As we grow in our knowledge of grace we must also grow in our sharing of grace. In fact, quite often, the more we are gracious with others, the more we learn to treasure grace.

This chapter has been devoted to those from Locust Grove who were involved in some kind of mission or service experience. They shared their reflections and memories in responding to a survey during the summer of 1998. It is quite clear that many lives were changed as a result of these experiences in missions. These reflections are shared in hope that they will stimulate each reader to become involved in more expressions of grace.

Marsha Buchanan

Ernest and Sadie Byler

"Living at Norristown, PA was a great experience for us. We met so many wonderful people and made a lot of friends, some of whom we still keep in contact with today, and who have been a real blessing to us down through the years.

When Ernie was drafted, we had Ken and I was expecting twins! I stayed at my sister's for three months waiting their arrival. In the meantime, Ernie met Mayard Beitzel and Alvin Brenneman and invited them to our trailer for meals. Soup was the main dish! What a blessing Mayard has been to us and our church today. If we hadn't gone into l-W, we probably would not have met Mayard or Alvin. Think what we would have missed!

We lived in a little 8' x 28' trailer with three babies and very little money, but we were happy. Pastor E. B. Peachey wrote us such a nice letter, and we still have and treasure that letter today! There is such a blessing and joy in serving the Lord; just to go where He leads and directs!

In those two years Ernie & I grew up fast, having three babies and being away from home. We also grew spiritually. We learned to depend totally on the Lord to meet all our needs and He never once failed us. We attended Worcester Mennonite Church. People were very warm and friendly and always wanted to care for our babies."

Jean (Zook) Byler

Loren Byler

Rhoda Byler

Sara (Renno) Hartzler

In 1964 and 1965 she served with RMM at Kentuckiana, a center for handicapped children in Louisville, Kentucky. There was no Mennonite church in Louisville when the work began so they traveled to Austin, Indiana for Sunday services. She remembers spending the entire day with Jesse and Edna Zook and their family. She appreciated their hospitality and was able to experience the mission setting where they worked so hard.

Irvin Hartzler

"The hospital was an experience of learning and being sensitive to people's physical and spiritual needs. I made lasting friendships that I cherish and share today. It was one of the best experiences of my life."

Lloyd Hostetler

"That trip did me more good than anything I had ever done before that. It influenced me to join the Gideons two years later. I was able to get a much bigger impression of what God was doing in the world by seeing what was happening. We were isolated in a little valley in Pennsylvania, but in Colombia I met people from all over who could world together for one cause. Their backgrounds and how they looked didn't matter because they weren't looking at each other. They were there to teach people about the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. I was so impressed with the dedication of a young couple who would go to spend twenty years or more, living with a tribe, just to translate the Bible into their language.

I also remember praying. When we got there we were told that the supplies had been ordered months earlier, but that they weren't there. The people had been waiting for them for a month. We were told to pray that they would come. Early Monday morning before daylight the lumber came, just when we needed it. One day we ran out of cement, but the next morning more came. God always supplied the materials just when we needed them. Things like that really made an impression on me.

Aquilla & Ann Kanagy

Alan Miller

D. Leon Miller

Marian Yoder Payne

She later served with her husband James under the Eastern Mennonite Board in Ethiopia, East Africa during 1961 and 1962. "Living in Ethiopia broadened my view of the world, missions, and Christianity. I learned that life outside "The Valley" was very different and that I wanted to see even more of the world. My understanding of God became much greater and more meaningful."

Dennis and Rebecca Peachey

Rebecca spent several months in V.S. in Homestead, Florida, October 1972 - May 1973 with Eastern Mennonite Missions. She also taught Bible School in Barwick and Gays Creek in Kentucky during the summer of 1973. She wrote, "The service projects gave me a broader perspective on life outside the valley. It helped me get acquainted with many people, and develop lasting friendships. God always supplied what was needed when it was needed. I learned to grow closer to Jesus in the many experiences."

Together Dennis and Rebecca, along with their three sons, spent the year of 1986 in V.S. at El Dorado, Arkansas with Rosedale Mennonite Missions. Dennis commented, "I enjoyed our time in El Dorado, and did not want to come back home. I really appreciated the church there; the people were friendly and sincere."

