Crisfield2- on the way home

River Bend Mission Team had a "first" today.  On the road earlier than we planned.  Not by much, but every little bit helps.  We had a good day of driving.  Uneventful.  

We arrived at our overnight stop earlier than we thought we would.  (about 6:00pm).  Sandi H. (who happens to be my godmother) organized dinner for us.  GREAT SOUP!!!  And Lewis did devotions.  

I know I haven't talked much about insights and some of the epiphany aspects of the mission trip yet.  I will.  But I have to get them together still.  And I haven't had the time to do that yet.  -  I must have worked harder on this trip because I went to bed earlier, and fell asleep typing these before I even said much of anything besides, "we worked on houses today."  -  But maybe that's the point this time.  Going to Crisfield, kind of like going to Minot, doesn't have much of a tourist component.  The structure of the agency we worked with (did I tell you it was the Mennonite Disaster Service?)  was more full-  or didn't really allow for much down time that was our own.  When we got back each day from the worksite, they had us scheduled until about 7:00ish, and then we did our own devotions, and by 7:30, it was dark out and seemed like time to go to bed.  We worked hard.  And that's what we were there to do.  

And I mentioned before that we had FUN!  We had fun and worked hard.  

More thoughts on wrapping it up later.  

I have some pictures that I took with my phone, but they are all of things you have seen before if you looked at the pictures.  I will add them to Facebook (click here for River Bend's Facebook page and our Picasa site.  (click here:  Picasa site (pictures))  

Lastly-  (for now)-  our next trip is scheduled for April 18th-26th.  Going to Slidell, Louisiana.  Let me know if you want to come or have questions.  There is room on the bus.  

Ok-  that's all for now.  We are leaving in the morning earlyish and hoping to pull back into the Twin Cities between 6:00pm and 7:00pm

R

--
True faith is never found alone; it is accompanied by expectation.  --C.S. Lewis.

Crisfield2- the last work day

We worked a partial day today.  Howard, Lewis, Ron and I finished putting up the stud walls in the house and the plates on the top for the trusses to sit on.  Michelle, the home owner we are working for has really blessed us.  She and her family are very excited for Michelle and her husband to get back into their home.  I feel like we were kind of slow at it.  But Michelle is joyful.  -  And it brings up a point about expectations and what is the "best practice" for these situations.  Would it have been better to hire someone who does this for a living (and presumed faster and more skilled than us)?  We have dealt with this question before and I'll deal with it again at the after-trip email.

It seems sometimes that the closer you get to being done with a house, the more things you find to do, and the further you get away from being done.  Bob's group kept ticking off things to get closer and closer to let their home owner, (whose name is Jennifer) get back into her house.  We didn't have the same interactions with Jenny as we did with our other home owner, but we were grateful to be able to work on her house, too.  

We took Michelle and the home owner from last year, (Annie) and the longer term volunteers at Mennonite Disaster Service out to dinner tonight.  Fun time.  Good food.  Cold night.  

I won't write again until after we get home.  Please pray for our safe travels.  More thoughts at the end.  

R

--
True faith is never found alone; it is accompanied by expectation.  --C.S. Lewis.

--
True faith is never found alone; it is accompanied by expectation.  --C.S. Lewis.

Crisfield2 - the 4th Work day

Both teams got a lot done today, but that's not the coolest thing that happened.

Michelle, one of the home owners stopped by after hours and told us how much she appreciated our help getting her house ready.  (She has framed walls and can see where her living room is going to be!)  She told us her story about the storm-  (see previous blog post).  And she gave us a Smith Island Cake click here for more info on Smith Island Cake.  Home made.  The best part wasn't the cake, but that was good, too.

In our crowd funding, we promised to write donors names on building material we were using.  That got done today.  See the pictures on Facebook or our Picasa Site to see them.  -  It's kinda neat to see all those names together.

Tomorrow we wrap up and cleaning out our rooms and the site we're staying at.  Then if we have time we will bum around town for a little bit, and then we have reservations for dinner at 6:30 at a local restaurant.  And then Saturday morning, we kick out of here early.

