When Heather Shelpman signed on for a mission trip with her home church near Silver Lake, Ind., she did not anticipate painting municipal curbs and parking spaces.

But after two days of brightening the fading yellow stripes along Mt. Pleasant's Main Street, she was feeling a measure of accomplishment.

"It's a little harder than what I expected," Shelpman, 17, said Tuesday. "But it's fun. It's a good way to serve people. You get to see what you have achieved, instead of just raising money."

"It's a good way to serve God through our actions," said Grey Harris, 17, one of four Indiana youths participating in the week-long mission.

The two are among about 60 young people and adults from Indiana, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania who are helping to spruce up the borough. Members of several congregations of the Church of God, they also have cleared brush from borough parks and planned to replace portions of a damaged walking path at Frick Park.

Temporary home base for the volunteers is the Mt. Pleasant Church of God, where they return each evening to share dinner and a program.

Accompanied by an adult leader, they hit the streets each morning with a list of projects, said church pastor Ben Tobias.

The Church of God General Conference held its last national youth convention last year.

"We are changing the philosophy from a get-together to sending the kids out into communities," Tobias said.

Lance Finley, conference director of youth and family ministries, and Mike Bobula, Tobias' former associate pastor, had worked together on mission projects. Bobula suggested Mt. Pleasant as a pilot community for a youth service project.

Finley partnered with Mission Encounter, a Christian nonprofit that helps connect volunteers with host communities. He anticipates future projects in Toledo and Muncie, Ind.

Tobias hopes his church's youth group, which is participating in the project, will remain involved in local community service.

At the borough's Willows Park, volunteers from Plainfield in Cumberland County and Landisville in Lancaster County tackled an overgrowth of trees and tangled roots and vines. Armed with lawn mowers, chainsaws and weed whackers, they dragged downed limbs toward a brush pile, keeping an eye out for poison oak, thorns and bugs.

One group of volunteers appeared to play tug of war with a tree limb, with several tumbling to the ground and laughing as they yanked it free.

"This is definitely a work camp," said Sammi Burke, 16, of Plainfield.

"We're the machete crew here," said Mitchell Boring, 17, of Landisville. "We're chopping down tangled roots so the chainsaw guys can get to the trees."

"It's not what I expected," said Kirsten Fenton, 18, of Plainfield. "I thought there would be more interaction with people. But now people are stopping by to see what we are up to."

"I wanted to try something new," she said of her first mission trip. "My college is big into mission trips, and I wanted to get my feet wet."

Mayor Gerald Lucia said the borough provided materials and equipment in return for the free labor.

"I would estimate they are doing two months of work in five days, because of the large number they have," Lucia said.

"It's amazing," he said. "On Monday, when I saw what they accomplished, how fast they accomplished it, it took my breath away."

Borough manager Jeff Landy and Councilman Larry Tate drew up a list of projects.

"We asked what they were physically able to do and looked at what projects we had put off," Landy said. "These kids have taken their vacation time to do this. It helps us catch up on things we haven't been able to do. It's a blessing that they picked Mt. Pleasant. We are fortunate. There is plenty of work."

With three borough workers and two Private Industry Council summer staffers, resources are stretched thin, Lucia said. The volunteer efforts enable borough workers time to tackle other projects.

"We all talk about kids that give you a little trouble," Lucia said. "We never hear about Christian acts like these kids are doing. It's an overwhelmingly great thing."

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