How do you
even begin to reflect back on such life-changing devastation that has hit and
affected people in your own country.You see, not so long ago I was just your
average Christian in America immune to all the damage that a storm like
Hurricane Sandy could pack.
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| House torn apart from Hurricane Sandy |
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| Unstable house down off the beachfront |
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| Stuffed Tigger in the debris |
Being so far away from the east coast because I live
here in the beautiful Northwest is a blessing and a curse.Here in the
Tri-Cities in eastern Washington we do not experience natural disasters like
earthquakes, monsoons or hurricanes ... it just doesn't happen; and I feel
extremely blessed by God to live here.But ... living here in such a calm
climate can be seen as a curse as well because over time we watch what the
media shows us as to what areas of our country are being affected and by what kind
of natural disaster.Even though many of these hit all over the US, once the
media stops their coverage, I too easily place all that in the back of my mind
because I myself was not affected.Is this resounding with anyone? This
is where the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief comes into play.They are
an organization that seeks to bring the hope we have in Christ to
disheartened and devastated people who have had their lives altered in many
ways due to the crisis they have just been through.Because of this trip that
God orchestrated so beautifully to go and help with a collegiate team from
Resonate church in Pullman and Moscow and funds that were given to our church
association to send me; I will never be the same.
There were
13 of us altogether on this team from the Northwest that would impact many
lives across Staten Island and we all met for the very first time at the
Sea-Tac airport on the day we were flying together.
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| Everyone at the airport at the Enterprise Rental |
At first I
was anxious and a little intimidated because I had never done
anything like this before, so everything was new to me.For those
of you who know me well, it takes a bit of time to get used to a new
adventure.But I should have known better because God knows my heart and if I
would have just taken a second to think about it, my whole life since the age
of 15 has been an adventure and seemingly an uphill, downhill rollercoaster
ever since.
The Lord is my rock,
my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn
of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18:2
Life is
never what it seems, yet for me I have seen and experienced so much in my 26
years.17 years of schooling, various mission trips to shine the light of Christ
and 5 countries later, I have learned that when God is in control of my life
all I have to do is grasp tightly to Him because He will lead me where He wants
me to go.
Then I heard the voice
of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”And I said, “Here
am I. Send me!” Isaiah 6:8
So, here I
am following where God wants me to go and it just happens to be as a leader
driving around 10 crazy but Christ loving college students all over Staten
Island so that we as a Northwest group can make a difference in the hearts and
lives of the homeowners affected by Hurricane Sandy.As I said before this was a
new experience, when we first arrived (after circling the Newark Airport
various times trying to find the exit) we saw the tent city where we would be
staying for the duration of our time together.
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| The tent city |
It was 1:45
in the morning and we were whisked into an orientation where we were told about
the times we would be eating, leaving to mudout houses, showers, sleeping
arrangements and other teams that were already here.We stepped into our tents
with our luggage in tow and I was thinking that I have never been so cold in my
life.*Let the fun times begin ... the small kerosene heater we had in our tent
had gone out already and my teeth were chattering like no one's business.And as
I'm putting my stuff on my cot I had chosen and trying to do this quietly
because there was already a team from Mississippi sleeping ... lo and behold I
here this familiar voice and I see no one else but Rena Register pop her head
up from her cot and try to tell us to bundle up because it's cold.And here she is all bundled up from head to toe in her sleeping
bag with a beanie, gloves and a hoodie with all the blankets on top.I went and
jumped on her cot and gave her a great big hug and was so excited to see her in
Staten Island.I knew then that God had lots of smiles, laughs and joys in store
for my time here; and I knew that I was going to be alright.
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| Hanging out in our "cozy" tent |
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| Being ourselves in front of Meg Dwyer's house |
Later that
morning as we struggled to pull ourselves out of bed after getting only 3 hrs
of sleep, we bundled up and headed to the gym where breakfast was to be
served.I really appreciated the cooking team that was there to greet us with
their warm, delicious food when we were all half asleep.
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| Us with the Cooking team from Florida |
You
know, God does special things through teams that are devoted to Him and I saw
that day in and day out with our group
even though we were sometimes exhausted and frustrated beyond words.God would
still choose to use us in the days that lay ahead.
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| Devotion time before we leave in the morning |
The time
came to go out and find some houses to work on and our team leader, Penny
Jenkins (from Airway Heights Baptist Church) was calling on the work orders we
had and we weren't making contact with anyone.We finally arrived on the site of
one house that needed the yard cleaned out and the inside of the house drained
and we got to work, because literally their house hadn't been touched for 2
months and there was a few feet of water just sitting under the floor that had
been ripped out down to the joists.
