Month: April 2007

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Return to L.A.

We took separate flights back to L.A. One of us (Peter) returned via LAX, the rest via Ontario.

Along the way, some luggage was delayed, some flights were missed, but I think we’re all back safely.

Mathias, Mo and I (Peter), were scheduled to take an earlier flight to Atlanta, and then I’d continue back to LAX, they’d wait for the rest of the team in ATL for the flight back to Ontario. The night before we left, another volunteer had shown us a book with before/after Katrina pictures of the area. Mo wanted a copy and we went looking for it (it looked so good I picked up a copy myself). It’s quite good and had pictures similar to this one:

Unfortunately, we got to the airport with little time to spare, and I was the only one to make the plane. But it all worked out because my layover was shortest, and Mo and Mathias came on the next plane with the rest of the guys.

Right before I had left, a friend/member of my support group had said that she had never hadthe excitement of running through an airport terminal. Yes, it is exciting, but not the type of excitement you really want to have, as I heard my name being paged over the P.A. in Gulfport, MS. They were just about to give away my seat when I arrived at the gate. Yes, it was a little bit like The Amazing Race and I ditched my teammembers and left them standing at the gate 🙂

It’s odd not to be with all the guys, but good to be back home and sleep in your own bed, etc. I do have to say that the accomodations were excellent in Biloxi.

More stories to come, especially now that we have the down time to bring everything up to speed.

On our first day, we were seeking Po’ Boys, a sandwich, and we found a Vietnamese place that sold them, as well as the noodle dish, Pho.

So we called it Pho Boys..

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Day 6 Travel

As we prepare to return to L.A. via our flights out of Gulfport, some of the guys are going to try and head over to New Orleans before their flight to see things first hand… and maybe to sample the local fare…

Good Lord, you think these guys would be tired, or tired of each other… 🙂

Let’s pray they make it back in time for their flights…

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Day 5 Prayer

We came as a church. Habitat for Humanity is a Christian organization.

I know that there’s been a lot of interest and questions regarding the work we were doing, and between doing the actual building and keeping you informed, it did seem to get a little wrapped up in the task at hand. Besides, we’re guys.

But other things were going on as well. We grew as men, and men of God.

Prayer Walk
Today was our last day on the site on Prince George Street. We’ll miss the house, working together, and working on this house, but mostly we’ll miss the people we met, and we wonder about the home that will one day fill the house.

We took our last moments on site to pray.

We prayed for the future tenants, the local area, for Habitat, for Bracky, Diane, David and all the others seen and unseen. We prayed for peace within families, especially the family that will call this their home. We prayed for God’s protection over all these things and prayed for a blessing on the home. We prayed most of all that they know that we came because we wanted them to know that Jesus loves them.

Each one of the ten guys sat or stood in a room and prayed whatever he felt. It was good. It was moving. Many of us cried. It was humbling. I’m glad that I belong to a church that believes in prayer and has guys that are used to praying, especially publicly. We walked around and prayed for the neighborhood, especially because Habitat owns the lots to the left and right of this one, as well as several others in the area.

We pray that the right families get the homes, and we pray that they know that God loved them enough to send 10 guys with not a lot in common to build a home for them.

It was humbling to be part of a greater plan, to be a small part of a small team that was a small section of the life of this house. God could have done anything with anyone, but He chose this method and these people: Habitat, volunteers, us, to bring this home together for no other purpose than to let them know that God is so loving and powerful that He could orchestrate so much for a family that is in need.

God loves people regardless of what they can give Him. He just loves them.

So we prayed. And we became better men because of it, and because of this trip.

We’ll tell you some things over the next few weeks about why this was a significant thing for us to do, and for the particular timing. And Oh My Gosh I’m glad that we’ll have some time to catch up and post things without having to go to sleep and get up and start hammering by 6 am.

But we wanted you to know that we pray for you out there that are part of this experience.

