Sometimes, people just need a little reminder to go. For Danielle Cisco of Fort Worth, that reminder came when her grandparents stopped by unexpectedly with a graduation gift.
What began as a quick visit became an invitation to a life-changing week of disaster relief work alongside her grandmother, Debby Cisco, in flood-impacted San Angelo, Texas.
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‘Here I am, send me’
Debby and her husband, longtime volunteers with Texans on Mission, hadn’t planned on recruiting anyone that day. But as they chatted with Danielle, the words on the T-shirt Debby wore sparked something in Danielle. They read, “Here I am, send me.”
“I was just sitting on my couch doing nothing,” recalled Danielle, who graduated from Trinity Christian Academy in Willow Park.
“I tried hard to find a job (this summer) but couldn’t find a thing,” Danielle noted. “If I had found a job, though, I would not have spontaneously left on this deployment.”
Danielle said “yes” immediately.
“It’s a dream for a grandmother to take her granddaughter on a mission trip,” Debby said. “Watching others pour into her this week has made my heart swell.”
‘Not afraid to get her hands dirty’
It was Danielle’s first deployment with Texans on Mission. Over the course of their time in San Angelo, someone handed Danielle a saw. She quickly — and proudly — became known as “the cutter girl,” tackling deconstruction work like sawing through walls and tearing up moldy flooring.
“I never thought learning how to use a circular saw would be part of my work as a disciple, but here we are,” Danielle said.
More importantly, she connected with residents — praying, listening and bringing light to people facing devastation.
One woman, Carla, was especially moved, Danielle said. “She kept calling us angels, but really, we’re just normal, dirty people trying to do God’s work.”
Debby watched her granddaughter with pride: “She’s not afraid to get her hands dirty. I’m just proud of her for her heart for Jesus.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Tim Miller and originally published by Baptist Standard.
