Posts

Posted on

OKC 2016-Day 1 (non habitat day)

Morning
Day began with a morning devotional from Jeff regarding servanthood. He mentioned how serving others and blessing others should be our main motivation. He took note his most recent example was from his wife, days before he left, as she really took care of some of their shared responsibilities, allowing him to prep for the trip.




OKC Memorial
We went down to the OKC Memorial. A trip we have made every time we visited, but this was the first time that we were able to have time enough to go into the museum.


It was a moving experience for the team, and really helps you keep in perspective what the park outside the museum represents. The museum takes you through the tragedy of that day at a very personal level.




Actual artifacts from the blast





Lunch
Then it was a lunch, returning to Leo’s BBQ from previous years.



RRR Ranch – “Triple R” Ranch


Having met and worked with Skip on our previous trips, we accepted his invitation to come and visit. 


We got a tour of the rabbits, really big quail and “pasture” chickens (more free than free range)







On previous trips, we were impressed with his vision for building a site for retreats and people to recover. But at that time, we had encouraged him to take a sabbatical so he could find God’s focus and calling on his big plans




Pam asked him what came out of that sabbatical. 
His answer was unexpected.


He felt as much as this was a good work, and continues to grow and thrive both spiritually and practially…. that he felt God was emphasizing tending to the “widows and orphans,” and he realized his ministry was much closer to home and heart than he realized. His wife’s mother was a widow… and Skip felt called to go to Texas and tend to her. So after much thought and prayer, he has decided to downsize and sell RRR Ranch to go to Texas and care for her.


(Editor’s note: as impressed as I’ve been with Skip in the past for the plans he’s had and the work he’s done, choosing this humble path is the thing that makes me admire him most)


Okay, back at the church. We’re back at the church and about to tackle the sorting of the clothes and items for sale. 


Items of note: 

  • Tuesday will be our first work day on the site, maybe a new build, we’ll see…
  • Tuesday evening, Pam/Art will be visiting Pam’s relatives in a suburb of OKC
  • Tuesday evening, some of the team will be visiting with Aron and Ronit’s family, Peter’s relocated friends from LA, and will be attempting teaching Ronit how to cook Kosher Asian dishes. We’ll bring the Asian part, Ronit will teach us about the Kosher part


Posted on

OKC 2016 Sendoff

Today we left LA, with a sendoff from our church, Evergreensgv.org


It begins with a commissioning/prayer for our team at church, then a mini-sendoff after service where each team member is prayed for by supporters



LAX


Good news and bad news
Nice sendoff from people who drove us to LAX, everyone pretty much made it on time. Then security. Stood in line, and then a TSA terminal broke down, so it took some reorganizing and a lot of walking, but we got on the plane with 15 minutes to spare.


Arrived at OKC

Who was waiting for us at baggage claim?
Paul and Denise, our (previous) Habitat site supervisors from our visits to Mississippi, now good friends, who have joined us on their TIME OFF, to work at Habitat in OKC!









Dinner
Got the cars and ran over to our first meal in OKC, at chicken express in Norman.


While we tried to figure out just how many gizzards and livers our group would eat.. (don’t worry, we got regular fried chicken stuff too), Craig was talking to a family that was dining…


(note: Craig will be supplementing with a little more detail later)

Feeling humbled by someone’s generosity





But, when our cashier was checking over our order, Pam pulled out the team credit card, and the cashier said “No, your dinner is being paid by that gentleman” (pointing over pam’s shoulder). We turned around and started chastising Uncle Roy for his generosity… 


Roy said it wasn’t him.


It was the fellow that Craig was talking with.


He had gone up to the cashier and paid for our dinner.


We were dumbfounded. And humbled.


We thanked him and later, we prayed that we would be able to receive favor, as well as use it as an example to bless others, wherever we find them.


We showed up at hilltop, and tomorrow will be sorting through their items for a flea market sale, raising funds for a playground they hope to buy.





Home sweet Hilltop Baptist Home!


Okay, going to sleep, and sent Gary some videos to see if he can make some sense of them!

Posted on

Tornadoes this week

Pam noted that these tornadoes are South of where we’ll be…

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/05/09/no-injuries-reported-after-tornado-touches-down-in-rural-oklahoma.html

As she said…”6 more days…“

Chris noted
Fortunately, Wynnewood is about 67 miles (over 1 hour) away

Posted on

Instagram?

