Better Late than Never, eh?

Well, it's almost a week since we have returned.

Maybe "returned" is not the correct word, because for some of us we have not returned, at least not as those who left a week earlier. For some our lives have been forever altered in how we view our world and our part in it. New chapters have begun to be written in our stories, and prayerfully we shall not return to our former ways of seeing and responding to our world.

Friday found our group geographically split. Part returned to finish the roofing job (and finish we did!!!) and part traveled into New Orleans to help with street clean up in some of the most ravaged parts of the city. The newly uploaded pictures say it best. The devastation is overwhelming! Can the city ever be restored? That is a question yet to be answered.

The ongoing needs of people and property shall continue on for years. Your prayers, monetary and physical support will be needed for a LONG time. Please continue as the Lord gives you freedom and direction, for it is true, that without the churches responding to the needs, things will not get done.

Thank you for your prayers, your support, your encouraging words. May the Lord be raised up and glorified as His church incarnates His Body to the "least of these."

A Rottwieler Chased a Horse Today

It is amazing the things you can see from the roof top in the Slidell neighborhood in which we are working.

Today's injury: Dan Lockwood having a way to close encounter with a crowbar. The crowbar won. Don't worry hit him the head. Actually, he's OK now.

We did three major jobs today. One was applying shingles to about 2/3 of the roof. Back tomorrow for some of us to complete the job. Dan finished the job of leveling the back of the house, and some of the crew gutted the bathroom and hung tarps so that the bathroom could still be used. Cleaned it up too.

Hot and humid, of course. Lunch-time thunder and lightning, so we headed off the roof and off to lunch at "Check In - Check Out, where there was more thunder! Eveybody enjoyed some great Po-Boys. (Shrimp, catfish, jambalaya...)

Tomorrow part of our crew will head to New Orleans to help with city clean up and the rest will return to the house to finish up the roof.

Thanks for your prayers! They mean a lot to us, and to those we are serving.

More pics, complements of Peggy.

God-Sightings And Touching Lives

Lots of roofing work today. No Rain, Yippie! Lots of sun, no yippie! Today's new pictures come courtesy of Gail Strombom. Not only can she sing, she can take pictures too, and is pretty good with a hammer.

Today, amidst the roofing work and Dan working under the house, and tearing out three layers of flooring out the kitchen, we got to visit in the homes of two of the neighbors. Share with them about the work of Trinity Church and Compassion ministry, hear their stories, and help get them set up to receive some help. It was a joy to be able to pray with them as well. It struck me that they have each been very close to what we might call as "hell on earth," and thus they are very aware and exhibit some of the joys of heaven.

One lady we meet, Joann, lost the home she was renting and everything she owned. Her eldest daughter also left, and left her with her two granddaughters (really cute girls of 7 and 5). She is living in FEMA trailer, behind her mother's house (where we were visiting) and then she told of having open heart surgery this last December. The doctors told her it was most likely brought on by the stresses brought by the effects of Katrina. And the stories like hers continue to be told.

Today another miracle: Here's the short story. Yesterday Eric broke off part of his two front teeth when his hammer slipped. Once we got back last night we were given a number for a dentist who goes to the church and often serves overseas, in fact he JUST got home from Burma. Anyway, after working today Eric was able to get to see him before returning to the church. In less than 45 minutes he fully restored Eric's teeth. Seeing him smile no one would even know. And the cost, FREE. God is MORE than GOOD, He is GREAT!

THANKS for your prayers...PLEASE don't stop! Tomorrow we hope to begin, and Lord willing and by His grace and strength shingle the roof and fix the foundation. Lots to do, but we have a GREAT team!!! The neighborhood, even as far as a 1/4 mile away is seeing what God is doing, and talking about that crazy group up on the roof, where even the women are swinging hammers and carrying drywall. May God continue to get the praise!

We're Singing in the Rain

Day two. Back on the roof again! Tearing off more shingles, roofing felt, and pulled THOUSANDS of nails. Hot and humid, but thankfully, mid-afternoon a great big storm blew over and soaked us to the bone. I am sure that the locals thought, "those fools from California don't even have enough sense to come down out the rain!" But hey, we had a job to do.

