Making an Impact

Wow, yesterday was awesome!! It was one of those days where my heart felt so filled with the Holy Spirit! It started by walking to church. Walking is something that I have really learned to enjoy more and more, especially since I've come to Texas. I like to walk while I'm talking on the phone. Keeping up with all the happenings in California takes some time so I've gotten lots of walking in! Walking is also just a great way to slow down, soak things in, and think.

Anyway, I got to church early and met some of the youth there. It was graduation Sunday so the graduating high school seniors were very involved in the service, including one of the girls giving the sermon. Really great kids! It brought back memories of high school graduation for me . . . which was 5 years ago!! Wow, that makes me feel old!!

After the service, the church provided a delicious lunch for us (as they always do, such a great ministry!) and I got to catch up with my good friend Chris (in the picture with me). Chris has been such a blessing to me. He welcomed me the first day I went to Grace church and we've been great friends ever since! We even went for a bike ride together a few weeks ago and he told me all about Galveston. Another added bonus: He's a UNL alumni and Husker fan!!


While I was walking home afterward, a woman called out to me and chased me down. She wanted money for some food. I offered to walk to KFC (that's what she wanted) with her and she agreed. What she wanted was more than just food though, she wanted money so she could play the slot machines. I learned that she was single, 38 years old, a high school dropout and jobless. This was a woman who needed more than just a meal, more than I could give her in the brief time I was going to be with her. I so badly wanted to fix everything, give her a job and show her that gambling was not going to solve her problems . . . but I couldn't. What I did give her was a meal and some words of encouragement. I told her that I believed God had us cross paths for a reason and asked her if she had anything she wanted to tell me or that I could help her with. The words that came out of her mouth were simple but so powerful: "Thank you". That's all she wanted to tell me. Did I fix all her problems? Not even close. In fact, I think she took her meal and went over to the place where she played the slots. I came to realize that it wasn't about me solving her problems. The fact is, I can't do that. That is between her and God. But I had an amazing feeling of purpose after that. I believe that is our purpose here on earth: to love one another . . . not fix what we think are others problems. I think showing her that I cared enough to buy her some food and talk to her was all I could do. I really hope she changes her ways and finds direction in her life, but that is in God's hands. God's two primary commandments are: Love God with everything you've got and love your neighbor as yourself. I think that sums up our purpose in life, whether we are in California, Texas, Bolivia, or any part of the world. People just need to be loved!!

I don't know how much of an impact I made on that woman (I invited her to come to church next Sunday but I don't know whether she will come or not), but I know she made a huge impact on me. She helped to remind me of why we're here and for that I'm so thankful!

Erik comes to Town

Sorry it's been so long since I've blogged again . . . let's just say the time has flown by. One of my closest friends, Erik Brockman, came and visited me!! We had a great time, old roommates reunited once again!! Erik quickly got introduced to the whole crew . . . the first morning Gary gave him his nickname . . . Guns (because Erik said he brought his "guns" to Texas to help do some heavy lifting). Pretty cool nickname if I may say so myself! The week was filled with a lot of hard work, but a lot of fun too! On Thursday we were treated to lunch at the Mosquito, our favorite restaurant, by the Diocese of Texas to thank our long-term, hardworking volunteers Larry and Stew. Going around the table in a clockwise direction starting at the bottom, we have: Jim, Maggie, Stew, Gary, Nikki, Allison, Carolyn, Larry, and Erik.


On Friday night we decided to go up to watch the Astros play. It happened to work out that they were playing my favorite team, the Padres!! I was quite happy as the Padres rolled to a 7-0 victory. Afterword, we saw one of the best fireworks shows I've ever seen! Minute-Maid ballpark was a nice facility and the indoor AC provided a nice break from the summer heat!


So the next day I got to lead a crew of high school choir members from Houston tearing out drywall at St. Augustine's Episcopal Church fellowship hall. What a great group of students. I really got a taste of what it takes to lead a crew all by myself. It was a completely different mentality than I'm used to but working with a great group like this made it easy!


On Sunday, Erik and I spent the whole day up in Houston with my family. We went to church with Fred and Mary and then had lunch with them. Fred taught me all about my family history. It was really interesting for me . . . I don't don't know about Erik though . . . haha, he was a good sport about it though. We had dinner with JoAnne and Bishop Andy's house. It was a great way to spend Mother's day since we couldn't be home to spend them with our mamas.

