old dogs, new tricks

friends! family! dearly beloved. As you may have heard, I’m currently staying in Dallas, Texas with a sweet family from the World Race. You’re probably wondering how or why I’m here so lemme give you a little insider. 

In the late summer of this year Hurricane Laura hit DeQuincey, Louisiana pretty hard. My squad was then blessed with the opportunity to leave our little bubble in Gainesville, GA to go serve the people who were greatly affected by the storm. For 4 days we stayed with Samaritans Purse and went out each morning & afternoon to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Then we had to leave DeQuincy early because Hurricane Delta made landfall early. Instead of going home early we came to Dallas to wait out the storm.

However, God showed up SO much during those 4 days and I wanted to share!

In DeQuincey, whatever the people need we were there to give. Whether that be moving branches and logs for 8 hours a day, pray healing over our homeowners, clean out houses infected with mold, or just sit and speak with Ms. Jennifer under the cool shade of a tree for hours, we were there to do it. 

Our teams were also given the sweet honor of working with Samaritans Purse volunteers and team leaders. These men and women of God were usually older people who were retired, and now they work with disaster relief in their spare time. 

Now, if you’ve been paying attention to the news recently there’s a lot that can separation between our generations. They think we are wild, drunk kids who just riot all the time and disrespect our mamas. We tend to think that they’re old, strict, out-of-style losers who only say “back in my day we didn’t have that….”. 

But hallelujah there’s reconciliation for that!! 

On Tuesday night one of our sqaudmates had a deep prayer request, something that he felt to share with his brothers and sisters. It was something that made us all hold each other bit closer and thank God for our bond just a bit more. After that we felt to go straight into worship. With all our our hearts and minds and breaths and souls we poured ourselves out before the Lord.

The older SP volunteers heard us in dining hall and joined us. It was a night that I’ll never forget. 

Fast forward to Wednesday during the day. Our team was on a job removing branches and brush from a homeowners backyard. My team leader Betsy looked a bit discombobulated so I went over to her and asked if she was okay. She said yes but something was pushing me to ask again. Turns out she had some things on her plate that were causing a lot of worry and anxiety. 

I heard her out and then asked if I could pray for her. She said sure and we spent a minute talking to the Lord and asking Him to give her guidance and peace. Then we hugged and went out separate ways, finished the job and went back to the base. 

Later that night during dinner something radical happened. Ms Betsy, along with other SP volunteers spoke of our generation in a way that I’ve never heard. They said that between worship and prayers and building each other up and healing the sick and helping the poor, they saw something in us. 

They saw hope. 

They saw a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. People who would declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness and into the light! It was a night of love and reconciliation between two people groups. We can now all walk in the marvelous light that the Lord has called us to. No matter our age, no matter what the world says, we are one in Jesus Christ. A unified body of believers who sole purpose is to bring heaven to earth. 

I was crazy thankful to witness this blessing this week and I’m SO excited to join them again next week. Please continue to pray on behalf of myself, Cole, my squad, our leadership, and Samaritans Purse. 

may His favor be upon you, 

Marissa

here’s a pic of me & Betsy! the kindest woman!