Arkansas students lend a hand

The New Day Fellowship church in Haugen that serves the area from St. Regis to the Idaho state line had some welcomed help last week. A group of 18, 13 youth and five sponsors, traveled two days on a bus from Springdale, Arkansas, to provide assistance and encouragement for New Day Fellowship, which was launched back in August under the leadership of Dr. Alan Damron and his wife, Sarah. The group, which came from the New Hope Fellowship church, came to help out with tasks around the church in Haugen as part of their summer mission trip.

Shane Harris, who traveled with the group, said that the youth had a great time helping out in the community. The kids, some of which have been as far as Guatemala, helping in orphanages, and the Amazon, arrived late on Friday, June 11, and left early on June 17.

"We shoveled dirt, cut down trees and cleaned up the land around the church," Harris said. "They did a lot of work. They worked their tails off."

The group worked from early in the morning to late afternoon around the church Monday through Wednesday. Damron said that the work also included spreading clay dirt on the parking lot, mowing, weed eating, splitting and stacking wood and clearing trees in preparation for an outside prayer garden.

Not only did they do tons of work, but some of the youth were also involved with Go Prays, a worship band with drummers, lead guitar and bass guitar, and they helped with services on Sunday and put on two concerts: one on Sunday night and one on at the Old Deborgia Schoolhouse, where they also held an ice cream social. The youth also assisted in going door-to-door to let people know about the church and what they are about. Some of the girls also started work on the new clothes closet for the New Day Resource Center by checking condition of clothing and sizing them for display

"We wanted to help," Harris said. "Alan needed some help telling others about the church and doing work around the area. He (Alan) didn't have to take anything out of his budget. Out church wanted to help get things started. We wanted to show the community that what we were doing in helping is what Alan wants to be able to do in the community. That's sort of his vision for the church."

Damron said that the trip couldn't have worked out any better. He said that for the trip to Montana being the first for the group, they were quickly on the same page with everyone and committed to meeting the needs in the area.

"The kids were gracious and hard working and they loved the people up here," Damron said. "It was a great week. I've been in charge of the leadership at all kinds of thing and this one ranks up there at the top."

Harris said that overall it was a great experience for the kids to see how different life is regionally and said that they learned a lot about the area. He also said that they had a wonderful time while they were in the area.

"They saw how people live up here and how nice the people are," Harris said. "And they got to see the country side, which is just amazing. It was a great time.

Damron said that the one thing about the kids that came up is that they are hard workers and the bottom line for them is that they are involved in a working mission project.

One of the founding members of New Day Fellowship, Vern Herman, was beyond excited over the excitement and willingness of these teens to come all this way to help us. He said that he has had a vision for what he would like to see down at the church and the youth helped to bring a start to that vision.

"(Those) kids have restored my faith in teenagers today," he said. "I just can't believe how wonderful this group is. You are helping us show that New Day Fellowship desires to be a church of action."

Damron said that one of the things that was really neat was how community members, after seeing how dedicated and how hard the kids were willing to work, jumped right in.

"We had several different guys jump in and offered different things to help," Damron said. "And we want the community to see that we're not just a little building up here; at the heart is this community from St. Regis to the Idaho line."

Damron and his wife said they wanted to express their sincere thanks and gratitude to the following men in the community that stepped in to help supervise, lead work teams or gave other assistance. They were P. J. Jennings, John Carpenter, Pat Kellen, Vern Herman, Bill Shope, Mike Wright, Ozzie Oswald and Chris Nickless, as "everything was accomplished by many working together for the good of and investment in the community."

Damron said that a second mission team will be visiting from Southwood Baptist Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma and will be in the area from July 13 through July 15.