In May of this year a small tornado passed near our site in Friendswood, Texas. None of the homes we were working on reported any damage, but we did get word of a small Assembly of God church that had been impacted. They had a lot of roof damage and then some interior damage to the walls of both wings of the church. The only part of their church that was untouched was the sanctuary, so they continued to hold services every week.

They were able to obtain the materials; they simply needed the skilled labor in replacing sheetrock, taping, floating and texturing, which is right in our “wheel house”. After much planning, and some delay, we finally held two consecutive work days in July. Because we had no volunteers, our Friendswood staff was joined by staff from Corpus Christi and Covington, Louisiana, as well as local volunteers from the Assembly of God church and Trinity Fellowship Church (our Harvey partner church). It was a wonderful two days of work in which we accomplished our goal of getting everything finished and textured, as well as experiencing true fellowship and the opportunity to teach and learn new skills.

This summer has looked very different from our normal summer season without our regular schedule of weekly missions teams from all over the country. God has blessed us in Texas with the opportunity to share staff between sites and to include more local volunteers who aren't working on their regular schedule. Our homeowners from Hurricane Harvey continue to be encouraged by our staff and our partner churches, but they are as excited as we are to welcome fall and winter teams later this year.

Please prayerfully consider putting together a small team to serve in Texas this fall or winter. We are tentatively scheduling teams of 10 or fewer volunteers to keep things as safe as possible for all involved. Please email respond@efca.org for more information or go to our website to see more.