Dan Lockwood and crew worked under the back of house , trying to make things level. Lots of dry rot. Oh yeah, and discovered what cause "some" of the problems, Carpenter Bees! Did I mention the hornets, well one got Eric. But Eric just kept working on.

Some of the team went on a prayer walk through the "neighborhood" met some of the neighbors and tried to give out a Bible or two.

We did lots of roofing work, but all had hoped to accomplish a lot more. But trying to get lumber and supplies needed proved to take A LOT longer than Eric and Dan had hoped, and the removal of nails and roofing material was hard enough to slow us down a little in the humidity, and of course once the rain came we had to stay up there and sing and dance "rain" songs! (For you fifty-some-things, think Woodstock)

SO lots of work to be done over the next couple of days. Structural and roofing, then Friday we head into N.O. to see the work of Castle Rock Free Church and Urban Impact and to help out in a city project.

Please pray for us! Please pray for safety...had some mishaps today, and working on the roof carries other risks. Also, I feel some spiritual attacks upon our group. The group is working very well together. Teens are doing GREAT! And did you know that Gail takes great pictures and has a wonderful singing voice? We have been blessed to have the "kids" with us.

Today's pictures come from Peggy. Enjoy.

More later! THANKS for PRAYING...it will make a REAL difference.

Oh Yeah, one more thing...some of the team enjoyed some HUGE Po-Boys for lunch. (Shrimp, Crawfish, Chicken...) Lots of food!!! Last night Pastor Jon took some into the French Quarter to Cafe' Demonde and had some Beignets http://www.cafedumonde.com/

Hi Oh Ho Oh It's Off to Work we Go!

Well we made it. Not without a couple of gliches, but we did make it!

Hot and Humid, as expected, but not as bad as we all thought it would be, at least not yet.

Monday started early. Wake-up at 6:00, breakfast at 6:30. Orientation for a couple of hours this morning (has some last night too.) Then grab our tools, and off we go.

Our job for the beginning of this week is to travel to the town of Slidell (about 25 miles from Trinity Church) and to Gut and Roof a house.

The pictures tell the story. Lots of mold, dust, rust, more dust, more mold. We removed sheet rock, pulled LOTS of nails, killed a few hornets, ripped up flooring, and then some of the guys started on tearing off the roof. Tomorrow we're heading back to tear off the rest of shingles and then start to replace the roofing, sure glad we have Eric with us. We will also be leveling (raising) one section of the house that is sinking, sure glad we have Dan for that.

I should say the best thing thus far has been working with our team from FBC. They all ROCK!!! What a great team of workers. No complaining, everybody pitching in. We got LOTS done, and now we're BEAT!

Had a wonderful time getting to know Bernice the owner of the home. Her husband, now gone, built it over 20 years ago. Lots of memories in the place. We also got to work alongside one of her sons, Bernard, and her grandson, Jaynel. Jaynel was in there helping all he could, though grandma was a little worried about him getting in the way.

It was a great start to a great week. We are praying for opportunities to meet some of the neighbors and finding ways to help them. Each day begins with a prayer circle in the front yard with the owners, and we close our work day in the same way.

Keep praying for good health and strength for everyone. It's only day one and we have four more hot, humid, and hard days ahead of us.

THANK YOU for all your PRAYERS and support thus far. We can REALLY FEEL it!

More later!

News from the Field

The following is an email from Mark Lewis (one of the key leaders at Trinity Church amd TouchGlobal our EFCA compassion ministry in Convington where we are going to serve.) It will give you a sense of some of what God is doing.

