Saturday, June 6, 2009

Helping.

There have been many thoughts in my mind this past week.

I've been examining the concept of "home"... what does it mean? Where does it exist?
I've also been thinking about the idea of "family"... what does it mean? Where does it exist?

It's been an interesting week.

It was the first week of having groups here to start the rebuilding process. We had four different groups and we were worried that it might be difficult to be a community within those four groups. However, we discovered quickly that we had four super awesome groups this week and the idea of being "one body" was not difficult to accomplish.

Me, and my work partner, Joel, were on the worksite this week and the other two interns working here, Rindi and Will, were in hospitality. On the worksite I was mainly working inside the air-conditioned church helping to put up endless amounts of drywall. At the beginning of the week I knew NOTHING about putting up drywall... but now that this week is over I feel like I know enough to where I could even teach someone else if needed. That's a pretty cool thing... something to certainly be proud of.

We also heard stories this week of people who attend the church, walking in for a bible study on Wednesday and almost becoming moved to tears to see the work we had done inside this week. Their church finally has some walls outside their sanctuary and they voiced that they felt extremely blessed.

It is obvious to me that many people in Galveston are finding new hope from us being here. We've had several people just walking by the church stop and say "thank you"... we've had people watch us from their porches as we load stuff in and start working on a house nearby... and we've had those we're directly assisting be speechless when attempting to express their graditude.

In my mind, if nothing else, we're not only rebuilding churches and homes... but giving people a fresh sense of hope. Hope that the younger generations of this world have not forgotten what it means to serve others. Hope that folks from all over the world have not forgotten about them and the tragic reality they face within rebuilding their homes. Hope that someday their homes will be in good enough shape so they can fully return to living a "normal" life.

That's a beautiful thing.

Also wonderful this week is the amount of compliments I have received... especially from the groups that came. I sometimes forget that I have been called. In the midst of all the craziness this week... the frustrations and the hurt feelings... God still called me to this place. To hear the thank yous and the "I really appreciated when you did ______" was so encouraging and gave me just the right boost to know that I was on the right track.

I hope that those feelings and reminders continue for the rest of the summer... I think I need them.

Oh, and today Robin treated Rindi and I to pedicures. Oh em gee. So good.

I think that's about it for now, though. Talk to you all later!

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