Day 1 with Samaritan's Purse: Deployment to Minot, ND 8-15-11

I arrived in Minot, North Dakota, yesterday around 6:00p.m. This is my first deployment with Samaritan's Purse and we are here to do flood relief aka gut houses following the flooding of the Mouse River in June of this year. Over 4,100 homes were damaged in the flood and 90% of those people do not have flood insurance. SP focuses on homeowners who are disabled, elderly, single parents, and uninsured. In other words, those who probably need our help the most. We do not work on outbuildings, garages that are not attached to the house, rental properties, or commercial properties. The house must also be the family's primary residence. For this deployment, our base camp is the First Assembly of God church on the southern edge of Minot. We have a cook who will make breakfast and supper for us and we will put together our own sack lunches before heading out for the day. There were porta-potties outside but thankfully we were able to use the bathrooms in the church instead. SP brought up two shower trailers from North Carolina for us to use which would prove to be a huge blessing. There was nothing better than a shower of the perfect temperature after a day of hard work.

I was lucky enough to get a Red Cross cot. They are a-mazing to sleep on!

                                                   

The big shower trailer. I believe it had 7 showers in it.

                                         

One of the nicer stalls in the shower trailer. Not all had sinks and chairs.

We started the day with breakfast at 6:30 followed by devotions, orientation, and a safety briefing. I was placed on Mike Brunelli's team and am the youngest by at least 30 years. Our first job was a rural property that they had worked on last week. The men ripped up the flooring in one room and the women pulled up nails in the floor and swept up debris.

The homeowner was very thankful that we were there to help his family and chatted with us a couple times between going about his daily business and meeting his wife at their storage locker in town. He said that if you have copper wiring or plumbing people come by and tear it out. Looting in general is a real problem since the flood but with copper going at such a high rate, if you don't take it out yourself someone else will. Someone even broke a beautiful two-pane window in the home we were working on. This house was built in 1880 and moved out to the countryside sometime in the 1940's. As I found to be the case with almost every house we went to, you could see the water line on the house.

When we had completed our work there, we presented the homeowner with a Bible signed by the team and prayed with him. It almost made me cry. This man and his family will have to practically rebuild their home and are currently living in a FEMA trailer.

After lunch, we went to a house that was supposed to be 80% done. It was NOT. The owner, Gary, was nearly ecstatic to see us. He came out of Satanism 30 years ago and has been a Christian since. He insisted on praying with and for us before we started work on the house (built in 1932). Most of his prayer concerned our safety, how thankful he was that we had come to help, and how thankful he was for Christian fellowship. It was very touching.

The women pulled nails out of the studs in the walls and removed cement board and some kind of awful wall board. It was black and almost tarry on the back and really stuck to the walls and nails. The men also helped pull nails and shoveled out the downstairs bathroom. The sewer had backed up during the flood and they said that it was pretty nasty downstairs. I heard them breaking up the shower too.

The chaplains came by with popsicles for us in the middle of the afternoon which was a nice break. The chaplains are part of the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team and are somehow deployed with SP to every disaster that SP goes to. We have four chaplains (two married couples) every week who stay for two weeks and as they rotate on deployments, you get a new pair of chaplains every week.

Getting Started

Hey guys it's Em! I cannot tell you how excited I am about this new step in my life. I graduated college last year as veterinary technician and took a job in Saskatchewan. Anyway, I worked at a mixed practice in a rural area for about a year. Then I went on a two-week missions trip to a reserve in northern Saskatchewan. (This was my 9th trip up and they always make my summer.) Anyway, on the way back home I clearly felt God's call to become more involved in short-term missions. To do this, I ended up leaving my job and moving back to Colorado, where I grew up. I sent applications to two missions organizations Christian Vet Mission and Samaritan's Purse. I really felt that this was what God wanted me to do but waiting for acceptance to a mission board is agonizing.
Today I received a letter in the mail from CVM saying they were pleased to inform that I had been accepted into the pool of short term missionaries. I am beyond excited! Getting that acceptance letter in less than a month is something I take as a good sign. I am very thankful that I had a great doctor who also happens to have faith in Christ to write my professional reference and two older missionaries to write my Christian reference. I had already registered for the CVM short-course to be held in Missouri next month, hoping I would get accepted into the pool.
At approximately 1:00p.m. today I received a phone call from Samaritan's Purse saying that they had received my application (I just sent it the end of last week!) and they are in need of volunteers for current disaster relief. Would I be willing to go to North Dakota to help with flood relief in August? Now?!? Already?! I said yes and told them I would be available the week of the 15th. A volunteer coordinator is supposed to get in touch with me over the next couple days to confirm the details.
So in two weeks I plan to go to Minot, North Dakota, as part of an SP Disaster Relief Team to help victims of the recent flooding. The following week I am scheduled to fly to Kansas City, Missouri, for 5 days of training during CVM. Part of this training will be by a group called Noah's Wish and they will teach us how to assist animals during national disasters while representing Christ.
I can't believe how fast it is all coming together; there is no other explanation than it is the hand of God reaching out and working on my behalf. May I be used to bring glory to Him as I take this new path.
Please pray with/for me on the following things:

• That I would bring glory to God and show His love to a hurting world
• That I would live my life when I am NOT on mission in a way that is pleasing to Him and will not damage my testimony
• For unity with my team in ND
• That things would continue to fall into place with both missions organizations
• For safe travel to and from ND and MO and safety while working in MO
• That I would seek Christ with my whole heart and truly focus on deepening my relationship with Him

At this point I am not asking for financial support but in the future that will probably be necessary. At this point all I ask for is your emotional and spiritual support. Knowing that I have people behind me, especially those who are praying for me, means so much. We know that our God is bigger than any challenge we will face and so much can be accomplished when His children join together in prayer.