We thought we’d be in the Savannah area for longer, or should I confess that I had hoped we would because it’s been a blessing to spend time with our kids and grandkids in between serving, eating, and sleeping! But that’s not what The Lord wanted for us. We’re bummed, but God is good and one day we’ll have forever to spend with them in heaven!!
Our willing servants had dwindled to less than one a week before this decision, so I was just working through our list of commitments and not really making anything long-term, but did let people know we’re here to help, just need to know what we can do and the response from them was also dwindling.
When we got back from VA moving our bunkhouse here to set up, we were stuck in Bluffton, SC because power was out in the areas we needed to be from Hurricane Helene. By Wednesday of that week, we were able to set up our camp behind 1st Baptist Church in Richmond Hill and quickly got back to helping folks.
With Helene came some tree damage, which caused the power outages, and we were able to help 3 older, single ladies by cutting up, falling, and removing tree and debris from their yards. CC Savannah showed up that Saturday and we had folks from 5 to, well I won’t say how old the ladies were, helping us!! Many hands made the load light!
Back to helping folks flooded from Hurricane Debby, we had 5 homes left that we were trying to dry and spray, a home we committed to replace all the electric, a few things we wanted to do at the place we were staying, and a few other odds and ends to finish up.
Two of the homes were waiting on the owners to make decisions and get things done that we couldn’t do. Both didn’t follow through for over a month so we had to tell them that we couldn’t spray the homes, which they understood and thanked us for all the help we’d given them so far.
One of the homes was a similar situation and Thursday I put my drying equipment in Carol’s home but explained that I had to pull everything on Saturday whether it was dry or not and that she’d have to find someone to spay it for her. She was bummed but knew that she had held things up and was extremely thankful for all the help we had given her. I told her I’d come back on Friday to move the fans around to help ensure it would dry as best as it could before I had to pull our equipment.
Friday, I finished up the electrical trim with the help of Bill and then we headed over to Carol’s to move things around. Bill could only help until 3 and this was just after noon, so I needed to move quick to get him back in time. There were still a few things that needed cleaning that Carol was supposed to have done so I put Bill to work vacuuming as I went around taking moisture measurements to move equipment to the wettest areas. To my surprise, everything had dried up to within the correct levels so Carol’s house could be sprayed!
I told Carol that The Lord had shown her immense favor to get her home dry that quickly! She agreed and I started removing the equipment while Bill finished vacuuming and Carol moved some stuff out. We then got busy spraying, got it done, everything cleaned up, and I got Bill back to camp by 3:15!! God is so good!! Carol was so appreciative of all the help and guidance we were able to give her!
The other homeowner, Geney, was bummed as well, but did understand that they had held us up. As it turned out our move was moved back a day (see below), so I told her she had one more chance to finish up things at her house so we could spray. She did and today Zach and I will finish our last home and we’re able to complete all we wanted to do in spite of some homeowners dragging their feet!
We also had to redo the rear brakes in our V10 last week and one of the homeowners came over and was a huge help getting this done, which is huge since now, well read on……..
And now Milton! If you didn’t know, we’re from Sarasota and still have a house there that we rent out to help with our bills. Milton came right through there and has done a lot of damage. It wasn’t as bad as was predicted down to the last minute and we all thank The Lord for that!
Since we’re done with all our commitments here in GA and we’ve got some damage to our house and many others in the area, we’re going to deploy to Sarasota. We haven’t even gotten everything set up here with our bunkhouse we just brought in, but that’s what we do!
Our church is wanting us back to do what we can, and we will be setting up at CC Sarasota like we did during our Ian response. We will be bringing in smaller teams and figuring out the logistics with all of that as well as start triaging all the work that we’ll be doing.
If there’s ever anything you need prayer about or just need to talk to someone, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us and let us know!
f you’re interested in growing in The LORD as you selflessly serve others alongside of Calvary Relief, please let us know! For more info on joining us, click here. Plenty of things to do!
If you feel led to help with any of the expenses with Calvary Relief, please click here.
If there’s ever anything you need prayer about or just need to talk to someone, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us and let us know!
Here to serve and disciple until He calls us home,
Curt & Mary Jo
