Texas teens bring faith, hope to Abbeville Community

For the third year in a row, St. Francis Church in Frisco, Texas brought over 60 teens to serve the Abbeville area. Hosted by Family Missions Company at Our Lady of the Bayou Retreat House, the teens supported the community in a variety of ways through physical labor, cheerful spirits and spiritual support.
They helped with projects at the Christian Service Center, Faith Hope Missionary Baptist Church, St. Theresa's Church, The Arc of Vermilion, and made visits to Maison du Monde nursing home. They also contributed to improvements at Our Lady of the Bayou Retreat house, who has made massive improvements over the last year in order to accommodate larger groups, such as the "Frisco Group", which gets larger every year.
"We really appreciate and enjoy the partnership from Family Missions Company and other local faith communities" said Marcelo Davis, Director of Operations for the Christian Service Center. "St. Francis in Frisco is where I renewed my commitment to my faith years ago, I became involved in serving the youth. Later, when my wife and I moved to Abbeville from Frisco, we were thrilled to be able to welcome their service and support here with us in Abbeville, now for the third year in a row."
Gerry Martin, a full-time missionary with Family Missions Company worked with the group the entire week. "It was my first year working with the teens from Frisco, Texas. The youth were enthusiastic, joyful, hard working and ever eager to complete their work projects." Martin added, "It was a blessing to be part of their experience here, praying with them, discussing scripture with them, and learning of their struggles and hopes for the future."
The Christian Service Center, Family Missions Company and other local faith communities continue to build bridges and stronger partnerships as they combine efforts in service and resources to provide the best support possible to the community.
"Our hope is to continue to build on the momentum from Spirit Fest and our CSC Cafe Grand Opening" said Marcelo Davis. "For Spirit Fest, we were all together in one place, in one spirit and one mind in one accord...lets keep going. There is nothing to be afraid of, we will keep moving forward with whoever desires to join us. All are invited, regardless of faith, race or creed. We want everyone to know, we all have something to contribute, it brings us joy to find unity in our diversity."
Recently, the Christian Service Center has welcomed the continued support of St. Paul's Episcopal Church community and Harvest Time, who have offered to cook in the new CSC Cafe to serve lunch for those in need.
"This week, the Boy Scouts even joined us and painted our deck, its been a joy-filled week with many projects happening, and we are so grateful." CSC volunteer added.
The next event will be the Summer Food Drive on Saturday, July 29th. If you would like to participate, contact the CSC. On the day of the event, drop off food on Saturday at 701 Chevis Street. For more information email the CSC Volunteer Coordinator at cscabbeville@gmail.com or call 337-893-9756.