Some of our projects

Kees, Sid & Carl added a small overhang to the roof of the St. Ann Church concession and removed and replaced the outside serving shelf.




Pete, Johan, Arlen & Carl with Laurence, a homeowner we did some finishing work for.


Ken and Ryan on the scaffolding John and Carl were to scared to work on...


Here's John showing his pride at completing an engineering project...well let's just say it...ditch digging.

We're Back

Sixteen of our team of nineteen are currently driving north on the I-5 just south of Bellingham, having landed in Seattle safely at about 1:30 pm. Most everyone is tired and glad to be returning home in spite of the great time we had and the knowledge that we have made a difference.

We would all like to thank those of you who supported us with words of encouragement and prayer. We highly recommend serving in this way and feel blessed for having done so ourselves.

New Orleans / Headin' Home

Friday afternoon we arrived in New Orleans which is only an hours drive from where we were staying. We saw many houses that had been boarded up for over two and a half years  as a result of the flooding. We walked along famous Bourbon Street and parts of the French Quarter. we were fortunate that John and Evelyn had spent a few days in New Orleans before reporting for work in Mississippi. They were remarably familiar with the main areas to see and easily led our convoy in and out of the city. We had supper at the Hard Rock Cafe then returned to base. Iverna made us a delicious peach cobbler which served as a late dessert.

After a very busy and rewardÍng week we are heading home. After a short sleep (11:30 pm - 3:30 am) we got our stuff packed and headed for the Gulfport-Biloxi Airport. John helped 16 of us get to the airport with all our luggage. He and Evelyn will be leaving on a later flight while Sid will return home with his motorhome.

The Captain just now assured us that we will be taking off shortly so I will end this posting here. (Carl)

Thoughts from Adam

Well, it's 11:16pm, Friday night. We are done. From a leadership standpoint, this trip has been a complete success. You might ask, how might you define success with this? It's easy. We got a chance to see God's hand in this area, working steadily through this organization, as well as others.

First off, I want to mention how glad I am that we came here to Mississippi, rather than New Orleans. I know that both areas were hit hard, but it seems like this area is still so far off from normality, this was confirmed in out touring around New Orleans this afternoon and evening.

When we first arrived here, we had no idea about what kind of work we would be doing, or how it would all work out, I envisioned myself framing up walls, putting up trusses - all the things I used to do in my old job. As it turns out, I was quite wrong. There is a man here, Skip, you have probably read about him already. I had the privilege of spending a large portion of my time with him finding work, and then more work for the crew. This man coordinates the work that needs to be done in this whole area. He receives work requests from St. Ann's and goes through them deciding who gets work done, he then goes and visits each job and verifies the work. He goes to about 5-6 jobs per day. This man has given up the last 1.5 years of his life to serving the people of his own community. He told me that a friend of his, Laurence, had his house started at the same time (last October). As you have read, Skip still has not yet moved in, nor does he think he will move in until late summer, or early fall. Laurence however moved in two months ago. Skip is giving all his time a resources to help his friends in need.

Skip is an inspiration to us all.

I want to also take this time to reflect on this team. I am so very grateful to everyone who has made the commitment to being here, it has truly been amazing working this these fine men and women. This team has completed roughly 9-10 tasks that were given, and not just to satisfactory standards - but to the highest they could provide. Skip and others have been so very impressed with this team with their determination, quality, punctuality, and love of service.

We talked the other night about that this trip was not actually stepping out of our comfort zones, that we took our Christian bubble down with us. A couple members of the team spoke up and said that stepping out of our comfort zone will be doing the same things we are doing in our own back yards.

Think about that for a minute.

We work and live in this backyard... why should we volunteer our time, talents, and treasure? because the Lord has commanded us to serve Himself through serving others.

Jesus says, "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'" (Matthew 25:35).

I have seen the people on this team grow in their relationships - with God, with their families, with each other, with myself, and with complete strangers. This experience has been just so very rewarding for myself, to watch this stuff happen, to watch the smiles and the bright-eyes (or not so bright-eyes in the morning ...), makes me feel so proud of this team.

I am going to miss our talks, our studies, and our walks.

I will especially miss not driving around with Skip.

Thanks team for giving me what you gave.

I must apologize if this seems a tad random, I have a tendency to ramble. But you must understand, it is now 11:47pm, and our alarms are set for 3:30am.

My brain is a little frazzled.

Thanks to all of you who have been keeping us in your prayers - we felt them.
Thanks to Carl for keeping this blog.
Thanks to all of you for reading and responding to this blog, your encouragements we greatly appreciated.
Thanks to the congregation of Living Hope for supporting PHC with a great offering.
Thanks to the congregation of Living Hope for supporting our team.

The list could go on. But I'll stop.

"boss man" Adam.

(ps. that's what Janet called me.)

Our work is done

We hit it hard on the last day trying to get as much accomplished at Skip's place as we could.

Ian, Ethan, Arlen, Ken and Ryan got another good workout today by spreading another two truckloads of soil.

