Having a hometown mission was the best end of summer gift for the 2024 mission season! I am in awe with how God orchestrated the details of this whole thing. After all, I’ve been dreaming for years to have mission teams come to the Kennebec Valley, to connect all the things I love together in one place (the outdoor adventure opportunities of the Kennebec Valley and community service and outreach) and to get some of my previous students involved in missions and community service.
We serve the one and only faithful God who aligns the desires of our hearts with his kingdom.
From the moment I first saw the email come through for a team inquiring about coming to Maine on a mission, I was anticipating something incredible to happen. And just as in true God fashion, incredible things did happen throughout our mission week in Maine.
I had the opportunity to connect with Calvary Pentecostal to host a team of 34 high schoolers and leaders from Connecticut. Upon their arrival, we were able to link them together with the student leadership team from Calvary Pentecostal for an amazing week of missions and personal growth in our relationships with Jesus for a total of around 50 participants!
On Monday, we rallied together with Chris & Courtney Miller who are long time friends and supporters of mine in Bingham Maine, to serve their church and their community through First Congregational Church of Bingham. We were also able to bless a number of widows and elderly Bingham residents through yard clean-ups, basement clean-outs, wood stacking and more. From there we ventured to Houston Brook Falls for a beautiful Maine lunch adventure. After lunch, we took to the streets to prayer walk over the community. We ended our day of service helping to host and clean up at the Summer of Hope event sponsored by Christ Community Fellowship (CCF – my home church) in Bingham that night.
On Tuesday, we sent teams to Maple Crest Nursing Home in Madison for fellowship and Bingo, Sheltered by Jesus family shelter in Skowhegan for a kid’s program, & helped Calvary with some indoor clean-up & refreshment of their rooms as the rain poured down. After lunch, we took to the streets to prayer walk over the Madison community. And similarly to Monday, we ended our day of service helping to host and clean up at the Summer of Hope event hosted by CCF in Madison that night.
On Wednesday, we gave the team a Maine adventure by taking them up to the Adventure Bound outdoor center for canoeing, swimming, disc golf, red hot dogs & more. The kids were troopers as the weather continued to bring light rain throughout most of the morning. After lunch the team headed over to Moxie Falls to view Maine’s largest single drop waterfall and to enjoy the great outdoors many Mainers truly love! Wednesday evening allowed for game time and fellowship with congregants from Calvary Pentecostal.
Thursday, afforded us time to head back to Sheltered by Jesus for kids and family ministry, as well as completing work projects at New Hope Women Shelter in Solon, and blessing the Madison community with prayer cards and business visits. The afternoon created space for play time down at the community courts and more time for fun and crafts at Maple Crest. Thursday night we were able to join in on Christ Community Fellowship’s prayer time, Discerning the Voice of God series and potluck dinner. We were able to end the night with sunset worship at the Robbins Hill Scenic Overlook in Solon.
Our final day, on Friday, had us helping remove wallpaper at CCF, removing the brush and debris impeding the fence line at the community courts and helping out my Dad with some gardening projects at the family farm in Madison. Friday afternoon we were able to finish up some final projects and be involved in the community outreach event at the town park hosted by Calvary Pentecostal Church. Following the event we gathered for a final debrief of the week, 45 people sat around testifying of how God showed up throughout the week and how they grew in their faith through reaching out to serve others in the community. Stories of community members with tears in their eyes after being met at just the right time by participants and prayer cards, stories of students stepping out of their comfort zone to pray out loud and to walk like Jesus through these communities, stories of encouragements through conversations throughout the week, stories of new friendships being made, stories of relationships with God deepened and new steps being taken to look more like Christ. It was a week that made dreams of mine come true, ultimately prayers were answered that I’m not sure I even deeply prayed.
It was such a great example of what going out to serve the lonely, weak, lost, hopeless, can truly do and how God invites to meet him in those places and spaces. I couldn’t be more excited for the future of sending more teams back to my home community in 2025. Please join me as I begin praying for all God has in store for teams coming to Maine next year. This was my tenth trip leading with AIM and another clear reminder that being a missionary with Adventures in Missions is exactly where God wants me to be in this season of life!
As our summer trip season comes to a close as many of our participants venture back to school this month, we are looking forward to a time of reflection, celebration and preparation for 2025, next week at our headquarters in Gainesville, Georgia. I can’t wait to see what else God has for the remainder of 2024 but I am confident he has good plans for me.
Savanna
