North Dakota youth on "Mystery Mission" in Poplar Bluff

Chase Breitbach wiped the sweat off his brow with a smile Tuesday morning while tending the mulch on the grounds of the Margaret Harwell Art Museum in Poplar Bluff.

“Our weather is not this humid and it is super hot today, but we are blessed to be here,” said the-Dickinson, North Dakota youth leader.

Breitbach is heading a group of 40 youth from St. John Lutheran Church in North Dakota who are in Poplar Bluff this week on a “Mystery Mission” of service to the community. These missions are part of St. John’s outreach ministry and are valuable, teachable lessons for all involved, he adds.

MHAM board member, Carol Davis, at left, and a youth volunteer from North Dakota work hard in the Missouri humidity clearing brush recently on the museum grounds.DAR/Amber Hornbeck

The group has a random destination chosen each year by church leaders with the location kept secret from the group until they arrive, says Breitbach. Last year’s surprise mission landed the youth in Puerto Rico. This year’s group drove into Poplar Bluff on Sunday and will complete their mission here today.

According to Breitbach, the youth spent time this week volunteering at the museum, Haven House and other areas within the Poplar Bluff community doing “whatever needs to be done.”

MHAM Director Steve Whitworth was among those on hand at the museum Tuesday morning clearing brush and trimming weeds.

MHAM Director, Steve Whitworth, worked alongside youth and other volunteers on a hot July day tending to the grounds of the museum.DAR/Amber Hornbeck

“Man, this humidity is something else, but these kids are great,” he exclaimed.

Whitworth says his church, First United Methodist Church in Poplar Bluff, hosted the group during their week-long stay and were thrilled to do so.

Breitbach summed up the group’s work week saying, “we’ve enjoyed our time in Poplar Bluff, it is a beautiful community to be in.”

Chase Breitbach, of the St. John Lutheran Church in Dickinson, North Dakota, brought a group of 40 youth volunteers to Poplar Bluff as part of their yearly "Mystery Mission". The group spent the last week of July volunteering where needed in and around the Poplar Bluff community. The First United Methodist Church in Poplar Bluff hosted the youth during their stay.DAR/Amber Hornbeck