It's been a good week.  -

R

Michelle and Royce's Story:

(Rod's note-  Michelle and Royce are the people whose house Howard's team is working on this week.  The following is in Michelle's own words)

Michelle's truck

Royce's Truck- both lost in the storm

It has been almost two years since Super Storm Sandy made her appearance. We have lived in Crisfield all our lives and have ridden out all the Hurricanes and Storms that have come our way. We planned to do the same with Sandy. Such an easy name on the tongue. We have been through Gloria, Isabell, Andrew, Hugo and more. Surely this would not be a large worry.  My mother was staying with me and my husband Royce and we were prepared for the storm. Water, candles, flashlights, batteries, food, blankets, magazines, etc… One hour into the storm my husband looks out the door and then at me. “You need to get your Mom out of here.” He’s a waterman and knows currents and tides and wind. He didn’t want to leave our home and I didn’t want to leave him and my Mom wouldn’t leave without me. And we all know that if Momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy! So my Mom and I made the decision to leave and Royce would stay behind as long as he could to protect our home. The water rose so fast, it was too late to drive out. We called 911 for a rescue and were told they would do their best to get us out.

The view out our front door

We packed a bag of clothes and medicine for my Mom, who was undergoing treatment for cancer. For the first time (and probably the last time!) I was thankful for the many boats in our yard. Afraid to wait any longer for the rescue, Royce pulled a skiff to the front door and loaded us up to take us somewhere safer. The water was rising fast and furious. He pulled us down Cove St. where we saw a National Guard truck headed our way. They quickly loaded us up in the truck. 10 minutes later Royce called on the cell phone and said a large tree had just crashed through the roof on our back deck and had missed him by inches. Sadly, our 19 year old cat was not so fortunate and perished under the tree and roof.
Suddenly the truck we were in stalled. It was stuck on what might have been a U.S. Mailbox. Another truck was called in to help us out. There were several of us on the truck. We were cold, wet from the rain, and impatient to get to higher ground. While we waited, calls for help came in and the Guardsmen left the truck and came back with a little baby, maybe 2 months old and his mother. Another call for help and they came back with a man with only one leg. Our complaining stopped. We realized how serious this whole situation was.
Finally another truck arrived. We needed to transfer to that truck and the only way to do that was to swim. My mother was too weak to do this so these wonderful guardsmen carried her to the other truck while I waded chest deep with our bags held above my head. I had just been diagnosed with pneumonia three days before.  Within an hour our rescue was complete and we were safe at my brother Preston’s house in Kingston.
This memory is bittersweet for me. Four months after "Sandy" my mother passed away. From the cancer that caused her to be staying with me, that caused me to seek rescue, on a truck that came to Cove St. for that rescue, that got stalled and while stalled heard the cries for help, that rescued a little baby and a man with only one leg. Life puts us on a strange path sometimes. And as my Mom always said “There is a silver lining in every cloud”.

Seeing this propane tank floating away made us decide to leave

Afraid to wait any longer for the Ntl. Guard Royce pulled the skiff up to the front door.

We loaded my mom and myself up and sailed out looking for higher ground

The water was rising rapidly as we sailed away

Rescuing the mom and her little baby

Rescuing the man with one leg

Crisfield2-  The third Work Day

Just a work day.  Kind of.

The first part of the day was pretty impressive when all the people working for the United Methodist group in town came to help us lift our walls.  Before we knew they were coming, we were pretty sure there was going to be imminent disaster by either somebody getting hurt because this wall was going to fall on him when we couldn't lift it, or we would push it right over the edge.  Well none of those things happened and now two walls are standing.

This team (although with all the extra help gone) finished framing up the next two walls and putting the plywood on.  It rained and everyone got wet.  

The other team was also hard at work.  

After the army to help lift the walls, and not taking into consideration the rain, it was a pretty nondescript day.   

From here, we start looking at what we can get done realistically.  We now have fewer days here than we have been here.  

I will post more photos from today on our Facebook page:  click here for our Facebook page.  Or you can go to our Picasa website:  click here for our Picasa site.  

Thank you for your prayers and support!

Rod

Crisfield2- the 2nd work day

First let me say that it WAS an accident.  And he's fine.  And yes, I did shoot Howard in the hand with a nail gun.

So there we were, framing up a wall and I was running the nailer.  I couldn't get the nail to go in and then, POP right into Howard's hand.  Didn't go through anything really important.  Just skin and soft tissue.  Dale was right there and said that had happened to him a dozen or so times and that injury was not a big deal.  We sat Howard down, got the appropriate first aid equipment ready, and then Dale pulled out the nail.  It didn't really even bleed that much.  Howard went right back to work and I spent the next hour apologizing.  Check out the picture on our blog or Facebook page.  