J. Lorne Peachey

"I suppose the most significant way in which this affected me was that I found fulfillment and enjoyment in helping others, specifically my students. I enjoyed finding what it was they enjoyed doing and opening up that area of knowledge to them. It's something that I continue to enjoy doing as an editor; helping people make sense of their world and understand it a bit better."

John D. Peachey

Lois Peachey

Miriam Peachey

Rich Peachey

"I can still see many of the faces of those forty boys attending Fair Play Wilderness Camp School. Boys who did not have very much in this world, boys who desperately needed somebody to love them. I can still see how their faces would light up when we would interact with them. It didn't matter if we were performing skits for them, singing for them, singing with them, eating meals with them, or working to improve their home. The boys genuinely enjoyed seeing us do what we were doing.

I learned a great deal from those boys. In particular, I learned never to take loved ones for granted. Love is the bridge we can use to reach out to any human. These boys were an illustration of that simple truth.

I have had many fond memories of my time spent with various His Children groups, but I would have to rank above the rest the summer we went to Fair Play Wilderness Camp School."

Rich is also especially thankful to John L. Yoder for the way he, as van driver supported the group. He wrote the following as a tribute to John L.

"Your willingness to help out the younger generations has been appreciated by many people. Not only did you serve by driving us to and from our service projects, you also served by pitching in and helping us serve others. This willingness to serve has impacted the lives of many youth in the church. We are extremely privileged at Locust Grove to have a friend and example such as yourself. My God richly bless you for all you have done in the past, and all you will continue to do in the future. I think I can speak for all of the people involved in His Children when I again say thank you!"

"The group still sings: ‘John, John L. Yoder / John is our hometown hero / John, John L. Yoder / John is our hometown hero/ RING THOSE BELLS!'"

R. Robert Peachey

"In June 1966 Bob Stayrook and I went to Sarasota, FL to begin 1W service. We arrived in the middle of a hurricane. After the first three days in a mosquito and bug infested trailer in "Pinecraft," I was ready to return to PA. We both were given jobs in the Venice Hospital. It was so different from working on a farm and I loved it. My time on the 11 p.m. - 7 a.m. shift was divided between floor duty and emergency room as an orderly. Frequently during the day I drove ambulance for a private company. We invented the "grab and go" approach - no speed limits and no restrictions. The goal was to get the patient to the hospital as fast as possible.

In February 1967 I met my wife, Joann, at an MYF meeting at Tuttle Mennonite Church. She and a nurse friend from Lancaster County were vacationing, and one of my friends mentioned that I should meet "the girl from PA." I had wanted to go to a basketball game that evening, but Marlin Yoder (who came south in Dec.1966) said he preferred instead to go to the meeting with me. In April 1967 Joann and her friend moved to Sarasota, and by September 1967 we were married. I have Marlin to thank for that. I met her parents one week before the wedding, and she met mine three days before the wedding. I would have been very upset if my daughters had done that.

Most of the people respected my position in alternative service while the country was in the midst of the Vietnam war. Only one man would not let me care for him after he learned why I was at the hospital. I tried to share my faith with some of the patients and fellow workers. Only eternity will reveal the harvest. I certainly had respect for the men who did serve in the war, and there were times when I wondered if I had made the right decision. I thank God that young men today don't have to make that decision.

Those two years were a great experience. It was good to leave the valley and see how the rest of the world lived.

Bob and Joann Plank

While in Belleville, Bob met Joann (Byler) and they planned to be married. In the meantime, he called the Eastern Mennonite Board of Missions at Salunga, Pa., and told them that he and Joann wanted to go somewhere that no one else wanted to go or had ever gone. They said that they had just the place for a couple to go and had been waiting for someone like this to call. What follows is a description of the voluntary service assignment in Joann's own words.

"We got married in September of 1970 and were on our way to Alberta, Alabama, a 98% black community way back in the sticks. I was scare to death and Bob was excited. Our title was Agriculture Improvement & Community Development. They (our leaders at Salunga) said, "Your job is to just go down and get along." Remember, this was at the time when there was "real" prejudice going on in the south. Governor Wallace had just kicked the white "Vista" workers out of the very community we were to go to. The famous "civil rights march" from Selma to Montgomery had just taken place.

