Life has been a whirlwind this past week so I apologize that its taken me so long to post an update here. We have officially been deployed to South Carolina to assist in the clean up from the "1000 year flood". As far as we know, our job will be to help homeowners clean up the mess; remove furniture, carpets, dry wall and insulation, etc. We may also be doing food prep and distribution to the people who are working in the area. We started working with Hope Force International 2 1/2 years ago. We have been praying since then, that God would be able to use us in the area of disaster relief. Don't misunderstand, we have NOT been praying for a disaster!!! But now that it is here, we consider it a privilege to come along side those who have experienced such devastating losses and hopefully give them a glimpse of God's love through our service.
We have seen God's hand at work in this whole process. Time off from work was granted with blessings, schools have happily put kids on independent studies and only required them to take pictures and write journal entries about their experience, college professors saying this couldn't have happened at a better time. Someone in South Carolina has donated a house for us to stay in so we are not sleeping on the floor of a church or community center (even though we would have been happy with those accommodations). Hope Force doesn't usually work with families, but they have found work for all of us to do. The list could go on and on.
As you know, disasters are unpredictable. Much of the plans have to be made very last minute. We did not get the final go ahead until last week. Flights are more expensive, the closer you are to your travel dates, so even though we had some funds already raised, we still need to raise funds to offset the cost. We have our airline travel and car already booked and paid for, but some of that money had to come out of our "bill-paying" funds. We are now humbly, yet boldly asking you to consider supporting us financially. There are two ways in which you can donate. There is a donate button to the right of this page, or you can get a tax deduction if you visit www.hopeforce.org and donate at the bottom of their page. Make sure to type "Short Family" in the space provided. Either way, if there is a surplus, it will be put into an account for the next time we are deployed.
Finally, we are in need of your prayers. We have experienced some opposition since we agreed to go to South Carolina. Our children have had strep throat, (we haven't had that in our family in the last 22 years, so why now?) financial challenges, etc. Please pray that God would restore health and protect those who haven't gotten it. Pray that God would provide financially and help us to be bold about what God has called us to do. Pray for safe travel. We are driving very early (1:00am) Tuesday morning to the Oakland airport, then boarding a plane at 6am, flying to Atlanta, then renting a van and driving to Lexington, South Carolina. Then most importantly, pray that God will use us to minister to those who have experienced unimaginable loss.
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