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Return to LA

We’re back.

Delay

Our first of two connecting flights was delayed due to a mechanical problem. There was a chance that we would have to reroute to Orange County/John Wayne six hours later. There was a chance we’d have to split up Lifesong and Evergreen, and even some within each team. But in the long run, we made it, all together, all on the originally scheduled flight.

That was interesting, running through Houston’s terminal. I was going to put the Bu Cam on Bu as we ran through the terminal, but was afraid that it would look a little odd for a bunch of guys running through the terminal, much less with one with a little electronic thing strapped to his chest.

Interesting note: On the way to Gulfport/Biloxi, Jonathan didn’t check in any luggage as his luggage could be stored in the overhead. But since the smaller plane for that last leg had limited storage, they would check it in at the gate.

On our return home, when we found out our first flight was delayed by 45 minutes and we’d be running through the terminal, one of the guys suggested that Jonathan check in his bag as regular luggage so that it wouldn’t slow us down. We think it helped.

Running

A couple of the Lifesong guys were seated near the front of the plane, so much like “The Amazing Race,” they took off running to the next gate. They made it to the tram, then to the next terminal and started the boarding of 26 people trying to make the connection (our combined team plus 5 others).

We all made it aboard the connecting flight, and it left the gate about 15 minutes behind schedule, but when we arrived at LAX, it was only a matter of a few minutes behind schedule, so we hope our fellow passengers weren’t too inconvenienced. Apparently it was an oversold flight and there were still some people on standby, waiting to see if we were going to make it.

It actually became a talking point for some of us, since we were all in our team or Habitat Tshirts, and they had announced they were holding the plane for us, so they knew we were the reason.

Arrival

Threw the BuCam on Bu and deplaned. Went down the escalator to baggage claim, Lifesong and Evergreen team members intermixed…and then saw the kids.

The kids were screaming “Welcome Home, Lifesong!” 🙂 It was cute and hilarious, as the Evergreen guys got some waves from some friends. It was so exciting to see the Lifesong guys get reunited with friends and family. The welcome was more than they expected, and really made them, and us, feel like heroes. I also think it shows what a church community feels like. How the other passengers knew that our church had sent us to help with Habitat.

Our welcome was right around the corner, further inside the baggage claim area. I’m glad that the Evergreeners had told the Lifesong families to meet them at the escalator. I really appreciate how much our team, both the guys, and our supporters were trying to make space for Lifesong and allow them to have their own special experience, while still making our own team feel loved and supported.

Fortunately, all of our luggage made it. Both teams.

We prayed, took group pictures and with pats on backs, hugs and handshakes, went our separate ways.

This isn’t over

As was said by Pastor Jon of Lifesong, “the trip ends, but the mission continues.” It’s true on many levels. We’re still updating this blog with pics, videos and thoughts as we are no longer in work/building mode. We still have to talk about our last day on site, and our time at Antioch house.

We’re preparing for our presentation on June 6 at our church, just after 12 noon. And some of us are going to try and crash the June 13th presentation at Lifesong.

But beyond the tasks we have to wrap up the trip, there was a lot of good that the Lord did through our hands, and in our hearts, not only for the people of Mississippi, but for making us better men to love others better in His Name.

We walked away more humble, more encouraged, more in awe of how God works through so many people, whether they realize it or not, be they Habitat, Americorps, Mandarin Church, Camp Victor folks, Antioch house, and of course, us.

We see that God wants us to help rebuild houses and homes, but we realized even more how much He’s allowing us to let Him build a place in the hearts of ourselves and others. He’s reclaiming more than anything Katrina damaged, He’s reclaiming hearts. That’s what this trip was really about.

We’ll have that BuCam video (coming off the plane) in the next few days stay tuned, but here are some others from the trip that we continue to keep posting.

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Flight Info – Made The Connection. Same Flight, Possibly a Few Minutes Late

Running through terminal to see if we can make connection.

Let’s see what happens..

Lifesong are guys younger and taller. We’re taking escalator.

If we can make it, plane leaves in 5 minutes.

Okay. They held the plane.

On board. Arrival of continental 137 flight will be just after 4:00pm scheduled time.

Fellow next to me says that they never hold planes for him. Explained how 20 guys came to work for habitat. He said it was a good reason.

See you soon.

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Flight Info Part 1 of 2

Our outbound flight from Biloxi to Houston is leaving a little late, and there is a chance we won’t make our scheduled flight to LAX

We will keep you updated.

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Day 5 – Last Day on Site

Sigh. Last day on site. Was a wonderful, glorious day. Many things happened, and for the most part, outside of our control.

Team T-Shirt

Like many of the groups before us, we left a team Tshirt, this one with our name tags clipped on, much like our CoEd team that came a few weeks prior.

We also put our names on the wall aside our Coed team, and prayed for the facility before we left.

The day started out with Craig K.’s devotional, but due to time constraints, and I guess, God’s design, we had our devotional at the work-site. We shared the moment and prayer with other co-laborers before we worked.

We also presented site leader Brad with a baseball cap we brought from L.A., representing the San Gabriel Valley affiliate of Habitat.

The Rain

Since it was our last day, we ordered pizzas for ourselves, Lifesong and all the volunteers and crew. It was a warm humid day, and we were grateful for the cloud cover as we put the felt/tar paper on the roof, to make the home waterproof.

Little did we realize that the rain we thought would come tomorrow, decided to hurry up the schedule. After we had papered the majority of the roof, the rumbles of distant thunder chilled our bones. Within minutes, lightning strikes could be seen in the distance, and moments later, the rain started and then arrived as a full on storm.

