For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast Ephesians 2:8-9 But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.-- James 2:18 If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck....
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| Boiled Peanuts |
Hello Rod,
Thank you for always sharing with us…it often feels like we are with you in person…we are however, with you in spirit! God’s many blessings on all those that served, serve and will be serving.
And to finish your salutation: Onward Christian soldiers!
God’s blessings
Trish
From: Rod Scofield [mailto:rodscofield@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, May 23, 2011 11:47 PM
To: rodscof.ofcourseitquacks@blogger.com
Cc: Ali Stemme; Barb Adams; Corrine Mahoney; Ginger Stemme; Howard Newton; Jeff Shaw; Judy Miller; Krissy k; Kristen Butler; Leanne Clouse; Lewis Whitehead; Linda Greene; Matthew Sanderson; Pastor Rod Stemme; Rob Warmboe; Robert Newton; Rod Stemme; Sue Letourneau
Subject: NOLA 6- Epilogue
We left Slidell around 8:30am on Saturday morning and drove to Kirkwood, MO. It took almost 11 hours.
We left Kirkwood, MO just before 8:00am and arrived in Inver Grove Hts. just before 8:00pm. Almost 12 hours.
Somewhere just north of Waterloo, IA, I followed a sign for Highway 20 instead of the normal highway I usually take. It added about 15 minutes or so to my trip. Jeff was driving my car, and Rod St. was driving his van. They took the normal way and ended up in a hail storm. And when they stopped for gas, they noticed a tire on my car that was wearing pretty thin. So they found someone on a Sunday in Iowa that had a used tire that would fit, and had it changed. Howard had been driving his truck and had fallen a little behind. We all caught up in Albert Lea, MN where we did our final devotions and prayed together and said goodbye for now.
About the time we were arriving in Albert Lea, we started to hear reports of some pretty bad weather in the northern suburbs of Minneapolis. As it turns out, there was extensive damage. It was the kind you can't believe is true when you see it in person, even though your own eyes are telling you it IS true. For the most part, the only weather we ran into was when Jeff and Rod St. were in the hail in Iowa.
Corrine said that this trip was the best one yet. There was a lot of work accomplished, and we connected strongly with our homeowners. For those that have been following, you might remember that after the last trip, (NOLA 5) I was skeptical about the projects we were getting from Disaster Relief agency we were working with. I had a careful eye on this trip, to see if these houses fit the criteria of "least, last, lost" that we were trying to serve. People that wouldn't be able to do it any other way. And I think all three projects we worked on- or to put it more humanely, all three homeowners we served, were divine appointments from God.
Courtney and Kevin, Bob and Evalynn, and Chanel have changed our lives, and I hope we have touched them, too. God is good.
There were 22 people on this trip. About half were from the original "River Bend" Churches, and the other half from other places. There were 5 or 6 people in their 20's, and 6 people that got the Senior discount at the Golden Corral. 7 people joined us for the first time. It was a good team that gelled together.
I challenged everyone on the team to read Phillippians a few times before the trip, paying special attention to Chapter 2. It talks about unity and serving God and each other. And that's what we did.
What's next? I have been saying for a few months that this was our last New Orleans trip (for now). Roma (a previous team member) wants us to go to Tuscaloosa. Obviously there are floods and tornados all over the country. And they are predicting a heavy hurricane season again. We will have to wait and see where God directs us to next. Wherever it is, we'll get on the bus.
There are more pictures uploaded to the Picasa site (www.picasaweb.com/rodscofield/nola6#) Or on Facebook (www.facebook.com/pages/River-Bend-Mission-Team/197364267016).
Thank you for riding the bus with us in the way you have. Your prayers and letters of encouragement are very important and appreciated.
Onward!
Rod
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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
I think I figured out why I can't send pictures in here- Didn't gmail used to have an "insert picture" button or something? I'm guessing that because I have blind copied everyone except the team, if I attach a couple files, it looks more like spam. - So to see pictures, you'll have to click over to our Our Picasa website with pictures or our Facebook Page. I think that Kristen has also posted some pictures on our blog www.rodscof.blogspot.com.
Howard's team ran into a very "jenky" floor when trying to lay laminate flooring. It took us twice as long to do the kitchen as it did to do any other room in the house. We had to get pretty creative about it. Roma B., who was on a few of our trips and with whom I have worked on a couple of these floors before, would maybe not have enjoyed this one. We also worked on an exterior door and some interior doors. We are really enjoying the homeowners. They cooked lunch for us today.
Kristen's team finished everything they can do for their homeowner. They said they also enjoyed their homeowner, Bob. Their project was priming and painting his entire house. They got it done (garage included!) in four days. They will be going to Bob's site to help him tomorrow.
Bob's team has been working on a myriad of projects at their house. They have been glad to have Laban on their team because Laban has set tile for a living before, and there was a mighty big tile job to do. They have also been painting and installing trim and baseboards and doors. They have also spoken highly of their homeowners.
The weather has been great. No too hot. Well, today was more humid and warmer.
Tomorrow we are going to be on TV. There is a local news station that is having a concert with a local musician that writes songs about Katrina recovery. They want to interview a volunteer team to help kick off their summer volunteer season. I don't know much more than that, but I know we have to get up early for it. We are also going to see the Lower 9th Ward and some other places that were hit damaged and still affected by Katrina.
Thank you to everyone who is praying for us and supporting us. Prayer requests for tonight and tomorrow would just be that we get as much done in quality that we can on Friday. It's a shorter workday and there is still much to do.
Peace!
Rod
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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
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| On our way to the work site yesterday, Ken took us by this little paint shop. It's a family owned store and the kids from the family all work there. They were all super friendly and helpful today when we stopped back to pick up a couple of paintbrushes. |
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| This is Bob, digging right in and painting with us. When they redid the house the first time, he basically did most of the work himself. I was painting on this side of the studs there and he was talking all about their experience with the storm and the various crews that have come through. His comment was that they saw more quality work from the volunteers than from any of the crews they hired to do jobs in the house. |
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| Leanne and Ali, painting away! |
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| Here Ali was telling stories about being on worksites with Carolyn's (who is on the left) brothers (Howard and Bob). She gave total permission for retaliation to any "flack" received from either of them on a worksite. :) |
