In the summer of 2020, a few other church members and I went on a mission trip to Fairmont, West Virginia. That was my fifth year going on this trip, and I loved it! We had about half our usual team due to scheduling issues and other circumstances, but that didn’t stop us from getting anything done. Throughout the week that we were there, we painted a house, painted the deck of another house, put in a railing, and did some camp maintenance. I kept a journal of that week and all that happened, so I’ll share with you some highlights (and pictures!) of each day!

Saturday (Day 0): As my parents drove my sisters and me to meet up with the rest of the team, it started raining out. How fun. The car ride to Fairmont is usually about two hours long, but I couldn’t fall asleep… I was a bit hungry, and I ate some Swedish Fish from my sister, Emma, and homemade cookies from my friend. On our way to the camp where we would stay for the week, our team stopped at an ice cream place called Dairy Creme Corner. It’s a tradition that we always go to DCC on that trip. I got a Lucky Charms avalanche, which was soooo good! Neither my friend nor I could finish our desserts, so we had to throw them away, but they were yummy while they lasted! We stayed in the same cabin as nearly every year I’ve gone, and once we unpacked our stuff, it was so lovely and peaceful. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to bring lip balm on the trip, and I cannot go without lip balm for very long, so I had to borrow my sister Briana’s lip balm until we went to Walmart. Before dinner that day, we played some volleyball and were joined by another church. After dinner, we played more volleyball! It was also a little colder out that night, so I got to wear my hoodie! (PS I LOVE hoodies). I caught two or three fireflies that evening before chilling on the cabin porch before bed.

Sunday (Day 1): I woke up about three or four times the previous night; no one ever gets a fair amount of sleep on the first nights of these kinds of trips. After breakfast but before morning worship, My sister, Emma, two friends, and I went for a little walk around the camp, and we found a snake! When we came back to go to worship, there was some kind of miscommunication, so we played cards for a bit while we waited for worship to start. After lunch, which was after worship, we visited the houses where we’d be working, and after that, we went to Walmart! I was able to get some lip balm (EOS Strawberry Peach and Toasted Marshmallow). I also got a sleeping bag, and it reminded me of Animal Crossing Pocket Camp because it had adorable little RVs on it.

Monday (Day 2): First day of work! I woke up super early that day, and while I was doing my hair, I sneezed five times in a row! At the site where we were going to work, we had to take down some scaffolding and put up some ladders to paint the side of the house. We were waiting for paint, so we headed over to the other site to fill up water bottles and do some work there. At that site, two other kids and I began to dig a hole for a railing. While digging, I found a big lump of coal! Unfortunately, I left it there, but at least I got a picture. Before we took a lunch break. I was able to ‘cut in’ on the wall that I was going to paint. After lunch, however, it began pouring while we were painting, so we left the site early, at around 3:00. Since we had extra time, we visited a woman we helped a few years ago, which was enjoyable because she’s really funny. That evening, after dinner, my sister, Emma, a friend, and I were mopping floors in the kitchen, and we were apparently not too good at it. The friend who was mopping the floor with my sister and me made a joke “How many Pennsylvanians does it take to mop a floor?” Because it took us forever, and we accidentally mopped all around us until we were stuck in the middle of the room. After worship and our debrief session, two friends, Emma, and I were worried about one of our other friends who had gone into a field to talk on the phone. The four of us decided to look for her but chanced upon the burn pile where worksite scraps were dumped. One friend was lying on a mattress in the pile and, since it was dark out, we took some cursed photos with the flash on (it made his eyes seem to glow or turn red). While cleaning the bathrooms that night, I accidentally inhaled some bleach, which really scared me, but I ended up being fine, obviously.

Tuesday (Day 3): At the work site, I painted the entire time, which was really fun; I enjoy painting. We ran a bit late for our lunch break because the speaker for that week came by and talked with our team for a while. We also ran late for dinner that evening… Afterward, we played volleyball with another church, which is always fun because there are so many people.

From top left: me painting // My friend, Sami, and I // Me painting (again)

From bottom left: a snake we found // My arm got a little messy while painting // a lump of raw coal

Wednesday (Day 4): Half-day of work! Every year, Wednesday is when we get the afternoon off to do an activity and eat out for dinner. That morning of work, my sisters, Briana and Emma, along with a friend, and I dumped out old paint onto scrap carpets, and the paint swirled around so lovely. We even marble-dipped some rocks in the paint, which turned out beautiful. That afternoon, we went on a pontoon boat, one of the most significant highlights of the trip. Emma, a friend, and I swam in the water and pretended we were on a survival show called ‘Girl Beat the Wilderness.’ We acted as if there were water mocassins and sharks in the water and even found a highlighted area of the water where I ‘performed’ Country Roads for the audience (a.k.a. Emma and my friend). We ate at Texas Roadhouse for dinner that evening, where we all ate way too much food; I couldn’t even finish mine. We were making each other crack up, and I felt like I would puke because of all the food I ate. Even better, someone told the waiters/waitresses that my birthday was coming up, so they made a big show about it and called me out in front of the restaurant. When we got back to camp, we played more volleyball and even listened to some ‘oldies’ music through my speaker.

Thursday (Day 5): At another work site, I got to pressure wash for the first time, which was super fun! It was really satisfying to see the wood become so much cleaner and pristine. After dinner, that day, a woman from another church told her wild birthing story of her son to about five other people, including me. I’m not gonna go into detail, but it was a very interesting story. By the time we finished our debrief and worship, it was too late to go to Dairy Creme Corner, so we just got some Klondikes from the camp store. ♫ What would you do for a Klondike bar? ♫ Anything. Literally anything. I LOVE Klondike bars.

Friday (Day 6): At the worksite, Emma and I got to help one of the camp leaders fix some shingles. It’s always so thrilling and fun to go on a roof and repair some shingles. I’m not sure what makes it so exciting; it just is. After that, Emma and cleaned out the gutters, had lunch, then finished cleaning the gutters. At that point, we only had two and a half hours left on our last day of work, so our whole team came together to stain a long ramp outside the home we worked on. Although many were doubtful, we finished the ramp in time! On the way back to camp, we stopped at Dairy Creme Corner, where I got a cookie dough avalanche but, alas, couldn’t finish it. I gave it to my sister, Briana, and I can’t remember if she could finish it either. After dinner and worship, we played… you guessed it… more volleyball then decided to up to the burn pile where they had started the fire. Once we spent a while at the fire, most of our team and other kids from another church went on a long walk around the campgrounds. We came across an abandoned RV, which was kinda spooky, but I climbed on top of it, and I felt pretty cool. By the time we got back to camp, it was pretty late, and many of us gathered on a cabin porch to talk, but I was tired, so I went to bed at around 1 o’clock in the morning.

Saturday (Day 7): Last day! We left the camp at around 7:00 or 8:00 in the morning and stopped at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. The restaurant had a gift shop in it where I may or may not have spent $81…

Top: my sisters, a friend, and I at Sheetz after we went pontooning

Middle (from left): the burn pile/fire // My sisters, friend, and I dumping old paint // Emma, my friend, and I in ‘Girls Beat the Wilderness’

Bottom: the dumped paint made some reaaly pretty patterns!

Anyway, that concludes my trip to Fairmont, WV. Every year I look forward to that trip and am glad that we could go that year despite the current state of the world. If you have never been on any kind of mission trip before, I would highly recommend going. They’re such a great way to have fellowship with other believers and strengthen your servant’s heart while glorifying God through it all.