Waco Work Camp Reflections

My Summer Adventures

By Parker Cage

This summer I’ve had quite an adventure.  First, my mom and I flew down to Greensboro, North Carolina to attend Annual Conference.  While the delegates were dealing with the boring business of the church, I participated in a fun group with other kids my age.  In our group we had different speakers come in to cover a variety of issues that affect us in today’s sometimes gloomy world.  My favorite activity that we did was going to the Civil Rights museum in downtown Greensboro.  This museum is special because during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s, four African American college students peacefully protested segregation by sitting at a white only lunch counter, and not leaving until they were served lunch.  The Greensboro Four started a nationwide movement of sit-ins at lunch counters, and helped bring attention to the segregation in America.  The museum is the Woolworth’s original lunch counter where the sit-in took place.  After annual conference wrapped up, I made my way to the airport early Sunday morning for my flight to Dallas.

That Sunday afternoon when I touched down in Dallas, I was excited to start another work camp with my friends.  Our work camp was located in Waco, Texas, which about a hour and a half drive from Dallas.  Our group worked at a Family Abuse Center in Waco.  This center is a private center for women and their children to go if they are being abused.  The shelter allows women to stay for up to 3 months at a time so that they can get back on their feet.  The abuse center offers child care and legal services for the clients staying there.  

On our first day of work, we had to stain a fence.  This fence stretched around the backyard and playground area, and probably stretched the length of two football fields.  Now, you may think that staining a fence sounds easy enough, but when you add in the 108 degree Texas summer heat, things get a little bit more challenging.  By days end, we got about half of the fence stained, and were ready to go back to the church to rest.  That evening we went to a place called Magnolia Gardens, which is a place that was a host site to a TV show.

The next day, and the day after that, we went to work in the thrift store that the shelter gets donations from, and finishing the fence.  At the thrift store, we sorted through all kinds of different clothing and shoes.  Our biggest task there was cleaning out the backroom, so people could walk through it.  On that day we found some pretty neat things, from old china to dehumidifiers.  On our last day of work at the family abuse center, we finished painting the fence and still had some time before we left.  Our supervisor said that she didn’t have anymore work for us to do, and that she was very grateful for all of our hard work.  Later that evening our group went to a picnic with all of the clients.  It was nice to hear their stories, and play with some of the children.  

The last day before our fun day, we went to a local woman’s house to paint it.  The women was getting old, and couldn’t paint her whole house by herself.  While we were painting, she was telling us about her life and how she had spent 34 years homeless.  She said that she thanked God everyday for the house that she was able to live in.  When we were about done, a news team showed up to interview the women, and to take pictures of us!  That story of us was shown that night on the local news!  It was really inspiring to hear the woman’s story, and that made me think that I should be more appreciative of what I have.

Due to the shootings in Dallas, we had to spend our free day in Austin Texas.  There, we went to swim in a naturally fed spring.  The water was clear, and was the coldest i’ve ever felt.  After a week of craving burgers, an advisor and I walked about half a mile to the Texas burger chain Whataburger.  The burger was good, but not as good as Culver’s.  The rest of the day was spent walking around Austin, and enjoying the nice weather.

The next morning we said our goodbyes and headed home.  Annual Conference and Workcamp were both really good experiences for me to grow in my faith and as an individual.  I have learned to have a deeper trust in God in all things that I do in my life.