w _J 0... 0 w 0... <D ,- HELPI HOUSTON STUDENTS SERVE VICTIMS AFTER HURRICANE HITS TEXAS WORDS Cassiqy Colbert I I PHOTOS Caleb Mefia Senior Robert Stewart, along with 16 other Harding students, left earcy, Arkan as, for Hou ton, Texas, to serve a relief workers during the weekend D llo, ing Hurricane Harvey n ept. 1-3. The group connected \ ith Robert Heyen, a Houston local who worked with Memorial Church of Chri ·t as well as Olympic Recon truction, a company that worked on remodeling and building homes in the area, in eft rts to help with the cleanup in the community. Once the group was there, Heyen shared that their task was to work on two houses within a Jewish community. "On Saturday we went I to work) in a Jewish community, since they cannot work on aturdays," tewart said. "\Y/e were able to work (on] the houses and were able to ing to the couple who own the home. The man who (live ] there told us how big of a blessing we were. It was awesome to be a part of." While working on one of the houses, the team had to wear white suit and gloves with mask as they crawled under a 3,200- quare-foot crawl pace. In another home, they removed two feet of drywall, in tallation, trim and A oring on the fir t floor. fter Hurricane Harvey, many came to help with the clean-up of neighborhoods and communities. Red Cr ss and other groups soon began to turn people a'I ay because there was nowher for them to stay. ophomore Emelia Thomas, who al o went on the trip felt God prepared the way for the group a they traveled and worked in Houston. ' !ln] !es than 24 hours, we all were able to connect with a church, had a place to stay and food," Thoma said. "It was made clear that God wa at ~- rk and was pro\'iding." l lcyen and his wife provided food for the group as well as a place for them to stay. The couple shared stories of people in the area losing their homes and everything they owned. "We have about 40 families within our church that have lost their homes, jobs or cars," Heyen said. "The connections we have made through all of this has been amazing. ome are believers and some not but we are able to help and walk through this with them." rewart agreed with Thomas about God providing a way for them to go erve the Houston community. 'lf you choo e to go, God will make it p ssible and he will provide," tewart aid. ' od can and ~-ill use anyone.' B th tewart and Thomas hared that they to k more a, ay from the trip than they were expecting, and it wa · something that they would want to do again. "G dis on the move still, and g ing [to H ston] made [me] realize that no matter how deep a pit e are in, he is till with us," tewart said. I On Fnday, Sept.1 , 201 7 senior Robert Stewart gives the last details of he mission trip to the group before leaving for Texas. A group of Harding students, under the leadership of Stewart. decided to head out to Houston, Texas, and help people whose homes were destroyed during Hurricane HaNey.// Photo courtesy of Caleb Mejia
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