new friends in foley

Welcome back to what, in my professional opinion, is the best blog ever! Todays update is a little more exciting than usual because…drumroll please…I’VE BEEN DOING HURRICANE RELIEF THE PAST TWO WEEKS IN FOLEY, ALABAMA. That’s right guys, I finally made it off of campus in Gainesville and life has never been so sweet.

The past two weeks we partnered with an organization called Samaritan’s Purse. I could tell you what they are all about but if I’m honest their mission statement does it a heck of a lot better than I could. 

Samaritan’s Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. Since 1970, Samaritan’s Purse has helped meet needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God’s love through His Son, Jesus Christ. The organization serves the Church worldwide to promote the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now that you know a little bit about their vision I want to tell about my experience over the past fourteen days.

I learned more than I ever thought possible. I can now proudly tarp a roof and mud out an entire room. I can take walls apart and tear insulation out of ceilings. I am a professional log carrier and an even better raker. I won’t lie to you I didn’t learn how to use the chainsaw but that’s because I wanted to keep all of my limbs intact. As fun as it was to learn (or not learn) each of these skills they were the absolute most mynute part of this ministry. The relationships formed through them are the important part.

Each day we got to make new relationships with homeowners, other volunteers, and our team leads. I spent my time learning about their life stories, favorite memories, and of course, their favorite football teams (if I never hear “Roll Tide” again it will still be too soon). I have countless new friends I could tell you about but I have decided to stick to three. Three people who came to mean the world to me either in the matter of a couple hours or seven days. 

The first is a homeowner. She was a picture of joy the entire time we were working. Her house was the first and only job we could not complete. About an hour in we had to tell her we could not complete the work inside because the mold was too dangerous. It was a disheartening moment for all of us because we wanted to do everything we possibly could for this sweet, sweet woman. But you would have never known that we left that house with a job unfinished based upon her gratefulness. Her joy and confidence in the Lord didn’t waiver in the slightest. She spent the remaining hour sitting with Camille and I laughing and telling us stories of her travels. She didn’t allow the pain of the day to get to her, instead she kept spreading her light to us. Truly, I think she gave more to me than I did for her. And just in case you haven’t gotten a full picture of this women I want you to know while we were there she let her granddaughter dye her hair pink in the front yard. She was a hoot to say the least.

The second is our team leads from the first week, Keith and Joan. They had their work cut out for them as soon as they got put with a team I was on. But seriously, those two people exude the love of the Lord like no one else. They spent every moment either teaching one of us something new, encouraging us, or joking with us. They made my first experience with Samaritan’s purse the best it could possibly be. They put relationships over the amount of work we got done (and we still got a lot done). This includes relationships with us, them, and the homeowners. They knew that spreading the love of Jesus was the absolute most important thing and they did it the best anyone could have. Also, they give really great hugs which makes them that much better.

The third is the man, the myth, the legend…. Nickey. Now let me tell you about this dude. He showed up on our third day of work with his own personal skid-steer to help us. He drove 100 miles each way just to come down and volunteer his time. Not only that but he also made our job about a thousand times easier because we didn’t have to haul every log and branch to the road by hand. He pushed back his real job over and over again to come back and work with us. He showed us what commitment to the Lord looks like because as much as he said he loved working with us we all knew that wasn’t the reason he came. He came to use his talents and skills to spread the love of Jesus and he did just that. 

P.S. He was also a cowboy which was pretty dope if I’m totally honest 🙂  

These aren’t the only people that touched my heart but if I told you about all of them this blog would never ever end. So with that said, I hope you all are having an amazing day and remember Jesus loves you BIG TIME.

all the love,

sarah hicks