08/01/2019
Wow! What a day!! My team did some lawn care today. Our first stop was to Miss Effie's house. We enjoyed talking with her about wildlife, flowers and her grandkids. She was a very sweet woman whose husband is disabled. She is his sole caregiver as he has lost nearly all independence. His time at dialysis is the only time she has to run errands and get things done. She seemed so grateful for the mowing, w**ding, bush trimming and w**d-whacking. The coolest part was that, while I was running lawn care equipment across the road to load up, Owen suggested and led prayer for this woman and her family! ❤️ Our next stop was to Miss Carolyn's home. We were disappointed to find her away! She lost her sister about 3 weeks ago. It sounds like the two were inseparable! They even lived beside each other and could often be found on the porch enjoying each other's company. It was such a blessing to be able to w**d and harvest her garden, w**d-whack, trim and mow both lawns for her. I pray that she was surprised and feels the love God has for her through the words and deeds of others in these upcoming difficult months. An afternoon storm put an end to our lawn care efforts but we had a fantastic visit with a couple who are both battling cancer! While some enjoyed a visit inside with the wife, the rest enjoyed sitting on the porch with the husband watching 10 hummingbirds zooming around chattering and feeding, marvelling over the diversity of wildlife he's seen at their home including bear, coyote, mountain lions, elk, deer, copperheads and more. He shared about his love for fishing, his battle with cancer and the harsh realities and the hilarious stories from his 20 year career as a coal miner. I am so grateful that Big Creek puts an emphasis on relationships vs a checklist! ❤️ Without that objective, we would've missed out on some amazing people and stories and the incredible truth that God can use us, the least of these, to work and move in people's lives! Then, if that wasn't enough, we had a free night with no mission dinner or activities. We supported the local economy and struggling town by having dinner at DQ. The employees were awesome and our Big Creek family helped out by delivering food and waiting on each other. They do more business in one night with us than they do in an entire week! We took some time to snap some group and family photos outside with the Appalachian Mountains and the beautiful but invasive kudzu vine (aka the vine that are the South) as the backdrop. We didn't have church tonight, but man, did we have church tonight!! ❤️ We had a discussion about being family which ended with a teen rededicating his life to the Lord (Praise Jesus!!), prayer and wrapped up with letters from home! Thank you for lifting us up in prayer and for sharing and entrusting these special and wonderful students and adults to us! We love them and are so proud of them! ❤️
