Woodward, Okla. —
Every June, missionaries for the Assembly of God Church come home to attend meetings at their home office in Springfield, Mo.
These area directors also bring their families with them. While the parents are in meetings, the children attend camps.
Usually the children go out to help communities that have been hit by natural disasters, according to Donnetta Hunter, outreach pastor for the First Assembly of God in Woodward.
"My friend Chad Phillips, who is from the main office of the Assembly of God in Springfield, Mo., contacted me about the clean up, and we were happy to host their camp this year," Hunter said.
"This past weekend we helped clean up 2 properties for a woman on dialysis and this week we are going to help a family paint their new home they purchased after loosing their home in the tornado," Hunter said.
The 30 or so children will be volunteering in Woodward for about a week.
"Most came to town last Thursday, and we had 8 more show up Sunday, but they all will be headed back to Springfield on Thursday," Hunter said.
While the children are in town they stay with members of the First Assembly of God and eat most of their meals at the church, she said.
According to Philip Day, the kids really enjoy getting to meet new people and helping out in different communities around the world.
"Instead of sitting around being bored we put together these camps so the kids have something to keep them busy while mom and dad are in their meetings in Springfield," Day said.
The children are all U.S. citizens, but reside in foreign countries with their parents who are missionaries for the Assembly of God church, Hunter said.
"We have people from all over the world, such as, Jordan, Ukraine, Congo, Bangladesh, Belgium, Ireland, Turkey, Thailand, Latvia and Venezuela. Most of the kids are between ages 10 and 18, with our leaders being over 18," Hunter said.
According to Hunter, the group helped with the clean up in Joplin, Mo. last year after the devastating tornado on May 22, 2011.
After all their hard work, the students get to enjoy a little down time.
"We don't make them work all the time. In fact, we are planning on going to Alabaster Caverns and having a water ballon fight sometime this week," Hunter said.
Features
Related Photos
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A group of students from the Assembly of God missionary camp gather at the First Assembly of God church in Woodward before they start the day's work. The group comes from all over the world and have spent a week in Woodward helping tornado victims. Photo by Brandi Thomas
Mission kids help with cleanup effort
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