The first week of teams each summer is one of great anticipation, much planning and even a few sleepless nights as we go over the details of all the work that needs to get done the next day. This year was no different. Our first team of 33 youth and their chaperones from Tennessee arrived on Sunday night and on Monday morning we started work on 5 new homes. That’s 5 sites to gather supplies for, 5 families to fall in love with, and 5 different locations to watch God work.
Having a front row seat to what God is doing in people’s lives is an honor and privilege and with 33 team members, 7 extra staff, 5 families and a new summer intern there were plenty of opportunities to witness this. Now mind you, it’s only Wednesday, 3 days into the week! Here’s just a few of the blessings we saw this week.
Mark is leading a roofing site and Tuesday afternoon a guy stopped by the house and asked what all the green shirts were all about. The team explained that they were serving this family by putting on a new roof and the guy thought that was pretty awesome. He too was a roofer and just happened to have a couple bundles of shingles in the back of his truck and asked Mark if he could use the shingles, on this house or maybe another. Mark said “Sure, we can always use extra’s and we never know what color and type we will need.” Well…do I have to tell you what happened? Mark was going to have to go buy a couple more bundles of shingles to finish off the house and when he opened up the bundles that we given to him by the guy that stopped he realized that they were EXACTLY the color and type of shingle he was going to have to go purchase. Provision. We see blessings of provision every day!
On Monday around 5:00 PM after the first day of work, I received a phone call from another homeowner. Her words were “Thank you so much for sending those kids over to my house! They worked so hard and I love each of them already!” Sometimes we forget that the first time teenagers show up at a job site that the homeowner may be a little taken aback by the age of the volunteers. This homeowner thought that a group of guys was coming over to gut out her damaged lower level and do the drywall repairs so when the kids showed up she was blown away. I had stopped by the house about 4 hours into the first day and they already had most of the gutting done and they were prepping the framing for new drywall! You see, this homeowner probably does not know the Lord but she saw the hands and feet of Jesus in her home that day. She asked how much we pay the kids to do this and when I told her they paid US to come and serve on a mission trip she couldn’t believe it. Witness. These “kids” were a witness to this homeowner and we can only hope that as the weeks go on with other teams serving at her home, she will come to know the Lord as her Savior.
When we are in the field sometimes we get random phone calls from friends and relatives that are passing through the area and want to stop by to see us. That happened this week! Well with this being the first week of teams, I said we were around and would be doing site visits all day. So early Monday afternoon, my cousin, Steve and his wife, Dina and their family stopped to meet one of our homeowners, see what we do and they had the honor of praying for this sweet lady. It’s so awesome to share what we do with family but for them to actually SEE what we do and take the time to pray with one of the homeowners that we have already grown to love was a huge blessing. Support. The support of our family and friends is more important to us than you know. Come on out! you might find yourself on a volunteer team sometime soon!
Look for the blessings in your day. They are always there we just have to be on the lookout for them.
Rob and Jackie Passer 