Evergreen SGV Relief team Sgvserve.org
We’re working on three houses, and this is how we’re split up
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
>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.
General schedule for each day is:
> 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
Craig gave a devotional at Ryan’s home.
Ryan, our supervisor from OutreachGlobal served us a fun hamburger and hot dog dinner and it was a nice casual day, before our more structured prep day began.
Today was a day of new experiences. From experiencing a new church setting to a new style of eating, today was a day of learning. It was a drastic change for most of the team experiencing a church of 20 as opposed to a church of 750.
It was a new experience and it was groovy time seeing the church body (specifically one person) share his testimony straight from his seat to the entire congregation. After a great sermon, we reconvened to fellowship and more importantly, decide where to go for lunch. It was decided that we would get some local flavor and try a local chain that specialized in seafood. The highlight of this feast (and that it was) was the unexpected amount of crawfish that was “accidently” ordered by Bu. Apparently, a “normal serving” of crawfish is 5lbs per person. This was not known. After trying his best, Bu gave in and relinquished the crawfish to Nate, who proceeding to gleefully partake in this rare treat. He finished about 4lbs of crawfish, much to everyone’s astonishment and disgust. After lunch, we parted ways as some went for a Wal-Mart run, some went to scope out the job sites, and others went to explore Bass Pro Shops.
After these “expeditions” we started to trickle back to the host church and fellowshipped over our new purchases (not all of these purchases were completely necessary). Dinner was another hearty fare of fried chicken, salad, and biscuits made by our wonderful kitchen team. After dinner, we were briefed by our ReachGlobal host about our jobsites for the week and what to expect, both from the properties and the property owners. All left the briefing encouraged and anxious for the week ahead and hopeful for what God has in store for us this week.
By the way, found these photos in Google photos
3 of the 4 were from a church Harvest Festival in October 2008. Nate 10 years ago podiumed in an eating contest.. Today, he is fake eating a dead bug
Sorry, we thought we had posted this one on Lorin, here it is again
It’s special this year to have Chris H Volunteering with us in Louisiana. After serving as COHFH staff and being our supervisor for our times volunteering in OKC, Chris has taken some time off his regular duties to volunteer with us for a week in Denham Springs, LA
He drove down and met us in Denham Springs, and is bunking up with us at the church.
It’s been great having Chris as a friend, but having him as a peer/leader has been incredibly resourceful as our work here has us working over three separate sites, and Chris is helping us with leadership and knowledge.
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| Virginia, with a hug from Rayemanette |
1) Where are you going? Denham Springs
2) Where are you staying? Grace Community Bible Church
3) Who are you partnering with? ReachGlobal
4) When are you leaving? Early May 19th, returning May 26th evening
5) Wait, I thought you were working with Habitat for Humanity…. (watch video below)
Unfortunately, David M and Mathias N will be not joining us on this trip due to unforseen obligations and schedule conflicts, but will be supporting us in prayer. We’ll miss them, but we’re glad they’re putting family and other responsibilities first. As much as each team member’s contribution is important, we can get others to do the labor in their place, but family is important.
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| Chris C |
Recently, the team got an email from one of our leaders, Chris C:
Hi, everyone. Our adventure begins in just a few days. I am so looking forward to serving with each of you. It will be a blast. David and Mathias, we will miss the both of you this year but praying that you would experience God’s peace as you obediently stay back to minister to and care for your families. God’s plans are perfect (Psalms 18:30).
I was so blessed yesterday to see our team and all of our prayer partners at the front of the church as Pastor Victor prayed over us during the commissioning service. It was quite a large group up there. It was a good reminder that our ministry has a much greater impact than just those families that we help in Louisiana. We have a whole church family that is sending us and praying for us. We need to make Evergreen proud, but ultimately, our greater calling is to bring glory to God and make Him look good. Let’s be mindful of that as we serve next week.
Lastly, I just got off the phone with our site supervisor, Ryan K. Here is some information I wanted to pass on to you.
- We will be at three (3) work sites. At the 1st work site, we will be finishing up a metal roof, doing some trim work, and some repair work inside the house. At the 2nd work site, we will be installing laminate flooring and pulling up tiles. The 3rd work site is up in the air right now. So at this time, we may be working on this home or possibly doing some painting at the church that we’re staying at. I told Ryan that we would be willing to do whatever he would needed us to do. Again, I just wanted to remind everyone that we need to be “flexible” when we are in Louisiana.
- The houses will be within a few miles away from each other, and about 15 minutes away from the church.
- The kids will be off school next week, so we may have opportunities to meet and encourage the homeowners as well as their children.
- The weather should be around 95 degrees all week with 55% humidity; standard weather in LA but may be a little uncomfortable for CA folks.
That’s it for now. If you have any questions, please let us know. See everyone bright and early on Saturday morning. We will be meeting at LAX (Southwest Airlines terminal) at 5:00 a.m.
Finally, for an idea of what the weather’s looking like…
Linda, a nurse by profession, will be serving as our team “medic” and is a team newbie for 2018!
