2005
Transition/Search
Schedule
of Services
The
Eagle
Saturday Evening, August 6, 2005
Dear Friends,
I left Connecticut yesterday with the luggage at
about 12.30pm and arrived in Beckley, West Virginia at 11.00pm. I found
a decent room and slept until 7.30 and arose feeling reasonably
refreshed. Breakfast...and then on to Welch. I cannot adequately
describe the raw beauty of the hollows and hills of this part of the
world. Welch is only about 30 miles as the crow flies from Beckley,
but, by road, it's about 65 miles. They are, however, beautiful miles
in great part, though terribly marred where the hand of man has touched
them. These hollows were carved by rivers that once were pristine and
now, with raw sewage dumped into them and the offal of two centuries of
coal mining, are gray, opaque, and sort of slimy looking. Yet, as I
drove along, I saw people fishing in them, and I have been told by the
locals, that there are very large trout in to be caught. Astonishing!
The hills rise up precipitously and are richly forested. Wild turkeys
wander all around and deer are everywhere. Yet, in the midst of this,
great raw gouges are taken out of the hillsides by the mining
companies. Utterly devoid of any life, they confront me as I drive
along...and, yet, I have been told that, left alone, nature heals them
in but two decades. Again, astonishing!
I arrived in Welch on time, and Don Lester (the coordinator of the Highland Education Project...the organization under the auspices of which this trip is made) and Hilda Kennedy (the priest of the local Episcopal congregation here and the head of the Highland Education Project) met me. We went right back to Beckley to pick up the vans which will be used to transport the kids when they arrive and then, after a pleasant lunch, returned to Welch.
I was able, with far more ease than two years ago,
to get the luggage up to the Parish Hall at Saint Luke's (Hilda
Kennedy's Parish and home, since its beginning some 30 years ago, of
the Highland Project). Some of you may recall that, two years ago, we
sent all our food, paint, luggage, etc. down with me in the van. There
are 62 steps up from the street to the Parish House (as I noted, this
is a land of hills and hollows). I wasn't sure I would still be alive
when the kids and their chaperones arrived. I was, but it was touch and
go. This time, only having luggage was a great boon...plus which, it
was only about 85 degrees instead of 102.
I found the Parish Hall in immaculate condition...a
pleasant change from our last visit when I needed to spend hours just
getting things in decent order for the kids arrival. It has also had a
number of air conditioners added and is wonderfully comfortable even in
the incessant humidity of Southern West Virginia. It has been spruced
up with all sorts of new mattresses, linens, paint, etc. It is
sparten...but most comfortable.
Off to the market and back with tons of food. It,
too, got up the steps without incident and was summarily put away. For
your information (and at the kids suggestion), we will be eating pasta,
salad, and fruit tomorrow evening when they arrive and then moving on
to dinners of tacos; hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill; and
barbecued chicken on Thursday. Lunches are sandwiches at the work
site...cold cuts, cheese, tuna, and pb&j. Breakfast is bagels,
cereal, eggs, waffles, etc. There is also an simply astounding supply
of chips, salsa, granola bars, soda pop, bottled water, fruit juice,
etc. No one will starve!
As I look at my watch, I realize that you will each
be leaving for church parking lots to send your children on their way
in only 7 or 8 hours. We will take good care of them, and, if the last
Mission Trips are any indication of what we might expect on this one,
they will be wonderful...and, hopefully, will return to you with a
broader vision of the world in which they live and a deeper
understanding of their baptismal promises...especially that one about
"respecting the dignity of every human being."
I hold them in my prayers as they travel. Please
hold all of us in yours.
Faithfully,
Bob
Welch
Typical Topography
The 66 Steps
They food made it up! No one staved.