that they were introduced to Envision Cleveland. Envision is a global organization that specializes in short time mission trips to twenty-two different locations across the world. Cleveland just happens to be one of those twenty-two locations.
“We were very interested to get involved with Envision. Especially with our youth. On April 7th Envision Cleveland held a huge volunteer day in which they cleaned up the city. Over three hundred and fifty volunteers came and they cleaned up over six huge truckloads of trash from local neighborhoods. Our team was not able to participate in this event but the following weekend they were able to plug us in to create a community garden for a Congolese neighborhood.”
Although the group took part in various service projects such as stocking shelves in a food pantry and landscaping work, it was the community garden project that had the greatest impact on Grace’s group. Teamed with Envision and another church from Grove City, the group was able to create eighteen planter boxes that required two tri-axles of dirt to fill. According to Sturgeon, future Envision volunteers will care for the garden which will then allow the community to come and take from the garden what they need for their families. Envision told the members of the Grace that their willingness to serve will feed dozens of families for years to come.
Sturgeon explained that the entire group was thrilled to bless a community that was so culturally different than their hometown of New Bethlehem.
“This area of Cleveland is very diverse in culture having over fifty-seven different dialects of language spoken within a very small area. The neighborhood we were in had a larger population of Congolese than anywhere else in the city.” Sturgeon went on to explain that the community garden will serve this large mix of cultures including a multitude of Rwanda refugees.
When talking to the youth who served, it is almost difficult to tell who had the greater impact on who in Cleveland.
Jeremy Troup, a Redbank Valley senior, said that the trip was a real eye-opener for him from a cultural standpoint. “The whole trip overall was an awesome experience. One thing that stuck out to me the most was being able to meet the kids from their youth group. Their stories and their testimonies were much different than what we experience here. Another thing that stuck out to me was being able to work with Envision to help build a community garden. Just in the community that we were working in, there are fifty-seven different languages spoken in that area. The garden we helped to build, they said will be able to help feed forty to fifty families in that area.”
Brock Barrett, a fellow RVHS senior, also appreciated the differences in cultures he witnessed. “What stuck out to me the most was the fact that they had such a stable church in the middle of the suburbs of Cleveland. I wasn’t expecting much of it before the trip but when we were leaving I was thinking to myself how strong the members were in their faith. They really care about spreading the word, not only to English speaking members, but Spanish ones too. I’ve just never saw that before and I thought it was really neat.”
Sami Leasure, the third and final senior from Redbank Valley to travel to Cleveland, realized her own life is full of blessings. “The trip taught me so many things about myself, God’s love, and how hard life can be at times. We had the opportunity to meet with Cleveland’s youth group. The first night a few of them shared their testimonies, and it was devastating to hear. They went through so much emotionally, mentally, or physically and they still found a way to love and trust God. We tend to complain how bad our lives are, but in all honesty we have it pretty easy. There are people who have it so much worse, but at the same time they try to make the best of a situation. By hearing their testimonies it made me realize how blessed I am in my life and to be thankful for everything I have.”
A junior at RVHS, Lizzy Robinson, was amazed at the perseverance of the individuals she met in Cleveland. “The youth all had come from broken homes, some not knowing where their next meal was coming from. The majority of the teens had spent their entire lives alone, settling with little to nothing. Thankfully, the teens eventually warmed up to us country folks enough to share their testimony. To hear how many trials and tribulations the teens have been through and then to hear how God has completely changed their lives was amazing. They all had so much faith, it was beautiful. Despite having a difficult life, they continue to trust God and know He will always be there. It was such a great experience and reminder that God is ultimately in control and that he has a gracious plan for each and everyone of us.”
Kolby Barrett, an RVHS eighth-grader, was struck by the personal stories by the fellow youth he met in Cleveland. “One thing that stuck out to me was that living in smalltown Pennsylvania is a lot different than growing up in big cities. Some of the things that their youth group shared with us were beyond what we would ever experience in our small town. This whole trip was an amazing time and I would hope I can go back and see how much the garden flourished.”
Another eighth grader, Ray Shreckengost, stated that the experience was life-changing for him. “While I may have said to myself in the beginning, ‘This is so boring, Why am I here?,’ it really made my day in the end to hear them say that this garden would impact the lives of forty-fifty people. I got to meet some new friends, some new brothers and sisters in Christ. I can now see how God shines his light down on us to let us shine. These people, they are beyond friends, they are truly now like my family, if any one of them would call and ask for money or a shelter I would be more than glad to go get them and bring them home with me.”
Sturgeon says that the church plans to return to the Envision Cleveland sight this summer and have already started the process of raising funds to renovate a home that was previously known as a community drug and prostitution house.
Maybe they can add a garden in the backyard as well.
