During this trip, one of our members wanted to share their feelings, but has chosen to do so anonymously.
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” I John 4:7
This mission trip has been such a blessing in seeing the love of Jesus Christ lived out through our team members. There have been many “God moments” on this trip where God was doing great things through our team members that we all marveled at and praised God for. It is so encouraging to see so many team members being intentional in stepping out of their comfort zone to meet and bless others.
The Holy Spirit is doing a great work through the men and women of this trip. In addition to being outstanding servants on the job site they have been sharing personal testimonies with people, ministering to people, encouraging Habitat supervisors, building relationships with other volunteer co-laborers, and being great servants on the job site.
The first day we arrived we visited the houses the teams from last year’s trip worked on. One of the houses the teams worked on was bought just four months ago and the home owner came out to meet us. The men were able to share how much it meant to them to meet the owner of the home they had worked on and had actually prayed for the previous year. The team was able to pray and bless the man and his family.
At a later time the team had stopped by a Gulfport pier and met a woman fishing with her son who had lost her house in Katrina and shared how hard it was. She shared how the church had built a house for her and had been radically changed by the love from the body of Christ. Her heart is for Christians to live seriously for Christ and help people in need. One of our team members asked if they could pray for her and she was moved to tears from the prayer and shared how she had never been blessed like that. There have been a number of other encouraging things God has been doing on the trip. We give God all the glory for everything.
On Friday the Coed team had finished cleaning and preparing eight mobile homes that would be driven up to give relief to the tornado disaster area. After finishing the team was able to prayer walk each of the mobile homes. They prayed for God’s blessings on the families who had lost everything and would occupy the mobile homes. They prayed they would find comfort from trusting God.
Thank you for your prayers and support. God bless you!
Today was the second day that the teams were split over two separate sites.
The CoEd team went to work on the trailers, the 2-Week Men’s team returned to the Pascagoula site to work with Brad.
As mentioned before, it was nice to be able to help in the recovery from the tornadoes as the FEMA/MEMA trailers will be moved up north, such as Smithville. We were told that although utility companies were in that area to reconnect homes to power, there were many homes no longer there to reconnect. Sad.
Bu’s Sacrifice
On the way to last night’s dinner at The Shed, Tommy’s car picked up Brad and Chris M (whom we affectionately call “Chris Girl” to distinguish her from the male Chris on our team), rode with Kelly’s car. Chris and Lorin really hit it off, and became even better friends.
When we arrived back home that evening, Bu asked if he could switch teams the next day (today), so that Chris and Lorin could spend the day together. It was touching. Bu’s a good guy, but his unseen sacrificial act was humbling. So today, Bu and Lorin traded teams, so that Lorin could hang out with her new bud Chris. Bu made his offer without much fanfare, and it wasn’t for acknowledgement from anyone, the least of which, Chris. In fact, I hesitate even to mention it here publicly.
Tonight, when we prayed for Chris, as it was our last evening with her, I felt that Bu’s unseen sacrifice for Chris was analogous to Christ’s sacrifice for us. Sometimes, unseen, unnoticed, but yet it is still there for us. But this type of sacrifice has not been unusual for the team members, as I see them intentionally trying to bless others, including their team members. And it’s nice to know that they’re just not on “good behavior.”
The Work
The CoEd team worked with Mark, a fast-talking, personable good ol’ boy that works for Habitat. they spent the day cleaning and painting trailers. Apparently part of his humor includes a stuffed mouse on a fishing line. There came a moment when Mark (and I suspect Steve O) tried to scare her with the scrambling mouse. As it “ran” across the room, Esther firmly turned around and said “I’m not scared.”
The 2-Week team worked on the siding again with the folks from St. James/Thrivent, finishing the side and rear of the house. During lunch, half our team joined St. James near the beach for lunch, when a very fast moving, rainy and noisy thunderstorm struck the area. It threatened the work schedule, but an hour later, it was back to normal.
See the video of Chris (C, “Chris Boy”) and Lorin during the storm below…
Meeting time.
