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
- Work on our respective sites
- Return to church and shower
- Join Community Dinner at Grace Community Bible Church, where we dined with some of the home owners, and church members
- Do our field team debrief
- 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.
