| The week of September 26 - October 1, a group of Catholic Construction Corps (CCC) members from the Joliet Diocese had an opportunity to be part of a another Mennonite Disaster Services project. As in other CCC adventures, we had a mix of new folks and veterans. Working in partnership with the MDS'ers in Oklahoma was spiritual, educational, fun and filled with fellowship. There were approximately 25 people at this site. We worked in Mulhall, OK. This tiny town of 300+ was devastated during the tornadoes on May 3, 1999. 80% of the homes were destroyed or badly damaged. I am so grateful I have opportunities such as this to help others in this type of circumstance and share myself and whatever skills I possess to serve. |
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Skills? Many of us are not confident in the skills we possess. I am no different. When completing an intake form asking for skills, I hesitate and fumble for adequate descriptive words for my skills, or lack of skills. The gift in this experience is always learning new skills that can be helpful and useful not only in a disaster setting, but my own life at home. This time I participated in many different types of work on a house being built. it was more structural work than I previously experienced |
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Cooperation is vital, everyone works together well; many people with one common goal. Those who know gladly and freely share with the inexperienced. There is no hesitation or fear of mistakes. We learn through doing, whether learning how to use a chop saw, holding a ladder, cleaning up, wrapping a house, hitting (and missing) many nails, or meeting the people of the town and hearing their stories, we are doing the work of service. Service to our neighbor and God. |
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The spirituality of the groups melded quite well. We had morning
devotions after breakfast each day. Carl, an MDS worker, came up to me
one evening asking what hymns we were familiar with from the Baptist hymnals
they used. We found a couple I felt confident our group would know pretty
well. It was encouraging and uplifting knowing it was important to them
for us to feel comfortable and be able to participate. Likewise, when we
were asked to do devotions a couple of mornings, we picked hymns that would
be familiar to them as well. I think this clearly portrays the relationship
between these two groups of people. We may have different faith backgrounds,
but we respect one another and are not afraid to approach the subject of
religion with one another. As I said before, many people with one goal;
helping others in need. Abilities and skills are not of the utmost importance,
but a willingness to cooperate, share, learn and serve.
Karen Carlson
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