August 1995-Adult Servant Trip
ST. MATTHEW VOLUNTEERS CONSTRUCT ROOF FOR TEXAS
MISSION
On August 5 as seventeen members of St. Matthew
Lutheran Church, Barrington, climbed aboard an American Airlines
flight for El Paso, Texas, a year of prayer and preparations was
being realized. The adult servant trip team was traveling to Ysleta
Lutheran Mission. Their goal was to serve God and the needs of the
mission by constructing a new roof on the mission's dormitory building.
The members of the servant team, nine men and
eight women, ranged in age from twenty to sixty-seven. Prior to
the team's orientation sessions, many team members had not known
each other. Included on the team were a civil engineer, a college
student, some retirees, a trader on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange,
a travel agent, some small business owners, an architect, and a
pastor.
Each team member had contributed $350 to cover
travel and living expenses for this servant trip. Members of St.
Matthew had given an additional $13,800 to purchase the building
materials which were necessary for the project.
The following is a daily journal for this adult
servant trip:
Saturday, August 5
Staff members from Ysleta Lutheran Mission welcomed
the team at the El Paso airport. After an eight-mile van ride, the
team saw the mission for the first time. There are 14 buildings
on the 4.2 acre site which include San Pablo Lutheran Church, a
day care center, a thrift shop, a dining hall, offices, storage
buildings, several homes, and the 120 x 40 foot dormitory which
would be the project. Over the 100 years of the mission's history
it has been a cavalry post, a Civilian Conservation Corp. facility,
a Texas Ranger Station, a chicken farm, and a Bible institute. Since
1981 it has belonged to the Rocky Mountain District of the Lutheran
Church--Missouri Synod.
The team moved into its rather Spartan living
quarters and soon discovered that while modesty could just barely
be preserved, privacy was an impossibility. Meal preparations often
looked like chaos but produced excellent food. The old adage about
"too many cooks" isn't necessarily true. The first day
closed with prayer and devotional time. Fifty-six members of St.
Matthew had volunteered to be prayer partners for the members of
the servant team. When the trip was over, Bob Bunn, co-leader of
the team, summarized the trip by saying, "We prayed, we worked,
we ate, and we slept." His statement also reflected the team's
priorities.
Sunday, August 6
On Sunday the team attended worship at San Pablo,
first in English and then in Spanish. Even though few members of
the team understood Spanish, the worshippers in the Hispanic service
extended themselves to make the team feel welcome and part of the
worship experience. Thankfully several of the hymns were familiar
and the team's stumbling Spanish seemed to improve with each chorus.
In the afternoon Pat Roudebush, deaconess at Ysleta,
took the team on a shopping trip to Juarez. After dinner many of
the team members attended a free Jazzmenco concert at Chamazel National
Park. One of the blessings of Sunday was the cultural orientation
which the team was receiving.
Monday, August 7
Today work on the roof began. A large evaporation
cooler had to be removed from the roof and plates, a 2x6 wood perimeter,
had to be anchored to the existing walls. Progress was slow and
tedious. Fred Nielsen of Laborers for Christ came from Alamagordo,
New Mexico, to serve as foreman for the project. He was a godsend.
Not only did he thoroughly understand the project, but he was able
to teach the team members the various skills which were needed to
complete the task.
The team was also getting accustomed to the intense
heat under which they would be working. One of the members of the
team, Joe Moslander, had the soles of his shoes melt from the heat
of the roof. He bought a replacement pair at the thrift shop for
a dollar.
Tuesday, August 8
The efforts of this day would be rewarded by the
greatest progress. Sixty-one trusses, each forty feet long, had
to be lifted to the roof, spiked into place, and braced. During
one two-hour period the team erected thirty trusses, one every four
minutes. The team worked together with a choreography which would
make a dance company proud.
This work day ended with Nielsen sitting atop
the final truss with the Christian flag blowing in the breeze and
the entire team singing the Common Doxology, "Praise God from
Whom All Blessings Flow."
Wednesday, August 9
The triumph of Tuesday was replaced by the tedium
of Wednesday. Facia had to be constructed and progress was slowed
by poor materials. Vent pipes and chimneys had to be extended. This
was also the hottest day of the week. Half the team visited the
Lutheran mission at Anapra, Mexico. (See sidebar story.) That evening
the team took the Ysleta staff out to dinner. As one team member
put it, "We went out for the air conditioning. Dinner was of
secondary importance."
Thursday, August 10
With spirits renewed, part of the team returned
to constructing facia while the rest of the team starting laying
the plywood deck for the new roof. The foreman introduced the team
to a method which employed a rope, a pair of 2x6's, and a vice grip
pliers to hoist sheets of plywood to the roof. It wasn't fancy,
but it got the job done.
By the end of the day, the south side of the roof
was fully enclosed with plywood and the facia was nearly finished.
That evening team attended an outdoor musical presentation of the
history and culture of the area, "Viva! El Paso."
Friday, August 11
With the team's time in El Paso quickly coming
to an end, they decided to change their work schedule. They began
work at the usual 6:00 a.m., but stopped at noon. The members who
had not made the earlier trip to Anapra visited the mission. After
an early supper, the team returned to the roof for an evening session.
As the sun was setting over El Paso, the last
sheet of plywood was nailed into place on the north side of the
roof, the south side of the roof was fully covered with roofing
felt, and half the bundles of shingles had been carried to the south
roof.
Saturday, August 12
The team's original schedule had not called for
any work on Saturday, but they were all on the roof at 6:00 a.m.
By 11:00 a.m. most of the north side of the roof was covered with
roofing felt, the remaining bundles of shingles were now in place.
Approximately one-third of the south side of the roof had been shingled.
It was time for the team to return to Chicago.
Members of the Ysleta staff and friends of the mission from El Paso
would have to finish the shingling of the roof. The team members
flew back to Chicago with stories of the ways their lives had been
enriched through this project. They had faithfully served their
God, made new friends, learned new skills, and were already talking
about the next servant project that they would challenge. Their
prayers and preparations had richly been rewarded.