Mark writes,

I had to share with you a few things from the last 2 days. I had the privilege of hearing Sara's story tonite on how she got here. She is a late teen/early twenty something from IN, here with a group of teens and college/carrers. she shared that when she saw the opportunity to go on the trip a few months ago, her heart jumped. she got an application and signed up that day and was thrilled that she was going to be able to come and serve God and help people. but as the summer wore on, and the
deadlines approcahed for paying the costs for the trip, she realized that maybe she wasn't to come, as she was working to save money for school, and really could not afford it. so one nite as she was waitressing, a group from her sunday school class came in for dinner. it was a slow nite so she was able to vist with them a good bit. she went back to the regsiter to ring up the bill, she turned and found her friends were gone, without a goodbye. bummer. she went to the table and under there was a note that said how much God and her friends valued her and special a person she was, and under the note was the exact amount of money that she needed for the missions trip, her tip.

i held back tears then as i heard this story, and now as i type the story, of God's faithfulness, His provision, and a caring, supporting christian community. it's only tuesday, and her testimony was that she will never forget this experience, 'it has changed my life'....and maybe mine a bit too.

another young lady came up to introduce herself to me and give me ahug. she wanted me to meet her specifically because she wanted me to remember her when she came back, because she tols me, 'i am coming back'. she was with the same group. she did not want to come. she said no 4 times to the team leader when he asked her to come on the trip. she had had bad experiences in high school in some church youth activites, not being accepted, and confessed that her family has really not been going to church with any regularity. she told me that she had never really read the bible. she had told her team leader all the resons that she could not go, the main one being that she could not get off work. but he was persistent and called her at work one day and had her ask her boss, even though 2 other s were already off work at that time. the boss listened and then went to one of the others who had asked off, told the guy what this gal was going to do, and the guy gave up HIS week of summer vacation for her, so she could come. she lsot her last excuse, so here
she is. she confessed that she has made some of the best christian friends, in 3 days time. as i left tonite, she was sitting down with her group for a bible study time...with her bible open!

it is awesome to see what God is doing in people here, much less through them.

we are working a lot now on planning for the next year of work and ministry. we are doing a more focused training and equipping cirruculum for the evenings in the fall for teams to learn more about issues of the poor and the need for ministries of compassion in our own neighborhoods, as there are hruting people all over, not just here. although they sure are messed up here. we got a call today from a very upset lady who had a good friend of the family working to rebuild their house, which was now going to be a double wide on a slab. the guy was to pour the slab next week, but the family found out yesterday that he hung himself. they lost their home in the storm surge, and now they lost a friend and the person who was going to get them back into a new home. we have not
had a skilled concrete guy in for months, but as the Lord would have it, we also found out today that we may have a skilled guy in that area coming next week. it's amazing how God show's a need and then provides a way to meet it, and why he frequently seems to do it here on like the same day is beyond me, but it sure is awesome to sit back and watch.

we are really looking for folks who will pray earnestly for workers to keep coming here to do the cleanup and reconstruction. (it's a biblical command for us to ask this of the Lord...see mt 9:38) the volume of volunteers for the fall seems to be slowing some, as i'm sure most folks think there's nothing or little left to do as it is out of the
news.amazingly, we got a call today from slidell from a lady who needs her home gutted. this area had gutting mostly done by last november. we are also getting an increasing rate of calls again for gutting in new orleans. so many folks still have not even gotten the contents out of their homes, and fewer and fewer churches are continuing to do this work, as they are not having enough volunteers, or are just wearing out, or are running out of funds to sustain the recovery efforts.

but we are planning for ongoing efforts well into 2007 in the area around covington, and beyond into 2008 in central city new orleans, and need you and your teams to come and be a part of God's work here.

we are also going to be doing lots of planning for the ongoing crisis response ministry too in the next 2-3 months. thanks for being a part of it all and for your care for us... ml

PRAYER REQUESTS -- Here We Go!

On Sunday, July 23 we board the big silver bird head for Convington, LA and the great New Orleans area. We are going there to serve our Lord, by serving the people, knowing that as we serve the "least of these" we are serving the Lord.

Please join us through your prayers. Here's some items or your list:

• Good health for the Team members before, during, and after the trip.
• Safety in our travels, and good connections for our flights.
• For hearts ready to serve wherever and however.
• Ability to bring a message of hope to those we are seeking to serve.
• Finalizing details for the trip, rental vehicles, supplies, shots, packing.
• For the people we are going to serve, that they would experience the love of God through the help we seek to provide.

Thank you for praying for and with us. Check back to this blog and follow our journey.