And yes, the let me use the nailer again after that.  

Ray's team (Howard's) put together- framed up the two longer walls- 40 feet each, and put the outside OSB on them.  Tomorrow we have to lift them into place and I have no idea how that is going to happen without 1.)-  pushing them over the side, and 2.)- Wow there is a lot of weight on those walls.  I will see if Lewis will video it for us.  

Dale is going home tomorrow morning.  We LOVED having him with us these past two days and are going to miss him a lot the rest of the week.

Ted's (Bob's) team got the 2nd layer of cabinets hung, more flooring laid down, and word on the street is that The Colonel finished all the paint projects.  

The other REALLY cool thing that we did was go to visit the homeowner we worked for last year.  Last year, they assigned us a house to tear down.  Then they later volunteer teams rebuild her a new house.  Today we went to see her in her new house.  She has been in since July.  It's GREAT!  See the pictures.  We don't always get a chance to see the end results.  So it was such a joy to see the results and to share the joy that she experiences being in her new home, and the glory she gives to God for the opportunity to live in her new home.  Pictures on the blog.

Things to pray about~

~  safety on our job sites tomorrow.  

~ Pray for my son and wife.  Ira is sick with an ear infection and possibly pink eye.   

~  Safe travel home for Dale and a productive work week at his recovery sites.  

~  Quick healing for Howard's hand.  And no infection.  

~  Whether or not you are supposed to join us some time.

Here is the link to our pictures:Click here for all our pictures

And here is a link to our Facebook page:  Click here for our FB page

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement.  

R
--
True faith is never found alone; it is accompanied by expectation.  --C.S. Lewis.

Crisfield2- the first work day

This group of people is fun.  Really fun to be around.  There is teasing and joking around, but we're also here about the business of serving.  I am having fun.  

Usually at this point, I tell what Howard's team and Bob's team and anyone else's team are doing for the week and who is on what team.  It's a little different this time.

We are working with a different agency than usual.  Mennonite Disaster Response.  And they run things a little differently than we're used to.  

Ray and Ted are volunteers with MDS that are coordinating our work projects.  They go with us to the site and direct the work.  So this year, it's Ray's team and Ted's team.  

Ray's team is the one I'm on, with Howard, Lewis, Ron, and Dale.  We are framing a house.  We started with just a cement block foundation today and rolled out aluminum flashing on it as a termite barrier.  Then we set the "plate" (treated wood going around the foundation that everything sits on.  Then we made a laminate beam and hung joists.  Then the inspector had to come take a look, which he did, and said it was ok and we could start putting on the top decking.  OSB particle board.  We got that mostly done.  

The best thing, though, was that one of the home owners came by and we got to talk to her and hear her story.  I will post it on our blog once I get permission from her to do so.  It is an awesome story about God using all things to work for the Good.  Including a stranded family and a stuck truck in rising flood waters.  I'll post the link to the story as soon as I get permission to post the story.  

Ted's team has Bob, Rod St., Carolyn and Matthew.  They are laying laminate flooring, putting in cabinets and painting.  Not having been on that site, I don't know what else to say about it except they are working right along.  It seems to be going well.  

And I can't get over how much fun we're having.  As we hang out together, work together, have dinner together, everything.  

I gave my camera to Lewis today to take pictures, and Rod St. took pictures at his site.  But Lewis takes a lot of pictures of people from behind them, and Rod St. takes a lot of pictures that document the progress of their work.  Anyway, they are on our Facebook page click here for our Facebook page.  

And here:  Click here for the Picasa website that has pictures.

We are tired tonight.  It's only 9:30 Eastern time as I type this and I am the last one up.  

As a team, we have been praying for each other's health and our families back home.  

Thank you to our friends that have been praying for us.  We love hearing from you!  

Tomorrow. 

R

--
True faith is never found alone; it is accompanied by expectation.  --C.S. Lewis.

Arriving in Crisfield

Another great day to travel.  Good fun in the van when we weren't sleeping.  Listening to Bob and Lewis interact about political and religious issues is both amusing and alarming.  I don't think Lewis meant it when he told Bob he hoped they were on the same work site so he could mess up Bob's cabinets.  But just in case, the will be working on different sites.  

