The Kelly Shelter
From Suzy, San Antonio
Nick, Joanna and Chris joined Karen, Rose and John to minister to evacuees at the Kelly Center in San Antonio.
We went as teams to the zones that were made up of large rooms where the evacuees are housed. Nick and I visited the evacuees at their cots, spending time with them on an individual basis. Most people responded when we offered to pray for them, and they talked then even more. We prayed with everyone we talked with, listened to them and then gave them a copy of the Activated Magazine, “Why Suffering”. While Nick was talking with one man, a little boy had been following me around so I spent time with him as he was just wandering around unattended. Then a little girl came and sat on my knee holding on to me, and she just wanted to be held. Eventually, after a while she started to talk a little, she just needed some TLC.
The next day Nick called into the center, explaining that we had a missionary doctor, Dr. Chris, who was up on a visa trip from Mexico. When they heard how many volunteers we had and that we had doctor as well, they stressed that more help was needed at a shelter they were just opening at an old Wal-Mart building.
Upon arriving, we found out that these were among the 3 million people evacuating the Texas gulf coast, trying to escape Hurricane Rita. They too had to be taken care of. As we were leaving at the end of our day there, I found out that they were 2,9OO people come into the shelter. The shelter was very new and there was so much to organize, so the young people on our team, Andrew, Chris, Liz and John helped set up the newly formed dining room and food line from a totally empty storage room, while Joanna helped set up the registration place.
Dr. Chris came in and she had quite a few people to take care of, as when we arrived there was no doctor, in fact there wasn’t even a first aid kit, just an empty medical room. Eventually there were some medical students that came in to a help, a home guard doctor later on, and finally medical supplies. Many people came sick, and tired, as the highways were so full for some the drive from Houston took 18 hours.
We had an opportunity to minister to and pray with almost every single person at the Kelly Center. We met one woman who asked for prayer as her young daughter was missing. She has not been able to locate her 5 year old daughter since the first day. Our hearts really felt for her, while words sometimes fail, we know that her faith and prayers will help her through this time. This woman and her other daughter received Jesus along with another 6 children today. Many people today expressed frustration, as they want to leave the shelters but the housing takes time.