Submitted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
More than 100 volunteers from two different denominations stood shoulder to shoulder to plant multiple gardens at a recent service project at the Kissimmee First Church of the Nazarene’s property.
With shovels, rakes, and goodwill, teenagers from Osceola County congregations of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and their families worked under the direction of congregants of the First Church of the Nazarene to establish fruit trees, a pollinator garden, vegetable beds, and landscaping for a prayer garden.
To see her sketches of garden plots become a reality in just three hours moved Lauryl Edmonds, the project’s visionary, to tears.
“This is more than I could imagine. I could never thank anybody enough. God is here, this is God working,” Edmonds said.
Edmonds, a lifelong congregant of First Church of the Nazarene with a background in plant science and agriculture, came to Pastor Eric Skelton with the idea of transforming the church’s grounds three years ago.
“The church began to get excited about it. We started to go to work,” Skelton said. “But it was too much for just a small group. We were almost ready to throw it away.”
And then Brittany Pratt, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, reached out to ask if members from her congregations could come and help. Pratt had been tasked with finding a volunteer opportunity to celebrate Global Youth Service Day for Latter-day Saint teenagers in the area. In a seemingly perfect match of needs and resources, the churches worked together to organize the project. Community businesses pitched in and donated plants, gift cards, and breakfast for the volunteers. And it all came together as a beautiful, resounding success.
Pratt says that this is just a way to thank the First Church of the Nazarene for all the good they do in the community.
“The Church of the Nazarene has just really paid it forward, and we wanted to pay it forward to them,” Pratt said.
Adam Zern, an ecclesiastical leader for Latter-day Saint congregations in Osceola County, is grateful to be able to partner with other churches.
“I think the power of that common faith can bring us together to respond to needs that exist in the community,” Zern said.