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| Sitting water under Janet's house joists |
After talking with
Janet who is the homeowner we found out that this house had been in their
family for 57 years and when Hurricane Sandy hit she wasn’t sure if they were going
to demolish the house or just rebuild.But Praise the Lord, we were there in time
to clean it out for them and help give them a fresh start.
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| Janet and her sister |
Later as we
were still working on the property, Janet’s next door neighbors returned home
and we were by God's grace able to begin our 2nd house which would turn into a
3 day project from start to finish.
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| David and Layla's House before |
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| David and Layla's house after we finished |
David
and Layla are the homeowners and we all felt so honored to be able to finish
their house for them so that a contractor can come in and rebuild.I’m going to
share a little of their story so that you can be as encouraged as I felt.When
we first met them, they were so overwhelmed and didn’t know where they were
going to start in the tearing out and rebuilding process.It was difficult for
me to see their livelihood and stuff just destroyed and strewn all over their
property.You see, Layla is pregnant with their first child and is due in March
and for me I don’t know what I would do in her shoes to be bringing a baby into
a house devastated like that. So we did what we do best, we asked them if we
could pray for them and this huge smile just spread across Layla’s face and she
was excited to pray with us; “whatever that was” (as with many homeowners we
met, they had no idea what it meant to communicate to God through prayer).We all gathered
around and grabbed a hand and prayed with them for God to bless their baby and
give them hope and healing in this very difficult time of crisis.
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| Kyle and Alli (Resonate team leaders), David and Layla, Justin |
On the last
day in working with David and Layla’s house, David told us that he wanted to
give us a cake to thank us for everything we had done for them.We tried to tell
him that we didn’t need anything, but he wouldn’t be persuaded; so we returned
the next day and he gave us 2 cakes for us to share with all the other Disaster
Relief collegiate teams.
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| Cakes from David to the Northwest group |
We were able to finish these first 2 houses and give
them all a Disaster Relief teddy bear and Bible to remind them of us and to
give them the everlasting hope of God's Word.
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| Suz and Meleah presenting the DR bear and Bible to Janet |
This part
for me became one of the more meaningful parts of our time in Staten Island as
a Disaster Relief team.We were given these cute Disaster Relief teddy bears to
give away, the goal was to not leave with the teddy bear you were given and so
we were always on the lookout for opportunities to give them away.As a team we also signed a Bible for each of the
homeowners and gave that to them and prayed with them after we finished their
homes.Each time we finished a house we gave the homeowners lots of hugs, prayed
with them and left them with many great memories of our time together and the
hope that God was holding them in His hands.This is just a fabulous
encouragement for me as a believer that even in the midst of crisis and
struggle, when we don’t know which end is up, that God is there in the midst of
all of it; loving on us and giving us His strength and grace that will help
move us forward.
No, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced
that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor
the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37-39
As I
continued this journey of sacrifice while learning to live in a tent which is
temporary, eating hearty meals because I needed all the energy I could get,
laughing
like crazy at jokes, comments and ultimately the college students I was
with and loving like we had no tomorrow on anybody we came in contact
with; God was being glorified through every moment!And I know He was smiling
down on us, that in the midst of such tremendous devastation and loss we could
find joy in life’s most difficult moments as we learned to live with each other
24 hours a day for the 11 days we were together.Fellowship was sweet as we met
new people almost every day from the many teams that came from all over the US:
Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Florida and Ohio just to name a few.Oh
how God marvels at us as His creation when we live together in unity!
How good and pleasant
it is when God’s people live together in unity! Psalm 133:1
After
taking a well needed mid-week break into Manhattan to see the sites:
Rockafeller center, the 9/11 Memorial, Times Square, Grand Central Station and
Chinatown … we came back refreshed to attack the houses and work hard again to
continue making an impact in Staten Island.
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| Stairwell in Grand Central Station |
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| Christmas tree in Rockafeller Center (Me, Penny (Team Leader), Bill, Justin and Katie photobombing) |
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| Tori and I getting our picture with the Ninja Turtles =) |
We drove to a new house to begin
mucking out debris and tearing out water soaked sheetrock and insulation, this
time we would meet Grace and Lester and their son Gene.We arrived ready to do
whatever they had for us.We were lead downstairs to their basement where
Hurricane Sandy had done it’s damage.Grace shared with us that they had just
finished remodeling their basement to serve as their son Gene’s bachelor pad a
couple months before the storm hit … and like so many stories that we heard,
they lost everything that was down in the basement.It saddened me to hear her further
talk about what it used to look like down there and how beautiful it was and
then ultimately a waste of money because it was all destroyed.It just reminded
me how fleeting this life really is and how we shouldn’t put our hopes and
dreams in stuff.