At the end of the day, we gathered as a group and were able to reflect on our motivation and our attitude while serving. Kyle’s devotional reminded us that if we are not serving using Christ’s sacrificial love towards those we meet, and those with whom we serve. Chris M joined us for our worship, teaching and prayer time, we were able to bless and pray for her as a group, and then she joined Esther and Lorin in small group.
An annual tradition, we took the team and some of our new friends to The Shed, a local BBQ place.
We weren’t aware that a live rock band would be performing in the patio area where we usually sit.
Scrambling to find a more quiet place to eat and talk, we finally ended up in not-so-much-quieter patio, although it did afford us privacy.
Our Guests
Joining us where Chris M, a fellow volunteer from Chicago, Brad our site supervisor, and Paul, our supervisor from last year, now working outside of Habitat.
The meal was good as usual, but the fellowship was sweet. In Christian circles, you’ll often hear that phrase, “the fellowship was sweet,” but it really was. It was beyond exchanging laughs, stories, jokes and enjoying the company of good friends… We spoke about our lives, meaningful things, and how God has been present in our lives to bring us to this place in time. The mutual sharing was humbling and encouraging at the same time, all being (almost) shouted across a table of ribs and BBQ chicken.
This furthered our relationship with Brad and Paul as brothers, as family. Not only because we share similar values in trying to help rebuild Mississippi, or even attend churches with the same Bible, but because we share a sense of seeking God, meaning and peace in a life built on trusting a very faithful but often unseen God.
Chris joining our group was even better, as she had gone from being a nice volunteering woman who traveled down to Mississippi alone (flying to New Orleans and driving from there), to now a friend, and now someone we could pray with.
Our Purpose
Being here renews, restores and energizes our faith, while we try to do the same to the local community. But it’s not about us. We’re all trying to see what God is doing in the midst of the Mississippi Gulf Coast region, and then trying to see where we fit in. We’re grateful that there’s a place for us here.
Oh, and finally, there was a nice touching moment in the parking lot, where Bu had an opportunity to talk with one of our friends who is on the road to possibly proposing. His words were encouraging, honest and heartfelt, and then he prayed a blessing over our friend. It was humbling to hear his heart extend care and hope and responsibility to our friend, especially praying for a spiritual covering over him.
This trip is way beyond just hammering nails.
This is about growing our loving family. And loving them.
Sorry, but yesterday, blogspot had a glitch and we were unable to post anything to the blog.
Today was the second day of us being split up into two groups, the CoEd going to the trailers today, and the Men’s 2Week team going back to the site (the previous day we had switched roles)
It rained in a pretty brief, sudden and cold windy storm, and then within an hour, it passed. Some of our crew was down at the beach to see the water turn rough and the oceans tremble. It was an eerie reminder of Katrina.
There’s more to say and talk about, but we’re about to head to dinner. More later, and more about a great dinner at The Shed (last night). And it wasn’t just because the food was good. It was just a great time of fellowship
Gary H a first timer, is serving on the CoEd team.
“There was a gentleman named Rick who started working at the kitchen recently where we are staying.
During the time we were making small talk he asked me why I was here in Mississippi. I gave him my answer that I wanted to help and love the people of Mississippi and that I wanted to reveal God’s glory through words and deeds. He said that was fine but it wasn’t the answer he was looking for. He told me that the answer was that,”God has chosen you”. He has chosen you to come to Mississippi to help the people. By choosing you it should be an honor and a special privilege to come and that I am totally blessed to be chosen. After he told me I was totally blown away that I have that honor and privilege to serve God. I thank God that he has brought a guy like Rick to remind me what an honor and privilege that I am given to serve God.”
“In my next conversation with Rick who was working as the cook and working at the kitchen he shared that recently within the month that his son passed away. I could see that he was still sad about his son passing. So we talked a long time about his life and how he became a Christian.
That night I emailed my MSG to pray for Rick. The next day I approached Rick and told him that my MSG group and I prayed for him. He blew me away when he stated that,”I knew that you would pray for me”. He told me that the day before when he shared about his son, he sensed from God that we would pray for him. I thank God for giving me an opportunity to minister to Rick and Rick ministering to me.”
Today, the CoEd Team will be returning to the Pascagoula site to continue work, possibly with St. James.