On Tuesday, Erik and I took the day off and went to Brazoria Preserve and checked out the birds and alligators (that's right, alligators!!!)

What a week we had!! Thanks to Erik for coming out to visit!!

More of what I did the week of April 26-30

St. Matthews from Austin, Texas (Longhorn territory) volunteered with us. They were a great group of people and I got to spend the first couple days working with them at the house on Avenue M 1/2 (yes, this avenue is between M and N because they had too many streets and not enough letters!) We actually finished the house this week so the Cummins family will be moving in soon! Take a look at the pictures: http://www.facebook.com/ikerelief?ref=ts#!/album.php?aid=111928&id=135769573374&ref=mf

I really got to know Jill, Susan, Dike, and Jim. They were all very caring people. They are a true testament to what Jesus said: "They will know that you are my followers by your love for one another."




And the same goes for all of the people at Grace Episcopal church (the one I've been attending on Sunday.) They cooked for all the volunteers this past Thursday!! Such nice people! The man in the black shirt is Paul, the priest.


I also got to do some little things to finish up Ms. Charlotte's house. (Mainly taping and mudding and painting a closet that hadn't been finished.) Ms. Charlotte is in the blue shirt and her new housemate is Elizabeth. I had an opportunity to talk in depth with Elizabeth and we shared our faith stories. The past few years for her have been rough. Her husband was killed in a tragic accident and she has been struggling mentally and financially. It was amazing to talk to her and hear how much she still has her faith! We prayed together and it was a really powerful experience! God bless you Elizabeth!

Learning and Growing

Hi ya'll! Sorry it's been so long since I've written on here. No news is good news sometimes I guess. The time is beginning to go by a lot faster now. I feel like I am getting settled into my routine and really enjoying my time here more and more. I like the work that I'm doing. Getting to meet some of the homeowners and see how appreciative they are for our work is very gratifying. It helps me to see the purpose behind what I'm doing. It's really about the relationships!! It's about touching people's lives in a tangible way. It's about allowing God to be real in our lives by putting into practice what the Word says. For me, just going to church isn't enough for me. I love to hear a good sermon just as much as the next person, or sing hymns, or say prayers. That is all great and I know I need that to feel restored and empowered. But I believe there is more to it than that . . . my faith has not grown solely by me just going to church and thinking about God. Rather it has grown in my day-to-day life and work where I can see God's hand at work in people caring for each other and prayers being answered. I don't believe in having blind faith and don't believe God expects us to have blind faith in Him either. God is faithful and won't just leave us hanging; we just gotta ask! "Seek and you will find." God is answering prayers every day and this is where I see God and where God is no longer just an idea but reality.

So what exactly have I've been doing the past few weeks? Well 2 weeks ago there wasn't any volunteers so I got to do some projects on my own like build a railing for Ms. Marsha's house. Sometimes I like to have my own little projects like that.


I also got to do some tool organizing in the basement. It was a challenge but I drew from my knowledge of the past two years, living with one of the best organizers I know, Cameron!! Thanks buddy!

A Fun and Busy Saturday!!

Well, around here our Saturdays are anything but lazy and this one was no different. Saturdays are usually and big work day for us because that is when a lot of local volunteers come and help. Yesterday we finished tearing out all of the damaged drywall and bleached all of the mold in Ms. Cheryl's house. Cheryl is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet. She has been right there working with us the past two Saturdays and it has really been a joy getting to know her!! She now lives in Los Angeles, but we are working to get her old home into a state where it can be clean and ready to sell (or rebuild if she chooses to come back.)

The volunteers I worked with yesterday were great!! They really made it easy for me as the crew leader. I'm still getting used to telling others what to do. There's a fine line between being a strong, in-control leader and being an arrogant leader. I'm still learning but what I'm realizing is that I must always keep my ears open and be listening to the feedback from my crew. Oftentimes they have ideas of how to do something better than I thought of, and being a good leader requires listening to those suggestions and not just doing things my way because I'm the boss. Sometimes there are multiple people telling you what you should do, and the most difficult thing I've found so far is just making a firm decision. For those of you who know me well, you know that decisions can be difficult for me. Being a crew leader is helping me to get over that; there's really no other option if I want to be a good crew leader!!



