Team 20 Day 4

Today was our last day of work here. We had to say goodbye to the people we've been working for all week as well as Zack and Liz who are running St. Bernard Project.
There's still a lot of work to do on their job board and more homes will be added as soon as some of these are complete.
Everybody's tired and beat though. Ready to head home. Some of us didn't even make it till dinner without a nap.
Dale's earned the rest. He and the rest of the drywall crew finished all the drywall in the house they had to work on this week.

Johnny Justice (Johnny Law to his friends) and I set another set of kitchen cabinets after clearing out remaining tools and extra materials from another house. Another very thankful homeowner who was just so nice to work for. Everyone has been. This is an amazingly friendly place, but it's almost surreal how much we become hooked into their lives.

The flooring crew laid two full houses of hardwood flooring this week while training others to do it in other houses. They got in after everyone else had dinner tonight so that they could finish their last house. The laminate flooring is the most cost effective solution to drop down on the slabs these houses rest on and looks really nice.

The painting crew finished their 2nd house today for the week as well. They completed one average and one large house from finished drywall, through primer, and 2nd coats all around.

We have the Cure's so close to ready to move in, but stubborn pluming and bathroom finishing problems kept us from finishing. They have a gas stove and sink with cabinets finished in the kitchen and doors hung. They need only the drywall finished, a tub surround, and the vanity connected in a bathroom to move back to their house.

We didn't have anyone mucking today, but I got a couple of pictures from Amanda from yesterday. This the cleaned out house they worked on:
And a crew picture with the homeowners and June White's group from Virginia who are down:
That house was scheduled to be condemned because it hadn't been cleaned, but they swooped in and saved the day. You see the yellow signs with the red X mostly on buildings that were structurally damaged by the storm, but some homes like this one are also scheduled.
I think we're all ready to head home to our families, but I know the inevitable crash will come when we get back. There is still so much good work waiting (on Zack and Liz's board) that is in urgent need of attention. We'll be getting job assignments from them for teams after the first of the year. It looks like our teams will be staying in trailers, but where hasn't yet been determined. Till that is ready I have gained a couple other contacts here in addition to the church in Pascagula who will host teams for work there.

We need construction leads badly. If you have any trade, or you church can sponsor a professional contractor for a week or a month down here to organize unskilled volunteers their time would be amplified many times over. Our biggest problem is the people we have must learn how to lay floor or finish drywall, or mount cabinets before they can do it and then their skills are lost when they leave and more volunteers come in. A couple pros a week would really give a boost to the effort to return people to their homes.

Please be in prayer for God to send those people here and continue sending those without the skills on faith that they will accomplish their number 1 mission, showing people they are not forgotten, by us or their creator. Where else can you do manual labor and be treated with the hospitality Christ himself may receive. It feels good being his hands and feet this week and I know we are all looking forward to a chance to return.

Our schedule for Sunday and Monday is as follows:
Sunday @ 10:30 Church down the road a few blocks
Sunday @ Lunch Lunch, probably in the French Quarter
Sunday @ 3:00 everyone showered and packed
Sunday @ 4:00 all loaded and head for Birmingham
Sunday @ 10:00 arrive at Homewood Church of Christ for overnight
Monday @ 8:00 pack and leave for home
Monday @ 5:00ish arrive at Westerville Christian Church

We're all anxious to see you and tell our stories and get back to our families. Please pray we have a safe and speedy trip.

Team 20 Day 3

More good work Day 3. People shuffled around. A couple kids went mucking with Amanda and June White who has worked diligently with Hilltop since the beginning. You may get the Hilltop newsletters via email from her. No pics from them though.

The crew who has been finishing drywall all week has been dubbed the Ohio 7 by the caretaker of the lady they are working for. Here they are all together:

Dave (McGuire) and I got the cabinets done in the Cure's kitchen and Dave (Adair) put together the sink. Mrs. Cure got us Pizza and lemon meringue pie for lunch and had a bowl of chocolate waiting for us on the counter this morning. Jared joined me today and replaced the flood damaged front door. That gave the face of the house the done look. By that I mean, even though the interior is nearly ready for them to move in, the outside still looked like any other flooded house till the door was replaced.