The 2-week team will be going to clean up some FEMA trailers for repurposing. We’ll be going just north of (what used to be) Lookout 49 (closed restaurant that we went to year 1), at 16041 Hwy 49, Gulfport, MS 39503. We’re not sure what to expect.
If anyone ever ever ever gives me (Peter) a hard time for going to Walmart again… I will remind them of this day.
I actually needed to go to Walmart for … something… and was going to have Tommy drive me. But it turned out they needed two cars because there were over five people going. When everyone gathered to get in the cars. There were over nine people, so I declined, but over nine people? We only have fifteen on the team.. 🙂
St James
St James is a church from Pennsylvania, that we’ve met before while serving here. Today we had the privilege of working side by side with them on site. Our siding and paint crew got to work with them closely. Cindy was a crowd favorite, as she, normally a hair stylist, proved to be one of the most energetic and height-friendly volunteers, climbing to the top levels with Kyle, Bart and Chris.
Roy was working John and Mike, Gary H was being apprenticed by master chop man Gary M.
It was a good, and productive day. It’s nice to see a house that’s almost to completion, locking doors and all. In speaking with site manager Brad, we found out that Gary M’s video, “All Work, All Pray,” is being considered for a volunteer video competition.
Roles
We continue to understand our role includes exhortation. On the first day, we met several people along our journies, including a homeowner of the house we worked on last year. It’s a rare, but beautiful experience. It’s hard not to take it personally and be prideful, but we turned around and looked at the house that we saw built in three days by contract laborers, and it helps keep us grounded.
Brad and Denise are really like our family now. Not only because of our fondness for them, but also because we share faith. They inspire and humble us, we try to let them know how much we appreciate them. It’s been encouraging to see them grow in faith.
Line for the day:
Lorin excitedly called home to tell her son, “I learned how to use a nail gun!”
He replied, “You got your nails done!?!”
Lorin was kind enough to make everyone at the Center, “Pineapple Princess Pies.” They were delicious. She stayed up late last night making them for today.
(oh, and click on the photo below to access the slideshow for the day)
It was a great feeling today to see old friends.
No, not the heat or the humidity, but Brad and Denise, our two site supervisors.
We arrived at our site, which is located at 2202 Choctaw Ave, Pascagoula, MS 39567. If you look at google maps, you can see what the site once looked like… a lot.. not “a lot” as in plenty, but simply, a lot of land.
Okay, so much to say, so little brain power.
1) We’re happy to be back
2) Our newbies are excellent!
3) Brad and Denise are like coming home to family, we even spoke about our other family members (Spikes, Paul, et al) that weren’t present, to catch up, just as you would do at a reunion.
4) rumor on the street is that Brad might enter our video, “All Work, All Pray” in as a volunteer video in some competition…
5) here’s the rest…
(I type this, with Gary M by my side, editing video, while the rest of the gang has showered and gone off to have some frozen custard.. sniff.. Okay, truth be known, the guys are bringing us back some dessert.. 🙂 )
Hot
It’s hot. Not screaming hot like the first trip, but still, hot. But there are opportunities to work in the shade.
We’re working on two houses that stand on stilts. Hopefully you’ll be able to see from the pictures and videos.
Our Site Managers
Brad and Denise haven’t changed, except in the area of their hearts.
Just chatting with them, it seems that Brad’s growing in his faith, as is Denise, but also that God’s been good to them providing them jobs that they love to do, and a church that helps them grow. Denise’s transition from Americorp to Habitat staff has allowed her to put down some roots for a bit and get involved with the kids at her church (same church as Brad and Paul’s, which we’ll visit this Sunday). It’s really exciting to hear how their hearts are being humbly moved by the significance of their work.
Work
Work is moving along well. Not that it was planned this way, but many of the newbies ended up painting siding. It’s a hot job in the hot sun, but they did so with smiles and infectious laughter. Other work performed today was preparing for likely putting up the siding tomorrow, with our team being joined by 11 others that we haven’t met yet. But except for two additional volunteers, who brought the gift of cookies with them to the job site, we had the site to ourselves. It was a good first day, hard work, and the heat got to a few of us. We’re going to rest well tonight.
