Appalachian Mission Trip ~ June 2009

Work Day 1:

Our assignment is to tear out and replace sheetrock in a kitchen for a couple in Eagan, TN. Their names are Clarence and Vicki.

 Also, next door is a trailer where we are finishing the skirt and adding a roof over a porch.We put in quite a bit of work this afternoon, 

completely tearing out the old paneling and 

putting in new insulation.

 Tomorrow we will be able to begin putting up new

 sheetrock. Clarence and Vicki are wonderful people and fun to get to know. They are giving us a true sense of why we are here. 
The skirt on the trailer is nearly finished, and the roof is coming along as well. Still plenty of work to do, however.

Work Day 2:  We continued our work on the kitchen and trailer today. We put some sheetrock up on the walls and did some mudding. The porch roof is mostly completed needing only a hand rail and the trailer skirt is nearly done as well. 

In other news, we had a large storm roll through tonight around dinner time. It had produced a tornado warning in the neighboring county, and here on the settlement a tree was knocked over. That caused a downed power line and a blackout he

re for several hours. Hopefully there was no damage to the homes that we are working on.  We are very worried for our new friends

.

Saturday. Heading home. Not sure what day number-wise this is! 

Anyway, on Wednesday there was another severe storm that caused major flash flooding and damage to trees and property. 

We, fortunately, were able to miss the brunt of the storm by being in a restaurant in Cumberland Gap, TN.

 But as a result of this storm, our internet was not working the rest of the week, so no more updates until today. We were able to complete our projects to the best of our ability. 

The porch looked lovely with its new roof and some new hanging flower pots. 

The skirt around the trailer got finished, complete with a "gate" for some under-trailer

 storage. And the kitchen got some holes patched in the floor, new sheet rock,

 a new sink cabinet, and a special loving touch by Penni, some hand-painted flowers and vines on the walls.  We installed a toilet at the Settlement and also, painted the inside of a barn for their new project, A Farmer's Market.  They have a greenhouse full of lovely flowers and also gardens.  

The Henderson Settlement is a great service to the poor in Southeast Kentucky and Northern Tennessee. There are workcamps all summer (all year, really) and they are constantly helping those in the area who cannot help themselves.
This morning we said goodbye to our friends from Nixa, MO and our adopted team member, Kate, from Ohio. It was a wonderful trip and all a mission trip should be.
Thanks to you all for your prayers and thoughts. 

College Mission Trip Neosho, MO ~ May 2009

The Work Has Begun!

Monday, May 25, 2009

Happy Memorial Day to everyone.  We started our day at 8:00 with a big debris removal project in Newton county.  The couple's home was destroyed by a tornado on May 10, 2008.  They had many beautiful oak trees.  Over a dozen were knocked down by this tornado.  Jim and Tom cut these trees and the rest of us carried wood to a two huge piles.  Another group sorted and loaded metals onto a trailer to be recycled. These metals used to be the siding on this couples home.   We were only able to work outside today for a half day due to rain.  Hopefully we can finish this project tomorrow and start inside projects on Wednesday.
 

 

Back to Work!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

We are back to work!  Today we worked in Newtonia.  There is a civil war battlefield there with some very dedicated men taking care of it and the history of the community.  The field took a pretty hard hit from the tornado and  today we cut downed trees and collected limbs to burn. I think we had 8 burn piles going today.  Yes, there was poison ivy but it was not as prevalent as yesterday.  We are praying we took care to prevent anyone getting a rash.  After we finished working today the gentlemen here took us on a tour of a civil war cemetary and a civil war home they are restoring.  We are returning  there tomorrow to clean up the cemetary and some other places around town.  They like us so much they invited us all to dinner tomorrow night!  Is that hard to believe?  
 

Great Day for the Pyros

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Today we returned to Newtonia to work.  Alex, Landon, Tommy and Caleb helped the mayor and his son take up a floor.  Jessica and Danielle finished the burning at the Civil War mansion in Newtonia.  They helped several gentlemen with that job.  The rest of us returned to the Civil War cemetary to clear brush and burn it.  All the pyros in the group had a great day.  We have cut and burned a lot of brush this week.  Tonight for dinner we were invited to attend a pot luck at the community building in Newtonia.  There was some fabulous food and we met some great people.  They were all so appreciative of our work. The Neosho newspaper was at the dinner and interviewed several of us.  Tomorrow we return to Newtonia to help a young couple with yard clean up. It is hard to believe that tomorrow is already Friday and we will return home.