Day five here in Nashville started like the previous days, with breakfast and preparing for the work day ahead. Today was different in that we were not scheduled to do any construction or clean-up work, but instead travelled to a warehouse near the Nashville airport to meet James and Carlton (our work coordinators). Today we would be delivering furniture to families in the final stages of their recovery from the flood. Obviously their full physical, mental and even spiritual recovery from the flood could take much longer, but the delivery of furniture marked the end of the assistance from the church and the closing of their case. These were meaningful moments as we travelled across Nashville to five separate homes delivering furniture – many of these families had numerous mission teams and local groups assisting with the work at their homes over the last 18 months. We were blessed and thankful to share in these moments with the families and we exhausted our supply of Bibles and “God is Big Enough” bracelets by the end of the day.

Moving in new furniture - the final step

In addition to our delivery work, we were asked to leave two team members behind at the warehouse to assist the staff with unloading trucks and loading furniture into vehicles that may be scheduled to come by. We immediately and unanimously voted to leave Susan behind, with Jimmie graciously volunteering to stay with Susan so that she would be properly supervised. Jimmie and Susan unloaded over 100 pieces of furniture from a tractor trailer that would soon be distributed to families in need.

Ron, David and Carlton load furniture at the warehouse

After completing our work and returning to the church, we decided to call the homeowner whose house we had worked on at this time last year here in Nashville. He was surprised to hear from us and invited us over to visit – not knowing we were staying less than five minutes from him home. We quickly set out for his house and he greeted all 11 of us (6 of which he knew from last year). The homeowner had completed the work on his house that we had helped him with and has been living in his home since last Thanksgiving. At this time last year he was living in a camper parked behind his home while he was nearly singlehandedly repairing the flood damage to the home. We were incredibly blessed to see his finished work – nearly everyone on the trip has been on mission trips before but none of us have ever had the opportunity to return to a work site and see the finished product. We prayed with the homeowner, gave him a “God is Big Enough” bracelet and said tearful goodbyes. The homeowner said that although we worked on only a small part of him home, he was inspired by our faith and service and that helped him complete the repairs to his house.

Mission team with the homeowner we served last year

We then travelled to the home that Team #2 had worked at all week, after the caseworker informed us that the homeowner had called her at 6:30 Thursday morning hoping to meet with us before we returned to Texas. Although we had said our goodbyes to her on Wednesday, she felt called to meet with us again and share just how much she was thankful for our work that week. We arrived at her home and she gave each of us a big hug that she said was from her and her parents who lived in Florida. We then went inside her house where Susan told her about the Methodist / Wesley tradition of a “prayer closet”. She chose a small closet in one of the bedrooms and we each signed our names and wrote her a brief message on the wall. We prayed with her again and said our goodbyes again – she promised to keep in touch and let us know when she was back in her home.

The mission team signed the homeowner's "Prayer Closet"

I might be overstepping my bounds to speak for everyone on the mission team, but I think we all felt the Spirit of God with us when we visited both homeowners this evening. It was a great way to finish the week here in Nashville and each of us is thankful for the opportunities we had and the lives we were able to touch in God’s name. And we are doubly thankful for our own lives being touched by the people we met this week – I believe we will all take something back with us to FUMC Mansfield when we return.

Susan told the team during our final devotional tonight that the mission trip truly begins when we arrive back home – where we share with our families and friends the stories from the week – and when we carry the love of Jesus and the message of “God is Big Enough” to those whose lives we touch every day.

We will be travelling back to Mansfield on Friday so please continue to keep our team in your prayers!