NOLA 2 Wed. and Thursday

Thanks for your patience yesterday.  We worked a half day, and then went to New Orleans.  We walked around a bit and had dinner at a Gumbo restaurant in the French Quarter.  We drove back across the long bridge that spans Lake Pontchartrain and got home kinda late.   Jake S. needed to try to experience every single cultural thing about the South and New Orleans.  So whirlwinded a bit.  On our way in, we did a tour they gave us around areas mostly affected by

Katrina.  We went through St. Bernard's Parish and the Lower 9th Ward to name a couple areas.  There is more life in the Lower 9th and in St. Bernard's Parish than the last time we came through.  But there are still many many many homes that are not being lived in or even worked on.  The next picture is of the Lower 9th from a hill near the levy.  

 In the Lower 9th, there are a lot of houses that haven't been touched, a lot of cement slabs just sitting there, and some houses that are showing activity.  Most notable, I thought, were the houses that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are having built.  There were several of them in a few block radius.  The houses all looked really neat-  a non-traditional architecture.  I thought other people were getting pics of some of these houses, but not many did.  Even still, there is still sooooo much to be done.  The next two pictures are of Branjolina's homes.  The link for their website is :  www.makeitrightnola.org/

 Disaster Recovery says that Slidell and the northern area around Lake Ponchartrain is 85% restored.  The greater New Orleans area is about 15% restored.  This is due to several factors, some political, some geographic, some logistic.  Remember that at first, they weren't letting people into New Orleans.  Slidell was not closed off and took all the volunteers they could get as soon as they showed up.  This organization hopes to be "done" with St. Tammany Parish (North Shore of Lake Ponch.) by the end of 2009, and can then focus all their attention to the South Shore.  They say they have logged 2.6 million hours of work.  There are other statistics, but I invite you to pay attention to announcements in this blog about when Dale K. from Disaster Recovery will be in St. Paul.  If you're anywhere close by, we would love to have you stop in when he speaks.  He is compelling.  

Other things we have done:

Darold did devotions Wed. night

Paul did devotions Wed. am

Jill did devotions at night

The team working with Rod Sc. started laying laminate flooring.  See the picture below.

The team working with Howard continues to be a drywall machine.  They will get as much as they can done before it's time to go on Friday.  

Our team (Rod) met our home owner today.  His name is Herbert.  We are taking him out to lunch tomorrow.  He is really excited to be getting so close to getting back into his house.  

Chicago won by 1 point in triple OT.  I don't know who got voted off the island on Survivor yet.  (DON'T tell me!  I'll watch it when I can!)  

That's all the news I can think of.  

Prayer requests:

Team Unity

Safe travel for Howard (He has to fly back to St. Paul on Friday afternoon)

Herbert's health (our Homeowner- he didn't offer specifics and I didn't ask.)

Continued safety on our job sites 

Pastor Carolyn and Jeff S. left kids at home with their spouses.  

Pray for Jeff S.'s back

And that we get adequate sleep.  (I keep telling them that when I was on my trip in Cuba, we took a nap after lunch each day.  Nobody is getting the hint.  )

Ok-  thanks all!

Greetings from N'awlens!

We are still dragging. As Lewis put it, we just didn't have it today. We still got a lot of stuff done and had a lot of fun in the process, but we didn't quite have our usual pep and energy.

That being said, we wouldn't trade our experiences here for anything, not even extra sleep.

Though we weren't moving as fast as we have earlier in the week, we are seeing completion on some projects, and much progress in others.

In process...

At my site, Howard, Lewis, and Jake have finished the ceiling on the front and back porch, and have started the siding part of the job. (For more details, ask one of them, as I was inside taping and mudding drywall all day long.......)

After the craftmanship of Howard and his trusty assistants.

Ali really getting into her work...




I like to mud.



I like to mud.



I really do like to mud....



That has been my mantra today. I really do enjoy taking the sheets of drywall attatched to studs and making them into walls. I like to and am fairly good at smoothing the ridges out and filling the holes. But we are working on the whole 3 bedroom 2 bath house, and *all* of the walls and ceilings need to be done. We have each found our niche, though. Matthew takes a screw gun and makes sure the screws aren't sticking out. Corrine and I have been doing the inside corners and ceilings, working corner to corner and meeting in the middle. PC and Ali have been sharing the duties also, Ali doing the upper part while PC gets the lowers. Mari seems to always be hiding out in closets, Rod and Jeff are the go to guys for finding the studs to screw the drywall in more securely, while Bob is just a blur, a one man mudding machine!