Last night was my housemate Luke's birthday celebration. We went to the Mosquito Cafe just down the street where our household is considered regulars. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and wine (from Paso Robles of all places!!). Afterword, we went to the Strand (old downtown area) and checked out some art at the "Art Walk" festival that was going on. Some of that stuff was expensive!! It was like 100 bucks for a bowl carved out of wood!! They were pretty neat though . . . a lot of the art was carved out of trees that were killed during Hurricane Ike. The salt water that flooded the island killed most of their old oak trees. Apparently, Galveston used to have tree-lined streets, but now its bear. There is an organization that is going around and re-planting trees. It's a sign of hope I believe. A lot of people left after the storm and didn't want to come back . . . didn't want to have to go through all of the rebuilding with the chance of another hurricane wiping them out. So they left, they gave up on Galveston. The people that decided to stay though . . . they are a tight-knit community. I believe that when you go through something as devastating as Hurricane Ike with your community, you can't help but be drawn closer to them as you help each other get through the struggles. It's been really cool to see how the people have responded to help each other. That's what it's all about!! The sermon today in church was about Jesus telling Peter to "Feed my sheep." That's what God is calling us to do, to love and take care of each other and the Galveston community is a great example of that!

This is a picture of Grace Episcopal Church in Galveston. Gotta love the red doors, true to the Episcopal tradition! It's been a very welcoming place and I immediately felt at home there. I met an old fella named Chris last week and I sat with him today. He is a native Galvestonian but is actually a big Husker fan!! (He got his master's degree from UNL).



This is a picture of all of the housemates (minus Maggie because she is in Maryland right now.) A pretty stylish group wouldn't you say? haha

We took this in an antique shop we visited last night. Needless to say, we had a lot of fun dressing up in those old clothes!

A little more about the people I work with

So last night we had a little dinner party with all the coworkers and our fearless leader Maggie's parents at our house. They are from Wisconsin and cooked us some delicious fish!

Alison is on the far left of the top picture. She is one of the construction interns (like me) and has a been to several countries. She is Colombian and can speak Spanish fluently. She went to school in Columbia and served in Africa for two years in the Peace Corps.

Maggie's mom is in the chair. She is a very sweet woman and one heck of a cook!

Playing the guitar is Carolyn. She works in the office as a disaster preparedness coordinator so that people are ready for storms like Hurricane Ike before they actually hit.

Luke, on the right of the second picture, is our volunteer coordinator (schedules the volunteers to come in). He is a Baylor graduate and an avid sports fan. He has done some freelance writing and covered the Baylor woman's basketball team.






On the bottom picture:
To the very far left on the couch is the "boss" Gary. He's the one I feel like I've got to earn his respect . . . He's a good guy and I feel like I know him a lot better after last nights party. He's a good guitarist and he writes songs for pretty much every volunteer group that comes in.

Next to Gary on the couch is Jim a.k.a. Jimbobwae. He is a volunteer and has quite a sense of humor (as does pretty much the whole group, we had quite a few laughs last night.)

The young woman in the blue shirt is Nikki. She is also a construction intern. She is a graduate from North Carolina in English but is very interested in being a city planner.

Somehow Maggie didn't make it into any of these pictures. She is kind of the leader of the whole operation. She is very knowledgeable in relief work and did a lot of it in New Orleans. She works in the office and corresponds with all of us and the Diocese of Texas. She also chooses which houses we work on and corresponds with the homeowners.

A little more about Galveston

So this is the house I live in. It's an old Victorian style home. It's huge!! Two stories and a walk in crawl space underneath where we store all of our tools. Yes, I live on Winnie St. Like Winnie the Pooh!! There are a lot of homes like ours on the island.

Below is more homes and buildings on the island. Interesting fact, Galveston was actually the largest city in Texas before the big hurricane in 1900.

The church picture is an ELCA Lutheran Church on our street. Galveston has a ton of churches!! There are three Episcopal churches alone on the island!

The picture of the brick building shows the water level during Hurricane Ike. It was a devastating storm not so much because of the magnitude of the winds (only a level 2 out of 5) but because it was so large. The storm surge was very large and actually flooded Galveston from the bay side and not the gulf side (where there is a sea wall).