Hello my sweet friends! Yesterday morning, my squad and I left for Louisiana to partner up with Samaritan’s Purse to help with hurricane relief. After sitting in a van with two of the teams on my squad, we arrived 17 hours later in Deridder, LA! Our squad along with squad C, will be serving alongside Samaritan’s Purse all this week, in 3 different towns. This is great, because this organization needed as many volunteers as possible due to the two hurricanes that recently hit. So, we are extremely grateful to be able to work with Samaritan’s Purse and serve these communities as best as we can!
Today, was the FIRST day we all got to serve! We started our morning by waking up @6am, had breakfast @6:30am, devo @7am, and we left for our first house @8am. Originally, I am on a team with 5 other girls along with my team leader, Nicole, but they split us up today so we had some of the guys with us at the property. So, it was my sweet friends, Kailey, Angelina, Max, Carter, Nicole, Bob, and I working together today with Samaritan’s Purse. We all piled into a van and drove about 6 minutes away from the church we are staying at, to a little 80 year- old man’s house named James.
As we pulled up, James was already standing in the front yard talking with Mike, one of the men from SP, about everything that we would be doing today. When we all went over to greet James, Mike shared with us a little bit about James that just brought all of us to tears. This man just lost his wife about 2 months ago due to COVID-19 and was also in the hospital because of the virus. He was still very weak from being in the hospital and wasn’t able to pick up all the limbs/fallen trees in his lawn from the hurricane. Also, that he had been looking for help and a friend mentioned this organization to him, so he had to give us a call! <3 His yard had a few trees that had fallen, there were leaves, tree limbs, and debris that covered his property. So, we were given a few tasks and began!
About an hour in, James sat on his front porch with his cute, precious, little miniature poodle named, Tiki Lu. She followed him wherever he went and when they sat on the porch together, he just talked with her which was so adorable… Anyways, I went up to James and started up a conversation. We talked about his life growing up in Deridder, Louisiana, what that consisted of, where he went to school, his church, his relationship with Christ, how he met his wife, how long they were married, what he liked to do for fun, how many pets he’s had, etc. All the things! And he just went from story to story, telling me all about his life. Not questioning it, just enjoying the conversation we had for the next hour. When that hour flew by, he got tired and went inside to go sit and get something to drink, so I got back to work. BUT, a couple hours later, I felt like my conversation wasn’t over with him yet and it was like God was telling me to go talk with James again. So, I asked my leader, Bob, if he could come with me to sit with James. He had been working on a few things in his living room, so we knocked on the door and he invited us into his home!
As we sat with James, we got to ask him more questions about his life and even the cheesy questions like where is your favorite place to eat around town? Which was so fun! What seemed like a shy, quiet, old man, his personality was revealed to us as tenderhearted, kind, compassionate, loving, FUNNY, and so welcoming! With each story, he just talked and talked and talked… Wow it was so interesting to hear everything he had to say. But what I learned about James today is that, despite all of the challenges he has faced, he stood so strong in his faith. He had lost his wife, best friend, and partner he had been married to for 20 years, just two months ago. Their home they had shared with one another for those 20 years, was falling apart because of these two hurricanes. All of his friends had already passed, almost everyone in his family as well, and he hasn’t seen anyone from church because it’s still closed due to COVID-19. He said he was super lonely, has been living with his sister since the hurricane hit, and hadn’t talked to anyone for this long in a really long time. (I spent 3-4 hours talking with him). All he wanted was someone to spend some time with him, someone who would listen, someone who would just sit and allow him to talk it all out. And the fact that God sent my team and I to this house specifically out of over 700 homes, was a miracle in my eyes.
Like I mentioned earlier, Bob came inside with me, but later on he had to do a few things, so Nicole and Kailey joined me and James later on. When this happened, James shared literally everything in his 80 years of life. And let me tell you, I loved every bit of it. Some of these stories were SO FUNNY, that I am going to share a few favorites of mine with you!
James talking:
“Well, there was this one time, my friend and I visited these French people’s home and they offered us some coffee. And you know I would NEVER pass up coffee! So, I said sure! Well, what’s strange is that this cup was very, very small, so I thought, man they must be super stingy with their coffee! But, as I took a sip of this coffee, I realized that thing was so strong that I thought it was about to crawl out of the cup itself and walk away!” James really didn’t know that he tried an espresso for the first time that day!
Kailey asked him where he liked to fish/what’s his favorite spot to fish… and he responds with this… “Well, the water!” We all just cracked up after that one obviously!
“I used to play guitar in the church. Since I’m getting old, I can’t hear that well anymore, and I thought maybe I should retire from singing and playing for the services. One of buddies then told me I should stop because I wasn’t sounding too good anymore, but I told him I didn’t care because I wasn’t playing for him, I was playing/singing for the Lord!”