We gathered our tools and equipment into the house and coaxed the Lifesong to make the rainy muddy trek three doors down to our place. With a bit of slipping, sliding and waterlogging, they arrived, we prayed and broke bread/pizza dough.

The odd circumstances brought both teams together, and many great moments of us sharing thoughts, hearts that went beyond just sharing workspace. We “found common in the uncommon” as one of the Lifesong guys said, trying to make sure that our crew and leaders knew we appreciated and cared for them. Spiritually, emotionally, and pizza-wise.

Some interesting situations occured…

Peter almost fell off the roof, and scraped up his leg, but it gave him time to spend with Kathy, a partner family that will be moving into the house next door to the team built in 2009. It looks like she moves in July/August of this year. She said we might get some brownies if we visit her next year. Peter and Kathy talked about faith, and we were able to pray about her, her pursuit of God, and her exciting new home.

While we were in the house during the storm, sharing pizzas, we were able to get to know the leaders of the other teams.

Denise seemed pretty interested to learn “Ultimate Ninja,” which will be one more thing to teach the kids that she meets. Bu was happy to oblige.

Lifesong played some crazy head shaking game that we got on video (up soon). Kelley from Lifesong was able to humbly minister to one of our site leaders, Tommy.

We wrote verses on the walls, blessing the homes, the neighborhood, and our Americorps/Habitat staff. Although we hope to see them on our next visit, we know that things change, but as was said many times, we’ll see them later, one way or another. God bless you guys, not so much for the work you do, but for trying to do it for the right reasons, for trying to put faith in action. Hold on to that.

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Day 4 – Mandarin Church

Yes, we do work. We also take a ton of pics. But you might see as the days progress, there’s more work and less pictures.

Recap of the day

Started out the day with a special inspiring speech from our site manager, Brad. He’s a gifted, charismatic leader, and we pray for him every day. With as much talent and potential, we hope he’s able to use it wisely and can hear the voice of God speak to him.

Here’s a video of his Martin Luther King impression, but more importantly, is the content of how we start our days…

We continued working on the one house, continuing the roof and doing some interior work, but we also continued to divide our forces, working on another house’s subfloor preparation, as well as some significant framing of a third house with Spikes

Jonathan, one of the main videographers, was rolling around on the subfloor (ground) to do some work today, his shirt got quite a bit dirty..

The framing continued now that the subfloor had been built on Spike’s house (next door). A few of the exterior walls were raised.

We ended the day with an off-site dinner just for our team. It was a nice time to get away for a bit just as a team, and the steaks and seafood at Taranto’s was superb. We had planned to pay for it out of our own pockets, but when the bill came, Tommy surprised by treating us to dinner.

End of Day

We ended the day with a devotional teaching back at Camp Victor, with a brief teaching by Keith. His words inspired us to keep the focus on God doing work through us. Not just amazing things that happened to us during this trip, not just how we were able to work well under sometime challenging situations, but how to give credit, honor and glory to God for making all these things possible. It’s simple, but it’s good to be reminded of such things, whether at home or on the road.

Kaji (Brent), treated our team, Lifesong and all the other guests at Camp Victor, to ice cream drumsticks. Partially at the urging of two friends back at church, Kaji wanted another way to bless those we share quarters with, and specifically, team member Roy N. Last year, at this time, we had gotten him ice cream treats in lieu of a birthday cake that we were trying to hunt down. This was just a way to remind “Uncle” Roy that he’s special to us, regardless if it falls on his birthdya or not. It’s kind of Brent to share his generosity and our celebration with all the other guests as well.

Mandarin Church – Not sure if we told you, but last year, and this one as well, we have volunteered at the same time at the same place as this church. That’s not even mentioning the irony that they are called “Mandarin” and we are mostly Asian… 🙂 It’s rather providential that both our churches, without planning have bumped into each other to serve the same cause. Twice in a row.

We have no idea if our paths will pass again, but we have enjoyed sharing meals with them as we shared living quarters and faith with them. They joined us for devotionals and worship. It really was a nice experience for us.

Tonight, during our devotional time, a member of MUMC sat in with us, specifically waiting patiently to tell us the following:

Because they leave early tomorrow morning, they wanted to make sure to tell us that even though we may not cross paths again in this life, they all have really enjoyed the camaraderie we share…with them

When he started about the “camaraderie,” I thought it would be the camaraderie of our team. But this was even more true and humbling. It is true, we did share much with these almost-strangers, almost-friends. We have met with a similar objective, with a similar motivation. We both wanted to help rebuild the homes of people we will never see, all because we wanted to serve our God and those He loves.

That’s it, plain and simple. And that brought a group of men from California, and a group of kind Floridians from the church that sounds Asian, together. We thank them and God for letting us have this time. Perhaps there will be a time in heaven when we will recount how good it was to meet each other the first time, while serving in Mississippi.

Enjoy the slideshow

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Day 3 – Shed Video…

The Shed

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.

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Day 3

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..

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Day 3 – Some Videos

Once again, here’s some videos (some more are on the way)

Kelly Trimming the Roof

Gary and Art lifting (heavy) sheets up to the roof

Roof work

The house is wrapped with an insulating styrofoam

Beginning of day…

Art’s Sliver…

To fully enjoy the next video, you have to have first seen the original..



How’s it Going Steve?
NOT FUNNY, YOU GUYS ARE KNUCKLEHEADS (Steve O.)

BuCam Day 3

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Day 3 – Short Day

We’ve hit the midpoint in our journey.

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.

It’s a lot of labor, but for a good cause.

Oh, here’s the Bu Cam from yesterday..