Team 8 Work in Louisiana Continued

As Promised Mark Morris has completed his report of the work He and Mark Kindberg did in Louisiana last week.

Wednesday: We spent the morning time framing on the third story (attic) floor in the warehouse. Concrete for the first floor piers was scheduled for noon, but actually got there about an hour and a half or so late. We poured the piers in the warehouse to support the columns, and a five-foot square pad outside the kitchen door. As I said before, those support columns were top priority, so it was good to see that concrete going in. I was reminded once again how out of shape I am. I hadn't poured concrete in several years. Pouring and finishing it consumed our afternoon.

Thursday: I could hardly move Thursday morning! I knew I had to get up, but my body needed convincing. I was really hurting. The last few years I've spent in the office pushing keys on this keyboard have not been good for staying in shape. I got myself ready to go to work, but had to face reality, as time got closer to head for the warehouse. I was so exhausted that I just couldn't do it. Mark Kindberg, who was my co-worker for the week, was supposed to pick a rental car up at the end of the week from an agency down by the airport, so we decided to take the morning off and scope out the location and hopefully make things go more quickly on Saturday when we'd be picking it up. Once we got across the causeway and into New Orleans I thought that I'd take the opportunity to try once again to meet with Fred Franke at Carrolton Avenue, where Operation Nehemiah is headquartered. That trip really paid off, because we not only got to see Fred, but Brendan Hendrix who is now with the Hilltop group in Slidell. It was a great time to talk to them both and get their stories on how things are going from their perspective.

Thursday afternoon was spent picking up material at Lowe's and delivering them to the warehouse to prep for another workday on Friday. Mark Kindberg learned on Thursday that his uncle in New York had passed away the night before, so he changed his plans for driving to Florida to riding back to Columbus with me instead.

Friday: Having had an easy day the day before, my body was recuperated and I got up feeling energized and ready for a good day of physical work. We did have a very productive day anchoring the steel column bases to the floor and setting the 6x6 wood columns to support the weight of the dorms and storage areas above. That load on the columns was a load off my mind. As I said previously, that project was top priority. There are tons being added with the work going on upstairs, and getting the proper support installed was paramount. We also got more work done on the third story floor framing. A couple of more hours would have allowed us to get the third floor framing finished, but time just ran out on us. We left that project primed and ready for the next crew to finish.

We left Mandeville at 6:00 P.M. on Friday in order to make our return to Columbus a little sooner on Saturday so that Mark could see his family before they left for Florida. He was planning to leave Sunday afternoon for New York and his uncle's funeral.

The disaster relief folks all are focused on serving the needs of the hurricane victims, and they recognize that Satan is attacking them to stop their efforts. Please pray for them to be unified and for their relationships with each other to grow spiritually. Rest assured, our efforts will continue to be effective as we go down and work with them. I'm already thinking of how I can work it out to go back.......after my body heals!

Because He Lives!
Mark Morris