Wow, what a beginning. It has been a very busy month and a half. A lot has already began and changed in this trip and I'm very grateful I can share it with you all. In the first 3 weeks, we started training at the Adventures in Missions base in Georgia. Training looked like a lot of different things. Monday through Friday we had a very planned out schedule-lots of team and relationship building with each other. This was very important so that we could start to learn how to work with one another-and of course we all are so different and have something unique to bring to the body of Christ. It has been beautiful to see how all of us have many different gifts and strengths. Another thing we did during the week were group sessions. We had many speakers come in and talk about the realities of going into other cultures around the world and knowing the best way to be a person of Christ in these countries. This comes with having to be very adaptable and understanding to the type of the people if it means to bring them just a hint of the love of God. 1 Corinthians 9:20 And to wrap up training in a few sentences-we all have been coming together closer everyday in unity. It has been a taste of heaven to be completely surrounded by fellow believers my age in pursuing God's plan for our lives. Even as we have been living out of a tent through weeks of rain, mold growing in our tents, clothes that smell because of the humidity of the Georgia weather-I have loved every moment and am grateful I have gotten to hand wash my clothes. 

   For the last few weeks my team has been down at the coast of Louisiana partnering with Samaritan's Purse in disaster relief from the side effects of hurricane Ida. If you aren't familiar with SP, they are the organization that do Operation Christmas Child at probably every church in the US haha. They are a huge organization completely funded by donations around the world. I got the privilege to work with some of their leadership the entire time I was with them. Down below is a picture of me with a man named Don-he got to be one of my mentors throughout the week. While I chainsawed trees off of roofs, sheds, and yards-he used the skid steer to clear everything out. We got to work very intimately. 

My group mostly removed trees from peoples properties. Other groups did the same and repaired roofs, removed mold damage, repaired water damage. Another thing to remember is that all of these people are volunteers that are using the equipment funded by donations. And some of these people have been doing this for 10+ years. My group was usually able to complete 1-2 houses a day-and after we completed the job we got to present the homeowner with a Bible. This leads me to the story of Johnny. Johnny was a man that lived in the backwoods of rural Louisiana. Him and his wife had a beautiful little elevated house (similar to the houses along the river back home). When I presented the Bible to him, he started to get teary eyed and went on to explain that the flood waters had came up into his shed and destroyed the Bible that he had owned. So I got to give him a Bible that we had all signed. He also asked if he could get a SP hat (we had some pretty cool hats) so I got to leave mine with him. 

That is just one of the many stories that happened and are yet to come. Below are some pictures of my group and me using the chainsaw.

As I'm writing this blog, I'm sitting back at the base in Georgia. We have one more short week here to then leave for Antigua, Guatemala Friday. An update for everyone to know is that the last two countries have been changed. The second place we are now going to is Johannesburg in South Africa and the third is Romania in Eastern Europe. The reason to this change is for many reasons-but God knew all along these were the places we were actually heading to, and I'm okay with that. This last week I will be preparing mentally, spiritually, and physically to go live in South America for the next three months. Couldn't be more ready. Thank you all for your prayers-they are felt- and continue to pray for safety, wisdom, and boldness in this next season of my life and the whole squads. -Through Jesus, Zach Flowers