Laurel, Mississippi

Hello from the South-

We arrived here on good roads with very little rain and 80 degree temps. We understand that it's a little cooler at home. It's supposed to cool here also, in the 70's for a few days, so it should be great working weather. We are staying in this house that has 13 bedrooms and 5 rooms that have no windows that are used for bedrooms when there is a big crowd. There 18 of us here. The picture is of the house we are staying in. There is no room for RV's so we left that at home this time. We're quite comfortable so the three weeks should go well.

We went to the Baptist Church this morning and will ride this afternoon to look at some of the job sites. We'll need to get these jobs done these three weeks because this site will close permanately on May 17 when we leave. We have to pack up dishes, sheets, beds, and everything that belongs to CRWRC and store it to start another site in the fall. This site in Laurel has been open for two years, has helped many people get back into their homes, and has given hope to many in their lives.

Please keep this work in your prayers.
Love to all- Doug & Mary

Thursday

It's our last night here in Franklinton. I think we had our biggest dinner yet. We had chicken, a variety of southern food and lots of desserts. I know we are working harder than usual, but we are probably gaining weight.

The weather continues to be perfect, but they're predicting storms for tonight and tomorrow. We have lots of work to do, so hopefully the weather will hold until we are finished. I hear that Michigan is getting a little rain.

We have developed good friendships with the group from Jenison and some people from Trinity Baptist Church. Someone said they couldn't tell that we were from different churches.

Tonight, the mission organizers from the church--Sharon and Joe, thanked us for our work this week and they gave us tee-shirts that say weroc. It is an acronym for Washington Parish Emergency Recovery On going Cadre. They also gave us a bottle of Louisianna Hot Sauce. I'm not sure how many of us will dare to eat it. They keep making comments that they are going to keep us for several more weeks, so if we don't get home, you will know what happened.

Tomorrow, after a full day of work, we plan to shower, eat our final dinner here and head home. The drive home may be a bit more challanging as most of us will be pretty whipped. Keep us in your prayers as we travel.

If you see Tammy when we get home, ask her why she earned the nickname Crash.

Thanks again for your prayers and support.

The mission crew in Lousiana.

Wednesday Update

Hello again from Franklinton.

Today was another beautiful day both weather wise and work wise. All our groups are continuing to work hard helping people rebuild their homes.

Throughout the week, we have been instructed to invite the people we are helping to come and have supper with us. Yesterday several of them came to have jambalaya and jumbo with us--don't ask me what was in it, but it was good. Supposedly, we set a record for the number of clients that came in and ate with us.

We are working hard painting, dry walling--here they call it sheetrock, putting in electric, installing hot water heaters, cleaning up yards, tearing stuff apart and rebuilding and various other tasks. The youth are learning some good home-care and upkeep skills that I'm sure they will want to continue to use when they get home.

We have met many neat people with interesting stories. We are starting to get used to our surroundings and with the hard work we are sleeping well at night.

The youth have entertained themselves in the evenings playing a variety of games like capture the flag, the fox and the hound, and tonight they played human fuss ball.

We are being blessed by this experience and we hope we are being a blessing to the individuals we are helping. We thank you all for holding us up in your prayers.

The mission crew from Franklinton.

Tuesday, Day 3

Today we started with a rooster call from Sharon, our mission coordinator. We ate breakfast, packed our lunches, and headed to our job sites. Our group was fixing up a trailor which involved painting the outside(Ashley and Nancy got splattered with lots of paint), building a wheelchair ramp(Mary, Stacie, & Hannah got to use a nail gun!), laying plywood and linoleum on the kitchen floor, and also anchoring it down. The next door neighbor, to the people we were helping, asked if we would paint his house also. We gladly did so. Our "boss" Mark gave some of us interesting nicknames. Stacie is now "bubble girl" because she was using the level with the bubble in the middle. Then Mary is "shovel girl" because she was using the shovel. Ashley was given the nickname "splatter" because she was covered with paint splatters. Hannah is now "blonde" because of two incidents while working. One was that she tripped over a saw while looking directly at it. Matt was given the nickname "dessert" because while playing scategories he mistaked dessert for desert. Then as for Andrew we have not yet come up with one. We have also been playing cards, ultimate frisbee and capture the flag in our free time. Tonights game is foxes and hounds. As we are writing this 6 army hellicopters flew over our heads. Our battery is getting low, so this is our goodbye.

Love from Ashley, Stacie, Mary, Hannah , Matt ,and Andrew

Hello from Franklinton, LA!

It is Monday evening and we had a great day getting out to our jobs sites and starting to work. The weather is beautiful! It is around 80 degrees and sunny. Some of us got sunburned while others were smart enough to put on sun tan lotion. Yesterday, we attended the 8:00 a.m. worship service and had a wonderful time worshipping with the church here. After church, we headed to New Orleans to do a little sightseeing. We hung out in the French Quarter for a couple of hours and admired the beautiful architecture and ate lunch on the shore of the Mississippi River. We watched ships and paddle boats passing by. Then most of us went to Waveland, Mississippi to play volleyball on the beach. This is the site where they say the eye of the hurricane struck. Most of the houses on the shoreline are gone. This morning (Monday) bright and early--around 7:00 a.m.-- we got up, ate breakfast, and headed off to our various work sites. Mary VDM had fun catching a dangerous looking spider--she did accidently kill it getting it into a bottle. We have also encounted several roaches, dead rats, and mice. Some have entertained themselves catching geckos--I think they caught three. Overall, we had a great day and we look forward to working for the next several days. God Bless!

EMCRC Youth Group

We Made It!

The East Martin Youth Group plus plenty of chaperones arrived in shifts between 9 and noon today. We're a little tired, but all here. The Bouman-mobile even made it. :) Doug and Mary were overnight in Laurel, Mississippi visiting CRWRC friends. Trinity Baptist has a great set-up and welcomed us with warm showers. The guys are out and about reviewing job sites, the ladies are shopping at the Winn-Dixie for "healthy snacks", and the kids are playing games/watching videos. We're hoping to see New Orleans tomorrow after morning worship. Thanks for all the prayers for our trip down, we'll be in touch!
Mary VanDerMeulen & Nancy VanDerHeide

Good Bye To Belle Glade

Time goes so fast and our time here is done. Dan and Gerda are leaving in the morning and Rich and Phyl are leaving next Tuesday. The construction manager isn't coming until next Tuesday. Our group worked on 7 houses and trailers and our group was able to finish 6 of them. We had a Last Nail Ceremony yesterday-- it is given to families whose houses we have done a lot of work on and finished it. It makes us feel very good to see how pleased the people are with what was done to their trailer or house. This family was Spanish, so the ceremony was in both English and Spanish. Our group was great and we really had a good time with lots of laughs! Thank you all for your prayers and support. See you all very soon. Love~ Rich & Phyl, Dan & Gerda