Category: Preparation

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Kevin About Deciding to Join the Team



Kevin Kubo will be going to Biloxi for the first time, and talks about his decision…
Kevin also serves as Church Moderator for Evergreen SGV

As we were driving to one of our Katrina Gulf Coast Relief Team meetings, Tommy Yamada asked me if I had ever been to Biloxi, Mississippi. My quick response to his question was “no” and after a few brief moments I added, “and I never really had a desire to go there, either”.

Actually that wasn’t a true statement at all. In fact, I had been thinking about going to that “small town” on the Gulf Coast ever since the first Katrina team returned last year. I have always loved working with my hands (and getting dirty) and after hearing what a blessed time the first Katrina team members had, I felt the Lord calling me to volunteer to be a member of a second team should the opportunity arise. The idea of serving the Lord by helping others while doing something I enjoy was too much to pass up. Being able to serve side by side with men I admire was an added bonus!

This will be my first Missions trip (short term or otherwise) and the thought of being a “Missionary” is both exciting and frightening. I am excited about the prospects of going to a “faraway” destination to serve complete strangers with the hope of having the opportunity to be a witness to them. I am also excited about being able to pray for the home(s) that we will be working on as well as for the families that will be occupying them. The frightening part is when I realize that I am stepping out of my comfort zone to do those very things that I am excited about.

By God’s grace and mercy, I am hopeful that He will be able to use me during this trip to make a difference in someone else’s life.

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2008 Prayer Letter


If you wish to download the complete PDF’s, here are the Prayer letter and the Response Form



Mo Nakatsui, Steve Chen, Kevin Kubo, Peter Lau, Chris Chan,
Tommy Yamada, Steve Ogata, Paul Liu, Craig Kakihara, Will Jong

Katrina Gulf Coast Relief Team
Biloxi, Mississippi
4-11 May 2008

It’s hard to remember when it was that Hurricane Katrina unleashed devastation on the Gulf Coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida (August 2005). And yet the recovery work is slated to continue in the Mississippi Gulf Coast area for many more years to come. Thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed and thousands of people were left homeless. Evergreen Baptist Church of San Gabriel Valley extended offers at that time to assist in the form of sending volunteers to help rebuild along with monetary contributions to fund relief efforts. In April 2007, we finally had an opportunity to send a team to assist in that relief effort. We again have an opportunity to send a team to continue the recovery effort in this devastated area.

In partnership with Habitat for Humanity (HFH), Evergreen Baptist Church SGV will be sending a team of ten men to assist in the rebuilding efforts to provide low cost homes for those in need along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. The team will fly to Gulf Port/Biloxi Airport and stay at the Salvation Army Volunteer Village. We will be working with Habitat for Humanity of the Mississippi Gulf Coast (hfhmgc.org) doing whatever construction or refurbishing work is needed during our week stay.

God has called each of us to go on this mission and we are all excited about the opportunity. Some of us were fortunate enough to have served on last year’s team and feel especially grateful to be able to serve again. We on this team, however, recognize that this trip is made possible by people who will stand beside us and support us through prayer, enco uragement, and financial contributions.

If you hear God’s call to support us please consider interceding with God in these areas on our behalf: (1) the building of close relationships among the team members so we can work cooperatively together, as well as with the HFH staff; (2) safe travel to and from the Biloxi area, as well as safe travels while we are serving in Mississippi; (3) protection from harm while working at the construction sites; (4) protection for our families while we are away; (5) good weather that is conducive to working at the construction tasks we are assigned; and (6) most of all, that God would open doors of opportunity for us to grow in faith in Him and to share that faith with others we encounter.

If God lays it on your heart to support us financially, we will gladly accept it for use in God’s service, but note that our greatest desire is for you to pray and be our intercessors. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to share with you our desire to have you partner with us in this endeavor. May God’s grace and mercy be with you always.

In His service,
Members of the Evergreen SGV Katrina Gulf Coast Relief Team

Katrina Gulf Coast Relief Team Thoughts

Chris Chan “I am excited about the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of those that have been so dramatically affected by Hurricane Katrina. I can’t even begin to imagine what they have gone through and are still struggling with. My hope is that through our actions or direct communication with the people in the Gulf Coast, they would be able to experience the love of Jesus and the hope that is found in Him.”

Steve Chen “Since Hurricane Katrina struck, I wanted to help. However, dismissed the opportunity by focusing on my busy life. Finally, overcoming my selfishness, I empathized with lives unexpectedly devastated. I’m honored to be working along caring men whose hearts desire to bring hope back to families.”

Will Jong “I’ve been told that the experience from the mission is far greater for myself, than the recipient of our, sacrifice of time, and effort. The Lord’s gift is truly Divine. It is, far greater to give than to receive.”

