By volunteering for a day, you are directly delivering help, hope and healing to people after disasters. Whether you're clearing debris, cleaning out a house or praying with a homeowner, you will transform a life. 
Every journey out of dark days starts with a first step. By putting together First Step Kits – hygiene kits for people in crisis – you can meet basic needs for people who don't know where to turn for help or hope. When Texans on Mission volunteers distribute First Step Kits, they provide a place for both. 
When a disaster strikes, people don't know where to turn for help. They don't know who to trust. When a Texans on Mission volunteer connects with them for the first time with a Message of Hope crafted by you, hope sprouts fresh. Find out how you can radically change a life with a simple piece of paper. 
In northern Uganda and beyond, Texans on Mission seeks to provide everyone with access to clean water and the gospel. You can make a Gold-to-Gold Gospel Bracelet to be worn to share the Gospel around the world. Perfect for your small group, Bible study or youth groups, each Gold-to-Gold Gospel Bracelet you create will share the redemption story of Jesus Christ with everyone who sees it. 
When a disaster strikes, people have often lost everything, including items they'd typically have to begin cleaning up. You can jump start the recovery process for someone by providing these items through Texans on Mission Disaster Relief. 
Forty-nine students from across Texas donned yellow T-shirts and travelled to Kerrville last week for Texans on Missions’s summer Revive trip. From Sunday through Wednesday, these volunteer youth worked hard on service projects under the hot sun, connecting with homeowners and growing in both skill and spirit.
The students, ranging from sixth to 12th grade, took on service projects at local homeowners’ properties, like building fences, painting exterior walls of houses and constructing a wheelchair ramp. After a full day of work, the groups packed up their sites and headed back to Trinity Baptist Church to shower, eat, worship and rest up for the next day.
The trip drew the largest student participation in Revive’s history and sent the students home with servant hearts, according to Missions and Discipleship Coordinator Ryan Welch.
“It’s always exciting during the debrief times in the evenings to see students sharing stories about how they want to live on mission when they go home and volunteer in their communities,” Welch said.
Stacie Meeks, a TXM shower and laundry volunteer, said she observed how deliberate the students are about their faith and living on mission, but also their ability to laugh, play games and be lighthearted together.
“They really are the real deal,” Meeks said. “I see their passion and their truth. I just pray for their boldness, confidence in the Lord and surety in Christ.”
Amy Hadley, local missions director at 121 Community Church in Grapevine, led a group of 34 students and eight group leaders from her church. She said she was blown away by what her students were able to accomplish at their worksites with the help, trust and guidance of the TXM volunteers.
She recalled an interaction with volunteers that left both Hadley and a group of sixth graders from her church immensely impressed.
“Their eyes got really big when the volunteers brought out their huge saws and all of their equipment,” Hadley said, chuckling. “They were like, ‘We're gonna get to use all that?’ The volunteers were so great — keeping all the kids safe and explaining how the tools worked. They were so incredibly patient.”
Alicia Ceballos, a coordinator with Viva Church International in Dallas, said her group of eight homeschool co-op students surpassed her expectations for their worksite capabilities, since they hadn’t yet gone on a mission trip like Revive. As students put fence posts up one after another, they established a synergy among themselves, Ceballos said.
On Tuesday, the students even stayed late to finish fencing for one homeowner, despite initially anticipating leaving the remainder of the job for the next volunteer group.
“We just all felt like we really needed to do a good job,” Ceballos said. “We just couldn’t leave it undone. I was so proud of them — they worked so hard.”
Both Hadley and Ceballos said they witnessed their students grow spiritually as much as they developed their teamwork skills and familiarity with tools. With several of the homeowners present during the workdays, the students even took the initiative to spread the love of Christ with them, whether it was lending a listening ear, helping with a grocery run or gifting them with a signed Bible.
“The homeowner at our site said that she was so encouraged and inspired by all these teenagers coming out to help her rebuild,” Ceballos said. “I feel like God was speaking to us and to the kids saying, ‘You’re important. You can make a difference.’”
Hadley said her group was invigorated by the experience and can’t wait for the next trip.
“We love mobilizing our church body to help to help this incredible organization,” Hadley said. “Texans on Mission is a well-oiled machine — it's incredible what kind of coordination efforts go into making this so phenomenal.”
Read more here about how Texas students have made an impact on the Kerrville community through Revive rebuild projects.