The rest of the group was kept busy cutting, nailing and filling holes in baseboard and door trim. The interior doors were installed and the handles were put on the kitchen and bathroom cabinets. Some shelving was installed in storage room and garbage was hauled away.

The group worked at a fever pitch with fourteen people in the house until someone finally called time. We packed up and headed back to Project Hope and Compassion (PHC). Skip's place is coming along nicely. Hopefully he will be able to get more help so that he can finish off and move into his new home soon. The team made a huge dent in this project during the course of the past week.

After some eats and quick showers we hit the road and headed towards New Orleans for a little site seeing. In fact, as I write these words we are heading west on Interstate # 10 in our little convoy.

It has been an amazing week of hard work where we accomplished a lot in spite of unfamiliar surroundings, strange beds, late nights and early mornings. The group really came together early on in this trip and developed a sense of family, which is in fact what we are: the family of God. It was very rewarding to have the opportunity to help people and share the love of God.

More than a couple of the team members have mentioned how rewarding they found there experience to be. Some have even indicated a desire to do something like this again.

Today's blog entry would not be complete without commenting on our hosts. Many thanks to Father Peter Mockler and the rest of the St. Ann Catholic Church and to Karen Parker the PCH coordinator. The facility was amazing and we received everything we needed. Karen's outgoing personality and genuine concern for our needs made her a terrific host.

Two other key people that made our stay so enjoyable were Iverna and Mark Mercer who have been volunteering at PCH. Iverna has been doing a masterful job meeting our gastronomic needs. In spite of the hard work none of has wasted away because the food was so delicious. Mark was the volunteer handyman, fixing what needed to be fixed, and was very helpful in getting us the tools we needed.

Both Mark and Iverna were very friendly and were great to talk to. Thanks Iverna and Mark for using your talents to support us and our mutual efforts to help those in need. Safe travels as you head home this weekend as well.

We're in New Orleans now touring the 9th Ward, so I'm going to end this post or I won't see anything. (Carl) more to follow...

Fried Catfish and Alligator Tail

Most of our projects are winding down and some of us were assigned small tasks. Some were easier than others as you will soon hear.

Pete, Ed and Johan spent a day rewiring an old house. They removed the old wiring and replaced it with modern wire. Their task was complicated by having to work in the attic a large part of the time. You can imagine how hot it got in an attic under the Mississippi sun.

John spent a day and a half constructing (read digging)  a culvert and grate in a municipal ditch. It was definately not the 8th Wonder of the World. John was heard to remark: "Never in the annals of human endeavour has so much energy been spent accomplishing so little".

Skip's residence was a beehive of activity as team members pushed hard to complete their work there. Kelly installed cabinets in the kitchen, bathroom and ensuite. Janet cleaned the tile of grout while Evelyn was busy doing some touch up painting and applying a wallpaper border. Jessica and Chantelle assisted Henry in the installation of Skip's laminate floor. Adam installed some trim and helped others where needed so he got his hands dirty today.

Sid, Kees and Carl stuck close to home and did a little construction for Project Hope and Compassion (PHC).  A much needed overhang was built, placed and shingled over the concession stand. The concession is used every May during the Annual Lizana Catfish Festival which is a major fundraiser for PHC. In addition to building the overhang we painted it and the area around it. A true test of our workmanship occurred when someone had to get on the newly constructed roof in order to paint some trim. Carl offered to get on the new overhang but it was decided, for some reason, that Kees should go instead. I suspect it had to do more with Kees' painting skills rather than our 100 lb weight difference.

Ian, Ethan, Arlen, Ken and Ryan spread four truckloads of dirt by hand in an amazing feat of endurance on a landscaping project. In spite of their abuse of the equipment they were given (they broke a rake, a shovel, a wheelbarrow and a Bobcat) they manage to complete the task. They were also present during a "last nail" celebration the CRWRC hosts during the completion of a project.

Pretty much everyone was tuckered out by the time they got back to PHC. Much needed showers did a lot to rejuvinate everyone for supper which turned out to be a real treat and the highlight of the day.

As we are in the deep south it would have been a shame if we did not partake in some of the cultural delicacies that come out of this region. Other than the ice cream bar we had for dessert our entire meal was deep fried in the southern tradition. The highlights included deep-fried catfish and deep-fried alligator tail. Also eaten were deep-fried onion rings, deep-fried hush puppies, deep-fried corn balls, deep-fried  okra and deep-fried french fries. Does anyone sense a theme here?

Some of the people we have worked for during our time here joined us at the meal which was enjoyed by everyone including those who don't normally eat fish.

Tomorrow will be a day for tieing up loose ends in the morning and a group "road trip" to New Orleans, which is an hour away,  in the afternoon.

Y'all can e-mail us at team@lhcrcmissions.com

Until tomorrow....

Some photos

I've finally been able to gain access to the internet. All of the previous postings were made using my Blackberry to e-mail the posts to the blog. As a result I have now added photographs to some of the previous articles and will hopefully continue to do so.

The photographs on this page will give you a sense of the devastation that occurred down here.