I shared how Nellie and I passed several convoys of food and supplies and convoys of electrical company trucks heading towards Harlingen as we made our way to Mission. This afternoon we came to check to see if we had electricity in our home and still nothing. We did see a convoy of trucks parked on the street that leads us to our subdivision. Nellie asked, "Are they working or just parked?" I said, "Being parked is part of their planning their strategy for fixing our neighborhood!" Or so I prayed. These particular gentlemen were from Mississippi or so their trucks identified them as such. I thanked God that these men were so far from home, having driven here such a long distance to come and help us recover our electricity. This morning our church had no electricity and the kindness of our sister church, Wesley UMC and their pastor, Rev. Dr. Tim Brewer, allowed us a place to worship. Some of our 8:30 crowd worshipped at that hour with Tim preaching and Tim invited me to finish my series on our faith journey at 10:45. Between services our associate invited us to breakfast and we met up with FUMC members at the same restaurant and the place was packed with people. The time between 9:30 and 10:30 seemed not long enough to be seated and order. Thanks to our friends from FUMC they paid for our breakfast and allowed us to leave in time to make our way to the front for the 10:45 service. Tim invited us to lunch and though it was his birthday today, he insisted on paying for lunch. I should rewind a bit to yesterday afternoon as we sat in Nellie and Jorge's house and I thought about how appealing the drive from Mission to Harlingen would be at 4 a.m., so I started looking online for a hotel room in Harlingen or within reasonable driving distance. No luck. I called our district secretary and asked if she could with her amazing pull get us a room at the hotel she uses for district guests. While doing that I get a call from Lisa, who sold us this home and she first offered us room at her house and not wanting to impose we politely declined. But this call was to tell us some church members had an apartment near the church that we could use for as long as we needed. The apartment was nicely furnished, air conditioned, and close to the church!
At about 6:30 after watching a video (the apartment had only the ability to catch the NBC channel and the VCR under it had no power cord, so on one of our trips home I took our VCR with us) Nellie calls our home. She had been doing this for about five days now only to get a recording that said there was no service. Today she yelled, "I hear your voice! That must mean the power's on!" Well, let's drive over and see. And thank God, it was. So, we're finally safely home, having journeyed long and hard, assisted by God and God's angels, some family, some friends, others strangers only in the sense we don't know them. But God, please bless the men and women that left family and homes to come to help us out here in an area that still needs so much.
We thank you all for your prayers, emails, calls, etc. supporting us and wishing us well. The church finally has electricity as well, and we pray soon, all of Harlingen will return to normal again.
PRAYER: Thank you God, for those whom You have sent to minister to us. Bless and protect them, bless and protect their families at home. May their time here be a blessing to them, for they have already blessed us. Bring comfort to those who were affected in Knoxville during that senseless shooting in Your house. Be with those who still need shelter and healing. We praise You and honor You in Christ Jesus' precious Name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
e.v.
