Month: May 2018

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2018 Return-We’re back, but there’s still a little more to come…

Saturday was a whirlwind. And we’re glad it was. It was nice to have a nice day where the team was all together, but all we could do was talk about the families we met.

We cleaned up and packed up and prayed for Ryan, our host and very competent supervisor this week.

Art, Ryan and Pam
and headed into NOLA, to drop in to Café du Monde and possibly see an old friend (again)



We got together with Brad, our old friend and site supervisor from Mississippi, now working for Habitat in NOLA
http://www.habitat-nola.org/

Craig, Brad and Roy

A quick bite to eat with Brad, a quick tour of his home, and a quick ride to the airport. We were back off home

Upon landing, we prayed for the trip, and how it affected both the homeowners, ourselves, and all that we came in contact with. Then a warm welcome from faithful friends and supporters!

It was a really fruitful trip, as we expand our little family. Recently, someone asked if we stay in touch with families we’ve ministered to. Truth is, throughout this whole trip, we were praying for a family from a previous trip as they go through a difficult time. Whether they’re people we’ve worked alongside or a family we were trying to serve, we consider them part of the reason why we serve.

There will be a more posts in the weeks to come, as we get some of the videos together and people are able to collect their thoughts and feelings. We’ve got a presentation that we do for the church, and we’re able to share a bit more from a heart level about what went on.

But we know you guys like them photos… 🙂

Click below.. and we’re still adding some more

Photos – Travel Day
https://photos.app.goo.gl/mtTJxoMb7lOuoGD23

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2018 Day 5 – Last Day of work One Word Jeff H and Pam

Last Work Day

Half Day

We had a good day of work, but only were able to work half a day.



We finished up and said goodbye as we could to our homeowners, and then returned to church to pack up and have dinner.

We said a tearful goodbye to Chris H, who drove back to OKC by himself, a 9.5 hour drive. Thanks to Chris for all the leadership and fun we had with you over the last week. We also got reports from Paul and Denise that they were already home safely




Some of the guys got together to pray for Pastor Tim and his church.

Ryan, our site supervisor joined us for our final team dinner at Café Phonecia



and then we went to Holy Cow and got some of Frozen Custard. It’s customary on these trips to get frozen custard, one of (Uncle) Roy’s favorite treats. His birthday usually falls around the times of our trips, and he likes to treat us for his birthday. However, he lost the “treating” war to Lorin.


Here’s the Photo Album for today, and two videos from Jeff H and Pam, veterans from our trips
Photo Album
https://photos.app.goo.gl/yPSqneALMvdxbVjK2

Jeff H




Pam



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2018 Day 4-Work and Community night

Wow.. we’re really in the home stretch.

Today’s a significant day, but it went long, so we’ll post info on this, especially after we get back

Today’s schedule was

  1. Work on our respective sites
  2. Return to church and shower
  3. Join Community Dinner at Grace Community Bible Church, where we dined with some of the home owners, and church members
  4. Do our field team debrief
  5. Say goodbye to Paul and Denise

Work on our respective sites

We had a team change… due to manpower needs, we moved two members from Team 2 (Nate and Patrick) over to team 1.
  • Team 1 got more supplies and was able to make significant headway on the metal roof
  • Team 2 was able to prepare the home completed the wood floors, installed bathroom kid (heater and light), cleaning up the house and making it homey and ready for them to use. Both Chris’ said they appreciated having the women on board, caring for the way it would be presented
  • Team 3 continued with paint, and removed all tile from the laundry room. But spent a lot of time getting to know Miss Susan, enjoying her poetry and a mini concert, and praying with her.

Community Dinner

Delicious Jambalaya (pronounced Johm-buh-lie-yah or Jam-buh-lie-yah depending on where you grew up) was served on behalf of the church, complete with desserts and Lorin’s famous Butter Mochi.  Ryan had us share where we saw God moving over this last week of work, or even the previous week in preparation. Homeowners, guests and team members were encouraged to share. Pastor Tim even shared from his perspective. It was very moving as people talked about a sense of community, belonging, purpose and trust.

