it's hard to stay up to date going online once a week

So it's now July 3. Since we got to Mississippi I think I've been online a total of 8 times. It sure makes it harder when you have to drive to the library for internet access, and even then we don't get much free time to do that.

This week we only had two groups of about 20. One from Texas, and one from North Carolina I had half of the North Carolina group and doing a vinyl soffit underneath a house. That only makes sense when you know that most of the houses in this area are on 7+ foot stilts because they are realatively close to the ocean. In order to hold the insulation in underneath the house we put a vinyl soffit underneath to help hold the insulation as well as for aesthetic reasons. It's a relatively simple job, but the prep work is rarely simple. Both of the houses had plumbing hanging down so we did two different things. The first house we basically dropped the ceiling under the house six inches so it was a straight run with the vinyl. The second house, we boxed in the plumbing and ran the vinyl. In both cases it took about a week of prep work (dropping the ceiling/boxing in plumbing, as well as lay all of the tracks to put the vinyl in) and only a couple of days to actually put up all of the vinyl. That first week is often very frustrating because it never looks like we're moving very fast, but once the vinyl starts going up we can see quickly how all of our prep work paid off.

The first house belonged to an elderly lady who had just moved into her house. Her house was destroyed in Hurricane Camille and again in Hurricane Katrina. This time it was literally picked up and moved 10 feet toward the bay. She was a sweet lady who always bought us bananas and made us sandwiches. She was very grateful for what we were doing. I was happy to be doing some finishing touches on her house especially knowing that for almost three years prior she had been living in a FEMA trailer.

The second house belongs to a lady who attends the local Episcipal church. Our home this summer happens to be right across from the Episcipal churches cemetary (some claim we're actually in the cemetary. She's very anxious because her house is very close to being livable. The electrician was in this week to work on some of the final electrical work. All that really needs to be done is the plumbing needs to be connected and she be able to move in. It still blows me away that three years after the storm, people who have been trying to come back are still not in their homes. In our area only one in three people decided to come back.

So it seems an awkward place to stop but I need to go get ready for our service tonight. Tomorrow we're having bbq ribs and I'm excited. I hope you're doing well. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers as I sweat out the heat in Mississippi.

getting back up to date

So I'm almost three weeks behind now. I hope to be caught up soon enough. It's crazy to think we're already three weeks into the summer. It feels like this is the first week of summer. Granted we have yet to have a "normal" week so far. Every week has either been with a slightly different staff or different location. The first week we didn't have any campers at our sight in Mississippi so we went to help the New Orleans camp.

I got to work with Amy from the New Orleans staff painting a house. This house still had the military markings on the front of the house from when the National Guard came through the neighborhood to look for bodies and survivors. After scraping, caulking, priming, and finally painting, we painted around the marking, but not over it. On Thursday of that week when our home owner got home from work we let her start to paint over the military markings. Each member of the youth group took a turn painting over some of it and when I painted over the last of it the youth group applauded and cheered. It was very symbolic of our homeowners fresh start. The symbol that represented the death from the hurricane was now erased from view. The smile on her face as we all painted over it is something I will not forget in a long time.

That is exactly the reason I am down here. It's my seventh trip to the gulf coast since hurricane Katrina, but it never gets old. These people who had everything destroyed often have to start from scratch. A destroyed home with little money from insurance or the government leaves them no where to turn. Whenever I can come in and give them hope, I want to do that. It's the perfect imagery of the Christian faith. Even when we think there is no where to turn, no hope, when we look to Jesus he shows us a hope we never thought we would ever have. I love being down here, but I love it when I'm reminded that I'm not here to rebuild homes, but to rebuild lives.

I'd like a quick shout out to the Cove United Methodist for that awesome first week. Y'all are awesome and I pray that your new youth center can be a light in your community.

a bit late, but more to come

Much has happened since I last updated this blog. We had staff training in Gainesville, GA (northeast of Atlanta) and we just finished our first week of camp for the summer.

I'll go back to the beginning of my trip to fill y'all in on the details. Jackie, who I worked with two years ago in Mississippi with TEAMeffort, and I left early Wednesday, May 21 to drive to Nashville, TN. It was an incredibly long day of driving, but we arrived in Nashville after almost 15 hours on the road. We arrived at John and Sandy's tired, but were excited for a place to sleep for the night. John and Sandy are a couple I met last summer with Cooks United Methodist Church. I've had the privilege of working with Cooks UMC youth group each of the last two summers. Even though I didn't work the summer with TEAMeffort, I was able to go and work with Cooks again when they returned to Mississippi. I also was able to take a road trip over Christmas break to Nashville with my buddy Tim and saw them again this January.

Back to the trip. We got to John and Sandy's they greeted us with baked some potatoes and steaks. My steak was amazing and I was happy to have delicious home cooked meal heading into a summer of mass produced food and lots of fast food. When talking with them, we learned that John has been sick for quite a while and the doctors haven't really been able to figure out what is wrong. He was scheduled for surgery that week. The next morning we slept in and left for Gainesville at 10:30. We arrived at Gainesville First United Methodist Church and staff training was officially started. It was really good meeting everyone from all the different TEAMeffort camps.

