The day two blog for the Celebrate Church team recounts work on a hurricane-damaged home, alongside uplifting devotionals and local adventures. Continue to pray for this team and for the Saunders family as their rebuild continues!
We started the morning with devotionals. Mike Caulkins discussed 1 Kings 18:17-40 with the group and he explained how Elijah was being obedient and faithful to the Lord despite threats from Jezebel. He proved God was greater than Baal through the “altar competition”. We then correlated it to our own lives and how we can be tools to show God’s greatness like Elijah showed God’s greatness through the altar. Then we discussed how tools are only as good as those who wield them and we want to be God’s “go-to” tools. (Many people here have construction background/knowledge and we talked about how they have a favorite hammer or saw. As a cook, we may have a favorite burner or knife in the kitchen. Could even say many of us have favorite pens we use to write with). We then prayed and ate pancakes and sausage for brekky.
We then loaded up into the vans and headed to the Saunders house in Murphy Town. The Saunders family consists of Ms. Nicole and Mr. Larry and their two daughters, Larranique and Larriell. Larriell is in Grade 11 and has been hanging out with us at Camp Abaco and getting experience working alongside Laura. Today was HOT and the sun was shining but we were all ready to get to work. Ms. Nicole told us about their experience being in the home during Hurricane Dorian. How the roof was ripped off and they sat outside during the storm and she broke her arm and the aftermath of all the injured. It was intense listening to her speak and imagining the terror she must have felt. At one point during the storm she had been separated from the rest of her family and that alone….. We just couldn’t imagine how she must have felt. Judd then prayed for her and all of us and we got to work!
The Saunders house had a sunken living room so we wanted to elevate that for Ms. Nicole so she wouldn’t fall due to her MS. So the boys got started on that while us girls got to painting! We painted the ceilings and walls of 7 different rooms – every room but one bathroom. We all took turns writing scriptures, blessings, and prayers on the doorway studs in the house also.
We ran out of paint shortly before lunch. So Laura took us girls and Luke to town to show us the Farmers Market where we got to see Tracy from Driftwood Farms from yesterday. We all bought different things – jams/jellies, pickled cucumbers, donuts, pizza, and cake. We then headed to the hardware store where Laura and Larriell got more paint (and some of us napped in the car) We then headed back to the Saunder’s house – Laura drove us by the shipping port where the storm surge brought most of the water in from the hurricane.
We also got to drive by the Murphy Town Community Center where the team worked a lot last year.
After we got back from the Farmers Market, we all headed back to the Community Center to eat lunch. While we were there a group of students and teachers arrived to remove the desks and chairs from their testing that week. We helped them move all of the desks and chairs outside to load on a flatbed truck. While doing so it started raining and we saw a tornado in the distance (it was really a water spout but we had a bit of a laugh over it. NADER!). We then rushed back to the Saunders because the guys left their tools outside in the rain. We moved everything inside and started to paint again. As we were painting the rooms, it stopped raining, so the guys headed outside to start putting up siding and the gable. We finished by cleaning up the inside of the house and Madi & Luke cleaned all of the paint supplies. Then we listened to Chicken Fried per Nicole’s request before heading back to camp.
Back at camp – we had about 2 hours before dinner so some of us went swimming while others took showers and chilled. We met back for night devos where Kate Scheider discussed living intentionally with the joy of the Lord. We see here that despite losing everything, Nicole is still so joyful and thankful and has such great energy to be around! Then we had chicken, rice and potato salad for dinner!
We feel today’s devotional was a perfect end to our day and that we could feel God’s presence in that. We started off discussing how we are tools of God – and then went and used tools to do some construction projects. And at the end of the day, we discussed finding your joy in God and not the world and Nicole was the epitome of that. Despite everything – she is still so joyful. It’s awesome to see God work!
That’s our day!! Hope you join us next year!!
We would ask – if you have a minute to please join us in prayer for the Saunders family as the house still has some work to do. They would like to be moved back in by the end of July or mid-August. Thank you!
–Faith and Madi
