Wednesday, July 4, 2018

A Day in the Life of the Texas Mission Team




There are lots of kinds of "mission trips" with lots of kinds of outcomes and adventures. But if you're wondering what it might be like to serve in the category of "disaster response," the current Ohio-to-Texas team is having a meaningful yet pretty typical experience. 


The team is making use of Good Shepherd Moravian Church as its home base. They sleep on cots set up in Sunday School rooms and make use of the church's kitchen and fellowship hall. You might wonder, though, about shower facilities? A mobile "disaster relief" shower unit is parked beside the church building.



 After sharing breakfast and getting ready for the day, the team gathers up tools and supplies, many of which are kept on-site in another trailer provided through the Moravian Church's Board of World Mission. The Moravian Disaster Response (MDR) tool trailer first saw action in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and has since been deployed temporarily to many locations around the country. For the time being, the MDR tool trailer is parked in Port Arthur for use by various mission teams making their way toward the Texas Gulf Coast.




The Board of World Mission, an inter-provincial agency of the Moravian Church, has been cooperating with the Unity of the Brethren Churches (our denominational cousins, so to speak) as well as other ecumenical partners to organize the volunteers who are eager to provide assistance. Pictured here (in the center) is Mike Liles, our mission team's on-site coordinator. To his left is his wife and fellow volunteer, Pat Liles. And to his right is the pastor of Peaceful Rest Baptist Church (one of the work sites for our group), The Rev. Leonard Frazier. All have been working, sweating, singing and laughing alongside our Ohio group.

There is still much work to be done to restore the storm-damaged community. Pastor Darrell says our team has bumped into other mission teams from other denominations in other states. They've also bumped into Port Arthur residents around town when they've been at Walmart or Lowe's or the ice cream shop. Wherever they go, people express gratitude for their help.

The team spends each day at its assigned locations, sometimes working as a single group, sometimes dividing and conquering. In the evenings they return to Good Shepherd to freshen up and chow down. Before turning in for the night, they spend time in worship.Though he was not able to join the group on the journey, Jaden Stearns is very much part of the team. He prepared and sent along devotional material for every day of the trip.

In fact, an important aspect of the mission work is that there are always folks "back home" supporting the crew with good thoughts and purposeful prayers!










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