Committed

On this, our last work day, we began with a devotion by two amazing young women. Katherine Reed and Melanie Valentine shared with us the importance of making a daily commitment in our sacrifices to God. Their honest stories of their own journeys were exactly what we needed... though we did not realize it at the time.

Things did not start well at the "fence" sight. The early morning hours revealed that adjustments to the fence foundation were required. In about ten minutes, that crew destroyed the work they had done in the previous three days. Everything fell to the wayside and with little more than 12 hours of daylight they were beginning again. You can imagine what that crew must have been feeling. Barry Christensen, Mark Humphrey, Nate Shelton, Alex Christensen, David Johnson, Drew Anderson and Alex Ball had devoted their entire mission trip to the building of a fence. And on our last day, it looked as though their efforts would be for naught.

Over at the Williams Street house, Team Leader Debbie Petersen consulted with Homeowner, Royland, and decided to take things one step further. Armed with an FPC trailer, she purchased new windows for the Peabody family. 13 windows. None of which actually fit into the window frames. All that would require custom trim installation. An enormous job all on its own. She looked about her motley crew; then handed Jan Coots and Susan Christensen (our Siding Sisters) another box of nails; Susan Merrick and Karen Humphrey a crow bar for Window removal; left Trevor Jordan and Jeremy Jackson alone as they continued to level the bathroom floor and distributed paint brushes to everyone within reach. This job, that wasn't finished yet, got bigger with every passing hour.

At some point during the day, both teams decided to forgo our afternoon and evening activities. Our goal: to complete all project lists... even those newly generated just that morning. Neither team was willing to break more than a few minutes. The Lunch Wagon (Abby Christensen, Isabelle Jordan, Allison Humphrey and Lily-Kate Jordan) delivered the lunch to the Fence crew while the Williams Street house was treated to a low country boil by our thankful homeowners. Lunch & Production (Joe Jordan, Mac McIntyre, Katie Stegal, Jessica and Anna Gamble, Holly Howren, Katherine Reed and Leah Valentine) crews drove between sites, delivered, snacks, ice, drinks, drill bits and hurricane straps and filmed more volunteer and victim interviews. Driving and negotiating, Patsy (aka: Nonna), and Sarah (aka: Gram), kept us all on the road and on schedule.

It was, my friends, an enormously huge group effort.

Dusk brought the arrival of an exuberant fence crew who had victoriously overcome their many obstacles. Within 15 hours they had re-installed every post, every side rail and every slat! We celebrated their arrival with 14 pizzas, more cases of drinks, cold veggies and an old-fashioned-but-all-together-new-sort-of-church ice cream social. Night fell on us. We sent several "home" to church for showers while a small crew stayed behind to hammer in the 13th window. With the window install trio of Rose (aka "Tiffany"), Trevor (aka "Frank") and Jan (aka "Lisa") standing by, Susan Christensen nailed the final piece of siding under the final window by flashlight.

There was tremendous union in our prayer circle as we took Lina, Roy, Roydie, Brian and Santi in our arms to ask God's blessing on this family and to thank Him for his providence in every aspect of their recovery.

So... as our littlest volunteers fell asleep upon the church pews... as we listened to an inspiring evening devotional... I was reminded of the words we had all heard just that morning. That our sacrifices for our God come in all forms and have to be renewed moment by moment. The dedication of our crews as they exemplified the meaning of commitment was inspirational. The message that I think I will take with me tomorrow when we leave? That we have nothing to give that is any more worthy than a daily commitment of our lives. No matter where we are or what we're doing.

What an awesome day!

Thank you for your prayers during this week. Thank you for standing with us. Thank you for allowing us to have this opportunity. Thank you for your commitment to God and for the example that you are to all of us.

Please stay tuned for a future video production, a slideshow and lots of smiles and stories as we rejoin you this weekend in celebration of our Savior's resurrection. I can think of no greater way to express your appreciation of His sacrifice than to consider serving Him and the Katrina Mission recovery effort.

Details for our next great adventure to come.

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Becky Jordan
Blogging the FPCMTTASBNOMT
(FPC Marietta Spring Break New Orleans Mission Trip)