My eyes went back and forth between screens. First the tv, then to my phone. Every chance I had I was checking updates; how high was the water; how many homes had been affected; hadn’t the rain stopped yet? I knew I had to do something. I started googling Houston hurricane relief work. To my surprise I couldn’t find what I was looking for. I then decided to check the Adventures in Missions website in hopes they were offering trips. I typed in the website and waited for the page to load and there it was, the first thing on the page “Join a Hurricane Harvey Relief Trip”. I picked a date and signed up.
About 2 month after Harvey hit my mom and I headed down to Houston, wondering if we were still needed. We pulled up to the house we would be working on and wondered why we were there. The house looked fine, in fact the whole block looked fine. We opened the door and instantly realized why. All of the walls had been ripped down and new ones were going up. The flooring had all been taken up and cold concrete remained. 95% of the furniture was gone. This family had nothing left. We heard their story of how the flood came like a thief in the night, they had to take a boat to the end of the street and were taken to a hotel that they were still living in. They didn’t know what was going to happen. Although they had lost everything, the home owners greeted us with so much joy, so thankful that we came to help.
We worked hard for 4 solid days, pulling vines cutting branches and disposing of the rubbish that had built up in the back yard. By the end the back yard was completely transformed. We had a blast as a team talking, singing and sharing testimony. One day the homeowner came walking around the corner and she was speechless, shocked at the transformation that had taken place in just a few short days. We joined in, in her excitement and took her around the yard showing her what had been done and she shared her stories of growing up and how her backyard reminded her of her mom who had lived in Hawaii before she passed away.
While I thought we went to Houston to work hard and get things done then go home, God showed me we were really there to simply love. To make time for the people around us, to love and support our teammates and to be whoever the homeowner needed us to be for her. If she needed a construction worker, we built things. If she needed a gardener, we pulled weeds. If she needed someone to move a giant turtle for her, we moved the turtle! If she needed someone to sit and listen to her stories, we sat and we listened. It wasn’t about the work we did in or around the house, it was the work God did through us, in each others lives. It was about the love we poured out on this woman who had lost everything.
After getting back from Houston my heart was on fire! I wanted to go back, I needed to go back! There was still so much to be done and if I didn’t go, who would? I started praying and asking God what He had for me. I wanted to do missions! I wanted to be apart of something more. I asked God what He had next for me, to point me in the direction He wanted me to go. Two weeks after being home and praying I received a phone call. A job offer to be exact, for a job that I did not apply to, a job I didn’t even know existed. It was an answer to prayer!
One month and one week after getting that phone call I moved down to Gainesville, Georgia to be the Regional Logistics Representative for North America, at Adventures in Missions. I now play a very important role in the short term missions process. I have the privilege of connecting with ministry host all over the US, Puerto Rico and Cuba. Ministry hosts that are in it every day, rebuilding their communities after Hurricanes have taken everything, feeding the homeless, ministering to kids who have never heard of Jesus and giving ex-prisoners a future and a hope! I get to set up trips like the very one I went on back in October. Trips that are changing lives all over the country.
From one adventure to the next, I am very excited about the journey God is taking me on. All though my role might seem very small in the midst of the big picture, every piece of the puzzle counts. Whether its the mission organization that is willing to host a team; the church that is willing to lodge the teams; the people who sign up to go on the trips; the missions representatives who walk teams through the process of going on a trip; logistics who takes care of the fine details of the trip; or the supporter who believes in the vision and what we are doing. It truly takes each and everyone of these roles to make these trips possible. This is where you come in, it is my responsibility to form a team of ministry partners who will support Adventures with monthly gifts and prayer. Please pray and ask God about how you can be apart of this team, how you can be apart of the bigger picture.