Through this process of living and working together so closely, sharing meals and sleeping in close quarters, you really get more of a glimpse into the heart of each person. Bob is a perfectionist, but really cares about people and is very encouraging and empowering. Mari seems shy and quiet, but there is a passionate powerhouse somewhere deep in there. And Lewis was a bounty hunter! Who knew?


It is just past midnight, and I am a little sad, because we only have one more day here to do the work we are meant to do, to see and hear and experience and learn what we are meant to, and to make whatever difference we can. Please pray we can be effective, productive, and open to God' leadings, and that despite our sleep deficit, we can finish up strong.



Thank You for all your support and prayers!

NOLA 2 Wednesday

It has been a long day and we are all pretty wiped out.  We spent a half day in New Orleans (as opposed to Slidell where we are usually at) looking at damage in other areas and doing a little cultural enrichment.  (We saw Jackson park and ate dinner near the French Quarter.)  

It is pretty late and I am pretty tired and nobody gave me their cameras to download pics off from.  

Pray for energy for us for the next couple work days.  There is still a lot to do on each of our sites.  We will post again tomorrow.  

Check out previous posts on the blog:  www.rodscof.blogspot.com

Peace-

Rod

--
The spiritual life cannot be made suburban.  It is always frontier, and we who live in it must accept and even rejoice that it remains untamed.
--  Howard Macey

NOLA 2 Tuesday

Today I had a petty moment.  Very petty.  

My team went out to a new site out in Mandeville.  Our team didn't have a bathroom onsite, so we went over to Wendy's so a couple ladies could engage in bathroom activities.  (No need to be specific, I suppose).  Jill and I were talking about painting, and said it would be nice to have some cups or something to use for paint for dipping the brush in for cutting.  I had the brilliant idea of using chili cups from Wendy's.  I ran in and explained to them that we were from Minnesota and helping rebuild their community (not exactly in those words, but I tried to convey that) and could I get three cups they us for chili?  They said that was "product" and they couldn't give it away.  I was surprised (Don't they want to help us?-  feel free to detect a little arrogance on my part) and asked how much it would cost to buy the cups.  They don't sell the cups.  OK Fine.  "Give me three orders of chili, but without the meat or sauce."  I'm not kidding.  I was going to make a point.  It was going to cost me almost $5.00.  But I got those cups.  She asked if I wanted the lids.  I said OF COURSE I did!  

That's not the worst part.  When we left town, I stopped back in and said I didn't get the spoons and could I have them please?  

I felt like I was entitled to those cups.  Who in their right mind wouldn't just fork them over?  I realize now, how absurd that sounds, but at the time, I was offended.  So once I got over myself, I thought about assumptions and what we think we deserve, and attitudes about serving, and motivations about serving.  Because I feel like we're not getting much done this time.  We're not meeting our home owners (for the most part), we're not getting out into the community much.  And I have to remind myself that this about following God where HE is leading, and serving God where HE calls us.  And maybe this trip isn't about all the interactions with the community, but with each other.  Lewis did a devotion last night about supporting each other as God's traveling workers.  And at devotions today, Ali and Mari talked about how we are like Social Workers, which can be a thankless job.  

I don't want to be thankless.  I want to be thankful.  Thank you, God for calling me/us.  I am grateful for the opportunity to be here at this time with these people, serving His people, without expectation or condition.  

The other stuff:

*Howard's team kept working on their house.

*Darold's team got a new house about a half hour out where they (we) are painting, cleaning, and will be laying laminate flooring.  I'm not going to say that the floor in this house isn't level, but playing marbles in this house would be a challenge, and someone sleeping could possibly roll off the bed...

*and AMAZING pot roast for dinner!  Thank you Ginger and Barbara!

* Ice Cream and Apples to Apples game for fun

* Devotions by Kathy tonight.  

* We are going to New Orleans tomorrow. 

Thanks to those that are supporting us and praying for us.  

Prayer requests:

Pastor Carolyn's son is having a hard time with her being gone.  (We think that's why he "doesn't feel good.")

Jeff did something to his knee.  Pray that it feels better

Team unity

The Homeowners we are working for.  

Ralph P. from Hale, Michigan.  -  struggling with cancer

Check out Erin's post on the blog, and click on the link to see more pictures on our Picasa site.  www.rodscof.blogspot.com  

Peace!

Rod

--
The spiritual life cannot be made suburban.  It is always frontier, and we who live in it must accept and even rejoice that it remains untamed.
--  Howard Macey

Here are some pictures, taken by Kathy, Corrine, and Erin.

