Upcoming Mission Opportunities
To Know God
To Love God
To Serve God
Through the gifts of
Time Love Service
To provide a gift of Hope
First Church partners with United Methodist Volunteers in Mission to provide mission opportunities for adults.
The next opportunity is coming up October 21 - 24.
If you are interested in joining a team please contact Judy Harmon at judithharmon@sbcglobal.net.
Adults In Mission (AIM) Announces Galveston Mission Trip No.7
It is time again to take a working vacation in the Galveston area! We’ll depart First Church at 7 am on Thursday, October 21, 2010 and return on Sunday, Octctober 24, 2010. Entertainment will include learning new construction skills and helping rebuild homes, damaged by Hurricane Ike. This all-inclusive trip (transportation, lodging, food and t-shirt) costs only $90.00!! Similar trips have received high ratings from those who participated. This trip is limited to 20 people on a first come, first served basis. To secure your spot, complete and turn in the registration forms to the First Church financial office, along with a $25.00 deposit, no later than September 14, 2010. Make checks payable to FUMC-RR, in memo space, please note Galveston Area Trip #7. Initial deposit of $25 is refundable until Oct. 1, 2010, at which time the remaining payment of $65 is due. Full payment, less the $25, is refundable up to one week prior to the trip departure.
- Informational meeting Aug. 17th (Tuesday) 7 p.m. Room 127
- Organizational meeting Sept. 14th (Tuesday) 7 p.m. Room 127
- Final meeting Oct. 5th (Tuesday) 7 p.m. Room 127
For more information, contact Paul Kida, 512-825-7560, or Wray Barnett, 512-248-2860.
Click here to download AIM Mission Trip registration forms.
To see photos of our recent mission trips, visit our photo gallery at www.kodakgallery.com/firstchurchrr.
Report from the April Mission to Stafford
Twenty-one adults headed back to the Houston area on Friday, April 23rd after an early morning prayer and send off by Reverend Lee Trigg and many well wishing family members with sleep still in their eyes. We arrived at Parker Epworth Methodist Church, a facility which no longer has services, but is available for volunteers coming down to the area to continue to pick up the pieces left behind from Hurricane Ike. Our UMCOR coordinator, Rocky Lane, gave us a brief story of the client and her home before we drove to Stafford, Texas to see for ourselves. We would all be working together on one home, half repairing a damaged roof and half putting up sheet rock throughout the three bedroom home. As we stepped out of the vans, the typical Houston humidity hit us immediately. We worked six hours on the home and many were effected by the heat. It was a tough day. We went back to the church for a wonderfully prepared dinner and devotion. It was decided that if it were to be another day like that, we would need to get started much earlier...breakfast would be served at 6 a.m. and then we would get back to work.
The church was very quiet Saturday morning. You could hear the occasional shuffling of tired feet, creaking doors, deep and purposeful yawns, and a few "mornin'" call outs. We made our way to the kitchen to find Rich and his Saturday morning breakfast crew bustling around working on fruit salad, eggs, biscuits, sausage, gravy...(we ate well)! As we began to wake up, groups started discussing what they would be working on today. Who would be where and what the strategies would be to keep everyone hydrated and healthy. We vowed to watch each other and not allow ourselves to get over heated. The vans were loaded and we set out for another day of hard, but fulfilling work. We entered the work site to find that God had graced us with a nearly humid free, breezy day. As if we were guided, groups broke off and headed to where they were needed. Six on the roof, three in the front room, three in the middle room, three in the back room, three in the living room and hallway, three around the exterior of the home. The local church members, who were working on other homes that day as well, graciously brought us a wonderful barbecue lunch which hit the spot! Though many of us went into this project with limited knowledge on the trade we had taken on, we became pretty good at it by the end of the day. Throughout the day we learned more about the client, each other and ourselves. Friends of our client would come by to check on the progress and were such an inspiration to keep us going. Their energy and excitement were contagious. Near the end of the day, the client herself, with a little encouragement from some of us, walked through her home with tears in her eyes. She said that she was not sure how she would be able to repay everyone who had helped her. Little did she know she was doing it then.
Saturday was a long day, a long uplifting, fulfilling and inspiring day. Dinner was again delicious and afterward we shared communion together. Each person serving the next, husband to wife, newborn father to grandmother, experienced mission worker to first time mission worker. Powerful! No one had trouble sleeping that night. We tried to stay up and continue to build new friendships or expand on old ones, but sleep called to us. We slept in on Sunday, waking up re-energized and refreshed. Another wonderful meal and an intimate worship service, just us twenty one adults who had been changed whether it was our first trip or our sixth. We have our memories - our "sheet rock hanging mommas", "roofers get to go first", brownies at every meal and cookies at every break, and the look of appreciation on our clients face.
