Selma, AL – Jan. 19-25, 2025

Last Sunday we attended Pastor John Grayson’s church. He is on the long-term recovery team, pastors three churches, runs a small homeless shelter, a performing arts theater, and numerous other small missions in town. He held anointings for several new church leaders, which was quite moving and humbling for us to be a part of.

That evening we welcomed in 10 young people from near Ephrata, PA, led by Jason Martin, our faithful roofer and provider of many volunteer groups over the last several years. They completed two roofs this week, in spite of the cold!

The flooring at Aitisha’s house is finally complete! It was quite a challenge, because the hallway was an inch wider than the length of the donated flooring, and children were in the house, barely able to restrain themselves inside the prescribed physical boundary which had been set for them! Katie Snyder was stretched to her limits overseeing that project!

Jonathon finished the floor surface at Moore’s house to everyone’s satisfaction and then joined the roofing crew. It was COLD! But even the girls were happy to be on the roof, “breezing” through the work fast enough to (sort of) keep warm. At least we escaped the 11 inches of snow that fell south of us

On Thursday, too, Steve and I were able to bear the joyful news to a home owner that her house will soon be replaced with a brand new MDS home!! She was tearful with gratefulness and kept saying “whatever works, I’m just so happy!” when we mentioned meeting to plan paint colors, furniture, and the like. Her grown son, who has lupis and kidney issues, came twice to the door to see how she was doing. “He’s SO excited!” she told us.

The next afternoon, when it came time to meet to go over details, the home occupant was absent. We found out from her brother and sister, who co-own the home, that she was in hospital with her son, who had had seizures that morning. I felt extra thankful that we are able to get her out of her 100-year-old, termite-damaged home.