It was amazing to see how excited the blacks were to see us and to make us feel at home. The whites were not quite so excited! They kept trying to tell Bob that we were crazy. They asked us why we would work for nothing to help these people. It was amazing how the whites still respected us and we became good friends with them also. They even invited us to come to their church which we did.

But after a drunk person ran into the back of my car when I stopped at a stop sign, I was ready to come home. I was so homesick!!! Finally I decided I may as well like it down here, if I have to spend 14 months in this forsaken place.

I helped at the Freedom Quilting Bee, which was a co-op, started by a white priest, to help the blacks to make some money. They made quilts and sold some of them through Sears and also went to Selma and sold them here and there at different stores or flee markets. I also helped get a Day Care started for the kids of the mothers who came to work at the Quilting Bee. I had to go to Selma, visit some Day Care Centers, before coming back and getting it going.

My job was to schedule the whole thing and make up the menus and cook. But I didn't know how to cook southern black cultural food which was collard greens with white pork(fat), black-eyed peas, and sweet potato pie. Needless to say the kids weren't very fond of my food! But in order to get the basic five food groups, they had to eat more than collard greens and black-eyed peas.

Before I left I trained a lady to plan the meals, cook, and train someone to run the place. The kids finally learned to eat other foods besides their traditional foods and actually liked them. I am happy to see the Day Care is still running but sad the Quilting Bee fizzled out.

Bob built a hog house and started a hog project. He also worked with crop production, cotton, corn and vegetable crops. The hog project didn't pan out because they cost too much money and the hog house was nicer than their houses. They couldn't see raising pigs when they could go out and shoot a wild hog when they wanted some pork and it would cost nothing. Bob also taught a Sunday school class in their Baptist church.

Being in Alabama opened our eyes to real poverty. We learned to love and respect the people and they in turn learned that not all whites were bad people. We became life-long friends. The most rewarding part of our work was working with the community people (blacks and whites); learning and living their culture. They love and serve the same God as we do and we are looking forward to seeing the ones who passed on, in heaven someday. Worshiping with them each Sunday was also a REAL eye-opener. We are so glad we had the chance to experience another culture. I am sure we learned more than they did. The last I knew Eastern Mennonite Missions is still sending someone down there but now they are at Gees Bend which is a little farther back in. It is rewarding to go back to see the many friends we made, the Day Care Center still running, and the hog house still standing, only now with someone living in it. We can see that our work was not in vain."

Brian J. Renno

Brian spent from September 1996 through April, 1997 on a Youth Evangelism Service Team, in Honduras, under the Eastern Mennonite Missions.

"I came to ‘know' God through a real relationship with Him. I learned about my character and my personality of who I really am. I grew up in the process."

Neil Renno

Ilya Shindyapin

Gwen Yoder

"The week in Carcha, Guatemala really sticks out in my mind because it was wet and rainy all week and we weren't able to get much done. I felt very impotent and useless. I wondered what I was accomplishing by being there. I wanted to be able to do something! After talking to our leader and spending a night in a very humble home in the mountains, my attitude changed a bit. Our host shared about his life and family and his hopes and dreams for his children to be able to attend school and have more and better opportunities than he had. These humble people weren't counting blocks laid by our group, they were blessed by our presence and willingness to help them and hear about their lives. God works in small ways too! Also significant was the understanding of God across many barriers, including language and culture."

Jay A. Yoder

The people I lived among were very poor, yet persons just like me. I enjoyed working with them, learning their ways like working with a machete and hand splitting wood shingles for a roof. I had so much to learn and they had so much to teach me. I learned to enjoy simple yet very precious things about life. The wonderful gift of life in a small child coming with her mother to one of the clinics for malnourished children and then seeing that same child months later playful and relatively healthy. The simple gift of food and hospitality that was so often shared with us by families that barely had enough to feed themselves. I learned humility and something about compassion. I saw Christians holding onto their faith in God in the midst of circumstances that would cause most of us to doubt whether there even was a God. Life was hard for those people, yet they persisted. It is only now as I write this that I realize that there was one thing that I could never fully feel and experience with them. I was able to leave their difficult life. They never could.