Katrina Prayer Walk Day 5

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Day 5 Construction and Dinner

Thanks so much for the encouraging blog comments, emails and phone calls we’ve been getting. We miss you and will be flying back tomorrow, but now to the pictures and the house:

Just to let you know the technical aspects of trusses (that we all learned too well): They are connected to this home at two points, each side of the house. They are kept in by some hurricane brackets, but initially are positioned with four toed-in nails to a side. The peak of the trusses are kept the same distance apart by a 2×4 that is nailed near the top.

The spacing of these trusses is crucial (we learned all too well) because the plywood that will rest on it needs to be properly nailed in at regular intervals. Well due to our work and re-work, we got the trusses set appropriately apart, but somewhere along the line they fell out of true. This required a little extra help/coaxing

After the trusses were set, (and lunch)

It was Rob’s Anniversary, and he was spending it with us …

.. we went to work on putting up the rest of the plywood on the roof.

At the same time, the rest of the team was putting together, or rather, taking apart a doorway that, like the window, was the wrong size. This time though, we had to tear the doorway apart and widen it..

After a hard day of work, we took photos and went to dinner. We left a signed reminder for the homeowners.

The Shed was amazing. We said our goodbyes to Dave, exchanged contact info and wished him well. He’s a good guy doing a good thing and we’ll be praying for him and his family.

We hope you enjoy the photos of our workday and our dinner

Construction Day 5

Katrina Dinner Day 5

And of course, you have to watch Art reveal his meal..

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Day 4 Construction

Our 2nd to last day in Gautier.

We woke up to thunder and lightning, and were briefed about our work. If it’s inclement weather, Habitat will often take workers to homes that need interior work done. That makes sense.

Today, we were told just to ride out the storm. It would pass in a few hours. We arrived to our work site 2 hours later than normal, and then proceeded to spend over an hour emptying it of water.

We had to hold off on the roof because of wet conditions, and also we had to fix the trusses. They have to sit directly on the outer walls, and some were bumping into the interior walls. We had to cut notches in them to let them float.

Windows Windows Windows
We got to put in some windows. Two windows were ordered too small for the opening that was made for them. We had to adjust the window openings

The front door, wrapping the home in moisture barrier, some paneling for the roof and the front gable were all highlights of the day.

I (Peter) also got to run to BP (local gas station) to pick up an Oyster Po’Boy and a bunch of fried chicken to spice up our sandwich lunches. I got to spend some time talking with Dave, our project manager and getting to know him better. He’s a good guy that loves his kids. Likes things simple and knows what’s important. His family lost a lot during the flood. It was good to build our friendship.

Hope you enjoy the slide show

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Day Zero Pictures are up!

Actually, we’re still on site, wrapping up, but wanted to post this thank you before we wrap up for the day.

So we’ll take you back.. three days..

We wanted to thank all our families and friends, both who could come out to the airport to see us off, or to wish us well in our meetings before we left.

Each team member has an Missionary Support Group to give us support and help us feel connected to our church and family during the prep for the trip.

At the airport, some of them were able to come out and pray for us before we left. Because of the time and distance, we know it was hard and told many to stay at home. We appreciate all.

Some pictures from the sendoff

We flew out of Ontario, CA at 11:15pm, went through Atlanta (where we saw the sun rise) and arrived in Gulfport in time for breakfast.

We tried to sleep in the plane, but got most of our sleep during our two hour layover in ATL.

Pictures from the airport

While on the flight to Gulfport, I (Peter), had the most interesting conversation with a resident of Biloxi. Heard a rather interesting and exciting and heartbreaking story about his experience of Katrina. I hope to have time later to share it with you later. Really put some perspective on the extent of the damage, both in property and how it shattered lives, and how his family has kept it together.

When we arrived into Gulfport, we had breakfast at Waffle House, made a run to Walmart to get our supplies and sleeping bags, and saw some of the cities (Gulfport and Biloxi), both damaged and recovering.

Checking out the local area

We arrived at Yankie Stadium, home of the Salvation Army and Habitat for Humanity’s effort in the local area.

It was different than I personally expected, but incredibly well furnished with showers and bathrooms. We’re in a room with about 10-12 bunk beds, sharing with some other volunteers.

