Amazing things happen when Pathfinder teens get together to provide assistance to a community. The recent Pathfinder Teen Mission Adventure to Valley Christian School, 12 miles west of Ellensburg, Wash., was no exception.
The teens worked on a multipurpose room in the school’s gymnasium and did landscaping and cleanup projects. A community Bible Story Hour program was conducted by several of the teens at the Ellensburg Church.
In addition to these activities, the Pathfinder group was actively involved in many community service projects. In the town of Cle Elum, Wash., the group raked the city’s park and swept the sidewalks on Main Street free of the gravel and sand built up during the previous winter. In Ellensburg, the group provided general cleanup and maintenance on the popular Craig’s Hill trail near the rodeo grounds and Caboose Park near the old train depot.
The group also tore down a dilapidated shed at the Ellensburg Church and constructed a new one, and poured a new sidewalk from the main building to an adjacent Sabbath School room. Many appreciative elderly individuals near the school and in the Ellensburg area were given assistance with home and yard maintenance. Residents were pleased and amazed that the young people would be interested in coming to help them. The group conducted Friday night vespers service at the Cle Elum Church and the Sabbath worship hour in the Ellensburg Church.
Pathfinder Teen Mission Adventure, held annually during spring break and now in its seventh year, was created with the thought that there is a mission field right outside your back door. Criteria for each year’s mission is that the project must be within a day’s drive from the conference office and cost participants $100 or less.
Participating staff members agree that the mission is as much for the teens as it is for the projects that are accomplished. The comradery and rapport that develops between teens and staff while on the mission trip results in lifelong friendships that help cement these young people to the church and to service.
Through this program, young people have done an amazing amount of work demolishing old structures, constructing new facilities, remodeling, painting, landscaping, general indoor and outdoor cleanup, and outreach to the communities, especially with programs for younger children.
Alan Mayfield and Jack Swena sweep a city sidewalk during their unique local mission trip.
The 2003 Teen Mission Adventure group traveled to the Ellensburg, Wash., area for their mission and outreach trip.
