Hurricane IKE

we got back from port arthur, texas on thursday afternoon. it was an amazing experience. we were able to reach 9000 families/cars in three days of distribution. if you think of that in terms of around 3 people per family, the number of people reached could amount to around 27,000 people. It was great to be able to meet their physical needs with the love of Jesus. we also had people walking the mile-and-a-half line of cars with tracks and talking and praying for people while they waited for their turn to get MRE’s, water, ice, powerade, trash bags, bleach, and other odds and ends. MRE’s are “meals ready to eat.” they are a complete meal in a bag – no need to cook or anything. they have a heater inside that uses a teaspoon of water to heat them. each family got a box of 12 MREs. we had 6 stations at a time giving out our products. we worked from 7:30 am until 4:00 pm when we would run out of products for the day. convoy of hope has so far sent 66 semi truck loads of goods totaling just at 1.9 million dollars. it was an amazing experience to be apart of helping so many lives when they needed it most. we spent the nights in the mobile command center which is a semi with 6 beds, shower/toilet, and all the things needed for disaster response. radars, internet, radios – basically a weather station on wheels. it was our “home away from home” for a week.

the thing that stuck out the most to me was the southern hospitality. the people, in the midst of chaos and having their homes and lives torn apart, were so hospitable to us. they would volunteer to help in any way possible. one man named thomas came every day at 8 am and worked till 4. he never took a break. we were able to minister and talk about our faith with him. he brought his grand kids as well to help. when we left he found each one of us that worked with him, thanked us and gave us hugs. it really meant a lot to me. i took some pictures of us along the way with our caravan of 5 semis and 2 rv’s that came from missouri. thanks for your prayers.