Our Stake was assigned to send at least 200 people for two weekends to help with clean up in small towns east of Houston after Hurricane Harvey and all of the flooding it caused.
We left really early Saturday morning and went to work as soon as we got there.
We spent that night in a local high school gymnasium. I thought I would have people in this world that snore so loudly that it can actually reverberate off of walls.
This is what our truck looked like all loaded up with the gear for 5 people and the tools needed for our team. Peter served as our team leader and did a great job of it.
We cleaned up two houses across the street from each other. The first house had a lot of furniture to work around and we only had to cut off 2 feet of sheetrock. At first I thought this did not seem too bad, but the next house we removed all of the furniture and 4 feet of sheetrock- which was easier.
Lunch break on the first day.
We were able to start on the second house towards the end of our first day. It still had carpet in there so it was so moldy and musty. The furniture was moldy and the clothes hanging in the closets were moldy. It was so sad! And it was really gross- including the largest spider I have ever seen -not in a zoo- as pictured above.
My hardworking family.
Sunday morning we held a sacrament meeting in the high school auditorium. Joseph was able to help pass the sacrament. It was a lot of people and we were all in grubby clothes and yet there was a great spirit there. We had all packed up before the meeting so as soon as it was over we headed back to the house.
It took hours to take all of this apart. We removed 2 bathrooms, what felt like literally tons of sheetrock and so many nails. It was a really warm day but everyone kept at it and was so encouraging to each other and cheering each other on.
I am so thankful for this opportunity we had to serve these people. I pray they are finding their way back to peace and normal life.
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