• The Cornerstone outreach team helped move some tree logs from a yard, but the homeowner was not even there and it was a lot of hard work, so it was easy to feel like why are we doing this? However, when he got home later, he was so appreciative, he asked at the center how he can show his appreciation and they said just come out to church, so he came and he raised his hand to give his heart to Christ.

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• An older couple, Nancy and Ed (in their 60s), stopped by the center after seeing a sign that was just put up. They were pretty desperate and discouraged, not having done anything barely to their house that had 4 feet of water in it and tree damage that caused a leak. We went there the next day and with the help of a team from Maine that ended up there in a round a bout way, we were able to get the house practically fully gutted from start to finish. They were completely overwhelmed and appreciative and each person had a chance to talk to them all throughout the day and early afternoon Nancy gave her heart to Christ and they came out to church the next day.

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•  Sayreville – One homeowner, Monica, seemed very happy, had a smile on her face, definitely elated that we were there, that she finally had some hope now, but then would suddenly breakdown into tears for a few seconds and then digress back to just being happy. We were able to get a lot done. She would come back periodically, and at one point brought pizza. We expressed appreciation for lunch and she said, “Oh no, I am the one appreciative.” She said how having us there gave her hope, even seeing the demolition showed her that she could go forward, that it was a means to an end to get her life back on track. It’s the same thing with God. The next day, when we came back to finish, we prayed with her. One team member asked, “Do you mind if we take a picture of you?” She kind of looked at her like she was crazy, but then when she said it is because she wants to pray for her. Monica was so shocked but also grateful.

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•  I noticed a Christmas ornament hanging off of some things being thrown out, saw a little gold sticking out from a pile, went over and wiped it off and found it was a snowman made by a child – cleaned it up and brought it back in the house for her.

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• Ortley Beach – Chief of Police came in and was so appreciative of what we were doing that he said we could get on the island whenever we wanted and that they had tools we could use.

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• The neighbor behind let us use their bathroom while we were working. I began talking to her about how God spared her house. She was talking about how she never faced something where she had to rely on Jesus like this, then started crying about how she wanted to have that kind of faith for herself and her son. She asked us to pray for her. She began just crying out to Jesus for Him to save her and help her and her family. In the storm, she had seen her neighbors houses covered with water and the water rushing in and people swimming to escape. God used it to mend a rift between her and her neighbors, the neighbors had to swim out of their house and since her house was higher, she opened up her house to them. It was dark, windy, like end of the world movies. They were all scared. She painted a pretty clear picture of the fear. She didn’t think it was a big deal until she saw waves crashing over houses and people swimming in the water. We had no idea of the reality of what it was like.

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• There were people living in the upstairs of their house, while downstairs was gutted out and still has mud beneath it. A 3-5 foot wave had come in, but fortunately for them, not for others, other houses actually broke the waves’ impact on their house.

 

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• The guy at one house was hesitant at praying in the beginning, but by the time we left, we were able to pray with him and his wife. She was pretty upset, but would cheer up here and there. The hard part was she was a hoarder. One of our team went through a bunch of stuff with her and it helped her throw things out and be ok with going through it. She just spent the time with her. Everyone else thought it is junk but to this woman it all meant something, so someone taking the time to go through it all with her, meant a lot.

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• Carol & Gordon are in a house in Lavallette. He is 78 years old. She left in the storm, but he stayed. When he went out to check things out, it did not look too bad, water was up to his ankles, but all of a sudden it came up fast and knocked him over. Good thing, he was able to get up and get inside. Rode the storm out upstairs, but it was two days before he was rescued. While our team was there, Carol expressed a renewed faith and Gordon, who was always very hardened, began to soften to the Lord.

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• A team went to a house that was not that damaged, but the owner was not in a good place with the Lord and physically was struggling. The team was able to encourage him with how the Lord is preparing a new body and new home in heaven for those who love Him, and he did pray with them to remind himself of his destiny. The team had moved on and a couple of the men went back to help just sit with him and talk.

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• While putting in a hard day’s work, we were able to stop and pray with the owner and minister to him. He saw that we cared beyond showing up and just tearing up his house, that we were able to make connections and talk to him about things going on in his life apart from the hurricane.

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• Work was getting frustrating and tedious, and the owner came in and seeing her and putting a face to the woman who was trying to do life in this place, it energized me in my work.

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