This is the sign for our hosts, called the cadillac of volunteer housing (Are we blessed or what!)

Howard on a ladder, on the porch, by the cow.

Speak no evil, hear no evil, see no evil, the next generation.

Our very own Rosie the Riveter! (Corrine)

Some of us went for a walk and finally got to take some pictures of these beautiful trees!

Can you find the Pastor hidden in this picture?

Erin here ~


PC, Ali, Mari, Corrine and I played in the mud all day!

Mari having great ideas...

We are working at a house that has most of the drywall up, but the places where the drywall meets needs to be smoothed with tape and mud. Matt was taping for us while Rod St. and Jeff and Bob, among other things, were sinking the screws in deep enough for us to work and making sure the drywall stayed on the wall, very important stuff. While we were inside, Howard, Jake, and Lewis worked on the porch, out by the barnyard.

Yes, barnyard.

Though lacking an actual barn structure, there were chickens, turkeys, ducks, 2 huge dogs and a cow.

I think they might both be Bovine!

We met our homeowner, Will, and he is really funny! He was a Marine and told us of his travels to Okinawa, Greece, Thailand… He has some great stories of his cold weather training in Korea, of all places! Hopefully we can get a picture of him for you tomorrow.

After the workday, we came back to home base and made spaghetti dinner, then devotions by Lewis. Bed is sounding better and better by the moment…

But I had to get this pic out to you first...

Bedtime stories in Memphis...

NOLA 2 Monday

Rod here-  

This morning, we had orientation with Dale and it was very inspirational.  I would like to grow up and be like him.  His passion for serving people is evident and contagious.  He speaks well and enthusiastically about getting people back into their homes.  I talked to him about coming to Salem UMC on July 12th.  He will be in MN anyway.  

So we got our work assignments and headed out.  Erin and Ali are posting about their job site, but here are some pictures from there.

At my job site, we worked for Cheryl Z.  Cheryl showed up for a few minutes, but didn't stay long and didn't say much.  She is staying somewhere off site.  We washed the outside of her house- vinyl siding.  We had to scrub it with a big brush and spray it with chlorine (?)  Barbara and Ginger, etc. painted doors and a closet inside.  Roma started to mow the lawn, but ran out of gas.  (The mower, not Roma).  Besides the lawn we finished everything at our house.  Here is a picture of the house.

And I got my phone fixed.  

I got a bunch of other pictures from other people, so they aren't exactly in chronological order.  

Here's Bob N.  He is pretty amazing about what he knows how to do.  

And here is Ginger and Barbara and Kathy visiting Carol A., a homeowner we worked with last year.  

Click on the link for the picasa site that has the rest of the pictures. 

Back at it...

This is the essence of PC and Erin


We decided to get creative with lunch bag art


Erin serenaded us with song and let it translate onto her lunch bag

Unicorn lunch bag

Jeff playing peek-a-boo at lunch

These are a few of the pictures from my camera. I am trying not to duplicate other pictures.

As I am writing this message, (This is Ali by the way) I am surrounded by team members on their laptops. We have taken to communicating through our computers rather than face to face. Joking, but we do spend a fair amount of the evening "nerding it out" on our computers.

We began our day with orientation from the organization we are working for and they really reiterated the fact that the work here is done when people stop coming. We are sharing the facility with a team from Indianapolis who has come so frequently that the staff knows them by name. It is really cool to be one of the "repeat offenders" and see people who have come back over and over again. I am fueled by people's heart and passion and coming here is like going to the gas station. I know that I will leave here again with a freshly topped off tank and a renewed passion for the purpose.

The team I am working on spent the day mudding and taping dry wall, tightening screws and doing something outside that I am unsure of (I remained indoors for the most part, sorry my view is somewhat skewed) but I know they were on ladders and cut things. PC, Erin, Jake and I described our job site as cozy, great natural views and smells, rustic, and having great farmland atmosphere. It is an interesting home with interesting challenges. I think the biggest challenge that I faced today was the massive influx of water with a minimal bathroom facility situation. It's a slippery slope. The ladies took a quick trip into a gas station to expel all the H2O we forced into our systems. Besides the trivial bathroom struggles, I think that this site has good potential for progress.

All in all, it is enough for me to know that God was working here before we came, He is working here now, and He will continue working here after we leave. Now THAT is a team I am blessed to be on.

I think I am going to shut it down for the night, I hope this maiden voyage blog was acceptable to all of our readers and supporters. We love you and thank you all for checking up on us and following our trip.

Hello from Kathy!

