Tuesday

It's hard to believe that our trip is more than half over!  Each evening our team gets together to debrief about how God has worked in our day.  This was another day of construction work, prayer walks, and cleaning the cemetery.  Throughout those tasks, God has appointed us opportunities to meet people we're working alongside in an amazing way. It's exciting to expect Him to lead our day and plan amazing things for us and then to see us find His plan!

Melissa Pennington realized that we're the first group who came to this town to help with the cleanup that wanted to develop relationships with the people of the church we're headquartered in.  She's been working on developing relationships with people here who need help.  We're meeting people who haven't worked since the storm hit 7 months ago, people who were left homeless 7 months ago, people who will see their FEMA rent payments or trailers end at the end of this month - and they have no idea what they're going to do.  we're developing relationships with these people - helping them out today and we're planning on keeping up to date with them after we leave on Friday.

Today was a bit different in a couple of ways.  While on a prayer walk along the ocean, Josh Bueno felt God calling him to be obedient to follow Christ in baptism, so he asked Esteban to baptize him.  Those on the prayer walk made a service out of it, praising God for the way He's worked in Josh's life, and celebrating with Josh as he publicly claimed to be a follower of Christ.

A few of us had the chance to help with a kids ministry that our host church puts on every Tuesday.  It's cool 'cause the school busses let the kids off right at the church and the kids piled out of the bus and into the church.  There were kids of all ages here and our teens were able to make some friends with teens their own age.  They invited us to go check out a couple of local spots where we could check out the migrating birds and see some alligators.  knowing that developing meaningful relationships was an objective on this trip, it was amazing to see our teens make friends their own ages.  up until now just about everyone they met was older.  This was a great chance for them to find out what it was like to be a teenager in Texas.  Yeah, they found it it's just about the same as being a teenager in Rome.  It's just a little warmer here and they have poisonous snakes and alligators in the back yard.

I got a good chance to speak with Sean Hall from Nehemiah's Vision today about his job.  He gets to work with volunteer groups, going from one house to the next, helping rebuild his "neighborhood."  He lives in High Island and used to have a couple of homes on the peninsula.  Because only 10% of the storm damage has been attributed to wind damage and 90% to water damage only 10% of insurance money was paid on a house damaged by the hurricane.  That means that if your house was worth $200,000 you only got $20,000 to rebuild it.  Most of the damage came from the more than 20 foot storm serge - that means that the water rose more than 20 feet higher than it usually is. That doesn't include the height of the waves that came crashing down on the homes, knocking them down and carrying them away.  He is an amazing witness to those he's working with and their neighbors.  he identified which of the neighbors were Christians, which he had the chance to speak with, and which we should visit or pray for.  he's doing far more than just rebuilding homes - he's a witness for Christ in a place where people really need a rock to depend on.

The crew that went to work on cleaning up the cemetery found a cool surprise there when they arrived.  All of the debris we piled up the night before had been taken away while we were gone.  Then a couple of others who were there to clean the area arrived to help our crew.  They offered to use their bobcat to help out.  They've contractors who have been here since just after the storm, helping to clean up the debris.  They were touched that we were there to help out.  we appreciated their willingness to help us.

We were wondering where all of the big debris was - today we found out.  there were piles of more than 12 feet of debris just after the storm hit.  People have been working for the past 7 months to clean up the mess.  They've done 75% of the work.  we're just helping out with the last of the work.  it looks like a huge mess to us and we can't even imagine what it looked like right after the hurricane hit.  people have begun to put together their lives and hope to build their houses again.

Thanks for your prayers and encouragement.  We'll do our best to keep you updated, but there is little left here and an internet connection just hasn't been a priority for those who lost everything in the storm.  Our cell phones are working here, so be sure to check the message update at 315-225-1099 each evening.  We're an hour behind you, but we'll try to post a daily update as we get ready for dinner.

Jonathan was working on cutting out the sheathing on the ground level.	Dale Finn preparing the electrical before putting up the insulation.
Deb and Marianne work on putting up the dry wall.	Amy is painting on a beautiful 80 degree day in Texas.
Celeste and Beth are putting on another coat of trim.	Now they're taking a break in the shade.  it was a beautiful day today.
Melissa and Jen work on caulking the soffit.	Our teens made some Texas friends at the after school program at our host church today.
Zack and Rachel find a more practical use for their masks	This truck was working on removing debris from the beach.
Everyone enjoys our daily lunch break together.	This is one of the area parks that has alligators and birds.
A couple of turtles drying in the sun.	They came and took the pile of debris away during the night - or early in the morning.
This bobcat helped us clear the rest of the large debris at the cemetery.	Kip working on the smaller stuff with the wheel barrow.  His shirt is awfully clean!
Christy Barnard helping with the hard work too!	Even the computer guys got dirty.
This shot looks down on the elevator outside the house we're working on.  The cable broke and the Steve fell, causing him to suffer a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the chest down.	A group doing a prayer walk through the neighborhood of the house we're working on.
Paul Pennington's been taking most of the pictures that we post every day.	This is Steve from Nehemiah's Vision.
Sean cutting through the wall with the Sawzall.	Brandon helping Mrs. Kip with the insulation.
Emily taking a break from the hard work.	Kip looks like a celebrity in this picture.
This is the pond with the alligators and birds and a water moccasin.	This is a young alligator that was close by.
The older ones were farther away.	The locals were showing us how to enjoy honeysuckle.  it was sweet!
This is the room we meet in for breakfast and dinner.	Rachel and Elizabeth enjoying a moment with friends before a meal.