Minute for Mission - FUMC November 18, 9:30 am

In Pastor Greg’s sermon last week we heard that “God calls us to live our faith, and that out spiritual practices push us out into the world to do God’s work”.

My week in Biloxi with the VIM team gave me the opportunity to do both of these things and to watch many others doing the same. A million volunteers have come to the Mississippi Gulf Coast over the past two year to practice their faith and as a result there has been a profound impact on the lives and culture of the region.

Today, this area has

• A vibrant economy
• Whole communities back on their feet
• Massive clean up of hurricane debris has taken place
• Beaches being sifted and cleaned
• A new bridge connecting two communities has been built
• FEMA trailers and FEMA villages are leaving
• People are rebuilding homes and lives AND
• Everyone there has felt the love that God calls us to give to one another

I arrived a few days early to visit my family that lives in the area. They had all experienced various levels of hurricane destruction and now had rebuilt their homes and lives. Each family member had been profoundly impacted and several still suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome but each one spoke to me about what a transforming experience it had for them. On a daily basis for month after month they were feed, helped, and cared for by strangers.

One night my brother opened the door to a mother and her son who had driven from California to bring food to them. A team of professional roofers came to repair the roof that had flown off of his house, and another team came and checked the house for hidden mold. My brother, a non-church going guy was so moved by these acts of kindness he headed off to the local Methodist Church to set up their computer system and cook for the volunteer teams that were housed in tents on the church property.

So many stories all with the theme of lives touched and transformed by the love and work of these armies of volunteers.

As we drove around the area I was surprised to see how normal everything looked. I kept asking “Where is the damage from the Hurricane?” My brother kept telling me you will see it at the beach and along the water ways. .. but the roads are open, the stores are open, every thing looked normal..

I began to wonder if our team would really have any work to do and then I saw it. My brother took me to Seashore Assembly via the beaches and then I started to get it – there was lovely open spaces, beautiful beaches with white sand and property after property with only a foundation in place. When we got to Seashore Assembly there were buildings, but the beautiful Methodist Church that once was on this property was merely a flat slab. The further south I went the more slabs I saw. I now got it – the sense of total destruction and also the extent of recovery. I was ready to do my part and early the next morning my team drove inland to Bob and Elaine’s house.

Their house had lost it roof and the water damage was everywhere. The house had been gutted and rebuilt and then further water damage required the whole thing to be done again. Bob had used up all his resources and energy over the past two years trying to make his house right but he needed help. They got the help they needed and last week Elaine and Bob moved out of their FEMA trailer into a clean, safe and bright home. There are many stories that could be shared but time will not allow it. You can go FUMC website and see the stories in picture form.

Our team of 44 worked with 7 families and most of these families are now back in their homes or very close to it. These people are happy and grateful to be back in their homes and now able to move on with their lives. Elaine and Bob want to start going to church now, a teen mother of twins is back to school determined to get her high school diploma and go on with her education, a young father of three (an Iraq vet) suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and also a work related injury had tears in his eyes when we stopped by his almost completed home, he wanted the names and addresses of the team who had worked so hard that week to get his home ready. Every family had a story; every family was touched by the work of our church community in helping them return to their homes.

I felt privileged and honored to be a part of the VIM team. Did we do God’s work, yes, we did along with the other million volunteer that have come to the Gulf. The sum total of the work of these million people was the most profound part of the experience. In last week’s sermon Pastor Greg said “Jesus is asking us to be disciples in the world” and through this discipleship we can met the needs of the world. VIM –Biloxi is proof that the needs of the world can be met. What a feeling of hope that has given me.

-- Helen Ramstad-Lane