I'm so excited about this project. If we can get some plumbing done by a pro (2 hr. max) we'll have them back in their home by the end of the week. Even with all the work going on, they'll be one of the first in the area and appear to be the first in their neighborhood to move out of their FEMA trailer and back into their home.

Chalmette Church of Christ is very near so I stopped by this evening. With the exception of one strip, the tar paper we put on as siding last January is still holding. Looks like we need to schedule a special crew to come down and put some siding on.

The inside though is finished and in service! Was impressed to see it all done with pews installed. May have to stop by there Sunday morning.


I have a few pics from last night that I couldn't get then. This one is Jackson square on a rainy evening. Fortunately it mostly held off for our walkabout.

Wanna really have some fun out with a group? Order a dozen raw oysters and egg people who've never tried them to do so. We had 5 newbies take the plunge last night, though Erin probably won't again ;-)










There are 420 kids here from Jonesboro Arkansas area for a service conference (best way I can think to put that. We have a record for this facility with them here with over 500 volunteers at one time. The shower trailers, though cold, have helped and there are people sleeping in the common room and some rooms downstairs which have tarps up over the studs. This is most of them, at Tim Hine's morning devo today:

Today was the kind of day we hope to have here. 70 something with beautiful weather, the last forecast for our stay. By the time we drove from St. Bernard back up to Chalmette this evening, the fog had rolled in and the wind is picking up and gusty. Stormy weather is forecast the next couple days.

We're leaving Sunday afternoon and staying at Homewood Church of Christ in Birmingham for New Years eve. We'll be back Monday evening for the kids to go back to school, but Tuesday I'll be sleeping in ;-)

More tomorrow night and I hope to have postings from our volunteers. Just have to set with them long enough to get the writeup done.

John

Team 20 Day 2

Man I love this! Being down here, the whole last 16 months (wow!) of this effort comes back. Walking through flooded neighborhoods. Driving by the lower 9th. And just that long ago I didn’t know anything about this place or any people here, and really had no reason to visit so probably wouldn’t have. Now it’s started to feel like a 2nd home to me that I need to rebuild and where I have family I care about.

By volunteering to come down here, we’ve all become part of this very tight community. People have stopped us on the street, strangers we’ve never met before, just to thank us for caring about them. “We love the God who sent us”, we tell them or something to that effect, but they really feel so blessed by our efforts. When you haven’t been for a while its easy to forget that; the sensation that you really are part of something important, even monumental.

If you can’t tell, I don’t have any pics for you tonight so I have to write  That’s OK though, I feel there’s something to say so let’s see what comes out…

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast used by a woman making bread” (Matthew 13:33). “Even through she used a large amount of flour, the yeast permeated every part of the dough”. The little work we’ve done on a house here, or a house there; maybe a block over there has spread. Our work has multiplied and more “yeast” has grown to do more work. The people (flour) here know the work we have done and that we’ve done it in our Father’s name. Even those we haven’t helped directly.

The gospel is a monumental thing. That one can be reconciled to God through Christ is a monumental thing. That we are called in our commission generally, and for most of us more personally to do this work is a monumental thing. We’ve been drafted into the army and we’ve performed admirably. If our glory weren’t in heaven we’d be parading around with medals on our chests. But the people also see that we don’t. That we serve as our savior served. That we put others first. That we love them even though they may not feel deserving, like He did. And that is the most monumental thing; our witness.

We strive with and for them without expectation of earthly reward and can’t bear to accept their personal praise for coming to help them, but insist we had no choice… we had to come… we are called to help. We benefit more, “you have no idea”.

I am so proud to know all of you, all the people who have hosted our teams and all the storm victims I’ve met. Especially the “Pearl Merchants” (see Matthew 13:45) who have persevered unceasingly for all those months or many of them.

