Tommy & Miss Mary's House


In college, I was blessed enough to travel on two separate mission trips in the U.S. I absolutely loved them! It was amazing to see how a bunch of college students could come together and be excited about cleaning a toilet or repairing a roof. And yet...we were. Because we were doing it in service of others.

One house we worked on was owned by a lovely elderly couple named Tommy and Miss Mary. Tommy had built the original house himself, and he admitted to us that it was difficult to realize he could no longer maintain it on his own. We were thrilled to help!

Miss Mary raised chickens, and the yard was covered with the most intricate maze of chicken coops ever seen. It was epic. One morning, she invited us inside for freshly cooked eggs. I'll never forget the smell of that home cooking as we stood on the old floorboards next to her cast-iron stove. Yum!

We spent the week re-doing the siding on the house, traipsing through mud to nail on new side boards and then paint them a bright white color. At one point, we had to fight off an angry swarm of bees, but we prevailed!

I learned so much from the experience. I learned about myself and my faith, I learned from my fellow students and from Tommy and Miss Mary's humility. If you haven't had a chance to do a trip like this where you can give back, I highly recommend it.

The people and places I encountered on my two mission trips remain in my heart to this day!

9 comments:

  1. That sounds great! We can learn a lot from our older folks...we just need to stop and listen.

    Sounds like the trip was as good for you as it was them :)

    Left and Write

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  2. I've always wanted to build my own house. This is a wonderful story, and I'm glad you got the experience. Awesome job with the AZ!

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  3. I should go on a mission type trip to help others. Thanks for the push toward a good cause. :) Sounds like you had a life changing experience.

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  4. What a wonderful thing to do for someone!

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  5. This sounds really great!

    www.modernworld4.blogspot.com

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  6. We're most satisfied with ourselves when serving others. It's amazing how much we get when we give.

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  7. That's wonderful that you did this. And I'm glad you were able to fight off those bees.

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  8. I need to make time to help others more...and learn to be more handy around the house. haha. That's a very inspirational story and must have been such an amazing and rewarding experience.

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  9. That feeling you get when you help others is unparalleled. :)

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