What an amazing trip this continues to be. Our day started out early because we knew it would be packed; what we did not know is what God would pack it with.
All 14 of us arrived at Joy’s mobile home to do some repair work. There was a pipe that crossed a creek that had been covered up by debris. We were able to remove this. We were also able to repair a fence at her home which had been knocked down by a tree. There were several rotten spots in the floor of her home which were about to fall through and one wall was really ready to collapse at any time. We were able to fix these. Part of the team stayed there all day. We were able to buy some supplies and the store gave us a discount; of course it was really from God.
Another group went to the local Senior Center and visited the residents and participated in their aerobics class as well. The senior citizens were in much better shape than our team I understand.
A third group went to another area to meet the “Lunch Bus” which brings lunches to kids around town. There were 8 kids at this stop and instead of just greeting the kids, they held an impromptu VBS. When they were ready to leave, they could not find the van keys. They looked for 20 minutes. During this time they found out that one of the girls has a hearing problem and cannot afford batteries for her hearing aids; one for each ear. The team was able to get her free batteries as well as a potential check-up. The keys were found in a place where they had already looked twice. Had they found the keys earlier, they would not have learned of this family’s needs. God must have hid the keys on them.
Only the kids in this family speak English; they translated for their mom. A need for a booster seat was found out and one of the teens bought one from a local store to give to them. Our team will be assisting them on Thursday in getting to some appointments.
Our regularly scheduled VBS was held once again in the local park. There was a good turnout and the kids had fun as well as did the missions team. We were able to treat the kids to ice cream.
In a chance conversation which included a member of our team, it was discovered that a lady to whom we had been ministering to at VBS had a son in jail in a town about an hour away. The name of that town came up so many different times during the day that some on the team felt the need to go on a prayer drive through the town. A group of four of us did just that. Around 7:30 pm we drove the very curvy, steep mountain roads to Sneedville. There we were able to pray at several locations and even went into the local jail where this gentleman is housed and prayed in the lobby. Though we were not able to see him, we did receive information on how we may get to meet with on Thursday.
After leaving the missions base around 7:30am, we returned at 11:30pm. God was truly seen today in all that He arranged for our lives. The people to whom we came to minister to, ministered to us by their generosity and kindness towards us. God has definitely impacted each of our lives as we have come on this trip. Our prayer is that we have been able to be a blessing in Jesus’ name to others as we have been blessed!
