What had originally started as our team dinner, per the suggestion of our site manager, we ate at The Shed, a local BBQ restaurant. Three years later, it’s much more than just grabbing some baby backs. It’s our time to hang out with our coworkers, leaders and new friends.
It’s a nice tradition, and a nice time to get to know each other. Our combined teams (21) had about 14 other guests, making it quite the BBQ party.
But more importantly, it was a nice time to thank our leaders for the time and effort they had invested into us over the last few days.
The guys are the ones holding down the fort. Week after week, long after we’re gone, keeping the rebuilding effort going, while we’re home sleeping in our own beds, with our own families.
Many of them come from Americorps backgrounds, and the sacrifice they have made professionally and personally to serve is quite humbling.
We are continually amazed how many people come to serve, without the benefit that we have of a sending church, helping us personally, financially and spiritually.
So all the better to learn about our current team, and how we might best support and pray for them. Many of them come for spiritual reasons too. A few of our leaders attend local churches while stationed/working down in the Mississippi Gulf Port area. There are unique challenges that go with being away from their homes.
So all in all, it was a good meal, not only because the food was tasty, but the company and fellowship really made it all the better.
Sigh, how many times have these posts started out with “It’s very late?”
It is late.. Lights out ended half an hour ago. The permutations of this trip are so great. As the days have rolled on, we continue to ask ourselves “why are we here?”
Not because we don’t understand that we’re here to Serve God. Not that we don’t understand that we’re here to build homes… but we constantly are evaluating how we get to interact with those around us.
Tonight, we had the opportunity to break bread with those we’ve co-labored with. What started out in year 1 as a simple outing for BBQ, has turned into a nice tradition to dine with those we work with.
It was nice to get to know them at a more familiar level, but also to hear about their personal lives and keep them in our prayers. They’re doing a difficult work with the rebuilding effort, and we want to be part of their support.
We’ll have more photos of them and more from today…. Hopefully we’ll be able to make captions soon to make sense of them. Thanks for your patience..
Kinda nice hearing the guys from both teams talking with the Mandarin Church folks. Talking about scaffolding and local things. The guys are hitting their stride now. Everyone’s pretty comfortable (again) with the tools, the roof, and the amount of work that we’re putting out.
Once again, we’ll have more videos when we have more time to edit them, but we’ll give you what we’ve got for now 🙂
What are you thankful for today?
Peter – I am thankful not only for a hot shower, but also a place to come back to after work. After seeing the WLOX movie last night about Katrina, I am thankful for my life after seeing all the destruction and lives lost in the hurricane.
Jonathan – I am thankful that the weather is not hot, it was cooler and cloudy and made the work day bearable.
Bryan – I am thankful that Gary stepped in, saving my witness and made me gave in to Greg.
Tommy – I am thankful that God answered Lifesong’s prayer for cloud cover.
Craig W. – I was thankful for a good night’s sleep due to Keith’s earplugs.
Craig — I am thankful for the opportunity to pray for Calvin, a Habitat Staffer who visited the job site today.
Kelly – I am thankful that our Americorps worker Tommy took our advice and went to the doctor and so I was able to take some time to teach some of the new guys new skills like sawing and hammering.
Gary – I am thankful to be able to work with such dedicated and caring guys.
Jeff – I am thankful for being around a lot of faithful men.
Keith – I made it safely across the new Biloxi bridge.
Kaji – I am thankful for prayer and the power of Prayer. The Lifesong people have been praying for good weather and we have been blessed with wonderful weather.
Videos and Pics
Oh, and the Bu-Cam. The Bu-Cam is shared among several of the guys, but even the one Bu-Cam entry we have today takes 4 hours to upload (put onto youtube), so we may not get to them (all) when we’re in Biloxi.
Oh-Special Note of thanks to Gary, Jonathan for helping with the blog. Asking question of the day, and filming video and shooting pics (as well as some of the other guys). It’s been yet another way we’ve had a team effort.
Quickie update-one of the many ways we’re able to try and best represent you, our supporters, our church, and our God is to try to give the hope of God to some people.
Team leader Craig made an interesting connection with a Habitat staff member today.
After speaking to him for a few minutes, we found the staff member had actually started life in South Central L.A. After the violent death of a gang member friend, his mother sent him out of state, eventually finding himself in the Gulf Port area. After serving some time, he gave his life to God, and today is trying to have an impact on youth, especially those at risk.