There were so many other stories that I could share with you, but these are a couple of my favorites that really stood out to me! Anyways, we were at James’s property up until around 2:30pm today. We didn’t quite get to say goodbye to him, because he left to go take his little pup, Tiki, and himself to their favorite place to eat. This place was some fried chicken down the road that they always share together. But, long story short, James left such a mark on my heart today. With every word he spoke, there was hope. There was light in it even when his situation seemed so, so dark. His faith in the Lord was so bold and beautiful that it really stood out to me and encouraged me in so many ways. And I went into today thinking that I was going to be able to teach him something new, but instead he taught me. How to become confident in what the Lord has promised us. Knowing that all of this will soon come to pass and later we will be standing at the gates of heaven, running into our Father’s arms. And because of this, all of this that we deal with now, is worth it.
Second property: A man named Joe.
Bob pulls the van up next to this little white house on the corner of the street. This man, Joe, sat in his wooden chair, smiling real big, as we all approached him. Samaritan’s Purse had mentioned that this was their second time at Joe’s house because the tree in his backyard was way too big for their tools the first visit, so they had to bring the big guns out! So, when we began, mainly we just needed to clean up the trash and move some already cut up pieces of wood into a pile for the machine to pick up. Since the volunteers from the first visit were almost done, when we went to Joe’s house today, it didn’t take us long at all to get his property cleared up. So, I mainly sat with him on his front porch the entire time!
Joe is 60 years old, has 7 other siblings, has a daughter that’s 33, and a son that is 10. He was born and raised in Deridder, LA, worked 33 years at a furniture store in the mornings, and for 16 years he worked in the evenings at Popeyes! He loves basketball, his dream is to travel the world, and he loves his community here. Unfortunately, Joe recently had to quit his jobs because he has been really sick. 3 days a week, he has to go for dialysis treatments and has been waiting on a kidney for about 4 years now. He isn’t able to do much because of this and isn’t able to be around many people due to his treatments. You would think that all of this would get to him, especially since he didn’t have anyone around to talk to about it, but Joe doesn’t let anything shake him. Through all of this, He shared with me everything that God was and is continuing to do in his life. Saying how blessed he was to still be waking up every morning, walking, talking, and being able to raise his 10 year- old son.
Also, through the whole evening, Joe just smiled and laughed about all of the memories he shared with me today. The good and the bad, he still had a smile on his face! The main thing that he said today though, was that he has been waiting for a kidney donor for about 4 years now and still continues to pray every day that God would bless him with that donor. Praying bold, confident, powerful prayers, knowing that in the right time, God will send the right person to help him. It’s crazy to think that so many others would give up after a few months, but Joe continues to trust in the Lord with his situation. Knowing in the end our God is faithful and is our ultimate caretaker. I just love that, and it amazed me as I sat with him today.
Another thing I’d like to share is that Joe reached out to his church asking for help and they didn’t even return his call. How heartbreaking is that? That should not have happened, but thanks to Samaritan’s Purse, we were all able to go out to his home today and serve him in any way we possibly could. Physically, emotionally, and spiritually. His yard is all cleaned up now, we were able to love on him by sitting with him on his front porch, laughing, engaging in conversation with him, and praying with him lots! 🙂
Here are a few things I loved hearing from Joe today:
“I prayed to God for help and he sent me more help than I could have ever asked for.”
“Ha! You’re from Texas? Looks like we both know a thing or two about this heat!”
“That’s my friend Money Bags! He sure is a crazy ole thing.”
“You know Jamie, the world will tell you a lot of things. Just know what to believe and what not to believe.”
“You can do whatever you want to do. Set your mind to it and don’t let it go.”
As we were wrapping things up, saying our goodbyes, we prayed with him before leaving. We prayed over his treatments, his health in general, his family, all the things, and we gave him lots of hugs as well. Thanks to SP, our team was able to bless Joe with his own bible, and we each wrote a little note on the first page of it. When we gave it to him before leaving, and as we drove off, he was already reading it in his wooden chair. Still sitting on the front porch, waving to everyone as each car passed by, smiling as always. He really touched my heart today and honestly, I can say we’ve become best friends.
So yeah! Today was our first day of ministry and if you couldn’t tell by this blog, it was incredible. James and Joe are two people, in need of help, and God sent us to love and serve them today. I ask that all of you would pray for these two gentlemen for healing and restoration in their lives and that God would continue to comfort them in this time and forevermore. Thanks for reading and I love each of you so much! God bless you and keep you!!!
– Your sister in Christ, Jamie <3
John 15: 12-13
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
1 Thessalonians 5:11
“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”
1 Peter 4: 8-10
“Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”
Jamie this is amazing!! Thank you for sharing! Keep spreading God’s love!!
I love the portraits you paint of these two men. You allow them to share themselves using their own words. They come alive for those of us reading. Thanks, Jamie.
thank you so much for sharing these testimonies of what the Lord is doing here in DeRidder !!! you honored the homeowners so well by listening to them & then sharing the pieces of their hearts that they opened up to you. thanks for being a vessel and doing it so dang well!!!
Wow! I am just amazed how you just seem to be a natural at where you at this time in your life. And it sounds like the blessings went both ways. So happy for you!! Thanks for sharing.