Debrief and goodbye

Normally we do a team debrief on the last day of our trip, but since Paul and Denise were leaving tonight (they stayed a little extra just to participate in the community dinner) and Chris H leaves tomorrow afternoon, we moved the meeting to tonight.
Each team member reflected on ways they had been blessed or grew closer to God this week. The responses were varied as much as there were members, but some people said that they feel this is akin to a retreat, where you grow closer in community, but the activity is working on a home. We all tried to show appreciation to Paul, Denise and Chris H for their skills, leadership and poise during the last few days as they had the rough job of helping manage the teams on each of the three sites.
Another member said that the site leaders were akin to worship leaders (musical singing group at our church)  and each team were worship team members. So like a conductor and a band.
There is also time set aside for team members to deal with any conflicts or tensions, bringing them before the group, and hopefully resolving them, if not addressing them tonight.
We also said a goodbye to Paul and Denise and sent them home for their 2.5 hour drive home. They’re returning home for family commitments.

Community dinner and goodbye photos

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2018 Day 3-A bittersweet midpoint

Wednesday, and our last work day is Friday

The teams are settling into our assignments, and now we’re realizing we only have 1.5 days left at the homes!

Paul and Denise will be returning home Thursday Night, and Chris H, on Friday.

The week has moved by too fast. All of the teams are making great headway on their respective homes, but also building relationships too.

And as much as Ryan has been administering all three sites well, it’s still a handful. We’re very thankful that Paul, Denise and Chris H have been here to run the sites

Tonight, at our team debrief, we’re getting in the habit of showing photos from the day for each site, then commenting on what the heck they’re about.

We opened with Roz’ Devotion from Psalm 16, where “You (God) will not abandon my soul”

Okay, a summary and some photos:
Team 3 (Miss Susan’s home), 1 and then 2

Team 3 (Miss Susan’s home)

  • Removed the washer and dryer from laundry room – primed and paint
  • Miss Susan shared songs and poems she had written. The team found them incredibly articulate and moving, one titled “Chasing Rainbows” was about her neighbor’s experience during the storm. It painted strong imagery while talking about the human aspect more than the flood’s destruction.
  • Team also went to lunch at a local Po’ Boy place and learned more about Miss Susan, and she came back to the church for a mini-tour and met Pastor Tim.
  • Miss Susan has been through a lot, but not broken, and has said in recent days, “The feelings are coming out,” and “a healing has begun.” We’re hoping that she would be a joy to her neighbors.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/CiYZNgvul8uKawKF2

Team 1 (Shipley’s home)

  • Bu got a guide for the screw gun, to help Pam
  • They were running a bit short on materials, it was decided that EBCSGV will cover the cost for the rest of the materials. 
  • Psalm 23:1 Ladder -Venetia helped her go up and down the ladder
  • Mr. Jeff joined closing prayer
Team 1’s Photo Gallery for today

Team 2 (Josh and Sarah’s Home)
  1. Eph 2:20 was written the last corner piece for the living room, we all signed it. 
  2. Finished the living room and the hall
  3. Had a time of prayer in the house for the family and that they would know the Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone

https://photos.app.goo.gl/7Im56Qv5utgQX6vE2



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2018 Day 3-One Word-Art and Nate


One Word

We asked team members to try and sum up their feelings about this trip in one word…
Here are Art and Nate


Art

Art has been coming on these trips since the beginning, and he still sees the team in a certain light



Nate

Nate is a newbie for 2018, but has brought a lot of energy, hard work and encouragement to the team.

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2018 Day 2-One Word-Tommy

Tommy’s One Word

Tommy’s been coming since the beginning.
He reflects on this trip, with his “One Word” including his time at Miss Susan’s home, and how it’s full of music and hope.

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2018 Day 2 Summary

Three times the fun

Since we’re split over three sites, each evening, we’re having a debrief to stay in touch with the other teams.

Here’s a rough sketch of what’s going on:

Today we shared in this order:
Team 2, 3 and then 1

Team 2 (Chris H, Chris C, Linda, Nate, Patrick, Virginia)

Josh and Sarah’s home
Laminate flooring got started on the cutting today
Lots of progress. Laying the floor, finished floor in the Master Bedroom and closet.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/6LRG5B4T591I6tt83

Team 2 Photo Album https://photos.app.goo.gl/6LRG5B4T591I6tt83

Team 3 (Denise,
Craig, Lorin, Peter, Roz, Tommy)

Miss Susan’s home
Peter and Tommy worked on the AC and fixing a couple of the toilets. 
Paint and primer in the living room and hallway
Denise, Lorin and Roz made a nice connection during their lunchtime Prayer Walk with 
Shelley, a woman they met while walking in the neighborhood. Still a lot of hurt in the neighborhood.
We continued our growing friendship with Miss Susan, and learned about her passion and history with music

Team 3 Photo Album https://photos.app.goo.gl/fHXTXWumvmswHK8fA

Team 1 (Paul, Jeff
H, Art, Bu, Jimmy, Pam, Roy, Venetia)

Shipley’s home.

