Work Day #1

After spending an afternoon/evening out on Sunday in New Orleans and on the beach in Waveland, we crawled into bed Sunday night knowing that our wake-up rooster call from Sharon would come early the next morning! And it did, promptly at 6:30 am. Tired and sleepy people quickly jumped out of bed and got dressed, ate breakfast, and made lunches for the day. Job assignments were posted on the white board in the main meeting room and we gathered there to eat and pack coolers and load up the vans.

At 7:30 am we left Trinity Baptist to head out to our job sites. The people we will be helping all week have sought help through the WEROC agency; not all are strictly hurricane-related rehab or repairs. These are simply needy and poor people who have no where else to go for help. There was a large group going out to the home of a single, older woman that needed the exterior primed and painted, along with some yard work. When we arrived at her home, her arm was in a sling and we learned she had suffered a fall in her home a few weeks earlier and her shoulder was dislocated. Smaller groups went out to look at some plumbing work, electrical work, and to scout out a couple other possible work sites. The painting group finished one coat of primer and paint on the entire house in about 7.5 hours and will return on Tuesday to put a second coat on parts of the house, and finish up some raking and yard cleanup. All groups will be returning to the same work sites on Tuesday to continue their efforts and possibly finish up some of these projects.

We were treated to a wonderful potluck meal provided by another church group for our supper at 6:00 pm. After dinner we had a time of devotions led by Hannah Damsteegt, and we took turns sharing experiences about our day. We are also very blessed to be in a place where we are fed good meals, have hot showers, sleep in air-conditioned comfort, do our laundry on-site, and have a nice place to hang out at night to play cards or games or whatever we would like to do. We are so thankful to be here to do the work God has led us here to do, whatever it may be. Keep our group in your prayers as we work this week, and pray especially for safety and good health.