Craig Kakihara “I was inspired by last year’s team and sensed the Lord’s calling to participate this year. I’m honored to have an opportunity to serve alongside Godly men and glorify our Lord through excellent work and excellent witness.”

Kevin Kubo “I am really excited about being able to serve God by serving others.”

Peter Lau “Trusting God is hard. It must have been for those who lost their homes in the gulf region. God doesn’t overlook things just because they’re not prevalent in the news. If our church, our team, and my participation help people understand that they’re not forgotten or forsaken, I’m honored to help.”

Paul Liu “The Lord has placed a burden on my heart to serve those less fortunate. I am looking forward to this great opportunity to serve with my Christian brothers and share the love of Christ.”

Mo Nakatsui “Since my job involves working indoors in a secular environment, last year I really enjoyed serving the Lord by working outdoors with my hands, building something with other Christian men; so I just had to do it again. Ending up with something that means so much to a family in need was an added plus.”

Steve Ogata “I went to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi in 2007 with no expectations except to use power tools, learn about construction, and serve God. A year later, I have retired from pharmacy and become the Building Project Administrator of Evergreen SGV. Again, I am going to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi with no expectations.”

Tommy Yamada “As part of last year’s Katrina Gulf Coast Relief Team, I was extremely blessed by the fellowship and unity I experienced. I feel very privileged to be a part of this year’s team and again look forward to ‘feeling His pleasure’.”

Check out what happened last year, and keep up with this year’s team (we plan to update the blog each night again) at the following internet location: http://sgvhabitat.blogspot.com

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2008 – The Return




Mo Nakatsui, Steve Chen, Kevin Kubo, Peter Lau, Chris Chan,
Tommy Yamada, Steve Ogata, Paul Liu, Craig Kakihara (leader), Will Jong

Okay, so we’re officially known as the “2008 Katrina Gulf Coast Relief Team”

We just formed a new team and will be heading out first week of May 2008. 10 men, with four returning from 2007.

More to come soon..




A slightly goofier shot…
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Humbling Satellite View

Tommy found an article about where we’re most likely working.. It was interesting that they actually wrote about how this was an intentional Mission for them. It has helped address the spiritual aspect of this mission. I guess we’re not alone

I’m getting the impression Tommy spends quite a bit of time on the web. I hope that he’ll be okay in Mississippi without access to his computer, and assuming he’ll be wired in somehow.

If not, he’ll be accessing mine. Heck, I should have him do this blog 🙂

In the weeks building up to this trip, Tommy’s been on the web doing a lot of research on everything from the location to restaurants in the area.

Map
Hey Guys, I wanted to give you a map of where we’ll be and where we’ll be staying (I’ll give you maps of where we’re working when we get out there and see where we’re assigned.)

But in doing so, I pulled up Google Maps and got sad.

Zoom in/out and pan around the area. It’s really still devastated. Even from the satellite pictures, you can see that a lot of the area is still covered with soil and dotted with temporary housing. You can see the foundations for houses that aren’t there any more.

Honestly, this really puts in perspective that as much as we think we’re in control, we’re not always in control of our lives. This is a humbling hard lesson to learn. For all of us, especially the team.

Someone I know recently returned from the area and said it was difficult to see. It looked as if it had just happened. This isn’t a comment on the lack of work, this is an encouragement to us to try to help both spiritually and practically.

Thanks once again for supporting us on this project.

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Our Own Housing and Katrina, Recovery in USAToday

While reviewing our prep materials, I found this note regarding the volunteer housing:

*It is important to note that Yankie Stadium is still under construction. At this point, our housing is a mix between camping and staying at a cheap budget hotel. If you have higher expectations, there are plenty of hotels in the area. If staying in a hotel, you will need to make your own reservations.

Hmm.. “Cheap Budget Hotel…” Actually, based on the slide show below, the place looks incredibly nice

Tommy found an article about where we’ll be staying..

It sounds pretty cool:

Four days before Katrina hit last August, the Salvation Army bought Biloxi’s Yankie Stadium, with plans to turn it into a Ray and Joan Kroc Community Center of Hope, a $22 million facility named for McDonald’s heiress Joan Kroc.

The 50-year-old concrete bleachers, inundated with about 9 feet of water during the storm, were covered in mud and “full of dead things” when Green first saw the structure. It took months to clean it, seal it in and create small rooms under the seats, each holding four bunk beds.

The rooms have been made to look like little houses, “or bayou shacks” as Green likes to call them, complete with shingled roofs, porch lights and fake windows. Each room is air-conditioned; outside, the silver vents pop out of the bleacher seats like mushrooms.

At any given time, the Volunteer Village is home to about 100 people who are refurbishing homes for the poor, the elderly and the working class who reside on the surrounding streets of East Biloxi. They do everything — wiring, plumbing, putting up sheetrock — which means Green is always looking for skilled volunteers.