I also spent close to two years in Costa Rica. It was there that I truly learned to love the Latin culture. Costa Rica became my home and the people became my family. My closest friends were Costa Rican nationals. They shared so much of themselves with me and were very patient with me as I tried to share of myself with them. My appreciation for worship was very much shaped by my experiences in the worship times there. The Latin people are very expressive and that was beautifully evident in their expressive worship to God.

I went there to serve, to be a servant. And hopefully that was accomplished in some small way. But it is very obvious to me that mine is the life that was most enriched by being there.

When life gets tough and I need a fresh perspective, I often go back and draw on what I learned in Central America. When my priorities need rearranged, when I need reminded that life and relationships are more important than accomplishments and goals, I thank the Lord for giving me such a valuable experience from which to learn."

Jeffrey Yoder

Jeff remembers, "Sandy Lake gave me a greater appreciation and respect for those persons willing to sacrifice the comforts of ‘American' living in order to work with native peoples."

L. Marlin Yoder

The next January, Marlin began his two year of 1-W service at Venice Hospital in Venice, Florida. "The hospital work was mostly with older folks who had health needs, and through this work I learned to love and appreciate many of these older persons."

Merle Yoder

Percy Yoder

"Our assignment was to canvas the town of Palmyra, MO, to find out the church affiliation of the residents, and to invite persons to revival meetings in a nearby Mennonite church. We sang at those services as a male quartet.

We also spent four weeks at Philadelphia, MO, helping at a small Mennonite church by the name of Pea Ridge. We built a fence around the church and painted the interior of the church. As a quartet we sang a lot in homes for the sick, in church services, etc. This was a memorable time and a time of spiritual growth for each one of us, being one thousand miles away from home for the first time. These small Mennonite churches showed great hospitality and kindness to us, and we have retained close friendships over the years. Best of all, in an indirect way, this experience provided me with the privilege of learning to know Lois M. Hershey, who became my bride in 1950."

Rita Yoder

Cristin Zook

J. Irvin and Karen Zook

Joann Zook

The operating room was run by myself and two local CPN's, a Korean surgeon, and a nurse anesthetist. We were also involved in Girls' Club programs and the pig and heifer projects for MCC. I had the unique experience of joining one of my friends from the operating room, Maudie, singing in a ladies quartet. We sang in local churches and at wakes, etc. My Kentucky "twang" seemed to pass their ears!

I met so many friendly people, and enjoyed lots of good Southern cooking!! I've never had chicken and dumplings, hush puppies, catfish and biscuits that compare since.

I had one experience that I will never forget, among many others. Being the farm girl that I am, one of the local farmers called me one evening. His family milk cow had fallen on the rocks and cut her udder. I recruited one of my friends, borrowed some instruments and sutures from the hospital, and headed up the hollow. We repaired the damage by lantern light. After a follow up visit to remove the stitches, the owner declared the cow back to normal! I was most famous up the hollow because I knew how to put a cow "out of gear!"

I met many friends that are still a part of my life today, in memories and by phone. I appreciate the work ethics and faith of my Christian heritage. I lived in a different world in the hollows. I learned about a culture I never knew and understood before. I especially learned to appreciate the wonderful gift of acapella singing we have at Locust Grove. What a special worship experience we have to enjoy!"

Norma Zook

I learned that God's church is made up of many peoples, not just those of German/Swiss ancestry. Also, we experienced God's protection. As part of our week in Immokalee, we mowed and cleaned up yards. In one yard the grass was knee deep, and lots of trimming and trash to be hauled away. Mowing, moving, and trimming most of a day and never needing to do more than swat mosquitoes til near the end of the afternoon doing some final trimming and finding a coral snake coiled by a rock."

Tom Zook

"Service at the hospital taught me caring skills in more than just lower nursing care. I learned to care for people at a time when they were sick or hurt or dying and when they needed help. This was also a time when I became very aware of my choice as a C.O. Fighting in Vietnam was fierce. I knew some who were there, and people I worked with had friends and family there. Though I didn't question my choice, dealing with the difference of their call and mine was hard. I now have a strong base to know that God gave us Jesus so we can have peace and freedom, forgiveness and love, and He uses everyone to accomplish His purpose and plans. My experience with Mennonite Disaster Service building a house in South Carolina gave me another opportunity to help someone in need and make a difference."