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From Katrina 2009 Team

Jeff is our team videographer. Once thought of as a nice smiling quiet guy, we’ve found his wit and humor to be sharp yet disarming.

His shooting videos combined with Craig’s editing late at night have given us great stuff, although I think even better stuff will be seen when we’re at home and have time to work on the videos more. (To be honest, we’ve not had as much time to work on the blog because we’ve been having some really great small group time of sharing and worship.)

Praise God for another beautiful day in Biloxi. It started out with clear blue skies and warmed up very quickly.

A traditional breakfast of bacon and eggs was spiced up with a splash of southern hospitality – that’s right grits; I made there was plenty for others to enjoy so i passed on this part of the meal.

Team Craig continued with the completion of the roof. Some of the height challenged individuals had the opportunity to help move heavy bags of shingles off the lift while standing on a steep incline 15 feet above the ground. The installation of the roof boards is almost complete and most likely the shingles will be installed beginning tomorrow. The entire house is now wrapped with Tyvek (or something similar) so we were able to start window installations. Jerry Mar would be proud of our ability to hang windows with such speed and percision.

Team Mo moved onto a new site; although they left Gary behind to finish caulking and touch up painting (that’s what happens when you do something very well). By the way, their team is led by a strict foreman who requires them to be at the site every morning at a specific time. Team Craig is led by Irving Spikes, a former Miami Dolphins running back who a bit more lenient.

Team Mo definitely had a tougher time today, as they installed the floor joints, trusses and floor boards all in the warmer sunlight with no shade. They must have pounded about 700 nails. These homes now face more stringent huiricane requirements and thus more sturdier reinforcement.

Fortunately, for these hard working guys, Peter and Randy made a McDoanlds run after lunch and picked up 40 double cheeseburgers to snack on.

The highlight of the evening was our worship time after dinner. While in our small groups, Dan a young guy from Michigan who came on his own, came over to talk with Brent, James, Eric and Jeff. We got a chance to share with him about our ministry and the reason for our trip to Mississippi. Dan shared with us that he doesn’t regularly attend church but that he has Jesus in his heart. We were able to spend time with him in prayer asking for the healing of his back, that he be able to catch up on his sleep, and for any other burdens that may have been troubling him. We were thankful that Dan came over to share about his desire to serve others in Mississippi. Although we share this common goal, we also continue in our effort to share God’s love and the opportunities to plant seeds, cultivate or harvest as these opportunities come before us.

Just in case you wanted to know what we do in our free time – 3 full days in Biloxi, 3 (or more) trips to Walmart – all for the fellowship and drinks and snacks of course.

Morning Devotional
Chris led us in a morning devotional before breakfast, focusing on how with the concerns we have at home and other parts of our lives, that we can reflect on Matthew 11, to come to God “all who are weak, weary and heavy laden.” The encouragement was that God wanted our burdens more than He wanted us to bear them alone.

With that, we started the day with breakfast and then going to the work site.

Work Day

Yes, we know that most of the posts on here during the day are us taking breaks. It’s because we’re working the rest of the time

In the meantime, here’s some pictures.. we’ll keep uploading as the night goes on, so this photo album will change..

Our work site can be seen here. It’s an old satellite picture, so no, you won’t see us working, but you can see the area that we’re working in.

View SGVHabitat.blogspot.com Gautier in a larger map

Videos

Chris and Keith’s group was split between two jobs.
Doing finishing work on the house they were painting and doing interior work yesterday, and the daunting task of starting with some cinder block foundation, and a big pile of lumber they had spent hours cutting yesterday.

The amount of chiseling, nailing, strapping and heavy duty work may be reflected in some of the photos, but to be honest, we were working so hard today, not as many pictures were taken as the labor deserved. All this was done in a cloudless sky. It was hot.

Craig and Tommy’s group had a shadier day, but partially because they finished the roof on the house they had picked up. Baldwin and two of our new friends and roommates Greg (17 yo) and his father Jim were the primary workers on finishing a deck in the back of the house, while the others finished aspects of the roof and trusses and installed windows.

One other aspect of this day was working with Craig and “T,” two future homeowners working their sweat equity, and were familiar with a lot of aspects of Habitat Construction. We’ll be working with them tomorrow too, and it was enjoyable and encouraging to work side by side them.

Evening Devotional
After our dinner, we met for an evening devotional.
Chris and his team led us in songs of worship, and then we had a small teaching about being honest before God and each other.

We met in small groups discussing someone that we might personally have to forgive.
Some small groups went almost all the way to Lights Out time of 1030p. That was 3.5 hours…

It’s been a growing and encouraging time.

Once again, the photos from today: