By Paul Granlund, Milwaukie Covenant Church
On the week of January 21, 2019, we sent a team of four men to New Bern, North Carolina. Our mission was to serve those affected by the devastating flooding produced by Hurricane Florence on August 31, 2018 to September 19, 2018.
The trip was coordinated by Merge Ministries, a ministry of the Evangelical Covenant Church.
Our team ended up taping and mudding sheet rock in two homes. These homes were owned by retired women and both of them had physical limitations. One of them walked with a cane and the other was in a wheel chair. Both homes had been sheet rocked but not mudded. The skill level of our team consisted of three weekend warriors with limited mudding experience and one very skilled professional. We had a great week and were able to completely finish the mudding on one home and completed over 50% of the other one.
We had the honor of meeting one of the ladies, Miss Lorraine, and enjoyed getting to know her a little bit. She is a retired nurse from New York City. She said that she had left her home ahead of the storm and was very glad that she did! Her home was flooded with over 5 feet of water. When she was finally able to return to her home after the construction crews had pulled out all of the damaged flooring and walls, she found a live rattlesnake in her living room! She has been out of her home since the beginning of September. Miss Lorraine did have flood insurance but it only paid out $16,000.00 which was no where close to the amount needed to make all of the repairs.
The other home was owned by Miss Rheda. We did not get to meet her. I heard that she is retired and is confined to a wheel chair. Her daughter lives in the area and looks after her. She had to be rescued from her home during the storm and is anxious to get back. Another crew built a long wheel chair ramp which is a much needed convenience for her. Miss Rheda did not have any flood insurance.
I just received an update that Miss Lorraine’s home will be done by the end of February and Miss Rheda’s home will be completed the first week of March.
My takeaways from the trip were the satisfaction of knowing that we were serving God by helping these ladies get back into their homes, getting to know the other volunteers that had come from Wisconsin and Indiana, and getting closer in my relationship with my fellow brothers from Milwaukie Covenant and my son Casey.
Its hard to understand the total affect of helping others in situations like this, but you have to know that God will use our willingness to help others to continue to build His kingdom.
I have participated with our church in several disaster rebuilding projects over the past year. I am not a Builder, but God has used me along with other in similar skill sets to help in each project. It has been a real blessing and am thankful for these opportunities to serve.
Are you interested in doing a similar serve trip? Contact Dale Lusk, International Director – Global Engagements (Merge Ministries) Evangelical Covenant Church @ 956-458-9568 or http://www.covmerge.org/ or our PacNWC Disaster Relief Coordinator Richard Nystrom @ (605) 370-3970 or dickpam@nystrom.us.