Jeff’s “first day of school”
Jeff was finally feeling good enough to come and work today
Shipleys were able to join the team for lunch and we got to know them a bit better.
They’re Prepping for their daughters graduation 
Pam and Venetia got to pray for Miss Cheryl 
And the team was able to finish part of the roof

Team 1 Photo Album https://photos.app.goo.gl/jrG31bN860ytzSTN2


Thanks, so much going on! Keep us in prayer!




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2018 Day 1-Team Member Profiles Roz and Peter

Two more “One Word” videos

Roz

Roz returned after her debut last year. She’s more confident and comfortable than ever with her tools, but really exercising her ministry skills.

Peter

Peter has been on every team (just like Tommy), so far, but he’s still learning about himself, this team ministry and God.

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2018 Day 1-First Work Day

The Roster

We’re working on three houses, and this is how we’re split up

House 1-Shipleys House 2-Sarah and Josh House 3-Miss Susan
Paul Chris H Denise
Jeff H Chris C Craig
Art Linda Lorin
Bu Nate Peter
Jimmy Patrick Roz
Pam Virginia Tommy
Roy
Venetia


Ryan, the supervisor from ReachGlobal, is overseeing all three houses, but on-site, we’re having Paul, Chris H and Denise run the sites.


Here’s a brief summary of each of the houses
House 1 (The Shipleys): A family with two kids, the father being a pilot. They’ve recently left a FEMA trailer and are continuing restoring their flood damaged home. The Shipley’s damage to their home got so bad they boat had to rescue them off the roof during the flood. Interestingly have some farm animals on site, a pig and a goat.


Continuing installation of a metal roof. Interior restoration including moulding and water damage.


House 2 (Sarah and Josh): This couple also had flood damage, but 18 months after the flood, their outlets are still shorting out. We’re removing tile and prepping the floor for possible tile installation.

House 3 (Miss Susan): Miss Susan’s home also has flood damage, where we’re redoing paint, doing mildew treatment for the brick and installing some features like ceiling fans. Miss Susan has a passion for music and loves to play music from the 20’s

Challenges

>There is a challenge for the team to feel unified being spread out over 3 sites, but before we leave, we have a team breakfast/meeting/devotional, and in the evening, we’ll be debriefing so we can catch up on the practical and spiritual aspects of our work.




>Each team member wears a green ReachGlobal Tshirt (we wrote our names on the front and back) on the job site. Since we’ll be here for a week, Bu and Chris H are washing them every night. Well, our clothes dryer is having some problems, so they were up at 1230AM last night trying to address the problem.
Our clothes were hung on hangers and dried by the morning. Thanks Guys




>Man Down! Two team members, Paul and Jeff H have been hit with some sort of bug or something. Paul was able to make it to the job site today, but Jeff stayed home to recuperate . Also, Denise has been losing her voice.

Schedule

General schedule for each day is:

  • Breakfast
  • Devotional
  • Go to Job site
  • Morning prayer, possibly with homeowner
  • work our butts off
  • Break for lunch
  • Prayer walk (walk the neighborhood and pray for the area)
  • work our butts off some more
  • Closing prayer time
  • Clean up and call it a day!

Cool things along the way today

> A member of the host church volunteered to pick up our washed t-shirts. A few hours later, we had dried and folded t-shirts!

>We were really able to make some progress today. Some of the teams made more progress on the work side, others, on building relationships with our homeowners.

>Chris H and Nate were pulling into the church parking lot when a man pulled up and asked if someone could help him install a window air conditioning unit. After clearing it with Ryan, Chris H and Nate went to the man’s home and did the installation. It was a nice, much appreciated visit, and we even got a bowl of chicken gumbo!

Enjoy the Photo Album!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/DcsGmJNLvGPlwW4v2