Mission Trip to Caldwell, Ohio

As many of you may know Joshua and Stefani took a mission trip to Caldwell, Ohio with Joshua's vicarage congregation. (Three weeks before our wedding...crazy?...yes!) There were 11 people: 6 adults and 5 youth. We worked with Lutheran Social Services doing various projects such as organizing the distribution center, working at the food bank, helping with giving things away, painting, and cleaning.

Here are a few pictures explaining our adventure.


This the church we stayed at during our time in Ohio. There was a full kitchen so we were able to cook meals. There were however no showers. We ended up going to a local lake's campgrounds and paid a small fee to use their showers.

This is the distribution center for Lutheran Social Services in the area. The first day we worked at dividing the supplies for the next 13 teams that would be in the area throughout the summer. There were tons of cleaning supplies, hygiene products, and school supplies. These things would be taken to give aways at local churches or used by the crew at work sites.

This the food pantry. The pantry can serve only 40 families a day. The families must show I.D. and be of a certain income level. The amount of food they can get is based on their family size. It was Stefani's favorite place to work because she got to take people "shopping" all day.

Lutheran Social Services gets together with area churches and hosts "giveaways". Giveaways are like garage sales minus the money. People can come to these giveaways and find clothes, pots, pans, toys and other various items. This giveaway took place at Mt. Ephraim.


This is a garage we worked on the last day in Ohio. It was extremely muddy, full of mildew and mold. It had flooded many times, including the day before. In the closed trashcan in the front of the picture is a dead, rotting, baby deer. We'll be honest, it wasn't pleasant. The folks who live in the house have many health problems and they are all on oxygen.

This is the "after". We hosed and swept the floor to get rid of the mud and rotting leaves. Hopefully we helped them breathe a little easier.


This is a lovely picture of Joshua. We were cleaning a dirty, flooded garage and it was causing havoc on Joshua's allergies. This was a futile defense mechanism. He ended up with quite the allergy "meltdown" later.

Here is what the other crew did while we were cleaning the garage. Their job was to scrape and paint this barn. They even painted the roof!

Joshua will be taking this idea of service and continuing it in Salem, IL. We will be helping members of the community just like in Caldwell, Ohio on Saturday July 26th. Please keep the project in your prayers.

God's Blessings,
Joshua and Stefani