Half-way there

Well, we have stopped at the hotel, moved in, and had dinner. There's not so much to blog about here...driving...driving...getting gas...driving...driving...you get the picture. We thank God for the blessings of this trip, and we pray for safe travel as we drive back tomorrow. Here are some more pictures to recap the week a bit!

Make sure to ask us all questions and for more pictures when we get back! We have much to tell!!!

Lord thank you for the safety you have granted us. Thank you for each and every person on this trip, following this blog, and supporting our team. We are truly blessed to be able to take this trip and lend our hands for this purpose--especially, now, after four years. Thank you for all of our new relationships and friends, and we ask that you continue to nourish these people and relationships throughout the country and world. Help us to return home enriched and hopeful to share our experiences, lessons, and learning with those around us.

A day of goodbyes

Friday.... We titled this blog a day of goodbyes because this was the day that we finished our work on our sites, took our pictures of our new friends, and said our goodbyes for our early leave tomorrow morning.

Again, our team split up this morning. Because we were not able to have our half day on Wednesday, we decided to reschedule our half day (half working, half site seeing) for today. This worked very well, too, because we were finishing up work on our sites within the half day time frame anyway.

Part of the team returned to Wilford's home to finish up grouting the tile that had been installed in the bathroom. After meeting and visiting with Wilford, they left to join the rest of the group working on touching up Marilyn's paint. The group also worked on installing new and fixing the old porch screens, fixing lights, and painting a small area on the roof. Some of the group left a bit early to walk back to the church for cleaning before we leave tomorrow.

After a lunch of leftovers, the group cleaned up a bit in order to take the rest of the day off. We decided to tour each others' worksites--and visit a team-member who volunteered to go finish work with another team rather than take the half day. Angel's home was our first stop. This was the site another team member was helping out on. She is a soft-spoken, beautiful, young woman who was in desperate need of rebuilding for herself and son. When we got there, she had new floors waiting for grouting, new countertops, painted and textured walls, and was getting new siding. She is more than happy and relieved at the help and the new friends. Our second stop was Marilyn's. We knew that she got off work at 3, so we were able to catch her with her makeup on for a great group picture. With hugs for our goodbyes, we moved on to Wilford's home and church for one last tour. All of our group members were able to finally see how the texture worked out, the beautiful tile flooring, and the fantastic church. Wilford has been such a gracious and friendly host!

After our goodbyes, the group decided to drive down the coast to check out the beach, the lighthouse, and the round church. Some were also able to check out the local police station for patches. The beach was plush with soft, white sands, plenty of seagulls, and wonderful views! The sun was fantastic on our backs as we took in the sights and relaxed after such a long week. Just back from the beach, the lighthouse stood in the median of the highway. Though we could not get into it for a tour, we were able to find the beauty in such a beacon and hope that we were as such for others around us here this week. The round church was one that Wilford had told us about. This church sat just along side the highway near the coast. While other homes and buildings around it crumbled down from the force of the floods, this stood standing (probably because of its round structure and the arms of the Lord as the water rushed around).

We returned for dinner of leftovers, and part of our crew jetted off to catch the sunset. As we took in its beauty, we really had a chance to reflect on this week and what the Lord has done.

Tonight we pack for an early start tomorrow. One of our group catches a plane at 6am, and the rest of us will travel slowly by caravans.

Popcorn and paint

Outside Wilford's home!

Inside Wilford's foyer looking to his kitchen

Earlier today we found out the professional texturizer and team last night did not completely go as planned. But, this allowed several people on our team to enjoy playing with a new toy! Let me explain....

Last night several members of our team returned to Wilford's home to help another team texturize his walls. Unfortunately, there were minor complications with the texture and tools that forced the teams to stop their texturizing late last night and return home. This morning, with new ideas and hope for fixing these problems, the team went to Lowe's to purchase o-rings to fix the texturizing gun. This combined with a borrowed generator and hose allowed our team members to play, and work, to finish the texture on Wilford's house. The team then moved on to lay wonderboard and tile in Wilford's bathroom.

Meanwhile...the other half of our team was out at Marilyn's home to paint. After talking with her last night to scope out the prospective job, we found out that she and her mother had been swindled out of thousands of dollars. Previous employers were paid in full but never repaired or painted her home. The painters that finally did paint her home did not do a very good job and painted it the wrong color. Recently her mother hired a new painter to put on an eggshell color--the color she first wanted. The painter was hired in December, but the house is still not painted. Our crew showed up, taped around the windows and floors, and got to work.

The women returned to the church at around 3pm to cook a community meal. After cleaning up, we got to work on making a mexican casserole, salad bar, and apple dumpcake dessert. Everything was going as planned...at the beginning. The girls gathered to each make a dumpcake--two with nuts, two without. After sticking the cakes in the oven, we turned to the casseroles. We smelled smoke before we saw anything. After scouring the kitchen for the cause, we realized the dumpcakes were over-flowing and falling onto the tin foil on the bottom of the oven. It was probably the pan that was set on top of the foil that set the fire, but...we're not quite sure. After snapping the picture, we made sure to stop the fire, clean out the oven, and stop the alarms without setting off the sprinkler system. We did save the dessert and it ended up having a very authentic cookout taste!

