Laborers For Christ work at COSLHS

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[It takes a lot of help and willpower to build a classroom building for students, and that is what Christ Our Savior Lutheran High School has gotten from the Laborers For Christ organization.

Laborers for Christ are Christian men and women who do physical labor for Christ, working for congregations and other church-related organizations of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod to build churches, schools, parish halls, retirement homes, camp facilities and more.

Laborers For Christ has been working the whole summer to make a new school building for students at COSLHS.

The Laborers For Christ come from all over the country to work on different projects and this one is no different. At the site of COSLHS there are people working from Florida, Louisiana and even California.

"I try to bring the cajun culture with me wherever I go," said Joanie Schendel, wife of Jeff Schendel, both of whom are from southwest Louisiana. "I try to cook a cajun meal at the site."

This is Jeff's 11th project he has worked. Joanie said that ever since Laborers For Christ did a project at their home church in 1989 that Jeff has said this is what he wanted to do after retirement.

Tom and Margie Weiss were born and raised in Michigan, but are currently without a home as they will be moving to Florida.

"I've always enjoyed building things," said Tom. "I wanted to find a way to travel and do what I love to do."

This is the Weiss' second project as they helped build a church in Indiana last year.

Marvin and Brenda Stripling hail all the way from California to be able to take part in the project. One of the reasons that they joined the organization was because Laborers For Christ built their sanctuary in the late '90s and they decided that they wanted to be a part of it.

"Being able to help Lutheran congregations, making new friends, and getting to travel," Brenda said about why she enjoys working on the different projects.

Dale Mellendorf, the project coordinator, and Irma Mellendorf have been in Laborers For Christ for about twenty years and have worked on about twenty-six different projects.

"It's moved along really fast," Irma said about the COSLHS project. "We get to meet so many neat people."

Carrie Skelton, wife of Charles, said that some of the best parts of working on the different projects is getting to make new friends. She also said that there are a lot of people that they still keep in touch with.

"We just wanted to help congregations build their churches and schools," said Norma Hesterberg, wife of Bob Hesterberg, from Gifford, Illinois. "It's good Christian fellowship."

There is no need to have a construction background to be a part of Laborers For Christ, and volunteers are always welcome. They still can use volunteers throughout the rest of the summer at COSLHS.

The laborers said that they pretty much become a part of the congregations and areas that they work with and are encouraged to interact with them. Most of them greatly enjoy the opportunity to meet new people and to travel across the country.

"We are able to give back to the Lord a small portion of what he has given us," said Joanie Schendel.