SERVANT STUDENTS SERVANT STUDENTS

Heather Winner Director of Servant Students

March 11th-12th TRAVEL AND COMMUNITY DAY

We took off for Florida early on Saturday morning, and when I say early – like the first flight out that weekend. With all the excitement and coffee these bodies could handle, we set our sights on the city we had been praying about for months. Once we landed, we found ourselves ready to see the city. We drove through Fort Myers and realized how beautiful of a place it truly is. A perfect beach town that looked untouched by these mighty winds and destructive swells we had heard so much about. We drove through this beach town to find our host Church, Anthem Church, and settled in for the evening.

On the morning of our first full day in Fort Myers, we attended our host church’s service to get to know the congregation. We worshipped alongside them and got to meet so many incredible people. Right off the bat, we were invited to several of the church’s weekly activities that we knew we couldn’t pass up: Monday Night Pickleball, Tuesday Putt-Putt Club, and Wednesday Night Youth. We could tell that a genuine love for others and a need to show hospitality and care were at the forefront of so many minds.

After church, we split off into two groups. A small group took on our first service project for the week, while others got to head to the beach and view some of Fort Myers’s most damaged locations by Hurricane Ian.

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Would you like more information about Servant Students? Contact Heather Winner at hwinner@ServantOKC.org or Skyler Rodriguez at srodriguez@ServantOKC.org

Skyler Rodriguez Assistant Director of Servant Students

The small group of students and leaders went to meet Mrs. Sally – an older woman who found herself, her paralyzed husband, her stepdaughter, and her husband’s best friend in her home when the storm hit. After facing a great deal of trouble, and water that rose to her chest, all present survived through a heroic movement to the second story. In her gratefulness for surviving Hurricane Ian, her home was far from untouched. For only a few hours, our team worked to clean out areas of her home that would soon be mucked, gutted, and restored. The work in itself was secondary though, to hear her story and her testimony was the truest gift. Her faith in the midst of disaster is one that our team celebrated and brought back to the rest of the group. Along with this, we got to take a little project with us: Mrs. Sally’s beloved reindeer. We worked to put these 40-year-old reindeers that had been nearly destroyed in the storm back together. It was the smallest of “thank yours” we could possibly do as she gave us a glimpse into the glory God would show us throughout the whole week.

The remainder of the team took a trip to Fort Myers beach to hang out, but to also see what destruction still remained five months after Hurricane Ian. So many students returned with memories of playing on the beach, but more than anything, students were shocked to see all of the damage still there, especially after seeing untouched parts of the city. All of these encounters brought students to understand that they weren’t just here to see a new part of the world, to hang out with friends, to even just go to the beach – God had a purpose and a plan for us to participate in what He was already doing to restore Fort Myers, both physically and faithfully.

March 13th-15th COMMUNITY COOP AND MUCKING AND GUTTING

On these days, our team was split yet again into two teams – one small group headed to a food pantry and soup kitchen known as Community COOP, and the other to muck and gut 3 different homes. Throughout these three days, students were given the choice to decide where they wanted to serve, and in the end, all students were provided the chance to participate in many types of service.

Mucking and gutting is a task we had no idea God would speak to us so much through. This act of stripping a home down to its bones is a necessary process to help support homeowners avoid the huge costs that come with completely knocking a home down. Our students worked harder than I have ever seen a crew of students to help these families restore their homes. Beginning with removing destroyed personal items, taking out walls, removing showers, and pulling up floors – students could see a tangible difference in their work by the end of the third day. Many times this process was related to the goodness of God, coming in and removing what may no longer be of use for the purpose of renewal and transformation. And our students witnessed this firsthand.

For the group headed to Community COOP each day, we would spend each morning in downtown Fort Myers passing out waters and granola bars and offering prayer. This was a sweet time of praying over the city and specific individuals who were open to it. We then left for Community COOP where we spent time within the food pantry, creating pallets of food for Meals on Wheels, organizing clothing and toiletries, helping in the soup kitchen, and so much more. This was a personal touch where we got to learn about Hurricane Ian impacting the number experiencing homelessness and the range of people still in need of food even as their homes are being restored. It was an eye-opening time that led many of us to a deeper understanding of the need within the area.

Every evening we had time to just spend together doing fun activities like grabbing ice cream, playing pickleball, and playing minigolf. At the end of each day though, we made time for worship and devotion. Our Praying Pelican staff led us in devotions, sharing words God had placed on their hearts along with their testimonies of faith. This gave students opportunities to respond in faith and relate their experiences that week in Fort Myers. On the third day, we were able to go downtown on a waterfront to worship and pray over the city. It was a powerful evening that closed three days of service declaring God’s power and glory over Fort Myers.

March 16th REC DAY

This was a day of rest, fellowship, site-seeking, and praise. Praying Pelican is known for end-capping their trips with a time of recreation. We began our day kayaking in the Orange River in hopes of seeing manatees.

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