First thing this AM, we were updated on the status of the recovery in the Slidell – New Orleans area. There is still about 6-7 years work left to do. Slidell is about 85%recovered and New Orleans is about 15% recovered. The work is done when volunteers stop coming. There will be plenty of room for you next year. Let me know!

The entire crew set up chairs for 250 people registered to attend an event at Aldersgate and then we were off to respective work sites.

Our team painted doors and closets inside Cheryl Z’s home and power cleaned the outside of her home with chemicals to get rid of mold. Darold, Paul, Roma, and Rod were the washers; Ginger, Barbara, Roma, Jill and Kathy the painters.

Oh, Oh, look who’s on the roof.

Don’t fall Rod!

Hi! This is Erin writing to you from Slidell, LA!

Friday we arrived at the Lutheran Campus Ministry Center with only minor police involvement... (Fret not, we just asked directions!)

Saturday morning we got up about 7 and I did devotions. As we started south the trees started leafing out and the flowers started blooming in fast forward! So cool!

We lunched at a park near the Mississippi River in Hannibal, MO overlooking Illinois (another state for our rookie travelers!).

In the van, the activities ranged from watching movies together on laptops, munching, playing car twister, great conversations, listening to music, munching, challenging one another to sudoku, groups of 6 playing apples to apples, munching, complaining about the temperature or the bumpy roads (pretty much just to annoy Rod!), munching, trying to read, planning our devotions, munching … We liken it carbo-loading before a big race!

Lewis started our ministry on Saturday night – at Corkey’s, the rib restaurant we ate at, he struck up a conversation with a group of baseball players there to celebrate, just being his friendly encouraging self. What an example of doing God’s work anywhere at any time.

We stayed the night at a great church in Memphis, Covenant UMC, where we had our breakfast and Pastor Carolyn did devotions before heading out.

We got in to Slidell around 3:30ish and met Roma and Jill, who had arrived here this morning and scouted out the sleeping arrangements. We are staying at the volunteer housing at Aldersgate UMC. These are the best bathrooms we’ve had - 4 to 1 people to shower ratio! We unloaded and went our separate ways to go visit some of the families we served on the last trip.

Barb, Ginger, Kathy and I went to go visit Carol Avery. We worked for her all week last trip, and one of the days she made us homemade, authentic red beans and rice for lunch. Mmm mmm mm mm mm…. Excuse the drool…! We liked them so much we got the recipe. Ginger’s church, Faith UMC in West St. Paul, put out a cookbook and Carol’s recipe was in it – she is a author! She didn’t know, so we were able to surprise her with a copy of the recipe book with her recipe in it. She was happy to see us and is excited to tell her friends that she was published!

By the way, if you come hear our stories on May 17th at the Show and Tell dinner, you too can try some!

We stopped for some groceries for tomorrow’s dinner and Pizza for tonight before heading back to home base (Aldersgate) for the night. After Rod’s devotions and discussing the logistics for tomorrow, most headed off to bed… as I will shortly.

Tomorrow we learn what our tasks will be. Please pray for us as we get settled into our places and roles on the job site, and that we don’t limit our ministry to just fixing the tangible, but that we are open to all the needs around us, and that we step outside our comfort zones.

Thanks so much for your prayer and support!

NOLA 2 Day 2 and 3

First, notice that I have invited an empowered Ali S., Jake S., and Erin C., to post on this blog.  I think Jake already put some pics up.  This is a good thing.  - although from looking at his pics, you will think all we do is eat.  Come to think of it, that's all we do on the traveling days.  Kind of.  

We arrived without a hitch in Memphis.  Howard was able to swing over to Kirkwood, (MO) and pick up his brother, Bob at the rendezvous point.  Bob was waiting when Howard got there, so they didn't get very far behind.  (In fact, Howard beat the other two vehicles to Memphis.) Covenant United Methodist Church in Cordova is an amazing church with amazing people.  They welcomed us warmly.  We ran out and got the obligatory ribs in Memphis, did devotions, logistics, and went to sleep.  There was no wifi there that we could log into, so I had to wait until today to get pics and responses, etc.  

We left Memphis this morning around 8:00am and arrived in Slidell, LA around 4:00pm.  Roma and Jill had arrived in the morning via airplane and rented car.  It is nice to have someone here from my hometown of Hale, Michigan!  I am somewhat humbled that of all the trips they could have done, they chose to come with us.  

