Long Van Rides and Disaster Relief

I have been in the Convoy of Hope van for several hours too many. We left Port Arthur on Wednesday morning and drove to Houston. We stayed the night in Houston at one of the other interns house. I have never been so happy to eat a salad. Her mom made us a great meal complete with apple pie. We departed from Houston early this morning. We left at 6:30am and are still driving. Needless to say we are restless and ready to be back in Springfield. The next few days promise to be a whirlwind of preparation as we leave Tuesday morning for Moldova!

We worked the distribution line all day Monday, most of Tuesday and a half day on Wednesday. The distribution is set up with three to six stations of ice, water and MREs (meals, ready to eat). Three to six cars (depending on the number of stations) would come through the line at a time. Each station was responsible for their car. We would put the goods in the cars with a smile. Let them know that they were all set, told them to have a good day and God bless and they were off. We try to make the line as efficient as possible, while making the people feel important and taken care of.

We ran out of goods and that is why we closed early Tuesday and Wednesday. As we were leaving on Wednesday the National Guard came in and took over. It was funny because they were asking me how the line worked, so there I was telling the National Guard what to do – like I was in charge or something. =). Its amazing how God can give you energy to serve all day. It was like the moment I stopped then I felt tired, but while working I had energy to move boxes and smile to the drivers and passengers coming through the line.

For the most part the people coming through the line were gracious and felt blessed to be receiving ice, water and MREs. On Tuesday I worked with a local volunteer. I have no idea what his story was or if he was a Christian or not, but he had heard about Convoy of Hope and the distribution area on the radio station and decided to come out to help. He was so excited to be there. He told me that volunteering that day was just what he needed and that it was the first time since Friday that he hadn't been stressed. I thought this was a cool different perspective. So many times the stories are about people without power or a flooded house, this story was about God using Convoy to help someone by allowing local people come and volunteer.

I didn’t take too many pictures because I was super busy during the day and I really didn’t want to make people feel like I was taking advantage of their situation, but I took a few Wednesday morning before distribution. I also have included a link to a article with a picture of yours truly on it =). It will also tell you more about what Convoy of Hope did in Port Arthur. http://www.convoyofhope.org/go/usdisaster/details/convoy_of_hope_expands_hurricane_response


Here I am in front of some boxes

Here are the stations before we opened up

This is a reenactment...

This is another reenactment


“And don’t forget to pray for me. Pray that I’ll know what to say and have the courage to say it at the right time, telling the mystery to one and all , the Message that I, jailbird preacher that I am (or just Claire Balch from California – definitely not the missionary that Paul was), am responsible for getting out…Good-bye, my friends. Love mixed with faith be yours from God the Father and from the Master, Jesus Christ. Pure grace and nothing but grace be with all who love our Master, Jesus Christ” Ephesians 6