Since last Sunday (April 3, 2011), I have been in Henderson Settlement in Frakes Kentucky, with Pastor Larry, three other adults and 8 students. The settlement is a United Methodist Mission located in one of the poorest parts of the country. Henderson Settlement was established in 1925 by Hiram Frakes, a Methodist pastor who was from Pineville, KY, a nearby city. Through the trial of Bill Henderson, who was accused of murder, he heard about lawlessness, lack of schools for children, moonshine and great poverty in the mountains, Frakes, though he did not believe it was all true, wanted to know more. Henderson was proven innocent in the trial, and weeks later Pastor Frakes decided to take the train up into the mountains, believing that surely it could not be as bad as he had heard during the trial. When he arrived, he met a man named Scott Parton, who took Pastor Frakes up the mountain on a donkey to meet the local people.
Parson Frakes, as he became known, meet many of the people and was shocked at the level of poverty, and that things really were just as bad as he heard they were. Frakes really felt God wanted him to do something to help the local people, but they did not seem very receptive. As Frakes was about to leave, feeling defeated, he stopped at Bill Henderson’s place and it was when Frakes was about to give up that Henderson said he could have all 48 acres of his land, because he would rather have his children go to school and have no land than his land and his children never have an education. That is how Henderson Settlement came to be. It is now a large mission of the United Methodist Church, providing services to the descendants of the earliest coal mining families in Appalachia, and a place for people from around the country to come and serve.
This is a beautiful place and I wish I had even 24 hours here to be alone here with God. I would love every moment of it. As I find a new trial or drive down the mountains, wondering what will be around the next bend, I really miss my someone. Adventures are so much better when you have someone you love to share them with.
The fresh mountain air and the relaxed lifestyle sure looks appealing. This is a mission. A place where missionaries are needed and good people come to lend a hand. Though we did not do a lot of interacting with the local people, by helping to clean things up and improve homes, it gives the local people more to be proud about. As we work, they work. This is a place that needs missionaries. I guess I was surprised to realize that missionaries are needed in the US. We just usually don’t call them missionaries. So it makes me wonder… I do not hear God calling me to move to Kentucky, but I do realize that God could call me to do his work anywhere in the country as well as anywhere in the world.
I spent some awesome time with God the last evening at Henderson, and just sang and praised him outside as everyone was playing cards. I was the only one who still does not know how to play Euchre but I’m sure I had the better end of the deal with being able to be with my Jesus at dusk.
I'm enjoying this Monday off. I did not intend to sleep as long as I did, but it was nice, and filled with many great and some strange dreams. I am now feeling refreshed and ready for a good long week. I do feel that God is up to something great in my life, and I am very excited for what he will do next. I believe it will be great.
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