erik and kari

Our First Mission Trip

Vidor, TX
April 11-17, 2009

WOW. God is amazing! Erik and I went on our first mission trip, with 16 others from our church. We drove in two vans from Charlotte to Vidor, TX, in the southeast corner by Beaumont. For four days, we worked about 20 minutes away in Bridge City on a church and a house doing Hurricane Ike relief work. Nehemiah's Vision provides workers for their area, and in return the workers stay at the First Baptist Church of Vidor, using their gym and kitchen for recreation and food. There were also five bunk houses (housing eight people each) and a hot shower trailer.

Ike hit the region in September, and many people were still living in FEMA trailers as their houses were put back together. And yet even more people have had no help for fixing their houses to date. While we expected to see fallen trees and roofless houses, Ike brought the floods instead, leaving most houses with 4-8 feet of water damage. The tiny town of Vidor didn't receive the news coverage like New Orleans and Houston, so we were humbled to see the damaged houses contrasted by the welcoming people. Everyone was so thankful for our work, and so willing to sit and talk with us about the stories of their house, their friends, and their community. Erik and I especially enjoyed talking with George and Martha, a older couple who have lived in Vidor almost their whole lives. Since Ike, they have been living in a RV in the church parking lot, running the lodging for groups like us. George and Martha even took us to their house to show us the damage, and gave us plants right out of their yard! (They are growing beautifully here in NC.)

We weren't just working for UCF, or North Carolina, but we were representing Jesus Christ - his hope and his love. We really concentrated on this as we realized that all kinds of groups had been in and out of those bunk houses - nonbelievers, buddhists, other Christians. What makes us different?

We all learned how to drywall. But we had middle school boys who learned the value of hard work and teamwork, high school girls who learned that power tools can also empower your soul. Task oriented vs. time oriented. The youngest celebrated his 13th birthday with us, and the oldest brought his 13-year-old with us. God uses everyone, if you're willing to be used.


How good we felt to leave our work, the comforts of home, our cell phones and laptops, to go serve our God where he called us to go.

Check out our pictures! http://picasaweb.google.com/ksb.anderson/TexasMissionTrip