San Ramon Valley UMC, Lynnewood UMC and Asbury UMC  joined together for a recent mission to the Hurricane Ike devastated Galveston Texas area.

The mission included a total of 13 people with two people coming from Minnesota. We spent our 1st night (sat) in  

Texas City at the St Johns UMC. We were welcomed by several of their members and although it was late they had prepared a good dinner for us. That evening we all slept on the floor in 3 separate rooms. Sunday morning we attended St Johns worship service. Later that afternoon we all took a drive to Galveston Island to look over the area in which we would be working. Although not as widely devastated as the areas in Biloxi Mississippi we have been working, it was still pretty bad. It has only been 4 months or so since Hurricane Ike met the land and ripped through. The following morning we were pleased to learn that we would be moving to the Island and into a Crockett Place UMC that no longer serving a congregation. It has been converted into housing for volunteers. We were pleased to find out that we had bunk beds as opposed to the floor for bedding. It was much better and a lot closer to our worksites.

We met with Alan Miller the UMCOR construction coordinator. We broke into 3 teams of 4 people and were assigned a home each to work on. The work for each was to completely wire the houses for electrical service and tape and mud the interior sheetrock. Ginger and several others worked on the drywall while I and 2 others led the electrical teams. Each team completed their work order and the homes are now closer to move in.

Joining in with the other churches in a mission was a great experience to be part of and learn how others handle a UMVIM mission.

Everyone on the trip received a letter from Lynnewood that had been mailed to St Johns UMC. Each letter was address to an individual and were all different. What a pleasant surprise to be greeted from the folks back home blessing our trip and the people we were serving.

Asbury provide a quilt made by their UMW that was presented to the homeowners of our project houses. What a beautiful gift that each recipient will no doubt cherish. The people we are assisting in our missions are so ever grateful for the work the teams are doing and our presence.

Helping them get back into their homes is often expressed in tears and smiles.

Each evening was spent with a devotional from various volunteers. We had dinner guests one evening of a young couple that has volunteered for a year to help in the paperwork needed to obtain funding for material that each storm victim needs. God bless them.

Days were spent working.

Our team was blessed with a tool trailer provided by the Virginia conference. 

It was similar to the trailer we have for Local & Conference Missions. Not only did it make for the handiness of tools but also served as a very visible sign of the mission of UMVIM.

I look forward to the time I can go back to Galveston and stop in to see the homeowner Miss Lillie back in her house.

The Gulf Coast and now Galveston Coast is in continued efforts to rebuild. UMCOR expects Galveston to be 5 years. There is around that same amount of time need in the Gulf Coast.

Missions is one of the ways we all can make a difference either by going or helping support missional efforts.