Craig was able to pray for and encourage him today.
There are many stories, large and small. There are many reasons why we are here to serve. We’ll try and let you know of some of them as we can, but we look forward to sharing with you even more when we return.
Pics From Today
Some youtube for you…and some video from yesterday too.. 🙂
The team is gelling quite well, and despite some hiccups in yes, the trusses again, we’ll be back on track tomorrow.
(Note: Year 1, we had to re-do the trusses due to a measuring problem we had.. this year, there were measurement problems, and a little mis-interpretation of the plans)
We love our leadership crew, headed up by Brad, our site supervisor for half our Men’s team last year.
There’s much to tell, but we’re a bit sleepy. Try to give you some highlights
Separate from Lifesong.
We’re working on a site two doors down from Lifesong. That works out extremely well. We get to see them, their progress (which is quite impressive) and let them work and bond together. But we’re still neighbors..
We received a house with all the walls put up, and spent the majority of the day putting up the trusses and gables (the triangular wooden structures that hold up the roof).
Tomorrow, the Evergreen team might be split up several sites, possibly reuniting with Spikes, who was the site supervisor for three of our four years.
Nobody was seriously injured. Sorry we have to say ‘seriously,’ because one of our members made a point to remind everyone to use their hardhats. He had 2×4’s dropped on his hat twice today, but he seems uninjured.
The guys, along with Lifesong, jumped at opportunities to serve in the kitchen for both serving and washing dishes. Really proud of them.
Our evening joint worship time enjoyed a visit from some people from Mandarin Church. No, they’re not Asian, but from Mandarin, Florida, and their team, comprised of mostly retirees, worked with us last year at the same time. We think the coincidence is uncanny.
Gary was kind enough to ask each team member the following question:
What was the highpoint of this first work day?
Brent – Bu loved Art’s and Tommy’s “Stiletto” hammer.
Keith – It wasn’t as hot as I thought it was going to be.
Craig W. – Pounding nails for me beats a day at the office any day.
Peter – It was watching the Lifesong team working well together on their house.
Craig K. – Jonathan pounding in his first nails and everyone cheering him on.
Tommy – Lending Bu my Stiletto (hammer) was like handing my kids the keys to the car.
Art – Taking a shower after a hard day’s work.
Gary – Very cold jelly in a PB&J sandwich for lunch.
Jonathan – Everyone is very helpful and encouraging here.
Roy – Getting the last truss installed (even though we have to move it tomorrow).
Jeff – Staying in one piece after being whacked in the head twice and struck by a truss.
Bryan – The Stiletto is more than I thought it would be.
Kelly – Finally finishing the trusses after having so much trouble lining it up.
Planning to build houses, while exciting, is less strenuous than actually doing so….
There’s much more to come, and we’ll update, but for now, wanted to show you some videos..
Leaving for the work site
Arrival at the work site
Hammering, nailing..
We had a camera that we wore while working. Hopefully to give you a taste of what it’s like to work on site. One of our first camera-wearers was Brian/Bu.
Moments after we said our goodbyes in the LAX check-in area, with leader Craig K, giving many long goodbye hugs to wife Laura, the team moved through security.
It seems in years previous, we had more time (and more seating space) in the waiting area than this one. Perhaps economic demands have required more full flights.
Evergreen and Lifesong
Finally, the full Evergreen and Lifesong teams met face to face. It was at that point we realized about half of the combined teams had never been to Biloxi before. It was nice to see the new faces, and there was something special about having a bond through shared faith, and even a shared church lineage. Craig’s idea of self-introduction was to state your name, profession, number of years coming out to Biloxi and whether or not you snored. Guess where most attention was paid….
Lifesong’s team was an eclectic gathering in age, size, profession and life stage. On average, we were older and shorter (Jonathan’s presence can only offset us by so much….) Craig gave us a rundown of the schedule for the next day, our day of sign-in, orientation and a bit of rest. Minutes later, we were boarding for our first leg.
Houston to Biloxi
Upon arrival in Houston, Craig K gave us a brief devotional, encouraging us to stay focused on the task at hand, keeping our eye on ministry, both to the people we serve with and the homeowners we will most likely not meet. It was well needed, but a few of the guys heard him with much sleep in their eyes.