Yep, we’re giving it a whirl.

Follow us!

https://www.instagram.com/sgvbuild/

Our trip to OKC will be from May 15-22, 2016

Posted on

2016 Serve OKC Team Newbies

It’s that time of year again…

Our team will be going to Oklahoma City, OK May 15-22, 2016

We won’t be sending out a prayer support letter this year, so we’ll try and keep you informed on here…

but in the meantime, we’ve got three newbies for you to meet.
Patrick, John and Dave

Posted on

Paratus 14 50

http://www.paratus1450.com/

Paratus 14:50 is a feature-length documentary on the United States Coast Guard’s response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The story will specifically focus on Coast Guard air rescues carried out by Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans and Coast Guard Aviation Training Center, Mobile across southern Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi in the first two weeks of the response. These men and women helped contribute to pulling more than 33.500 people from the impacted areas; the greatest single rescue in our nation’s history.

It’s on air over the next few days on PBS

Worth recording.
Very humbling

Difficult decisions for the rescuers often having to choose who would live or die.. who would be airlifted out and who would have to wait longer for potential help.

Posted on

10 Years This Week

It’s been 10 years since Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.

10 years ago, there were buildings that stood and people that lived in Mississippi and the Gulf Coast region, that are no longer there.

As a church, we wanted to reach out and help the area. Dennis Cho was the leader of that first team, and I thank him and the rest of the SGV leadership that chose Biloxi MS as the site for our efforts. Through the years, people would often refer to us as the “Katrina” team, and sometimes mistakenly, the New Orleans Team, for we served those first seven years in Biloxi MS.

Biloxi didn’t seem to get as much press as New Orleans. But the damage there was much more sweeping and bore the brunt of the storm itself. The damage in New Orleans was often the result of failing man-made levees. We would see firsthand how the shallow waters of Biloxi’s picturesque Gulf Coast would provide little shelter from a category 5 hurricane. Homes and enormous structures were moved blocks from their foundations.

http://www.cnn.com/specials/us/hurricane-katrina

Since that time, we sent over 10 teams to the area, and then later expanded to other areas of service, including Oklahoma and New Jersey.

We started this blog so that we could document our efforts and what we learned along the way. We didn’t realize some of the side experiences would be creating life long friends, saying goodbye to others, a better understanding and affection for Mississippi, and the wedding of two Habitat staff members.

To this day, people (and even team members) call us the “Katrina” team. It’s a humbling reminder of what happened 10 years ago this week.

A dark moment for so many, allowed us to find and be part of the light to the area. We just wanted to point people towards hope and faith in God, in a difficult time.

Posted on

OKC 2015 – Our final presentation

This last Sunday, May 31st, we had our final presentation. It’s a time where our team members gather with friends and family to reflect on our trip. It’s a nice time to remember that the whole church and supporters sent us, as well as a time to remember of God’s goodness during our time in OKC.


Craig opened us up, and reflected on the 7 years in Mississippi, and two in OKC. Gave an overview of our trip, including team members and places we worked.


Chris did a great job talking about the OKC affiliate and how he was moved by our chance encounter with CEO Ann Felton Gilliland . She represented the affiliate, Habitat and OKC very well.


Frank shared of his experience, from his preparation, the trip and his reflections upon return. It was quite well worded and comprehensive. Gave us food for thought.


Tommy introduced a combined video from Paul and Denise who gave their thoughts from Mississippi.



Videographer extraordinaire Gary talked a bit about the sweet smell of … well.. you should watch the video. 


We closed the program with Gary’s wrap up video.



As much as we want to share our experience with you, even more, we want to thank all of you for participating in whatever fashion you were able. We also invite you to think about joining us next year, or even in your own local affiliate. Habitat is a great program truly empowering people.

Posted on

OKC 2015 – May 6 tornado

Only a couple of days after we returned safely from OKC, a tornado hit the area

 The Norman Hotel, near the University was struck

Norman Hotel damage from https://twitter.com/trevorhutson13/status/596089229643419649/photo/1

This hotel is between where we were staying and where we were working
(less than 14 miles from the church where we stayed)



Thanks team member Jeff for alerting us, and we appreciate you joining us in prayers for the region.

 As one of our supporters said, we’re hopeful that any of the repairs we performed will help put some people at ease in the storm.