Jackson Mission Trip Update

We are finally connected to the internet and able to post an update!  After a very early morning yesterday, nine hours spend in airports and airplanes, and the fire department meeting one member of our group at the gate during our stop in Houston (more on that later), we are all here safe, sound, and tired from hot weather and a hard day of work today.

We met at Sea-Tac at 4:20am yesterday to catch our flight to Houston.  As a special surprise to us all, Bishop Rickel was on the same flight as he heads to Costa Rica to begin his sabbatical.  (Below is a picture from our layover in Houston where you can play “find the bishop”.)  To begin our trip on a bit of an eventful note, Aileen from St. Margaret’s passed out momentarily on the first leg of our trip because of the altitude and low cabin pressure.  It got the leaders’ hearts racing for a moment and the Houston airport fire department met the plane at the gate, but she is totally fine and is in great spirits.  A special shout-out to leader Daphne Buren for being by Aileen's side throughout the whole experience.

After we got settled in the volunteer house yesterday, Dr. Perkins made a surprise visit to see us and eat dinner with our group.  He has been with us for each meal so far and it is wonderful to hear from the man who started this vital ministry in Jackson and hear his love for us – especially our youth.  He is 83 and shared that, as he reflects on how he will spend his last days, he wants to end where he began by loving and pouring his life into youth.  While he has a lot of other things happening at the moment (including writing three books), he told us that we are his most important thing while we are here.  I have a feeling that we will all be incredibly inspired and blessed by our time with him over the next week.

The volunteer house at the Perkins Center

As we have spent listening to Dr. Perkins, we have all been struck by being in the presence of a “living history.”  There are few people still alive who have experienced what he has in life – from being the son of a sharecropper, losing a brother to the gun of a police officer in a racial incident, to being arrested without charges and beaten in jail.  This man lived through the civil-rights movement we have learned so much about in school and it is inspiring to sit with him and hear him speak about his experiences.  But he is not concerned primarily with teaching us history…he is challenging us to find purpose in life that is shaped by faith.  As he told us today, he has ever reason to hate the people who perpetuated the racism and hate that has defined much of his life – but he has chosen to love others and be an instrument of change because of his faith in and relationship with Jesus.  We will certainly have more to share about this over the coming days and when our group returns!

 Dr. Perkins with the group at breakfast

Today was our first full day in Jackson and we split into groups to do work projects around the Perkins Center properties.  The main center (second picture below) is across the street from the volunteer house, but they also own many houses in the neighborhood that are rented out to low-income families at affordable rates – mostly single mothers and the elderly.  One of the groups painted the house next door to the volunteer house, a house that is rented by an elderly lady and her family.  The other group worked on installing lattice on the underside of a deck at the main center across the street.

Tomorrow, we will go on a tour of Jackson to see the community and learn more about the civil rights history, as well as visit Mendenhall, MS where Dr. Perkins began his ministry and his involvement in the civil rights movement in 1960.