A hot day in Mississippi

Today we finished painting a house for Glenn, a local resident who lost everything to Hurricane Katrina. Over the past few days John and Carl, and at various times Ken, Ryan, Arlen and Ethan painted the entire exterior of the home. The aforementioned young men, being agile and nimble were very well suited to climbing and working on he scaffolding of the house. Ken and Ryan were especially daring as they painted the highest point of the house from the scaffold about 28 feet from the ground. The homeowner was impressed by their efforts as were John and I.

Kees and Sid helped another local resident install windows and fascia board. He had been waiting for help since October.

Pete, Johan, Jessica and Chantelle finished their project for a Janey, a local widow whose garage is being converted to a living unit for her. The exterior was refurbished and painted and some minor framing was done inside.

Kelly, Henry, Janet and Evelyn were still busy at Skip's house laying tile, doing some interior trim and some drywall mudding for a change that was made to a closet door.

Ian and Ed, our concrete experts, poured a slab under a house with the assistance of homeowner Mike and others of our crew when the concrete was delivered. Ian and Ed then spent the rest of the day finishing the slab.

The weather here is beautiful at the moment with temperatures reaching 86 degrees today. We were thankful for the breeze that was present most of the day.

We're back at Project Hope and Compassion, our base here, and are just about to get supper which smells great. I don't know what we are having but suppers so far have been terrific and I'm sure this one will be no different.

This evening we will find out what we will be doing tomorrow and will be deciding who goes to what jobs. I'm personally hoping my new task does not include a paint brush... :)

It is great to see how well the team has come together as we do God's work here. A real family atmosphere has set in.

More to follow tomorrow. Again thanks to those who have encouraged us via e-mail. We can be reached at team@lhcrcmissions.com