“These are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!” (Matthew 12:49-50) We’re all family who have came to work here, from all over the country, and from many different churches. We’re all family with those storm victims we have worked for, met, cried with, and prayed with. We’re all brothers and sisters in and with Jesus because we’ve followed the will of our Father to do this.

Thank you family.

_____________________________

So our work today was much the same as yesterday. We painted, we hung doors and set counter tops, we laid floor, we hung drywall and finished it (to the best of our ability). Some people’s spiritual gifts for the day were having skinny arms that can reach under a bathtub to start a drain connection. Others was laughter and the amount of paint their hair and face could hold ;-) Some on this team have these massive intense spirits and unbounded energy that inspires everyone else. Some people’s gifts were showing up late at night in a strange town, sleeping little, and spending the day working next to others from another state in another generation.

For everyone it was listening. This far after the storm, the most important thing for victims is to be remembered and to tell their story. We’ve all gotten them still. Was evacuated to a bank roof and spent 7 days there waiting for help. Was picked up in a boat and dropped off on a shrimper. Spent 8 days using tarps to collect rain water in barrels to drink, bathe, and wash clothes. Mother, Aunt, Grandmother, didn’t make it. Sons are flooded out too.

On the plus side, really, this is a place where people can live now. Estimate 1 in 30 businesses open, but essentials are there. McDonalds, Da Parish Coffe House, Popeye’s Chicken and Biscuits, and the stores I mentioned in earlier postings. Some people are living in their restored homes, but many many people are now living in trailers on their lot rebuilding their home, or, the lot having been cleared, planning their rebuild. Slab removal signs are up which seems weird, but you don’t remove the old slab unless you have a new home plan that needs a different foot print.

140k houses (pre storm) are now selling for 32k rather than the 5k they were getting a few months ago. The streets are busy. No traffic jams or anything, but plenty of traffic. We have helped this community come back from complete destruction. That’s monumental.

We took tonight for our run to the French Quarter. Had dinner at a great restaurant with Brendan and some frequent and longer term volunteers. He says hi by the way. Stopped by Café Dumont for beignets and coffee (which is why I’m still awake) and took in Jackson square with Christmas lights up.

I got to meet Mayor Nagin tonight! He was outside Café Dumont when we went in. Said hi, shook his hand… and left it at that. Well… what would you say or ask?

Anyway, we’re having the usual wonderful week. The newbies are suitably shocked by the situation and excited about the work and the old pros are showing their confidence and faith. Everyone’s glad we’re here, volunteers and locals alike. Wish I could do this all the time.

How ‘bout you? I’ll be scouting where to send volunteers to stay. There’s several opportunities there and St. Bernard Project (Zak and Liz) have good work to do. Plan some time in your schedule for the new year to come back, or come for the first time and tell you social network about the continued need, and successes we are having. This really is a monumental thing we have going. Gotta share that with everyone we know.

For those inclined to intercession, please continue praying for our volunteers and the people they are helping. The need is no less, nor less urgent.

Till tomorrow…

John McGuire

Team 20's first day photo diary

We had a busy day! 22 people and 5 house projects. It's so good to be rebuilding (mostly)
There were a few mud fights...

.... but the 6 on the drywall finishing crew covered a lot of ground...

...seams...

....screws.... etc for Joyce Sanders

We installed some kitchen cabinets for the Cure's in St. Bernard. Like more than half the residents, they are retired and have had lots of health problems since the storm.

Amanda, on her 5th trip is our old pro. Here, you see her modeling the latest in swamp mucking fashion on her way to paint with a crew ;-)

Another team spent the day laying flooring in a 4th home

The people here are still so beaten down by their ordeal. All the volunteers came back today with the stories of the people they are working for. Both from the storm and the problems and recovery they've struggled through since.

It is good to be getting people back into their homes again.

When 1/3 or so of residents on a street set up a trailer and begin rebuilding it's like a tipping point where most of the rest of the neighbors return.

