Stories

John Driedger and Marvin Hagenmaier

Short-term mission offers SOOP for the soul

Picture this: Three men, of an age indicating wisdom. One, in a hot pink shirt and dark glasses, is driving a three-wheeled cart.

A golfing trio enjoying a Sunday morning on the greens in Glendale, Ariz.?

Not quite. In fact, Arthur and John Driedger were accompanying Marvin Hagenmaier up the aisle of Trinity Mennonite Church for his baptism. Well into his ninth decade, Hagenmaier made a decision for Christ because his life seemed without purpose.

"I needed something," Hagenmaier said. "I wasn't going anywhere the way it was."

Hagenmaier moved to Phoenix from Kansas in 1935 to escape the ice and snow of winter that made it difficult for him to get around with his polio-injured legs. He attended Lamson Business College for two years before serving with the U.S. Engineers Office for the Civil Service through all of World War II. Later, he acquired a wholesale produce license and supplied the stores of all the Phoenix area until his retirement.

Arthur and John Driedger were participating in a short-term mission program, SOOP (Service Opportunities for Older People), when they first met Hagenmaier. SOOP is jointly sponsored and administered by Mennonite Association of Retired Persons, Mennonite Central Committee Canada and Mennonite Mission Network.

As part of their SOOP assignment, the Driedger brothers volunteered at Glencroft Friendship Retirement Corp., a senior community in Glendale. Phyllis Harsh, Glencroft chaplain, suggested names of residents who would appreciate a visit from the Driedgers. Hagenmaier was on the list.

"Marvin's past religious experiences stood in the way of a personal relationship with Jesus," Harsh said. "He wanted to love the Lord, but he didn't know how. Once Marvin prayed the sinners' prayer, he wanted to know more about God and the Bible. The Mennonite gentlemen came at just the right time. They were Marvin's mentors."

"[When we were introduced,] Marvin was all smiles," said John Driedger. "You could tell he was excited about something. He had received the Lord a month or two before we met him and wanted to be baptized."

During the three weeks of their SOOP assignment, the brothers and their wives attended Trinity Mennonite Church. When the Driedgers presented Hagenmaier's request to Stan Shantz, one of Trinity's pastors, Shantz gave a crash course on the meaning of baptism. Hagenmaier's baptism took place on the Driedgers' last Sunday in Glendale, enabling Arthur and John to assist in the sign of God's work.

"I was worried about how much water they would pour on me," Hagenmaier said. "But it was just a sprinkle so I didn't get too wet. I was a very happy person that day."

Hagenmaier said that he wanted to be baptized in a Mennonite church because he liked the Mennonites he met. His Glencroft roommate, Paul Hershberger, is a Mennonite. "I like Mr. Hershberger," Hagenmaier said. "[The Driedgers] were so nice, too. I figured a church with such good people must be a good church."

The Driedgers - Arthur and Kathleen, of Winnipeg (Manitoba), and John and Shirley, of Listowel (Ontario) - are part of a growing trend. Over the past decade, the number of SOOP participants has increased exponentially. From five participants in 1991, the program expanded to 185 in 2001.

SOOP permits seasoned adults to spice up the lives of others through cooking, teaching, childcare, maintenance, office work, administration and gardening in locations throughout Canada and the United States.

Serving in Glendale was the second SOOP assignment for Arthur and Kathleen, whose lives have focused on mission through Mennonite Central Committee. They have worked in Latin America and out of the Winnipeg MCC office. Art also led many short-term disaster-response teams. Two memorable trips were to Managua, Nicaragua, in the aftermath of the earthquake and to Honduras devastated by Hurricane Fifi.

The Glendale SOOP experience was a first for John and Shirley, although John built houses in Austria after World War II in the MCC Pax program, and has helped Mennonite Disaster Service with clean-up after floods in Kentucky and tornadoes in Ontario.

John appreciated the SOOP program because it provided a lot of interaction with local people, as six SOOP couples helped with two food banks and a nongovernmental organization, Love in Action.

Some days were spent in an assembly line packing donated food into cartons. They repaired furniture and sorted clothes on other days. Arthur, who speaks Spanish, was able to provide counseling services.

According to Shantz, Trinity Mennonite Church sees SOOP and other short-term ministries as an important part of the congregation's involvement in the community. The congregation's rootedness in the community interprets the caring acts of those in short-term mission and gives continuity to it.

"We are grateful for the extra hands," Shantz said. "Trinity provides the connection to the community through its long-term presence. Those involved in short-term mission assignments come with big hearts and encourage our own people. It is a reciprocal relationship. As another part of the mutuality, I'd love to send some of our congregation to Winnipeg someday."

Some nights, all the guest rooms and trailers at the Peter and Rheta Mae Wiebe residence are filled to overflowing with short-term volunteers. The Wiebes, who formerly served as pastors and continue as members of Trinity, can accommodate up to five couples. When numbers exceed this, other members offer their homes.

Shantz said that those involved in short-term mission open new doors for ongoing ministries. The friendship that began with the Driedgers and Hagenmaier has expanded to include others in the congregation.

Two of Hagenmaier's weekly visitors from Trinity are a mother and her 3-year-old son, J.T. Hagenmaier, remembering his own produce truck, brightens up when J.T. walks in the door with his toy trucks. The men talk shop while J.T.'s mother waits patiently to begin Bible study.

Another Glencroft resident, Marie Kleinsasser, also reads the Bible with Hagenmaier. Although Hagenmaier is an eager student, Kleinsasser has learned not to try to have Bible studies on days when the Diamondbacks, Hagenmaier's favorite baseball team, are playing.

The symbiotic relationship between SOOP and Trinity Mennonite Church encourages those who serve as well as those who are served.

"I was reminded that there's a mission wherever we go," John Driedger said as he paused from planting tomato seedlings at his Listowel home. John's greenhouses are a mission project. When he sells the tomatoes and peppers, a portion of the proceeds go to charitable projects. John also enjoys visiting with his elderly next-door neighbors.

Whether ministering across the street or beyond national borders, John said, "God is using me. That's what I want."

Lynda Hollinger-Janzen
Mennonite Mission Network