Finale Friday

Well, we're finally finished here! The house on Bohn Street is done (that is, our work there). It still needs insulation, sheetrock, trim, flooring, and finally painting. Work for next week's group... And the dirt on LaSalle Street has been spread (boy, Ned, we sure could have used a backhoe...). It was a truly satisfying experience, and it's great to know we have made a difference, albeit a small one. Darryl ("Tooty") was VERY appreciative, even left work to say goodbye to us. We gave him one of our Back Bay shirts and a photo post card signed by all of us, and said a prayer with him, blessing the home with many good wishes. And we also left T-shirts with Judy and Don on Belmorison Street, whose house some of us painted earlier in the week. Up and out early tomorrow (on the road at 4:20 am!). Looking forward to seeing you all on Sunday morning!

Team Work Thursday

Well the week is going by way too fast – it’s hard to believe we only have one more day here! We concentrated the group to one site by the end of day on Bohn Street where we broke up into teams knocking out tasks. We are making good progress on the house – sealed the pipes out of the roof, finished installing the back windows, nailing the plywood on, reset the shower stall, built a closet for the hot water heater, finished framing all the windows, and are almost all done with caulking and puttying and sanding the windows. Tomorrow we will try to get all the primer painting done and aluminum side the back of the house. Another of our groups continued to shovel dirt in anticipation of landscaping the property on La Salle Street. The highlight of our day was the trip on the Shrimp Boat. We went out into the harbor, dragged the bottom for shrimp and other wildlife. It’s not shrimping season yet so they were very small and had to be tossed back. We learned about al lot of the sea life here in the south – shrimp, eels, crawfish, mackerel. Many of us actually fed the seagulls from our hands! We learned about how the Native Americans learned to hunt deer, and of course learned more about how the land and econony are slowly recovering from Katrina. We’re looking forward to getting back to CT!

Progress Wednesday Continued

Here are some extra pictures of us. The picture to the far left is of the crew from job site two with the home owner, Daryl, in the center.

More picture of our trip to New Orleans to come. Here is Denise watching a Dixieland Parade.

Progress Wednesday

We are finally starting to see some progress being made which is encouraging. Every morning we are dispatched into our worksites.
Site one: The task is to paint the exterior of the two story house with the help of Weston Congregational Church from Weston, MA. There were some challenges painting around electrical services coming into the house which were overcome. Spirits were high as the work continued singing hymns.
Site two: This house is a rehab. Windows are almost finished being trimmed out. Hopefully it will be done tomorrow. The back wall was stripped of siding, repaired the framing, adjusted the new windows, hung the door and partially sheathed. Tomorrow we will finish the windows and the back wall. If all goes well we will be siding by tomorrow afternoon.

Frustration Tuesday

We are getting into the swing of things! The paint is going on, windows are being trimmed and walls are being torn down to be rebuilt. We are working hard but we are also really enjoying ourselves. Last night we went into New Orleans to taste the local flavor; good food and good music. The spark of good news was the many colored houses in the ninth ward are sparkling amongst the devastation. God is at work.

Patience Monday

As we get ourselves oriented to Back Bay Missions we learn the meaning of Patience Monday! I takes a LONG time to be given our various assignments, gather our tools, find our home sites, and get started.

Gilead Church to Back Bay!

We're off! Departure Sun. April 20 - at the ugly hour of 5:00 am! We're all excited and looking forward to a learning and exciting experience! Tune in daily for our news and updates.