The Texas 13:
Mission to Texas City

Mark & Susan Bradford

Due to our schedules, we’ve found it very difficult to be personally involved in volunteer programs as much as we would like. It’s been important for us to find an opportunity in which we could participate together and build a stronger relationship with each other and with our community. Our hope for the Texas trip is to help other families rebuild their lives and also learn a little more about ourselves and what we truly feel is important. We’re very much looking forward to this opportunity and especially building new friendships along the way.

Scot Stetka

Two years ago I went to New Orleans to rehabilitate houses. A local couple told me I was “God’s provision” for them. I like being a part of that.

Irma Jimenez

This is my second mission trip. I'm looking forward to doing  this year. It is wonderful to be able to go again, and help others in need; It is the satisfaction of being able to put another smile. there is a saying that I've read from an author called Lou Holtz and it goes like this "Ability is what you are capable of doing; Motivation determines what you do; Attitude determines how well you do it" which if you take the first letter of each saying it spells AMA-which in Spanish it means TO LOVE, and this is what our Father JEHOVAH and our Brother CHRIST JESUS taught us to do (this is to LOVE one another) and this is why I'm going, because of all the love that I can give by helping others in need.

Curt Johnson

I have been blessed with the many wonderful people and things that make up the tapestry of my world.  Life has not been as kind to many others.  We hear in church so many times that we are to exhaust ourselves in the service of others.  I can't think of a better way to do that than to offer my strength, energy, and compassion to help those who have lost everything. I'm hoping to come home tired but filled with the joy that comes from doing something significant to improve the lives those less fortunate than myself.

Cindy McDaniel

Because Jenny asked me to think about it, which I did. Because I can, so I am. Because it matters. This is the work that makes a difference and brings us back to our center and makes us whole, yet again.

Mary Spencer

I am going because I got a second chance to go! Thinking back about my experience last year as part of the RHINO 15, I went for "them" and knew in my heart that I was also going for "me". I discovered through my service what I am here for; this is another opportunity to make a difference in someone else's life as well as my own. I am grateful that with this congregations resources that I can do my part to offer service to others.

Mac McKay

Upon my retirement, I promised myself I would start a new career doing something I really loved, and that was carpentry. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, and I saw the damaged houses, I thought, "I have the skill to rebuild those houses". I went on last year's mission trip with First and Central's RHINO group and learned that I could be of some help in the recovery effort in New Orleans, even though I was only able to build three sets of stairs in 7 days (hey, quality, not quantity!!). I hope I can accomplish a lot more in Texas City. Hurricane Ike did not get the publicity that Katrina did, and so many people are still home-LESS. I want to use my God-given talents to help those less fortunate than myself, and that's why I'm one of the Texas City 12.

Jenny Warren

I go to make a difference – to make a difference to a home and to those who lost it, to restore lives and hope. I go to make a difference in myself, because so often that only happens when I go away, leaving my sense of comfort and control behind, and taking in realities deeper and wider than my own. And I go to make a difference in our congregation, because I believe that engaging in this kind of hands-on relief for others with a small group from a church transforms the whole of the church in wonderful, faithful ways.

Doug Gerdts

We so often say in worship that God calls us to care for "the ignored and the overlooked," and we are frequently referring to "the least of our sisters and brothers" in our city or our state. Responding to overwhelming events such as Hurricane Ike serve to broaden our horizon and perspective to include those in places further from home. The people of Texas City have been "out of sight and out of mind" for nearly 12 months -- and so we go to be the tangible expression of God's love and compassion to the ignored and the overlooked, we go to be the body of Christ in a ravaged land, and we go because "the struggle for justice is the beat to which our hearts respond.

Carol Woodcock and Carol Lewis

Throughout our lives we have neen so richly blessed. In joining this mission trip we hope to reach out and help those less fortunate.

Ellen Roberts

A few Sundays ago, Doug talked about mitzvahs as charitable acts that don’t count unless the givers reap no benefits. Until then, I’d been thinking of this trip as a mitzvah – but my reasons for going are selfish, not selfless. I am going because I need to shake up my life, wake up my faith, and take on some new challenges. This trip will take me about 1500 miles away from home, but about a gazillion miles out of my comfort zone. The weather forecast for Texas City includes a mosquito activity index – just the place for someone who hates insects and doesn’t tolerate heat and humidity well. I am counting on the experiences I have and the people I meet to plant seeds of change that will keep sprouting within me long after the sunburn and mosquito bites are gone.

Sara Snowden

As one of the RHINO 15 in New Orleans last November, I saw firsthand how one week of work can make a difference in a community rebuilding after a devastating storm. I came back from that trip knowing I would jump at the chance to go again. This year's trip to Texas City will be a bittersweet homecoming for this former Houstonian, but I'm looking forward to being a small part of a big effort to rebuild homes and hope in the area.