JAARS Volunteers Speak

Petite Mabel Hutchison wasn’t so sure she wanted to come to JAARS. In the early 1970s her daughter Barbara, then a Wycliffe member, had said, “Mom, once you retire, you might like to volunteer at JAARS.”

Twenty years later, Mabel set out for a morning prayer meeting at her church. She ended up being the only one who came, so she found herself alone with God. As she was praying, He brought her daughter’s suggestion back to her “as if Barbara were standing right there talking to me again.”

Mabel had spent her married life in Florida. Some time after the death of her husband, she fell ill and moved to Indiana to be near caring family. She settled there and was content. Now when she heard from God about JAARS, she said, “Oh Lord, you’re not going to take me to a new place again where I don’t know anyone, are you? You led me out of my comfort zone in Florida to Indiana, and now you want me to move again?”

Mabel couldn&rsdquo;t shake the vision and in February 1993 she asked Barbara to contact JAARS. In no time, a volunteer application arrived in the mail and she filled it out. Mabel planned to go in April and volunteer for only a month. &lrdquo;I’ll see if they like me and if I like them,” she said smiling.

But an urgent need to hostess Penn Lodge—ten apartments for visitors—came up in March. She agreed to come and arrived on a rainy Saturday with her son-in-law Malcolm at the wheel. “Well, you know things don’t always look as good in the rain…,” Mabel says.

With one day’s training, she took over the lodge for a week and did well. Next, she worked as a cashier in the dining hall. That was not enough to fill her day, so she asked for more work and accepted a receptionist position in the aviation hangar. It involved answering the telephone, taking messages, paging pilots and mechanics, photocopying and some computer work.

When her month was up, Mabel said no way did she want to leave and return to Indiana. She called her children and said, “Bring down the rest of my clothes!” They were happy to see Mom settle at JAARS.

Mabel’s beloved younger brother, however, had his doubts. As a Christian, he wanted to be sure she had not gotten mixed up with one of those brain-washing cults. So he made a special trip from Florida to check things out. He witnessed the family of missionary pilots, mechanics and their families who lovingly took good care of his sister. Now, many visits later, he says, “JAARS is a great place for my sister!”

In May 2004, working three full days a week, Mabel turned 80 years old. “Her guys” in the hangar celebrated with a birthday bash for their loving “Mom of the Hangar.”

Mabel says, “I told myself I would stay here until I was eighty, at least.” When asked about her future plans, she says, “Well, I’m still planning on staying here!” Mabel admits that her family, including five grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren, all in Indiana, are longing for Grandma to come back home. And they do see her two weeks every summer and again at Christmas.

But when Mabel thinks of leaving JAARS, she says, “Well, not just yet.”

Have you had doubts about coming to volunteer at JAARS or another ministry? Why not give it a try? You might love it and not want to leave!