September 2017--It's our turn for Harvey

This month really has been a blur.  But our third and final week of volunteering I was able to put aside my computer and cell phone and actually become a volunteer down in Vidor, Texas to help muck out a house.

A good "read aloud" for the road trip down to Houston.

First we had to leave our younger two in Cypress with family.

I'm sure I'll never forget the smell and the work it was to take this house down to the studs.  But by doing so, we saved it from needing to be bulldozed.  And I hope I never forget how it felt to serve this sweet family, who worked tirelessly at by our side.

Sleeping in a gym with a few hundred of my "closest" friends.  Earplugs were nice.  Showers were even nicer.

Sunday morning with President and Sister Daniel Harris of the Orange, Texas Stake.

The weekend of the storm, Elder Jay Jones was there presiding over a Stake Conference.  Elder Jones drove away from the storm his whole way home.  A couple days later, Elder Jones called to check on the members.  President Harris informed him that when he went to bed Monday evening he had 5 members flooded, but by the morning he had closer to 60.  Elder Jones promised to send help.  This weekend was our second in Vidor and Beaumont and a fulfillment of this promise.  President Harris was "inspired" to ask me to share my testimony during the sacrament meeting at Vidor High School.

During this month things have been non-stop.  Stephen often had to drag me away from my computer late so that we could go to bed.  I'd arise early and work for an hour or so before getting the children off to school and then I'd work the whole time they were gone.

I had a sacred experience where I was at my limit/breaking point/couldn't do anything else.  And I literally felt the presence of my mom supporting me and at my side an entire day.  A fulfillment of a promise Elder Jones made me when I took this church assignment shortly after her death, that she would help me.  That has been true again and again, but never so clearly as it was one day during all this organizing.

I can testify that during the month of September, I was made equal to the task of coordinating what needed to be worked out.  I found my abilities magnified.  I am just humbled that The Lord used me in this way.