Orientation happened that evening and we met the other teams. Supposedly there are just under 100 volunteers working this week. Some for the week, and some young adults working for several months.

Pictures of our arrival to the stadium/orientation

What’s interesting is that on the side of the bleachers/stadium is the high water mark for Katrina’s flooding. Art and I looked around and realized that all around us, this whole place was under 5-6′ of water. The only thing that would have been visible, if it wasn’t floating away, would have been the bleachers.

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Storm Watch… Wait.. Tornado Watch


Woke up this morning to pray.

Saw flashes, but they weren’t coming from inside. A storm is coming our way.. and actually is right on top of us.

Yes, that’s us, Biloxi, at the front end of that little dark part of the storm system.

We’re not sure yet if we’ll be going out to work on the site today, but we’re willing and able. If not, the Habitat folks have things to keep us busy.

In the meantime, we can still continue to pray for the region. Just a few days of this Mississippi weather has brought us intense heat, beautiful cool weather and now a Tornado watch in a nearby county. As beautiful as the weather has been, when I hear the thunder and see the lightning, I wonder what it was like 18 months ago when Katrina hit.

We’re building the homes with some new building standards and features specifically for hurricanes. Additional straps and concrete footings were required after Katrina. In building the houses, it’s easy to see how roofs could separate and houses could be lifted up completely off their foundations and found miles away.

And some of the neighborhoods we’ve traveled through represent some economically challenged areas. Hard to rebuild when you don’t have much to begin with.

So if you’re praying for us and our safety, please join us in praying for the residents that don’t have as much shelter as we do, that are living under the many roofs we’ve passed by that are covered by blue tarps because that’s all the roofing they can currently afford.

The rain is pelting our roof and coming down hard right … about… now..

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Construction Day 3

Fearing rain, we prepared for the worst, but we were happy to experience some cloud cover vs. the previous day’s heat.

We got to meet Diane, Bracky’s wife, who also introduced us to the Palm Nailer. A tool we wish we found on day 1. It’s the best thing in the world.. air powered hammering. Any of the guys that got to use didn’t want to go back to the elbow grease hammers.

Today was high-wire work for many, especially Gary and Mo. Working on the trusses, they lived high above our work. It’s amazing how much work is involved in setting up the framing for the roof paneling that we hope to install tomorrow.

New tool added today:

Chop Saw. That gave us straight cuts, and yes, Steve was eager to cut up any pieces of 2×4 that were requested. Still no major injuries to report.

The beginning of the day was squaring up the house. A string is placed around the outer walls, and we push/pull and secure the wall at various points to make sure the walls are lined up with the string.

We also learned today that using the Sawzall could allow us to cut nails when we would mess up our work. Don’t worry, we’re building this house with love and care and hopefully to withstand the terrors of a hurricane.

Almost every guy on the crew worked up on the trusses. Much appreciated, very exciting and hard work in the heat. Poor Gary for being the tallest guy had to take the highest point of the building at all times.

We hope that the slide shows give you some taste of the amount of work involved in building these homes. We appreciate our homes all the more.

Enjoy the slideshow!

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Ultimate Frisbee and Other Thoughts

Mathias’ Notes, our lone ambassador to Ultimate Frisbee last night

It seems Ultimate Frisbee playing got some attention in a few recent posts so I thought I’d pop in a tell the whole story. Every Tuesday night is Ultimate Frisbee night at camp. The Americore people who are here for more than one week at a time run the games. They’re pretty intimidating since some of them had uniforms and even made up a special chant. We played three games between Americorps teams before another team from the Salvation Army side of camp came to challenge us. We lost that game 5-3. I’m not sure how Dennis puts me on a Wheaties box since I managed to drop a scoring pass in the endzone.

Apparently Art and I look alike because Art says a lady came up to him this morning and said, “You play a mean game of Frisbee”. I’ll chalk it up to the stereotype that all Asians looking the same. I don’t think I look that much like Art.

A lesson learned from this episode: “don’t play Ultimate Frisbee the day before lifting trusses” My legs are really really sore tonight.