Colts Neck Reformed Church

Sunday morning after breakfast we attended the service at Christ United Methodist Church.  It was a lovely service with a sermon on Isaiah 49:1-7 which points to Christ being the ultimate Servant and encourages us to follow His servant example.  It was a wonderful reminder for us as we started our week here serving the communities affected by Hurricane Ian. 
After the service, we had lunch with the church staff members.  We really enjoyed sharing that fellowship time with our hosts!

After lunch, we drove up to Port Charlotte and started our projects at two different work sites.  One group went to Wintergarden Presbyterian Church. 

At the church, the group helped disassemble a large geodisc from their community garden that was broken in the storm, tape, and mud a wall that had sheetrock recently installed, and finally paint a shipping container the church uses to store their food pantry items.  This church is involved in such incredible ministry within their community and it was a real blessing to assist them in their ongoing recovery.

Our other group went to Nate and Julie's house.  The roof and interior of their house were a total loss after the storm. 

Nate has been working non-stop trying to rebuild their house.  Our group was able to come alongside Nate and assist in getting some of the finishing touches accomplished.  We painted some of the walls, helped put the trim on, and hung some of the light fixtures and ceiling fans. 

It was such a blessing to work with Nate and Julie.  They were so kind and humble and we all left feeling so encouraged by their steadfast faith throughout this time.

After the wonderful breakfast, Ms. Vera cooked, we drove down to Fort Myers Beach.  We started the day working with John.  His house was flooded up to the ceiling during the storm.  John and his son had cleaned up many of the personal items and all the furniture, but most of the drywall and installation were still hanging. 

By the time we left at 3pm the entire house was gutted and taken down to the studs.  John was amazed by how quickly we worked and that we were able to finish the entire project in one day.  

This morning we had a wonderful breakfast from Ms. Vera, then we left for our work projects. We met up with Patriot Emergency Response Team who has been active in the community since Day 1. They have been working in mobile home communities that experienced immense damage from winds and floods. We will be gutting out homes so homeowners can begin their rebuilding process!

One of the houses we worked in today had not been touched since the storm.  A fire had caught in one of the rooms and the house's interior was covered in soot.  We started by pulling out all the furniture, and then demoed all the drywall and insulation. 

It was a long day, but we felt so accomplished by the end.  We also had a great time getting to know Corey and Tyler, our partners, better.  We will all certainly sleep well tonight before starting on more houses tomorrow!