New Orleans Mission Trip, Thursday January 25, 2007

We had a fantastic day today! We began the day with a wonderful breakfast prepared by Tom Adams and Bill Callaway, followed by a thoughful devotional by Harrison. Then we took off for a very fulfilling day at Erma's and Estelle's. Kelly, Bill and Doug Ivester returned to Erma's to finish up some painting and redoing of outlets and light switches, while Harrison, Tom, Vicki, Debbie, Joel, Doug Allen, and John Bretch trimmed out Estelle's house. We put down all of the baseboard trim and trimmed around all of the windows and doors and the house looks fantastic! We worked until 6:00 and got it all done! We are all exhausted but very happy with our day's work. Tonight for dinner, Henry Kleinfeldt, his wife Diane and his sister Joyce brought our dinner--Jambalaya, Salad and King Cake! Erma came too with her two granddaughters, and Estelle also came for dinner with Liz, her daughter and Damon, her grandson. Estelle brought a wonderful homemade lemon pound cake which was wonderful! Both Erma and Estelle expressed their appreciation for the help that we have given them on their houses. Both hope to be back in their houses within the next three months! By the way, the pansies that Mac MacIntire planted when he was here in November are still blooming in front of Estelle's house! Tomorrow morning we will pack up and go to the Cafe Du Monde for beignets, stop at Erma's house for one last look and to see what Bea's house looks like without the trailer in front of it. The trailer got picked up today! There is progress in New Orleans!

January 25, 2007 New Orleans Mission Trip

So sorry for lack of blot on Wednesday. It was a cold, rainy day and we felt that we didn't accomplish as much as we wanted to. It seems as though Home Depot took too much time. It was frustrating, but we realized today that we were only experiencing a small taste of what these folks here have had to deal with when everything takes so much longer that you think it is going to and nothing seems to go right. We did do some work at Estelle's house and Erma's house in the morning, then Bea and Erma hosted a lunch for us of Jambalaya, salad and King Cake. It was delicious and Doug Allen got the baby from the King Cake which meant that he had to buy the next King Cake! Most of the team took Cliff's New Orleans Tour in the afternoon. In the evening we went to Franky and Johnny's for dinner and turned in early so that we could get an early start on Thursday.

New Orleans Mission Trip January 23, 2007

We began this morning with a devotional by Bill who read from Psalm 27. Bill had noticed this Psalm written on the garage door of a home on Sandpiper Street where we are working. Verse 1 starts "The Lord is my light and my salvation. I will fear no one. The Lord protects me from all danger. I will never be afraid." These are powerful words of faith to have written on your door when you have been through what these people have.

We worked all day on Erma's house, painting her walls with the color that she had chosen. Harrison, Vicki, Kelly, the Dougs, Tom, John and Bill are painting machines! With the exception of a small bathroom off of the bedroom, which will be finished on Wednesday, Erma's walls are complete. We also purchased doors and a small trim board to put up around the top of the wall where it meets the ceiling and we painted those too. On the way home, Doug Allen took those of us in the van on a tour of some streets in the Uptown area and Audubon Park where architecturally beautiful houses escaped the floodwaters. We returned to the church for dinner, weary and satisfied with our day of labor.

Tonight we stayed in for dinner of lasagna, fresh French bread and salad, and were joined by Cliff and his wife Nieta, Joel the Canadian and Debbie and Eric, the New York couple, who are giving much help to Cliff with organizing the accounting for this ministry as well as overseeing the building projects. We presented the check from FPCMARIETTA for $13,840, which is from our Mission Outreach from 2006. Bill reported to Cliff that his Katrina Relief efforts were part of our Mission Outreach for 2007 as well. Cliff was grateful for the contribution and we assured him that First Pres Marietta was firmly behind him in helping rebuild homes of those who desperately needed his and our help. When Cliff prayed to bless our food for dinner, he gave thanks for our group of missionaries, calling us a group form "afar," but we assured him that Marietta, Georgia was right around the corner and we were really neighbors!

After dinner, John Bretch led a reflection based on a word "enough" that he had seen on a house. Doug Ivester reminded us that even when we think we have had "enough" of helping rebuild people's lives, that we are really doing what we are doing for Christ, and there will never be enough. Christ never says that he has had "enough" with us and never gives up on us. This writer feels blessed to be on this trip, to be part of this group of Godly men and women who have hearts for Christ.

New Orleans Mission Team

We spent a long successful day at Erma's house, texturing all of the walls in her downstair's rooms. Tomorrow we will paint! This writer was most impressed with the skills, ability and hard work of the team! However the most notable memories were the fashion statements made by Bill Callaway with his high water camouflage outfit and John Bretch with his overall look. Tonight we are going to the New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Restaurant, but most of us are almost too tired to care about eating....can you imagine??? We stopped by Estelle's house on the way back to the church from Erma's house to evaluate what we could do there. We will try to go there to work on Wednesday and Thursday.

New Orleans Mission Trip January 21,2007

Doug Allen and his team of Tom Adams, John Bretch, Bill Callaway, Doug Ivester, Kelly Lohman, Debbie Peterson, Vicki Robinson, and Harrison Williams arrived safely in New Orleans at 6:00pm, after an uneventful trip. Those who had never been here before were incredulous about the destruction that is still visible from I-10. The weather is rainy and cool and we had dinner "in"--leftovers from the Officer's Dinner on Friday night! We plan to start early tomorrow by picking up a few supplies at Home Depot before we meet Erma at her house at 8:30 am. Cliff was not here to meet us because his mother-in-law passed away and he had to take Nieta to Texas to meet other relatives who will go to Oklahoma for the funeral. We heard that Cliff is supposed to be back here tomorrow. We were greeted here by Joel (our Canadian friend) and Eric and Debbie, a couple from New York who are staying here at the church for a couple of months while they work on building projects. Eric is a retired Pres. Minister.