Sheila Edenfield lives in Roswell, GA. She is retired after 27 years with BellSouth/AT&T in the Operator Services department in project planning and 17 years of clerical/music support work at her church. One of her activities now is walking in her neighborhood 5 or 6 mornings each week, 4 miles a day. A fun fact about Sheila is that she’s a long-time member of her church bowling league, the Holy Rollers!
I had several reasons to join my church's team to come on this mission trip. I love learning about, contributing to, and doing hands-on mission activities. Our lead team member, Mike Dunham, promoted the trip as one "not like any other mission trip" and that created great interest for me. Also, I recently lost my husband after 42 years of marriage, and thought a change in routine, scenery, and activity helping others would be a healthy time of healing.
This was my first trip to Mountain T.O.P., so I was a rookie, but I felt welcomed by all of the team and the fabulous staff. I am hopeful this was the first of many such trips in my future.
Our team came to serve by working at two job sites, providing the labor for some home repairs and improvements. I believe we had several additional encounters involving serving that might not be as obvious, and I'd like to share those with you. These events resulted in what I'm calling a MOUNTAIN TOP experience! - because God was definitely there!
This year, Mountain T.O.P. had a theme of share the light, with daily emphasis on shining the light and being changed by the light. We were letting our lights shine while making repairs, interacting with families and their pets, and being respectful of their property.
Serving was also happening as we worked as a team, skilled and unskilled (pointing to myself on the latter). Everyone had a job to do; some even learned to use power tools. Serving as a team, the work was accomplished. And I felt a part of the project, even if my tasks were small.
Back at the dining hall, we were called to serve at mealtime. Each table required a host or hostess to serve the entire table; this included bringing out the food, preparing the drinks, handling clean up, and so forth. Everyone had a chance to serve and be served throughout the weekend. The being served part was hard for me.....
I'm not used to sitting. At first, it made me a little uncomfortable, but this made me think of how the homeowners might feel as we came in to work on their home. It was important to show kindness and respect while we were there. (Thought: Was this a planned "teaching moment" by the Mountain T.O.P. staff?)
Perhaps the biggest impact on me was the evening worship times together. The staff did an excellent job, had everything planned, tables set up with lighted candles, and they also shared the work amongst their team, taking turns serving and supporting each other.
After a bit of debriefing about our workday, we were led in devotions and sang songs about the light, like "This Little Light of Mine.” We shared communion, prayed, worshipped, and praised God. I never felt so ministered to each evening. This was truly an unexpected gift!
The entire experience makes me want to SHINE MY LIGHT FOR THE LORD.
I'm already thinking about next year's trip. Don't you want to join us?