Flash Slideshow : VOLUNTEER VILLAGE: Haven in a stadium

Then there was this is one on Voluntourism..

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The Week Before Commissioning

Blessing w/ Bags
Instead of bringing sleeping bags from Los Angeles, some the team members have elected to purchase brand new ones once we arrive in Biloxi. This will serve not so much as to lighten our load, but to as much as to hopefully be a blessing to the volunteers & residents. After using the sleeping bags for the week that we stay, we’ll be leaving them to the Salvation Army for other volunteers and/or to local families in need.

Commissioning – April 15th
This Sunday, April 15th at the 11:00 AM service, we’ll be commissioning the team. There will a short presentation about our mission and all 10 members will stand before the church to receive a short prayer. This serves to inform our church of the scope and the intent of the project, as well as identify who will be resprenting them in Mississippi.

Each team member has several of their missionary support group come up to “lay hands” on them, offering spiritual support of the church.

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Last scheduled meeting before our departure

This Mission Project is atypical for our church.

Normally, there is a little more lead time, and there is often more planning than this one, but since we’ll be going with Habitat, we’ll be working their program and they’ve pretty much laid out what we have to do once we get there.

However, we know that things are fluid, and we talked about our expectations of God, our Team, and the project.

We’re well aware that our goal in going to work in the Katrina-affected area is to serve God. That means that in whatever shape or form our assistance is best needed, we want to help. We hope and plan for that to be actual construction work, but whatever is in store for us, we will adapt.

But also, we’re there to serve in the name of God. It’s more than a service project, or an act of charity; we’re going down to help in the name of Jesus. That means that as much as we’ll be working, we’ll be praying for the region, our co-workers, etc. while we’re working. We’ll be looking for opportunities to let people know that God has not forsaken them, and we’ll be doing so supported by your prayers and financial support; we want them to know that it’s not just our efforts, but a greater group that is behind us as well.



Art Fong’s Notes about today’s meeting

Today, we had our last Katina meeting before we take off to Mississippi.

(Pastor) Ron Miyake gave a devotional about prayer walking and went around and blessed our feet at the end. It’s kinda like how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, but with no water.

We also shared about our test results from those online personality and conflict resolution test. That was a very revealing and informative exercise! Now I know how to communicate to others in their love language and know how they resolve conflicts.

22 more days until we get commissioned at church and 28 more days until we fly to Mississippi!




Gary & Robert going over materials as Ron speaks about Prayer Walking

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Prep and Stuff



Mailing out Prayer Letters

As our departure date is coming up rather quickly, this was one of our first and few meetings before the actual trip. Most of our meeting was administrative, incuding printing and stuffing envelopes.

We only have a few weeks to plan and meet before we leave, and with Easter in the middle.

Editor’s Note:

This is my first mission with Evergreen SGV, and to be quite honest, didn’t realize how much prep work there was to be done.

One of the points of review was to go over results from a Personality test. The purpose of the tests is for us as individuals, and then subsequently as team members to know ourselves. The better we know ourselves, the better we’ll be able to contribute and cooperate.

An excerpt from our materials follows:

  1. Go to http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm
    (Click on “Do It)
  2. Complete the test and click on “Score it!”
  3. Print out both type descriptions
  4. Highlight the parts that feel explain you best
  5. Go to to http://www.personalitytype.com/
  6. Go to “Know your type?” and select the right one in the drop down box.
  7. Print out “How to Love A (your type)” and “How to Speed Read a (your type).”

There’s also another one, based off the “Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument” which goes over conflict style. A good thing to know while trying to form a team of unlikely folks.

The results of the materials were interesting.

We’re also responsible for reviewing materials in preparation for the Mission. Not so much about construction or Habitat, but more about the reason(s) why we’re doing the trip.

Although our quotes give light to practical and sometimes humorous reasons for going, we’re all in agreement that the Mission isn’t about building homes, it’s about caring for people.

Our motivation is that God loves us all, and there are some people currently in need.

Our support and volunteering aren’t some form of Karma Investment, they aren’t out of obligation to man or even God, we just want people in the region to know that God loves about them, and this is just one of many practical expressions of that Love.

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And So It Begins…

This is our first project with Habitat for Humanity as SGV. We had done some prior projects with Habitat when we were a combined church…

We’d been waiting for a while for this one to get started, many folks were ready and waiting.. and now.. the waiting is over.

Here We Go.

This first team that we’re sending out consists of 10 men.

Why 10? Why Men? Because that’s the way it worked out.. and we had hoped to have an opportunity for the men to work together and serve side by side. If we want men to be better leaders, then all the more we should give them opportunities to lead the way.

The goal is that this will be a pilot group and in the future, we will be able to send other teams sponsored by our church.