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.

 

North Carolina College Mission Trip ~ May 2008

We have arrived in Clyde, North Carolina. Today we went to church at Long’s Chapel UMC. It was a wonderful praise service.  The minister has a beautiful voice and sang a Buckingham song for us. He was a great speaker too and everyone was very friendly.  After church we went to the mountains to a natural water slide, we did some hiking and beautiful sight seeing. It is wonderful to see some of God’s beautiful work.  

The house sits in the beautiful Smoky Mountains and we have a great view from our front window. Our work site is just down the hill from where we are staying. We can even walk to it. We will start with hanging some sheet rock. The homes here were flooded by a hurricane a few years back. A lady at church today told us that “there were even sofas in the trees.” The Methodist church is very active in helping families get into homes and we are here to help.

 

Belize 2008

Corozal is a city of nearly 10,000 people and the roads are somewhat difficult to navigate.  Speed bumps slow down traffic on a few roads but most of them have enough potholes that they aren't needed.  Some intersections have traffic signs but most do not.  Most drivers are courteous and defer to each other but sometimes it's hard to know who is going where when you get to an intersection.  Roosevelt is a careful driver and he watches the traffic closely at each intersection.  There are many walkers and bikers and it's especially hard to see them at night.  Navigating some roads is like doing alpine skiing... the slalom... as you weave in and out looking for the least number of holes and uneven places in the road. 

 

No more time now... we still need to finish mudding the ceiling and building the ceiling under the church entrance.  We're also going to replace the backboard on a basketball goal. 

 

     - Gary 

Wednesday Afternoon

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

 

We have some down time this afternoon as there was only a half day of school (teachers' meeting), and the men have completed taping and mudding the ceiling of the new church already. Right now there are 7 of them working on putting up a new backboard on the basketball goal in the playground. It is at most a 2 person job :) Verlee is nursing a headache, and thinks it might be from the change in the weather. A cold front is coming, and the temperatures are due to drop into the 60's, but not for long. It has been in the low 90's, but there is always a breeze off the Caribbean, which is right outside our front door. No one has a/c, so we sleep with fans.

 

All of us except Don and Gary took a walk in to see the city market after lunch. Don was working on Roosevelt's van, and Gary is trying to get the swelling down in his ankle -- it doesn't hurt, but is very swollen. The good news is that the swelling in his knee is less -- the fluid just migrated south.

 

It is so fun to walk the streets of Corozal and have kids recognize you. Today, as we passed a tiny, tiny dwelling, a little girl sitting on the stoop shouted "Miss Lou! Hello!", then disappeared into the house and out came 3 more girls who had been in one of my classes. After hugs and kisses they reluctantly let us go on. Jim met a boy he had played basketball with before school started this morning. He asked when we were leaving Corozal, and Jim said "We're leaving Friday morning". The boy pleaded "Can't you leave Friday night?"

 

Tomorrow we leave for the town of Libertad, to repeat the assembly (and talent show) that we presented today here. 

The Eyeball Balloons Added Much Excitement

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

 

Today provided a change of pace. We started out with an all school assembly with about 400 students. It was a blessing to hear them singing as Carolyn led them. Lou and Verlee prepared a lesson comparing why we need different tools in a tool box with people having different talents. The lesson included the need to fully develop and use our talents. Verlee shared the lesson with the students. Gary truly impressed the children and adults by balancing a step ladder on his chin and Mark demonstrated more talent by juggling tennis balls. This team really has a lot of talent.  

 

Jeremy, Amanda, Robert, James and Don all helped as we talked about the fruit of the Spirit. The eyeball balloons added much excitement.

 

The rest of the morning and during the afternoon we continued to work on the church. After lunch we took a few minutes to take a short walking tour of the city market and surrounding area. At 6:00 this evening we are going to a worship service followed by a meal at the church. What blessings!

 

In Christ,

 

     - John

On Tuesday we did more work on the church ceiling. It is almost complete now. We also have to work on the canopy over the entrance to the church. Everything has us up high this year!  But I didn't really want to send you another scaffolding picture. I thought you might like to see a picture of some of the kids. They are all very friendly as expected and love for you to take their picture. John and Mark have taken to playing a quick game of basketball at recess and other times with the kids. It can be rather difficult when they are all wearing the same uniform! But the kids love it, and that's what's important!

Wednesday we did our assembly with the kids in Corozal. There were around 400 students from preschool to around age 12 or 13. We sang songs, talked about our talents and the fruits of the spirit. Particularly entertaining and amazing was Gary's talent of balancing just about anything. The most impressive one was when he balanced an aluminum ladder on his chin. I think the kids were duly impressed. I know I was! We later handed our balloons with eyeballs on them out to all the children and had a great time "looking" at each other and singing about the angels watching over us.
 
Our group has many talents, and so far we have all been able to work together very well. I think that pattern will continue. Thank the Lord for such a meaningful trip in so many ways. Tomorrow we will be doing our assembly again in Libertad. I think that those of us who have gone in years past will be looking forward to spending a little time in Libertad with some old friends.
 
Thank you all for your prayers, and keep them coming our way.
 

     - Carolyn

More photos of the Lousianna Mission Trip

May, 2007