Long time no post!! Whoops, sorry about that! A lot has happened in the last few weeks, including traveling to both North Carolina for Domestic Ministry and flying to Colombia! But before I get to our international travels, I would love to fill you all in on what work we did up north!
Both gap year squads, so about 90 of us including our leaders, took vans up to Black Mountain, North Carolina to help with disaster relief. A little over a year ago, Hurricane Helene hit this area pretty bad. Homes were flooded and caked with mud, with many homeowners lost everything they had. Adventures in Missions has a base there called ‘Adventures Relief’ and we served with their volunteers and staff restoring many homes throughout the week!
Some tasks my team tackled included…
- Spray foaming cracks in the floors
- Pouring cement
- Demolishing a kitchen
- Installing insulation in walls, ceilings, and crawl spaces
- Helping at a food pantry
The house I spent the most time at was pretty destroyed, the only thing in the house were studs. The homeowners story is really amazing. He is an older man and was still in his home when Helene came. The water was really high in his home and managed to get on top of his kitchen table to escape the danger. After the water levels went down to his ankles, he got off the table, but had a heart attack and fell face first in the water and mud. He stayed like that for 2 days until his son found him, alive. His pacemaker kept him alive even when he was suffocated in the water and mud layer. He is currently living with his sister while his home is still being restored. Please continue to pray for him, his family, and his health! His story is a great representation of God’s protection over us.
Besides the ministry work, we had worship, testimony time, campus clean up, free time, and times off base too! The first day was our sabbath! We attended church and then went into town and explored! Was a great time to bond as a team. We saw a black bear on the side of the road after that which was super fun! Later in the week, we had an opportunity to go to a college campus and have some fellowship time! That whole week, we’ve all felt pretty spoiled! We went from sleeping in tents and using porta-potties to sleeping on actual mattresses and having a bathroom trailer with plumbing (and unit showers too!!).
Overall, domestic was a really great experience and was really nice to get our toes dipped into some ministry! We loved getting to know the Adventures Relief staff, they are all such hard workers and are so devoted to Christ. We had a really fun ride back to Gainesville… I made a pretzel chain!
Anyways, thank you guys so much for reading! So much has happened in the last few weeks and I cannot wait to share more about my experiences this far on the race!
Miss you all!
Ellie
Leave a Reply