Thank you for praying
Charma...@aol.com
I am back from Galveston. Thank you for your prayers for me while I was there. I am so thankful that the Lord allowed me to go and serve in this way. The people whose homes we worked on were so full of gratitude. Most did not have flood insurance, and so to be given free labor was a great blessing to them.
Although the devastation done by Hurricane Ike was not as extensive as that of Katrina, nonetheless there is so much work yet to be done. Many businesses are still yet unopened. Looking from the outside of many of the homes and buildings, one cannot tell that there is anything wrong with them because the damage is on the inside. The surge brought flood water into them of as much as 2 to 6 ft.
Now 5 months after Ike, there are still homes that have not yet been gutted. Some of us from my team were assigned to one such home. It reminded me of the way my home looked when I first bought it because this owner was a pack rat much like the previous owners of mine were. The smell was different though, instead of smoke, was foul smelling brackish sea water.
I also helped with painting the interior of two other homes, while the men on my team worked on drywall at another location.
All the people whose homes we worked on were already believers. However among the other teams that stayed at the Galveston Bible Church where we were staying was a group of young people from Manhattan College who were all Catholics. This was very unusual. They found out about EFCA Crisis Response through the Internet. God gave us opportunity to witness and share our testimonies with them -one and one, and also during the morning devotion time. They were extremely receptive and actually they were the ones who first approached us with questions concerning our beliefs. The conversations about the Lord and the Bible that I personally had with some of them were very rewarding. Wonderful seeds were planted. Many of them testified that this trip was a life changing experience for them.
It never ceases to amaze me the lessons and experiences that God gives me each time I go on these outreaches. While I go with the intention to bless others, I myself always return being blessed instead.
Looking forward to praying with you tomorrow night.
Charmaine
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