They travelled here from many Midwestern states to help families in North Florida’s Jackson and Calhoun counties as this area continues in its long-term recovery from Hurricane Michael.
The Apostolic Christian Harvest Call team has been here three months, with 17 staying for the entire rebuilding mission and groups of 40 rotating in for a week at a time.
They stayed at the Blue Springs Christian Camp while they were in the area and on Thursday night, one of their last here, they gathered once again to dedicate their work and say goodbye to a community they praised for its welcoming spirit in receiving them and its organizational excellence in making their mission go smoothly.
The North Florida Inland Long Term Recovery Group’s leader, Kevin Yoder, and others in turn heaped words of praise on those visiting volunteers and on the Salvation Army, which helped fund the materials used on the project.
But most of the service, put on by Apostolic, was on the theme of thanking God for the opportunity to serve.
They sang many hymns echoing that focus, their voices rising together in harmony unaccompanied by other instruments except for the little pitch pipe that got them started together on the right note.
Some of the people they helped were there, too, offering thanks for all that had been done. One of those people, 96-year-old Campbellton resident Willie Bell Philyor, sang a hymn for the group called “You Blessed Me Still,” another God-glorifying song.