Last, I promised to update you on the tour around Wilford's church. Yesterday part of our team was able to use Wilford's bathrooms in his newly renovated church. (Wilford is the pastor for this church). The water came through the church and destroyed all of the pews and flooring. We saw the huge remodel that had been done by previous groups and funded partially by the Bush-Clinton grant. We also saw the old church where parishoners needed to take a man in a wheelchair to wait out the storm. Wilford told us the story about how they needed to take the man on the chancel, on top of the amplifiers, and hold up his head. It was quite an amazing church and story! Here are pictures.

Wilford's home

As I am writing this, half of our work team is helping another team down here to texture Wilford's newly renovated home! It has been such a miracle to watch how everything has come together--watching the team work as one, watching the interactions with Wilford, and watching the interactions with the community. But, I get ahead of myself...let's return to the beginning!

After the incident with the tree....we took a ride to Wilford's home. He explained to us that it is about 1300-1350 square feet. Upon entering the front door, there is a foyer/living room. Proceed into the kitchen, you'll find a hallway to the bathroom and two bedrooms to your left. If you walk through the kitchen, the family room is straight ahead. Finally, through the family room to your left is the last bedroom. There is a small driveway to the right of the house and a small yard. Wilford has a beautiful concrete porch on the front of his home where the crew all gather for breaks and lunches. We can imagine how hot it will be in August as the family sits out in their chairs drinking their sweet tea. So, that is Wilford's home! He has been there since 1972 and is looking forward to moving back into it in 2009.

When we got to his home, the walls were in need of mudding, taping, and patching. The drywall had already been put up on the walls, screwed in, and ready to be prepared for paint...or in this case...texturing. Not sparing much time, we spoke with Wilford about his hopes for this new house as we began to patch holes, screw divits, and seams. While many of us were with Harlan on previous mission trips, we were a bit out of practice and in need of a "pick-me-up" lesson. But, practice makes perfect!

At five the team stopped to return home, get showered, and have their nightly meal with the other teams sharing bunks next to us (the ones from Illinois, Georgia...etc.). The first night was lasagna...if we thought we were losing weight on this trip, somebody lied! Many returned for seconds even though we weren't hungry.

The second day, the team returned to Wilford's home to continue their work on the mudding. We tried to remind each other to stay hydrated and take breaks, as we sometimes got so caught up in our work that the time ran away from us. Lunchtime brought a trip to a supermarket with a bathroom...an interesting bathroom. You have to walk past the beef tongues, pig ears, and fresh fish to get to the black tarp employees only door. Through the door, on the left are two bathrooms. They were labeled men and women, but they ended up being pretty much the same. The aroma was indescribable. We mentioned that this was the type of bathroom where you make sure to not touch anything unless you have a towel in your hand. (We decided not to return to this bathroom for future endeavors even though we found some incredible fruit and people).

We left Wilford's home with a great sense of accomplishment and stiffness. Hard work is hard work no matter where you go to do it! We decided that Wednesday would be half a day of work so that we could take a time of rest and tourism the rest of the day. Half of our team was to go to a different work site to help unclog a chimney and install new faucets while the rest of us would return to Wilford's house to finish up the mudding. For dinner we ate chicken and rice, broccoli, and wonderfully delicious chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing and cherries.

Unfortunately, our team underestimated the tasks necessary to complete Wilford's home. Fortunately, half of our team went to a new worksite to successfully retrieve a pair of knee pads out of Marilyn's chimney and install her faucets. (The knee pads were from a previous mission team from their work on repairing her roof.) When this half of the team came back to Wilford's home, they brought lunch and reinforcements for finishing the mudding.

It was amazing to see how much got accomplished today! The team pulled together--each with a job of their own. We all gave encouragement and spoke with Wilford. Some on our team were approached by a man looking to sell shoes, deoderant, and shaving cream for money. Our team was able to aid him by buying milk and cereal and sharing lunch with him. Another man approached us about who to contact to get groups to help him with his home. We were able to stop off at lunchtime in a health center for a fantastic bathroom! We were even able to speak with Marilyn about painting her home tomorrow, change quickly, and drive to Cafe New Orleans for a fantastic cajun dinner.

That leads us back to the beginning. Wilford's home is getting textured by professionals who came down to do their own mission work. It is amazing how God works!

In our next post we will have pictures of Wilford's home and church he showed us (and let us use his bathrooms).

Our arrival

Our work-team arrived at D'iberville on March 15, 2009 (the day after pi day and two days before St. Patrick's day) at 5:30pm. After two long days of travel and visiting with our friends in West Memphis, we were glad to be welcomed into our new home with a potluck dinner and program by the youth of Heritage UMC.

We fought tooth and nail for our bunks, settled ourselves in, and made friends with others from Illinois, Delaware, Georgia, and others.

After a great night's rest, the morning brought us a few job prospects and energies with which to tackle these. The green grass and colorfully aromatic flowers passed us by as we drove to our first home--Tammy's house. We had been informed of the tree, but we did not realize exactly how big this full-grown tree was leaning on Tammy's mobile home. Other workers had been to the site previously to put up a few walls, but as the tree fell on the trailer, there was little we could do to help stop the leak and fix the trailer until the tree was toppled and cleared. Clearly, this job was too much for us to handle! We did stay to speak with Tammy and her husband (Tammy's neice was a bit too shy to talk with us, but we thought her large toy gun was very cool!) We helped to clear the yard a bit in the midst of the rain and took a trailer of trash to the local dump with the help of Dick from Heritage.

We left Tammy's house a bit let down, humbled, and hopeful for a job where God could use us. Wilford's house was just the thing! More to come in our next post....