Spring Break in Katy

Recently, thirty-two of us from Cru drove to Katy, Texas to spend a week helping to restore homes that had been damaged by Hurricane Harvey. This was an incredible experience and a great way to spend my Spring Break. I could talk about this trip for hours, but I am going to do my best to consolidate it into something simple and readable here.

We left Fort Collins around 7:00 pm on Friday, March 9^th and returned around 8:00 am on Sunday, March 18^th.  We were split into three vans. The vans were crowded and the drive was long but we were excited. When we arrived in Katy on Saturday afternoon, quite a few of us were surprised by what we saw, or more accurately, what we didn’t see. At first glance, the city seemed fine. There were no collapsed buildings, no houses in ruins. In fact from the outside the houses looked great and the architecture was impressive. As we pulled into the parking lot of the church that would be hosting us for the week, some of us began to doubt the point of us coming. Did these people actually need our help?

It didn’t take long to realize the answer to this question was yes. The two volunteers from the church we worked with throughout the week told us what a challenge the past six months had been. The people were exhausted, and despair weighed over the city. But these two men believed God could use us to change Katy’s morale. And they were right. The next morning when we all attended church, we were overwhelmed by the amount of people walking over to thank us for coming to help. Some even had tears in their eyes. It’s amazing how God used us to give others hope again.

Each day that we worked we were split into different groups and had different work. Sunday afternoon consisted of yard work for my group while others did dry-walling. Monday was my favorite work day. The all-female group I was a part of cleared debris from people’s homes. What we grabbed varied from wood, to doors, to tiles, to ovens, to even a toilet. We filled three industrial sized dumpsters in one day. We filled three industrial sized dumpsters with what were now the broken pieces of people’s lives. At one point we came across a yearbook so badly damaged that it couldn’t be opened. Not everything that was lost could be replaced. On the outside the houses seemed fine, but on the inside, it was broken. People are like that too.

On Tuesday I spent the day with a group of people painting. We managed to paint  nearly the entire inside of the house before we ran out of primer. And then that night all the guys cooked and served dinner and wrote notes for all of us girls. After all the hard work they put into helping the residents of Katy that day, they still found the energy to put forth such a thoughtful gesture. I am so thankful for all of them and for how clearly their love for God shows.

Now Wednesday was Beach Day. We spent the day on a beach in Galveston. We were divided into teams and competed in soccer, sandcastle making, and a race. My team came in 3^rd… of three. Oh well, we still had a fun time! Beach day helped us all feel refreshed for our last two days of work.

Thursday morning, I helped set up for a community lunch for one of the neighborhoods that had been affected by the hurricane. During the event I was in charge of an inflatable obstacle course for the kids, which was a blast! One light that God brought from this tragedy was that it brought people together; people within the neighborhood, or even people from Katy, Texas with some college kids from Colorado State University.

Friday, our final workday, was bittersweet. The group I was in scrubbed tiles and did yard work for a woman involved with the church. In the places where her walls and floors were ripped up, she and her family wrote different Bible verses. Her faith was incredible. And as quickly as the work day began, it ended. That night we celebrated the week by going out to dinner. When we returned, we went outside and did some swing dancing, which was a lot of fun, just like our downtime during the week always was. Throughout the week, we would spend time doing worship, processing the day, and breaking out into small groups. But the rest of the night, we would have free time which was spent playing card games, playing kickball, and watching movies – the kind of things that create and grow friendships.

Going on service trips like these build bonds that last forever. New friendships were made and current ones were strengthened, as was my relationship with God. At the start of this trip I was anxious because I didn’t know exactly what to expect and because I was worried I’d only cause more damage to the homes because of my lack of experience with manual labor. But I went in with open hands. And God filled them.

If you’re intrigued by this post and looking forward to what I’ll write about in the future, you can expect a new post every Saturday. Also, if you feel inclined, feel free to leave a comment below about what you think. Thanks for all your support and I hope you’ll come back next week. Stay Amazing!