Keys Team - Final Post - Thank You!

On Saturday evening, we PTL that our FBA Florida Keys Mission Team arrived safely back to Georgia after a wonderful week serving the Lord in the Keys!

The trip was considered a success from the fact that God provided the team with the wisdom and strength to accomplish a number of projects that helped to achieve the following results:

1. A very friendly elderly woman that some of the team developed a relationship with now has a new porch deck that she will be able to use even in the event that she is forced to use a wheelchair. A couple of the team members also cleaned her house while they were waiting for things to do to help with the porch deck. The elderly woman’s dogs are also able to enjoy the new porch deck with her as they no longer have to go up and down steps.
2. A volunteer firefighter whose house had its roof ripped off was provided with a materials list and detailed instructions for how to complete the work so he could finally finish the restoration work two years after being struck by the hurricane.
3. A house that was completely devastated from hurricane force winds now has its electrical wiring in place so it can be used again for living quarters. Other kitchen furniture was also put into place so contractors could complete their work and get the house closer to completion, hopefully in time for Christmas.
4. So much work was accomplished in a house that had its roof completely ripped off by hurricane Irma that it is anticipated that the family will be able to move back into the house by Christmas. What a wonderful Christmas gift!
5. One house whose owner had to completely remove all of the drywall in his house due to hurricane damage had much of the drywall sanded and finished so it could be painted. The house is now much closer to being fully restored for the home owner.

Other ways the Lord used the mission trip to accomplish His purposes:  

• God used the trip to help some team members identify areas of their character that He wanted to further develop.
• Some team members learned construction best practices that can be used to assist with projects on other mission trips.
• The construction coordinator asked if FBA could send the team back to continue to assist them in their recovery efforts.
• The mission trip team was able to fellowship together in the name of showing the love of Christ to others through their work.
• Most importantly, mission trip team members were able to pray with some homeowners and neighbors and to share the gospel with them! This helps to pave the way for other members of the Florida United Methodist Disaster Recovery organization to continue to seek opportunities to share the gospel with them.

The Florida Keys Mission Team would like to thank the following organizations and supporters for their support during the mission trip:

• We would like to thank all of those who provided prayer support for the duration of the trip as the prayers helped to provide us with much needed strength to keep going.
• We would like to thank all of those who very generously provided financial support to each person on the Florida Keys Mission Team.
• We would like to thank the Kirk of the Keys for providing housing for the mission trip team for the duration of the trip.
• We would like to thank Florida United Methodist Disaster Recovery personnel for the support they provided. They were very responsive to requests for tools and materials that were required for the work. This made it possible to keep the work going with minimal disruption.
• We would like to thank the families of mission trip members who were very supportive of mission trip team members.
• We would like to thank the staff of FBA for all of their organizational efforts to make the trip happen.
• Most importantly, we would like to thank the Lord for the strength and provisions that He provided the entire team. He kept the entire team safe and healthy.