Have you been on a mission trip? If not, please think about it and pray that if it is on your heart to go then do it! You will be changed. If it has been a while since you have gone on one, consider helping us to "heal some homes". The next AIM trip is scheduled for October 21 - 24, 2010. For more information contact Judy Harmon at 512-248-2229 or go online at www.fumc-rr.org/aim.
Report from the January Mission to Galveston
Early in the morning on January 14th, sixteen adults embarked on an Adults in Mission (AIM)Trip to the Galveston area to assist with the UMCOR hurricane relief effort. We divided into three teams. One team laid sheet rock in a mobile home. Another team finished laying linoleum tiles in the utility area of a small house and did electrical work so that the house could have heat, AC and a clothes dryer. The third team helped a grandmother go through her precious possessions and decide what could and could not be salvaged. They then loaded the items that could be salvaged into a storage container so demolition of the water damage to the house could begin. It was cold, rainy and windy all weekend, but we couldn’t complain after seeing what our clients had been through and were still going through 18 months after Hurricane Ike. Their perseverance, positive attitude and gratitude were amazing and humbling at the same time.
We worked hard, but we had a great time getting to know our clients and other members of the team. We stayed at Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Santa Fe and were fed so well that we all gained weight. (Methodist Men are some of the greatest cooks in the world!) If you have never been on an AIM trip, I encourage you to step out and go. You will make some wonderful new friends, re-connect with old friends and have the opportunity to serve the Lord by bringing hope and physical evidence that the clients are not forgotten through the work you do. The next trip is scheduled for April 23 – 25. For more information contact Judy Harmon at 512-248-2229 or go online at www.fumc-rr.org/aim.
Report from the October Mission to Galveston
On a rainy Thursday morning before dawn, 24 members of the Adults In Mission team from First United Methodist Church of Round Rock and surrounding campuses set off for the Texas Gulf Coast, led by Judy Harmon. Our project for the 4 day weekend was to heal the home of a grandmother and foster mother of over 400 children. Hurricane Ike flooded her home in Hitchcock, Texas, near Galveston, 13 months ago leaving her, her children and her grandchildren living with mold and rotting fixtures.
The UMCOR coordinators, Monty and Susan Scales, met us at the home and gave us our mission; to remove the rotting walls, flooring and insulation, gut the kitchen and bathrooms, then to tear down the dangerously leaning garage in the backyard. For the next 3 days we filled 2 construction-sized dumpsters with wet sheetrock and rusted fixtures, moldy paneling, damaged tile and carpeting.
We were able to spend some time ministering to the children of this residence and neighbors who wandered over to find out what all the commotion was about. The family’s 3 dogs, 2 who were extremely malnourished, became our side “pet” project for the weekend. A member of our team purchased dog food and they all received generous portions as well as any leftover sandwiches from our own lunches. Murphy, the feisty and energetic puppy, kept us all laughing.
Meanwhile, 7 team members with electrical skills spent 2 long days working at other residences in Galveston and San Leon. Repairing leftover flood damage to electrical panels, installing a hot water heater and fixing air conditioning changed the lives of families that had survived without these necessities for months.
On Saturday afternoon, aided by the teenage grandchildren of the residence, we cleaned the last bit of tiles and swept away the last of the dirt. Upon completion of our work, we gathered to bless and consecrate the home, which was already showing signs of healing. It is prepared for the next step in its restoration for the next mission team that arrives.
Our hosts were the congregation at the Aldersgate Methodist Church in Santa Fe, Texas. They housed us on the premises and served us delicious homemade meals. Then they welcomed us for a touching church service brimming with song and praise on our last morning in town.
Members of the Galveston #4 Adults In Mission Team:
Judy & Roger Harmon, Wray Barnett, Edmund Croix, Carolyn Gautier, Shirley Dillman, Mike Griffin, Leigh Hilliard, Paul Kida, Nancy Maschal, Veronica Milstead, Robert Page, Ruth Pigg, Gerald Pinero, Dan Price, Tommy Prud'homme, Sue Ridlehuber, Myra & Carl Schomburg, Roy Skeeter, Becky & John Strother, Keith Varga, Barbara Wyatt
For more information about upcoming Adults in Mission upcoming trips please contact Judy Harmon at judithharmon@sbcglobal.net or visit http://fumc-rr.org/aim.