Florida Outreach Week

Hi everyone! This week was our regional outreach trip. So, all the girls from my squad and the other gap-year squad road-tripped to Fort Myers, Florida, while the boys from each squad went to Kentucky. We came to help with home reconstruction after Hurricane Ian and worked in the Harlem Heights neighborhood all week.
None of us knew exactly what we’d be doing before we arrived; we were just coming to serve wherever the AIM (Adventures in Missions) base there needed us. My team ended up getting split between two projects. Sydney, Megan, and Alyssa worked in a home, helping put up new cabinets and installing doors, while Clara, Lydia, Sophie, Faith, and I were led by an intern, Michael, in doing landscaping work in different areas around the neighborhood. The first day we mowed and trimmed a strip of road where elementary school kids walk home every day, and then asked a neighbor on the corner of that street if he’d like us to do his as well.
The next couple of days, we worked on two abandoned houses in the mornings and then did other odd jobs in the afternoons, including helping at a food pantry in the neighborhood. And man, when I tell you these abandoned houses were jungles, I mean it. Lydia and I, at one point, were standing in swamp water up to our shins, using the weed eaters where the mowers couldn’t reach. We also got to go to the beach and have a little playtime in between all the work; I think our team really needed that.
Thursday night, we had a worship session at the beach during sunset with everyone from the race. Many people joined us and had conversations regarding the gospel during that time. It was so beautiful to see how naturally people were drawn into our crowd. At the end of the night, I ended up talking to a 37-year-old woman named Amber. She started pouring out her life story to me, so I just listened. She has 5 kids now, originally had 2 and was then divorced, so she was raising them on her own. Now she’s married to an “amazing and extremely godly man.” She brought up that because she’s now in a stable, safe environment, the trauma from her past is being brought back to the front of her mind so that she is able to work through it and process. As many of you know, mental trauma and healing can also affect your physical body; that’s what Amber was trying to work through right now. I asked her if I could pray for her, and she said yes. She ended up crying during our prayer, and I just hope the Spirit continues to move in her. Please pray for her when you think of it!
To sum up, I think everyone learned very valuable lessons this week about doing the uncomfortable, working hard simply because it’s honoring to Him, and that anything you do can share God’s love with others. My team also had a very vulnerable team time where we worked through an uncomfortable and controversial situation that came up earlier in the week. But in the moment when it was getting tense, we paused to pray; after that, everyone’s heart was so softened that half of us were crying in the middle of the coffee shop! We all learned so much from that time, and I feel like it was exactly what we needed to break the ice within our team and show us that controversy is okay as long as we work through it.
Now we’re headed back to base camp in Georgia, where we’ll debrief and rest before we head off to Cambodia next weekend! Please be praying that we continue to be humble and learn from each other and the Lord during our last few days together.
As always, none of this would be possible without your generous donations and prayers. If you feel led after reading how God is moving through us, please consider donating to my fund or sharing about my mission with your friends and family. I have $7,379 left to be fully funded! You are all amazing. Please feel free to text me with any questions you have about my trip. (303-886-7595)”