After we arrived, we split up and went to visit some of the homeowners we have worked for previously.  Ali, Pastor Carolyn, Lewis, Jake, Mari, Matt and I went to see Deryl and Betty B.  It was such a joy to sit in their living room with them and catch up and listen to them interact.  We got to know Betty more and I can tell you she keeps Deryl on his toes!  Deryl reiterated to us the continuing need for help here.  This is one of the things I worry about.  People think it's done and everything is back to normal.  That just isn't true.  After almost 4 years, there are still many people not back into their homes.   

Howard and Darold went out to find the house they were helping at.  (Howard still had the address saved in his GPS unit....)  They said the homeowner was nowhere to be found, but the house is standing and looks almost ready to live in.  

Ginger, Barbara, Kathy and Erin went out to find Carol.  She was delighted to see them again and was doing well.  

I just talked to Erin, who is sitting at a table next to the one I am at, and she is summing things up also.  We are going to race to see who posts first.  I am more concerned about repeating things.  

After everyone got back from visiting, etc., we had pizza and devotions and then bed time.  The people we are sharing this facility with are from Indiana, mostly, and seem to be pretty flexible and easy going.  -  

It is good to be back.  It feels like the right thing to be doing.  

If anyone knows about formatting things in Blogger, maybe give me a shout.  Feedback on layout and format would be appreciated.  ALSO-  anyone trying to call me-  My phone is on the fritz and only seems to work sporadically.  

Bob and Rod St. went to see kids from a house they worked on last year.

Pastor Gregg Swope at commissioning:  "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon you."  

Darold S.  

Exactly WHAT does Pastor Carolyn have in her hand????

Pics from Jake's Lappy

Banana Pudding anyone.
Here the part of the team at Corky's for dinner.
Ali (Aslan) and Mari at Corky's for dinner.
Here we are for lunch in Hannibal, MO

NOLA 2- We depart

I know I usually send an email a week or so ahead of time saying we are getting ready to go to the Gulf to work on rebuilding from the damage from Hurricane Katrina.  This time, it snuck up on me and here we are.  

So tonight, we are in Cedar Falls, Iowa, at the Lutheran Campus Ministry Center.  For those of you who haven following our trips since the beginning, you may be saying, "wait, it's only Friday.  They shouldn't be leaving until morning."  (For those of you brand new to these emails, welcome and you don't know we are doing anything different anyway, except that now I just told you.)  We had our Commissioning service tonight at Salem UMC.  Pastor Gregg Swope gave a great, inspiring message.  "The Spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me."  (See Isaiah 61)  Then we had communion and we got in the vans and left.  We went as far as Cedar Falls, IA.  Tomorrow, we go to Memphis, and that should put us into New Orleans (Slidell) earlier in the day on Sunday.  

There are 20 of us on this team.  

Rod Sc. (me)

Barbara S. (her 6th trip)

Howard N. (6th)

Erin C. (5th)

Lewis W. (5th)

Corrine M. (5th)

Bob N. (4th)  Bob will be hooking up with us in St. Louis.  He is from Indianapolis. 

Rod St. (3rd)

Ginger St. (3rd.)

Darold S. (3rd)

Ali St. (2nd)

Carolyn W. (2nd)

Kathy B. (2nd)

Matt S. (2nd)

Roma B. (2nd) -- Roma will be flying to meet us in New Orleans.  She is from Michigan.  

Jeff S. (2nd)

Jake S. (1st)

Mari F. (1st)

Paul A. (1st)

Jill H. (1st)-  Jill will be coming with Roma from Michigan.  

Susan L. and Darlene L. are our home base team mates in Minnesota and Michigan respectively.  

I have been told that our first projects will be vinyl siding and soffit, some drywall, and some plywood on some porches.  Louisiana Disaster Recovery is very organized.  They seem to be doing everything they can to make this as easy as possible for us.  

It is good to be on the road again, serving people.  We are going to be coming at this with eyes wide open, empowered by the Spirit of the sovereign God, to offer hope, relief, and love.  

We are grateful for the people that have supported us.  We are grateful to be called to be involved in this ministry.  

I think after today, I will just post on the blog, and send a link to the blog.  I have blind copied everyone so that you don't have to look at all the names.  (There are 197 of you, plus the team!)  After today, I will try to get pictures up every day.  

Things to remember today:

Gregg Swope:  The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon you!  Be Crazy for God!  

Being ON THE ROAD!

The HUGE bucket of chocolate chip cookies Ali brought.

The hospitality of the Lutheran Campus Ministry Center for housing us.  

Prayer requests:  

Safety in travel

Our hearts being prepared to see the things God would have us see

And to understand what we are seeing.  

--
The spiritual life cannot be made suburban.  It is always frontier, and we who live in it must accept and even rejoice that it remains untamed.
--  Howard Macey