Ike Day 12 and 11

This is the picture at the end of the day today in front of Galveston Bible Church...book shelves, carpet, crib, nursery toys, kitchen appliances, and sanctuary seating are all now in the trash pile. We still have to clean out and gut the library and church office area. The humidity is so high it is now starting to warp the wood floors. Kevin spent a frustrating day trying to get the flooded AC units back into operation. To the parts store tomorrow for some major AC equipment expenses.

At the end of the day, we found a middle aged lady, named Elizabeth trying to get her garage cleaned out. She had all the contents out by the time we got there, and was trying to wash out the mud with no success. We brought over a power washer, and blasted the floor for an hour trying to get whatever the slippery, brown/black goo was that had affixed itself to the concrete removed.

We stayed overnight on the island last evening (Tues.), sleeping on the floor of Arnold and Julie Horst"s RV. We had AC via generator but no internet so no post yesterday.

Tuesday morning I was able to catch up on the earthquake relief ministry we have going on in China. Tuesday afternoon we had our first tractor trailer delivery of goods for the distribution ministry. We had a skid loader lined up through I-TEC, our ministry partner supplying all our generators (they need CDL drivers-email crisisresponse@efca.org if you have a CDL and time available...now or whenever). But their equipment broke down and we again got to see God at work. As the tractor trailer driver was waiting, I hoped into a pick and started off through Galveston literally praying 'Lord I need a forklift'. after driving up and down a number of streets, i came upon a CenterPointe Energy substation, and in the parking lot was a really big, orange heavy duty pettibone, essentially a giant fork lift. I asked for the supervisor, told him we needed his pettibone 8 streets away at the church to unload our truck.
He looked at me real hard, looked at my card, and said, 'You're with the church right?'.
'Yes sir', was my reply.
'Well OK then come on'. And they came on with the pettibone, and operator, a supervisor in his truck, and a giant line truck and driver. They unloaded, flagged traffic, and even looked at our electric service...so who knows, maybe electricity will come soon, but God's power and provision continues without fail.

Ministry also continues in Houma with our team in LA. John Horst wrote:

We have been working in Houma for three weeks now, mostly doing tree removal, and as we drive down the streets of this city, almost every street has piles of tree debris lining it. There are still many who have a need for tree removal, but more importantly, a need for Christians to demonstrate the love of Christ to them in tangible ways.

We had an amazing day of connecting with people on Acklen Street. Quite a few of them are members of a little Baptist church around the corner. A couple of the families worked together to make us lunch and dinner. Red beans and rice is quite popular here. Not only did we bring it along with us for dinner last evening, but we had for lunch and dinner today as well! We are thankful for God’s clear provision. I had an opportunity to chat with a man who had some branches that needed to be cleared out of his yard. As we spoke, I realized there was a need for another type of clearing that was needed. He seemed to have some distorted views of the church. At first I was just listening, but then he started asking questions. Well, when God opens a door of opportunity, He does want us to walk through, right? So I shared with him that relationship with God was based on truth rather than feelings. I told him that church attendance was not a requirement, but that is was good for our spiritual growth. I’m hopeful that God will use my words to cause him to seek more truth. Would you pray for that as well? Would you consider coming to serve with us here in the city of Houma?

God continues to direct our steps and do some amazing things in our lives and the lives of those we serve. We trust that you are experiencing His presence and power in your lives.