We are working with an agency we have not worked with before.  They are a little more structured and require us to work within that structure.  It's nothing that we don't already do, mostly, but it sounded funny coming from them.  "We hope you get something spiritual out of your week volunteering with us, and not just hope the week gets over quickly."  

Crisfield does not have the same allure and "fun" factor that New Orleans has.  I think we are all here to put others before ourselves, be a part of something bigger than ourselves, spend a week in fellowship with like minded people, and try to give back something to society since we have been given much.  

Tonight we talked about loving people who are different than ourselves and it not mattering what they believe or why they are in the circumstances they are in.  We are here to share God's unconditional love with them.  And each other.  Sometimes we have to be intentional and deliberate about it because we otherwise don't want to, but God calls us and we answer.  

Crisfield does not have a lot of restaurants, and certainly not a lot that are open at 8:00pm on a Sunday night.  When we went out to get supper, even the McDonalds looked closed.  But we found a small Chinese restaurant called China Wok that had the best Kung Pao chicken I have had in a long time.  Who knew?  

Things we are praying for:  

Past team members and family members struggling with illness

Our own safety on the job sites

Our families who are left to deal with day to day life without us.  

Thank you for joining our team through prayer and encouragement.  Tomorrow we start a good week of working.  Onward.

Rod

--
True faith is never found alone; it is accompanied by expectation.  --C.S. Lewis.

Re: Crisfield 2- the first day traveling

Rod-

Simply put I am amazingly proud of all that you do as your brothers keeper...

Peace love and unity from Burbank Cali this morning,

Zannoram

Sent from my iPad

> On Oct 11, 2014, at 7:34 PM, Rod Scofield <rodscofield@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Couldn't have asked for a better day to travel. Great weather. Easy Roads. Some construction going through Chicago and Ohio, but nothing unbearable.
>
> We met at the church this morning at 6:00am. Rob and Krissy met us there and led devotions and it was emphasizing the Cloud of Witnesses (that's you!) that go with us on these trips in one way or another.
>
> We are a smaller team this time. Only eight people for most of the trip, but Dale K. is going to meet us there, work with us for a couple days, and then head back to Slidell where he has to lead a team of volunteers coming from Ireland to help in New Orleans/Slidell. The team this time is Rod Sc., Rod St., Howard, Lewis, Ron, Matthew, Bob, and Carolynn (The Colonel). I think it is going to be a good team of like minded people working together for God's glory to help people get back into their homes.
>
> I was told that our work assignments could come from three different houses: #1 needs cabinets and laminate flooring. #2 needs spackle. #3 needs framing and flooring. We'll see what they end up giving us to do.
>
> Thank you to everyone who is praying for us. And a big thank you to the people that helped us get our crowd funding goal met. With a smaller team, we should be able to help buy more of the materials and donate some good money to the agency we are working with.
>
> Thank you for letting us share our story with you.
>
> Peace!
>
> Rod
>
> --
> True faith is never found alone; it is accompanied by expectation. --C.S. Lewis.
>

Crisfield 2- the first day traveling

Couldn't have asked for a better day to travel.  Great weather.  Easy Roads.  Some construction going through Chicago and Ohio, but nothing unbearable.  

We met at the church this morning at 6:00am.  Rob and Krissy met us there and led devotions and it was emphasizing the Cloud of Witnesses (that's you!) that go with us on these trips in one way or another.  

We are a smaller team this time.  Only eight people for most of the trip, but Dale K. is going to meet us there, work with us for a couple days, and then head back to Slidell where he has to lead a team of volunteers coming from Ireland to help in New Orleans/Slidell.  The team this time is Rod Sc., Rod St., Howard, Lewis, Ron, Matthew, Bob, and Carolynn (The Colonel).  I think it is going to be a good team of like minded people working together for God's glory to help people get back into their homes.  

I was told that our work assignments could come from three different houses:  #1 needs cabinets and laminate flooring.  #2 needs spackle.  #3 needs framing and flooring.  We'll see what they end up giving us to do.  

Thank you to everyone who is praying for us.  And a big thank you to the people that helped us get our crowd funding goal met.  With a smaller team, we should be able to help buy more of the materials  and donate some good money to the agency we are working with.  

Thank you for letting us share our story with you.

Peace!

Rod

--
True faith is never found alone; it is accompanied by expectation.  --C.S. Lewis.