It was a lot of work on scaffolding, but unlike Mathias’ work last year, we didn’t have to construct the scaffolding, we were just able to benefit from a previous team’s work. With the scaffolding in place, we were able to get straight to work, and move freely. It’s very reassuring to know that you’re part of a bigger picture, with one team coming before you, you doing your part, whatever that may be, and then handing it off to the next team. That really helps us in our overall faith.
Devotionals
Steve O gave the devotional this morning, about prayerfully keeping our eyes open to see God moving in the lives of those we encounter, while still performing well on the job site.
Peter gave a devotional last night about how we might be blocked from seeing God’s movement among people because of various reasons (sin, distraction, pride, etc.). He confessed something that he once thought was a small sin, but realized how it was larger than he thought, and was affecting his preparation for the trip. Once he identified it as a problem, confessed it to God, and was able to see more clearly what God was doing in his life and those he might encounter during the Biloxi trip.
Some follow up news from yesterday
Sorry guys, was really busy and we were kinda tired, so we couldn’t post up too much yesterday.
The plane trip went well, Tommy did a devotional during our layover, and we landed without incident.
We landed and visited the area, in doing so, met a few people along the way, talking about where there lives were at..
Gary M was able to pray for a woman and her needs at the airport… Follow up to the follow up: Gary received an email from the woman he met, “L”. She’s doing well, and says she has felt our prayers so she thanks the team. She says she is interested in what we are doing here in Biloxi.
The facilities we are staying at, New Life Disaster Relief Center, are in the building of a local church. I mean, like the guys and girls are sleeping in converted rooms that are about 5′ outside of the sanctuary. It’s a little tight, but the atmosphere is really nice. And there’s no place like home at the end of a hard day.
We toured some of our previous build sites, and to be honest, our hearts sank a little when visiting one of our build sites, the homes are ready to be moved into, but they remain vacant, a few had real estate signs on them from local realtors. The Habitat staff explained that some of the houses in those neighborhoods were pending some further steps for partner families, but that indeed, some homes were available for purchase, and no buyers.
Many people don’t realize they qualify for Habitat homes
Others are unaware of the vacancies
and sometimes there can be a small and inaccurate preconception about Habitat homes.
Some people fear the homes are built not as well, but the truth is, they’re often built better than local homes because they are exceeding local codes or energy standards. We know that most of the homes we have worked in have fantastic energy savings for their future home owners.
Some people fear that there might be a stigma attached to the home. I think it’s in line with receiving charity… The truth is, no one can tell what is and isn’t a Habitat home, except that it might be one of the nicer ones on the block, in my humble opinion…..
with that in mind, please pray for Habitat as a whole. Things are okay down here, the affiliate is doing well and managing well, but it would be a shame, whether in Mississippi, or elsewhere, someone didn’t look into a Habitat home because of misconceptions and/or unnecessary fears…
Some videos:
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Okay, now a juicy bit for you troopers who took the time to read this whole post…
Brad (Site manager, Biloxi) and Amy (from the local affiliate back home) bumped into each other while serving in Nepal last year, and chatted it up because Brad recognized the San Gabriel Valley Habitat logo from the cap we gave him last year. The two became fast friends.
The two are top on our list of our favorite people, but I’ve made it clear, that it’s, selfishly, to our advantage having each of them stay put exactly where they are. 🙂 But I’m just sayin..
With the covering and well wishes of many of our friends and family. the Coed and 2-Week men’s team flew from LAX on the evening of Mother’s day.
Pastor Victor and Team Leader Craig sent us off with a time of prayer, then our individual support groups prayed for each team member.
Thus begins the journey for the first leg of our trip.
We arrived safely early monday morning, Tommy took the lead by wearing shorts. A few of us forgot how warm and humid it can be in this part of the state.
We took some time at the new foot pier in front of the Biloxi Lighthouse, met some new friends, who told us that the weather had varied between 40 and the current 80 degrees in recent days.
After touring the area including several of our previous builds, lunch at Cafe new Orleans, orientation at the new Habitat offices, we arrived at our new home, New Life Disaster Relief Camp.
The facilities are smaller, reminiscent of the camp at Yankie Stadium, and have a much more family-run feeling.
Thanks for your prayers, and we look forward to our first day of work tomorrow.