After a quick snack, we were on our final leg, in a much smaller plane. A lack of height could be seen as an asset for that flight. The ceiling was rather low.
We landed, had a prayer of thanksgiving for safe arrival, and got into our rented cars to visit the site we worked on last year. Where a year ago, we were building houses with only several completed homes, it was humbling to see a dozen standing in the same area. Fully equipped with cabinetry and appliances, which is usually the last step before occupancy. But the street was still being finished, and the driveways into the homes remained undone. We’re assuming that they’re waiting for the whole block to be finished before releasing them to the homeowners.
Video of our visit to the site from last year…
Lighthouse, Memorial and lunch
A stop by the Biloxi lighthouse and the Katrina Memorial under a mile away, we remembered how tall a wall of water passed where we stood. We drove past our temporary residence for the first two years, Yankie Stadium, to see that the Salvation Army had made good on their original plans (before Hurricane Katrina) to build a community center for the youth. They’re grading the land at this moment. It was a little bittersweet, as we’re happy for their commitment to invest in the community in a much needed way, but it was sad to see a place that we had called home for our first couple years, be gone.
Lunch at Cafe New Orleans was a treat. We were taken into a back room, apparently housing the local Rotary Club meeting. It felt like a mini banquet hall as we broke bread together for the first time. Names and stories were swapped, as well as pieces of fried catfish, shrimp and oysters.
Biloxi Lighthouse-feeding the birds
Walmart and supplies
The annual trip to Walmart confused some of the returning team. A remodel of Walmart has rearranged the store. Uncle Roy was quickly walking into the store, heading straight for the sleeping bags. Apparently he found last year, that the addage of “snoozing” and “losing” was in play, and wanted to get to the bags quickly. He arrived first, making sure he didn’t get a “Dora the Explorer” sleeping bag.
The concerns/reports of bed bugs at Camp Victor turned into purchases of mattress liners and much bug repellent. We will see who will have the last laugh, the men who scoffed at added protective measures, or the ones who chuckled at those unwilling to guard themselves. Time will tell.
Camp Victor
Arrival at Camp Victor reminded us how every year it’s a little different. This is the first time for anyone on this/these team(s) to be at Camp Victor. Unlike the Coed team, few (other) teams were staying at Camp Victor this week, so we got our pick of the bunks.
Bu (Brian), originally chose a bottom bunk, but when another volunteer arrived, he forfeited his choice of bunk and took one above a Lifesonger (Martin).
The ministry begins now. In various forms and sizes.
We appreciate the conscious choices we make as ambassadors of our church, our home, sometimes our ethnicities and ultimately our God. We hope that we’ll carry that forward no matter what the circumstances, no matter what the timezone.
Thank you once again, to all who have sacrificed their time to send us, or even to care enough to read this blog. We will try to serve in your place and serve in honor of our God.
Oh, and forgot to mention, if you want to see a really nice blog, but promise not to compare… 🙂 go check out Lifesong’s
On the plane, about to leave LAX. We had a mini meeting with the Lifesong team.
13 men from Evergreen left LAX, joined by 8 from Lifesong.
The lifesong team includes 2 firefighters and 2 law enforcement professionals. We’re intimidated… well, at least I am :). Don’t worry Evergreen, we’ll try to represent you well…
Thank you so much to our supporters for joining us for prayer and a very encouraging send-off, including our recently returned coed team, as well as Chris C. Chris had the difficult but very understandable choice to stay at home to support his wife during the loss of her father. As much as we all wanted him to come, family does come before ministry. Our prayers are with his family. If you can continue to pray for our team as we venture forth in faith.
A total of 90 team members and supporters from both EvergreenSGV and Lifesong came out to LAX to send the combined Mens’ teams. With encouragements from Pastor Kyle, and team lead, Craig K, we tried to keep our focus on not just building houses with hammers and nails, but building bridges to people. We hope that the sacrifices that many have made to send us will be honored.
Pastor Kyle gathering the team for prayer
Leader Craig’s remarks
There are families, friends, and workplaces that were left behind to make this week happen. Vacations were given up to serve people we will never see. We do this not to be noble, but to serve, and let others know that there is a God who loves them, and chooses to work through His people. We will do our best to be His eyes, His hands, to serve them and give them hope. Hope eternal in a God that will never fail them.
With that in mind, we gladly received the prayers of those that are sending us. We serve with their prayers, well wishes and support.