The job sites we are working this week are the fruits of the St. Bernard Project. This organization was set up in October by Zak (here in front of their office) and Liz who like others, couldn't go back to their lives in DC with so much unfinished and desperately needed work left to do. They have a tool co-op for people fixing up their own homes, host a community center, and are offering the rebuilding services of volunteers like our team to those unable to rebuild on their own. More about this org as the week progresses.

There has been so much positive change since I was here last. You have to wait for a clear spot in traffic to pull out onto St Bernard Highway, or Judge Perez.

Houses are being rebuilt, or hauled away to make room for reconstruction (Habitat is expecting to start in a couple months on these vacant slabs).

Flowers are blooming in front of FEMA trailers.

Some trailers are well decorated for the holidays too.

While its no longer a ghost town here in Chalmette, there's still a lot to be done.

Heavy rainstorms last week left shallow, but wide spread flooding from mud filled storm drains and the crud is still all around.

It's nothing like the horror it was right after the storm now though. The general aroma is what you'd expect for a town anywhere and the houses we are rebuilding are clean and very habitable. Winn Dixie, Walgreens, some restaurants and other life is coming back. The overall impression this trip is very positive. We're helping people get their lives back who may have only gotten $20,000 or less from insurance and government assistance to do so.

This is getting dirty and helping people... real church.

John McGuire

Team 20 arrived safely....

@ midnight Central Time Tuesday night after a very nice drive. We only made 4 stops and that got us down in one long haul. This is a great team. Very diverse with people old and young, men and women, different ethnic origins and 4 or 5 different churches. We even have two more coming in from Dallas today, so we're not even all from Ohio.

Here's the team pic from when we left yesterday:


Man is this place looking different! Starting to look like someone lives here. Walgreens, Winn Dixie, and many bars are now open. The McDonald's on Paris has been rebuilt much like the design of the one in Westerville. I'll have to do a before and after comparison in the blog, but that'll probably have to wait till I get back.

Please be in prayer for this team as we split up and go to our separate jobs today and work for His glory alone.

More on our work and changes down here when I post again tonight.

John McGuire

Team 20 leaves tomorrow

Still working on getting the updates from Team 19 last week and I'll get them on the blog as soon as I do.

Tomorrow I'm taking a team down and returning on New Years day. I'll get updates on our work with pictures and the thoughts of our team through the week on the blog at servantsunite.blogspot.com. We'll be doing new work with new organizations this week and plotting our course for the next year's Katrina relief trips. I look forward to sharing this all with you as it happens.

Please pray for our diverse team members this week:

John McGuire	Westerville Christian
Dave Adaire	Westerville Christian
David McGuire	Westerville Christian
Doug Swayne	Westerville Christian
Chris Cole	Alum Creek Church of Christ
Aaron Grassel	New Life, Gahanna
Jim Eder
Amanda Evans	Northland Church of Christ
Kristin Francis	Lipscomb (friend of Amanda)
Brenda Floyd	New Life, Gahanna
Joshua Floyd	New Life, Gahanna
Scott Fancher	New Life, Gahanna
Heather Creps	New Life, Gahanna
Dale Butterfield	New Life, Canal Winchester
Rick Peszlen	Westerville Christian
Karen Peszlen	Westerville Christian
James Peszlen	Westerville Christian
Emily Peszlen	Westerville Christian
Pat Hazelet	New Life, Gahanna
Jeremy Yoh	Westerville Christian
Erin Yoh	Westerville Christian
Melissa Gauder	New Life, Canal Winchester
Jessica Pugh	New Life, Canal Winchester
Jarrod Rossiter	New Life, Canal Winchester
Mary Chafin	New Life, Canal Winchester
Jonny Justus	Texas (friend of Melissa)
Bryan	Texas (friend of Melissa)

Please also be in prayer for our partners in this mission as some transition out of Katrina cleanup and others transition into rebuilding. Please also pray for Servants Unite as it changes and grows; especially for wisdom for our leaders to follow the Spirit's guidance in plotting our direction.

I hope everyone has had a very merry Christmas and wish you a successful new year with your families, career, and ministry.

John McGuire