This Friday, I returned from a week-long disaster relief trip to Houston, Texas, to help out in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. According to The Balance website, Harvey was a category 4 storm that hit Texas on August 25, 2017, causing an estimated $180 billion in damages. Regarding US natural disasters, this is the second-highest cost after Hurricane Katrina.
Harvey struck land three times in six days. At its peak, one-third of Houston was underwater. Most damage was caused by rainfall, which rose up to 30 inches, damaging over 100,000 homes and destroying many as well. The storm affected 13 million people in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky.
With these staggering statistics, it’s hard to fathom how an individual or small team can be effective, but I believe that every effort helps. I found out about this trip from an Adventures in Missions email to alumni from The World Race mission trip that I went on in 2016. When raising support for The World Race, many people brought up the idea of local missions, and I wanted to ensure that I serve both nationally and internationally.
I arrived on Sunday afternoon and met the team of around 30 people, which included 4 leaders. The majority of the team was comprised of a church in Marshall, Michigan, called Family Bible Church. The rest was made up of individuals from Illinois, Iowa, California, Alabama, and Texas. We ate dinner, got to know each other, did a team-building activity, and learned about the logistics of the week.
We partnered with two churches to work on the project: Stonebridge Church provided facilities for us to stay in and Lakewood Church provided tools and supplies for us to work with. Each day, we woke up around 7am, ate breakfast, loaded up the van, drove for an hour or two (Houston is large!), and arrived at our work site. Then, we worked all day, ate a bagged lunch, drove home, and ate dinner. Our night ended with a Debrief session where we met as a group and shared highs and lows, God moments, and takeaways.
Our group was split into two teams to work on two separate houses in different areas during the “rebuild” phase. One team worked at a house of a woman named Liz, sanding and mudding. My team worked at a house of a man named Basil, insulating and hanging drywall. We also worked on cleaning edges and scrubbing mold off of the wooden boards. The teams before us had worked on the “muck out” process where they cleared houses of ruined items, mold, termites and bees.
One day, we were split into three teams and my team went to another house of a man named Michael to paint all the rooms of the main floor. We prayed over the homeowners and their families and listened to their stories. They shared their grief in losing so much but also their strength and optimism in moving forward. Their joy was infectious as they worked alongside us. During the car rides, people told their testimonies, which was a powerful experience.
On this trip, it was the first time that I ate kolaches, ate at Whataburger fast food restaurant, heard the word “brisket”, and attended a televangelist service live. I also learned that Texans really like BBQ on everything.
It was a full, amazing week. I’m so thankful for the opportunity to serve, meet people, and grow in God. Thank you for all your support as I continue to pursue missions nationally and internationally. Please keep Texas in your prayers as they recover from the hurricane and the recent school shooting.
Adventures in Missions is launching more volunteer trips to Houston and I definitely recommend that you go. Check out the details here! If you have any questions, let me know and we can chat! Thanks again!
