In April, 2016, there was a record-breaking rainfall in Houston. About 500 mm [19.7 in] of rain poured, which is the six-month amount of rain in Korea. In Greenspoint, located in North Houston, the water rose up to over 30 cm [12 in], and water started coming in the first floors.
On the first Sunday after the flood happened, more than sixty members from the Houston Church went to Greenspoint for a flood recovery work. Although about a week passed after the flood, the recovery work was slow. Debris that was swept down with the rain was everywhere, and there was odor at every house because of the hot weather.
The residents, who were managing to stay in their houses where everything was damaged, welcomed us greatly. They desperately needed help to bring the furniture out of their houses like a couch or a rug which became even heavier from the rain.
We did the repair work block by block along the flooded street. The sunlight in Houston is well-known to be strong. We kept working with beads of sweat under the scorching sun. Our faces and arms flushed while cleaning up the debris under the sun.
That day, a few TV stations came out to broadcast us. One station delivered the news of our volunteer work live. The news was on the front page of the TV station’s website. After it was broadcasted, we received one phone call. It was from a citizen who saw the news and wanted to deliver some donations to our church.
He lived in downtown Houston about thirty minutes from our church, but he and his family brought the relief goods on their truck.
“I didn’t know where to donate all these goods my family has collected, but made up my mind when I watched the evening news on Sunday. I got your church information from the TV station.”
He and his family were also moved by us who sincerely expressed our appreciation and by the clean church, and promised to visit us again next Sabbath day.
We were moved, too. We realized once again how powerful it is to practice neighborly love just as God teaches us, and we made up our minds to work harder to do the roles of the salt and the light of the community.
“It takes a great effort to change someone’s life. The church of these people already made a change here.”
We feel proud of being the members of the Church of God, who are making changes to the world just as the reporter said. Our efforts to change other people’s lives will continue.