We've been home two days now. Hopefully everyone's laundry is done. Air
mattress and sleeping bags are stored away. Pictures are popping up on
Facebook. Getting use to being home again and settling into the routine of
work or school. And missing everyone.
It has been an adventure in faith in so many ways. 11 individuals giving
there time and talents because of some call that is hard to express. A need
for community in a larger way than what we know. To give yet to get so much
more than we could have imagined.
What we did was to paint inside a gym, give a family a working toilet that
they could actually flush without having to use a bucket to flush, made it
easier to get in and out of a trailer without falling, fixed a spot for a
washer so that the hose was not blocking the walk way, cleaned up years of
undergrowth and briars which made walking around the trailers near
impossible, painted the roof of a trailer which would lessen the likely hood
of leaks, repaired an outside wall of a home which had started to rot, put
up fascia boards and soffits to keep the animals out and the heat in, took
time to play with children, to help them with there homework, to just be a
friend for a few moments, to sit and talk with people who were homeless to
let them know that someone really cared. We gave snacks and juice drinks to
children who had none, we took part in a worship service that some didn't
know anything about. If we did nothing else all week it was to answer the
call to show God's love through action. I believe we succeeded in that. Yet
while we were trying to minister to others we were definitely ministered to
as well.
There are so many that made this mission a success. First and foremost God
who blessed us so that we could share His blessings with others. To Brother
Marvin McCormick and his wife Kim for opening up there home to us for a
night along with being there and working along aside us and for providing
meals through out the week. To the people of Henryville UMC that opened up
their church and facilities to us in so many ways. They also opened up their
hearts to us and made us feel more welcomed than we sometimes feel in our
home churches. This church truly has the gift of hospitality. A special
thank you to Don Stroud who would come by daily to see if we needed
anything. To Jerry Mosley, service coordinator for CASA, who worked with us
and provided support for us on the jobsites and who gave us the T-shirts. To
the folks back home that wrote the notes to the team members as a way of
encouragement and caring. To the people that donated snacks and money for
the team. A special shout out to Regina Hux for the homemade bread and
candy! To those that kept the team in prayer. To Reverend Rich Meiser who
truly lives his faith by his example in all that he does. To the team
members who worked side by side doing things that we don't do on a regular
basis. It's true that you never really know someone until you go on a
mission with them. I truly have come to appreciate the spirit that lives
within the team that I was blessed to be a part of.
We are home again with our family and friends. Yet we will be forever
touched by those we met in Guntersville, AL. We will wonder how Kathy and
Bill are doing as well as Carla and Jackie. We will pray that the
"neighbors" that we met will find jobs and a place to live. That the
children at the afterschool program will be safe.
It feels odd not writing this late at night. Late at night when all is quiet
and I have time to reflect on the activities of the day. If what I wrote
made you laugh or shed a tear or pause for a second and give thanks or maybe
just maybe it may have stirred that call within you don't thank or blame me
for none of this is my doing but it comes from a higher source. So until the
next time that we feel the tug or hear the cries of the needy and we answer
that call that comes from within us may God's grace and peace be with you
always.
In Christ,
Jeff
Matthew 28:
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus
had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some
doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and
on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
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