Seth, Jonah, and Renae
Impact starts where we choose to show up, share openly, and be where our feet are. The Celebrate Church Impact Team shares a look at the work happening on the ground this week, and the things they are already learning on day one. How does your own sense of purpose show up in your daily life? Read the full reflection.
Greetings from sunny and beautiful Abaco! Today was the first day that we got to go out into the community around Marsh Harbor and put our skills, or lack there of, to work. We spent time working in four different homes on a variety of projects.
The first project was at Tracy’s house. That team painted a bathroom, installed a few doors, and ran water lines for a bathroom. This team also had an opportunity to pray over the homeowner and also to pray for Laura, a Many Hands team member, as her family prepared to travel back to the United States.
The second group headed over to Davia’s house, where they installed floor boards on a deck. Multiple team members exhibited some excellent construction skills, and the rest of us rookies learned from patient friends. This group might be sporting some sunburns, but we had fun!
After lunch, this crew headed to Tamar’s house to continue installing laminate flooring and to begin the process of installing kitchen cupboards. Hopefully, we will get to make more progress there tomorrow after getting some good groundwork done today.
The third group worked at Donna’s house. They spent most of the day painting, but they sure enjoyed Donna’s company and her desire to make sure they were well fed!
Through conversation with Many Hands staff and those we were serving today, we were impacted by the situations that residents of the island face. We learned that individuals are living apart from their families because that is how they are managing still being displaced from their homes after Hurricane Dorian. The cost of living here is so great that it makes it extremely difficult to be able to rebuild. We have become increasingly aware of how much we take for granted back at home. If we want something, we can run to the store and grab it quickly. They rely solely on imports and often wait weeks for things to arrive.
We hope that we made a little bit of an impact on the community today, but we are making a bigger impact on each other. Our time working through the pages in the Impact book tonight led to some great sharing with each other. God is at work as he leads people who don’t know each other very well to share openly and not just surface-level answers. We look forward to continuing to work, share, and grow as we continue to “Be where our feet are.”
– Seth, Jonah, and Renae
