We made it home from West, TX

by Jonah Beyer, Mission U-Too President

The Mission U-Too team has made it back home safely but our hearts are still in West. As many of you have heard a fertilizer plant exploded last Wednesday afternoon. Jason and I began to make plans for Mission U-Too to provide relief immediately that evening. By Thursday evening we were on our way to setup and do what we do, feed people physically and spiritually.

God quickly directed us as to where He wanted us to be so He could use us. That location was being setup right in the middle of the fairgrounds where the people would come to drop off supplies, volunteer and victims would come to get things they needed.

As hard as these disasters are I love to see how God uses things like this for His good. It took me a minute to see how God wanted to use us on this trip. You see, we have responded to five disasters now and each one is a little different and we learn a lot. This one was no different. Midway through the first day I begin to ask God how do you want to use us here, there is so much help and stuff coming in I don’t want us to be in the way. He showed me that with our experience He wanted us to be patient and consistent. That is when He began to use us. He put people in our path that we were able to counsel, coach, mentor, guide; as well as in the next few days being able to be a listening ear for many of the victims. He also allowed us to serve alongside some of the new members to our team that serve in some of the other communities.

There are a lot of people that needed us to continue to pray for them. People like Shelly who is trying to juggle being a point person and helping coordinate things with the distribution center, while working with people she knows who have lost family and losing family herself. Jimmy who is a fire fighter that witnessed one of his friends getting killed by the explosion. These are just a couple of the many different stories of the people from West.

God also used us to share the Gospel with many people that have come to help; from volunteers showing up, to organizations that specialize in different areas of disaster relief. I was blown away by how many people were there with a servant heart but are not believers and they wanted to know why they felt the way they did. It is because Jesus has called all of us to serve, though many have not connected it to the fact that this is the way He made us.

We are already working to plan our next trip to West to help as they move from emergency response mode to rebuild mode. This is where you guys can continue to help us and the town of West.

• Pray – Continue to pray for the town of West that lives would be changed for Jesus and that those who are Christ followers would be strong and be there for their family and friends.

• Donate – Make a donation so we can provide relief with a hot meal and the message of Jesus.

• Prepare – Look for opportunities to serve with us as we plan future trips to West and when the next disaster strikes.

Thank you again for all of your support. We are so blessed and look forward to seeing how God will use us next.

P.S. See some of the pictures from our trip.

Jonah Beyer has been serving Mission U-Too since 2010 and is the President of Mission U-Too. His family lives and serves in Bastrop, Texas.

Send Jonah a note at jonah.beyer@feedtheneed.org.