In New York City for 10 days, serving as Project Leader with Encounter.  Our mission this week is to work with Pastor Danny and 3D Missions to help repair homes devastated by Hurricane Sandy.  3D Missions sets up and organizes relief work on Staten Island, where much help is still needed 8 months after the storm.   

 This has been a tremendous, challenging and exciting experience.  The first 3 days were spent doing a lot of work just preparing for the teens and chaperones to arrive Sunday afternoon.  As our week began, I was not sure what to expect from the youth groups that where to come and work with us and I had no idea of the skills and attitudes we would encounter.  One group of 9 boys was from a Christian School in Connecticut, and another was a group from UMC in Columbus, Ohio.  Both groups were great!  The teens blessed me with how they openly shared and sang, both boys and girls.  They worshiped with passion. I loved to watch their expressions during worship time. It was so good. 

The expressions of worship....

The project that we worked on was a home right off the beach in Staten Island. Volunteers before us had cleaned out the flooded house and hung drywall.  Our job was to tape all the joints of the drywall and fill with compound.  After it dried, we sanded and filled again, then sanded again.  We also did yard work and cleaned up all the scrap and trash around the project – we filled a whole dumpster!  The kids all worked hard and I was so proud of how much we accomplished.  We never got to meet the lady that owned the house.  We were told that she is a single Mother who stayed in her attic through the storm and flood.  She now suffers from panic attacks every time she comes by and checks on her house. When the house is finished I pray that she will have some hope and peace again.  God is good!