Azusa Pacific University Center for Student Action

After a LONG day of travel, everyone made it safely to Church of the Palms in Sarasota. 

Ms. Stacia, a member of the church, cooked us an amazing meal of pot roast, veggies, and potatoes.  She was so thankful we were here and helping serve their community. 

We had a quick orientation meeting, followed by showers, and then it was off to bed.  We are so excited to be starting our trip and look forward to seeing all the ways the Lord works in and through us!

Please pray the Lord keeps our eyes open and our hearts soft to His direction and that each step we take is according to His will!

Sunday we went to service at Church of the Palms. It was a wonderful Advent message on love and about Jesus stepping into our messy lives and loving us in the midst of our brokenness. It was a wonderful message to start our week as we step into the lives of those impacted by Hurricane Ian.

After church, we went to help a community member hang drywall in his house. The roof of his house had been peeled back by the winds and water had destroyed much of his house. He showed our group how to hang drywall and we were able to provide the hands he needed so he can move his family back in before Christmas!

Monday morning we hit the ground running! We made an hour's drive out to Wauchula, a community hit hard by flooding and winds. We met up with Ron at Send Me Missions, an organization active in the community helping homeowners recover.

Ron had two projects for us today. One group went to help Ms. Irene muck out her house. Her home had about 5 inches of water in it, but it had soaked up in the drywall a couple of feet. We helped rip out all the damp drywall and insulation and treated the wood with mold killer.

The other group went to another house and helped chainsaw a tree that had been blown over. Both homeowners were thrilled with the results and were so appreciative!

It was such a blessing to work with Send Me Missions and see their heart for their community. We felt so grateful the Lord put us together for the week. 

This morning we woke up and after breakfast hit the road for Wauchula. Ron started us on a painting project this morning!

There is a homeowner and her two sons that had to gut their whole house. Other volunteers had helped them gut and rebuild their house.

It was so cool God placed us in Wauchula this week as we were able to help them get the painting done so they could move back in before Christmas!

Today we went to Wauchula Family Restaurant. Per Ruthie, "Let's eat here. We're in Wauchula, were a pseudo-family, and we need a restaurant."

It was great to eat some good food and hang out with friends!