On Friday, after a whole day in Gainesville, I flew back to Minneapolis so I could make it to my cousin Miriam's wedding. It was good to be able to come back and see family one more time before I headed down south for the rest of the summer. As quickly as I came back, Sunday morning my buddy Austin brought me to the airport on Sunday to fly back to Atlanta.

After getting back to staff training we had a good time getting prepared for our camps as well as getting to know the staff at the other camps. That Wednesday we drove to Mississippi to set up our camp before heading to New Orleans to help set up their camp as well.

I know this isn't a great place to stop, but if commercials can stop at suspenseful parts, I think I can too. That and it'll get you to come back and check it out. But seriously, tomorrow morning is the start of our work week and I need my beauty sleep. I'll see when I can come update my blog this week and catch y'all up to what I'm doing today.

I'm going back

For those of you who don't already know, I'm going back to Mississippi this summer. In fact, I leave in five days. I decided a long time again that I was going back to work with TEAMeffort again this summer, but it wasn't until a couple weeks ago that I found out they were placing me back in Mississippi. This will only be my seventh trip to the Gulf Coast in less than three years and a total of more than 6 months spent in the area when I come back in August.

The last few weeks have been flying by as I have been finishing up my final semester at the University of Minnesota, moving and preparing for the summer. I take my last final tomorrow, go home Sunday after church for a day, work on Tuesday, leave for Atlanta Wednesday, stop in Nashville for the night, and finish the first stretch to Gainseville, GA (NE of near Atlanta) Thursday afternoon. From there I have staff training and then I fly back Friday night for a cousin's wedding on Saturday and fly back down on Sunday. Then sometime that week we drive from Gainesville to Pass Christian, MS.

I'll be down there as a group leader and worship leader. I love doing both and know that this summer will be a blessing as much any other time I've been down there. That's enough for now, I should get back to studying for that last final. Thanks for all yours thoughts and prayers as I am away for the summer.

Just about headed home

This last week has been a good one. In order to make sure I finished my roof this week I got two youth groups. I really prayed that they would get along with each other. They got along so well that if one youth group hadn't worn matching shirts, I probably wouldn't have been able to distinguish which kids were in which youth group. On top of that, they worked so weel that we were also able to paint the neighbors house across the street. It was a cap to an equally awesome summer.

The last three days we spent taking down the CORE base camp we have been at for the summer. It's crazy seeing an open field were for almost a year, there have been many military style tents for volunteers. We can only hope and pray that UMCOR, which is taking over relief operations here in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, can do the same work that CORE was able to do before them.

Thanks again to all who have been supportive of me through my time here in Mississippi. May God continue to work on the gulf coast and show the people of the area that there are people who still care.



 

Pictures from Week 4

 

Home in three...

There are now three weeks before I'm back home in Minnesota. Two more weeks with campers and one week of clean-up and relaxing. I realize I haven't been keeping up with my blog and on top of that I recently realized I had saved my previous post but hadn't actually posted it. I guess I have three weeks to make up for.

Week four was another good week. I helped with a group from Richmond Hill, Georgia. The youth group was about 60 students and we split them up onto three houses on the same street. I started a new house and I was able to rip off the whole old roof and start shingling it. We also did some painting of Mr. Clayton's trimwork. It was crazy working with such a large group, but it only prepared me for the much larger group I would have a couple weeks later. I really appreciated seeing such a large youth group still able to focus on God during devotions and during our services each day. The week ended with a trip to the beach at Gulf Shores, AL.

Week five was a "light" week for us TEAMeffort staff. There were only 110 campers and our fearless leader, Tim, took the week to go home and be with his wife. That meant the 14 of us staff were in charge by committee. It worked out well, partially because we were coming off of our largest week of the summer with 320 in week four. With a much lower camper/staff ratio, I ended starting with one group and changing to another part way through the week because I was need elsewhere. It was different not really having one group to call my own, but I'm here to do what needs to be done.

This last week was our sixth week and it was another great week. This week I worked with Palm Harbor United Methodist Church from just outside Tampa. This youth group had 90 students. The high schoolers, which totaled about 60, went back to the street I was on two weeks ago. Due to the lack of numbers the week before was took a break on that street and resumed this week. It was a very productive week. We finished two houses we had started before this week and started stripping a third house as well.

More importantly, I was once again impressed with the spiritual maturity of such a large youth group. After each of our nightly services, they had their own devotion and praise and worship. Wednesday they had an amazing time of praise and worship. Without any kind of message there were several commitments and recommitments. It was really cool being able to see these kids on there knees and seeing them pray for each other. After the services last night it was much the same and once again it was awesome seeing kids praying for each other. On this closing stretch of summer it has been a very uplifting week for me as I'm starting to get ready to come back home.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers and I'm looking forward to another two amazing weeks before I head back home to Minnesota.