Why, you do not even
know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears
for a little while and then vanishes. James 4:14
“Do not store up for
yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where
thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and
steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21
We came and
began tearing down the sheetrock and it was so wet that I could stick my hand in
it and pull it off by whole sheets like a piece of paper.The insulation was the
same way, just coming out in large strips.As we continued working on the other
side of the basement we found up in the ceiling beams debris that had floated
in from other houses and from the beach that just lodged up there when the
water receded. It was just so crazy for us to think about someone’s stuff being
in a place where it doesn’t belong.After a bit
Grace was able to come down and help us clean, I can’t even imagine what all
was going through her mind as she was cleaning up what used to be a beautifully
remodeled bachelor pad for her son.I just have no words to describe the loss
that she was feeling.
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| Suz, Meleah, Grace (homeowner), Tori, Katie and I |
The next day as we were finishing her house by power
washing and spraying shockwave to kill all the mold, she grabbed me and a
couple other girls from the team and brought us to her van. She was so thankful
to us for all the work we had done on her house that she gave all of us 2
scarves.A few months ago she had ankle surgery and was laid up for 6 weeks so
she kept herself busy by making scarves.She insisted that we each take 2
because she wanted each of us to have one for ourselves and one to give to
someone else.
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| Grace and Lester (homeowners) with our group (wearing our new scarves from Grace) |
I was just in awe again at how generous
these homeowners were towards us, because we were the ones who had come and
were helping them; but they often had gifts or goodies for us.In Grace’s case
she had juice and cookies the first day and the next day (after going to Dunkin
Donuts ourselves for coffee and snacks) she had 2 dozen donuts and a large
container of hot coffee sitting on her front porch waiting for us when we
returned to finish her house.It just goes to show what giving hearts these
people have.I love this lady!
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| Suz and I presenting the DR bear and Bible to Grace and Lester |
As I close
this post, let me leave you with one last story of a family we helped.On the 6th
which was our last working day before we flew out in the morning, we returned
again to a house that we had checked on a few days before. It was this sweet
Indian lady named Jayshere and her husband.Their friend Jody was there helping
us.They were waiting for the carpet cleaning guy to return to finish a job
he had started and so we told them we would return in a few days. We came back and moved boxes
into the garage and organized them, moved furniture into the living room and
moved a few pieces of wood around the side of the yard.For us as a team it was
really not a big deal, in fact with all 13 of us there we were done in no
time.So we were able to talk with them for a while about why we were there.Jody
shared with us that the carpet guy never returned and ran off with $7,000 of
their money.She was saying that she had to see the good in everything and said
that he might have needed it worse than they did otherwise she would have gone
crazy with the large amount that it was.This loss is unfathomable to me!But
they knew that God was going to work everything out and that we were proof of
the work He began in their lives Then Jayshere insisted that she donate $100 to
us and we told her that we were here doing this for free but couldn’t tell her
no so we let her know that we’d give it to Disaster Relief to buy more supplies
for other teams to come and do more work.
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| All of us with Jayshere and her friend Jody |
God is my
Abba Father and has been all my life but He moved so mightily through my life
on this trip that I need to say that complacency had set in for the last couple
months before I went on this trip.I was just in a state of dullness and
the unknown factor of life had set in about my job and ultimately my future.But
God has this funny way of bringing me back to where I belong, that no matter
how far I wander; I belong to Him.Isn’t that so amazing!We belong to Him and we are His!
For we are God’s
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in
advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10
How can I
ever begin to explain how close we all became during these 12 days together … I feel
like I have known these people all my life.But you know, that’s the way it is
when fellowship is sweet among believers.I left the Tri-Cities not knowing what
the trip was going to hold for me and to be honest I was anxious and
intimidated by the task that lay ahead of me because it was all last minute.With
God that phrase doesn’t exist, He planned for me to travel with this team even
before I was born.
All the days ordained for me were written in
your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:16
After 12
days of meeting so many different college teams and living amongst some pretty
crazy Disaster Relief workers that have hearts that beat to serve the Lord and
ultimately drawing close to the Northwest team from Idaho and Washington, I
left Staten Island feeling more aligned in God’s will than I’ve ever felt.There are no adequate words to express
how much I learned and how much I want to be used in the future to impact the
people around me with the Gospel of Christ!
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| All of us with Bruce, Randy, Susan and Rick (the DR team that was heading everything up) |
