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

An Amazing Video!

 

I found this video while checking out my ex-wife's sister's blog.  I thought it was amazing.  

Merry Christmas!

R

Fwd: NOLA 2

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rod Scofield <rodscofield@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Sep 14, 2008 at 1:27 PM
Subject: NOLA 2
To: (Suffice it to say that I sent it to a bunch of people)

Friends-

Some of you know about my job situation-  I have resigned from the party rental effective Sept. 26th.  I felt like it was killing my soul and I am just unable to continue with them.  On one hand, this makes me pretty open to go to NOLA or Galveston or wherever pretty easily.  ON the other hand, since I resigned, I will not get any kind of severance/unemployment  I should probably try to land a job first.  

This being said, I will not be able to lead a trip this fall.  I just don't see how I could do it and pay the bills.  ("Oh by the way, I have a trip planned for the middle of October.  Would it be ok to have that time off?")  

I was offered a job at Batteries Plus, but they pulled the offer when I asked for more money.  (They offered $10.50 per hour for the first three months.)  They said they were worried about  my back, and not being able to physically do the job they want done.  

I got an email from Elijah Mitchell in Mississippi who sent some publications about how much Mississippi still needs help rebuilding.   So we are not done.  But I need to be on "hold" for a little while.   

I may try to drum up some free lance work leading some trips for some other churches, but I would charge them for my time and efforts.  If I do score some of those trips, I will keep you in updated so you could hook up with them.  

Looking for manna. 

rod

Dates and more info for Iowa trips:

River Bend Church admins and pastors-  Please publish this info in  your next and subsequent bulletins as you see fit.  Thanks!

All-  There are dates and some ideas set for some upcoming trips to Iowa for flood relief.  

Who-  we are looking for making teams of 10 or so (15 at the most).  We didn't talk about age limit.  I think we are still looking at adult trips.  If you think a youth age trip would be a good idea, we could consider it, as long as there is a leader for the trip.  Some of the trip weekends we have in mind do not have ANY leader yet.  

What-  Most of the work is still demolition and clean up.  This means carrying, knocking down, cleaning up, etc.  I think most people of all abilities will be able to find something to do.

How much-  We are asking for $15 per day.  This will cover meals.  There is some left over NOLA1 money to help offset some of the other costs.  

Where-  This depends on the week-  We will typically leave on the Friday night before, and return on Sunday afternoon.  Obviously, other arrangements can be made since this is not a very far drive (compared to New Orleans!)  In some cases, a team leader may leave a day or two before and the rest of the team will meet them down on Friday night.  These are details that can be worked out with the team leader.  

When-  

July 26th-27th-- Going to Mason City.   -  More details available about this trip-  Leader:  Linda Emerson and Rod Scofield

August 8-9  --  Going to  ? (Probably Cedar Rapids)  --  Leader:  Rod Scofield and ?

August 15th-16th-  Going to?  --

August 22nd-23rd-  Going to? -- 

September 6th-7th-  Going to?--  

How will we get there?--  Probably take our cars and trucks.  This is a pretty easy detail to work out.  

Where will we stay?--  Probably in a local church on a floor.  

What to bring-  Sleeping bags/pillows, work clothes, (long sleeves and pants recommended!), gloves, boots recommended, your own hygiene equipment (shampoo, etc.-  I will try to find us a place to clean up each day.)  More specifics later.  (when we know more about what, "exactly" we will be doing.)

How to sign up-  Send an email to Rod Scofield (rodscofield@gmail.com) or call him at 651-248-8495.  He will make sure you get signed up and the info you need.  Call or email with further questions.  

R

Invite to Iowa

First let me tell you that I've sent this out to a buhzillion people.  (85 to be approximate.)

We are talking about taking a few teams to Iowa for helping clean up and rebuild as we are able.  These would be weekend trips-  probably leaving on a Friday evening, and returning on Sunday afternoon.  There are no dates set in stone yet.  There is no cost approximation.  There are no logistics planned out yet.  There is really just a vision to help out.  

We will have an info / interest / planning meeting on Sunday, July 13th at 2:00pm at Salem UMC.  Let me know if you are interested but unable to attend.  We will welcome your input.  

Carol-  feel free to forward this Jim and Connie and to anyone else you might think is interested. 

I have also already invited past team members and River Bend pastors.  

We look forward to hearing from you / seeing you.  

Email or call with questions or comments or snide remarks.  

Rod

Home again home again

We left about 8:15am Sat. in a "squall line"  very dark and very rainy.  Lasted about 10-15 minutes.  Troll took Darlene to the airport, and then left for Atlanta.  (He had to go back to Slidell to pick up his suitcase because he forgot it!)

Darlene left a message for me around 2:30pm saying she was on the ground in Michigan.  

Troll called me in the early evening saying he made it back to Atlanta.  

We got into St. Louis around 8:00pm.  

Next morning, we got up and left a little later than we planned, but in the morning, nonetheless.  Bob left for Indianapolis, and I'm assuming no news is good news.  He told me it was about a 4.5 hour drive.  He should have gotten in around 1:00ish pm CST.  

We got back to the church around 6:00pm.  

Bottom line:  Everyone is  home.   

Thanks for praying!  -  More coming later.

R

NOLA 1 Day 7

The last day of work went well.  Sounds like Bob's group went to three of four different sites.  Bob bonded with some kids at one of his sites.  See the pictures.  Howard and his team took their homeowner, Rosemary, to lunch.  It was a great experience for everyone.  Gary's group, (minus Gary) got the rest of the porch painted.  Rod worked on the plumbing (new toilet, hook up the sink in the vanity).  Mostly, he sat on the floor in the bathroom trying to figure out the complexities of plumbing. Erin's team got a lot of projects done at Carol's house.  Someone described it as going from a construction site to a remodeling site.  

We did our rootbeer float party tonight.  It was not well attended, but it was rainy.  (again?!)  I think this is a tradition that needs to get reevaluated.  Troll tried to do some magic tricks, but the wind made it impossible.  

We are all pretty tired and getting ready for leaving in the morning.  Troll is going to take Darlene to the airport in the morning.  We are going to try to get on the road by 8:00am.  There is a lot to get ready.  We have to unload the trailer and repack it.  We have to take some things back to the UMCOR field office.  We have to pack and have breakfast and devotions and and and.  I should probably go to bed.  

Day 6 NOLA1

Each team got more done today than they expected.  

Today was Gary's last day with us.  He is heading back ASAP in the morning.  I (this Rod Sc.) am leading his team now.  Tomorrow I get to set a toilet and use caulk.  This'll be fun.

Lot's of logistics for tomorrow.  We are doing the root beer float party at the same house Gary's team was working at.  

Ate alligator sausage tonight.  And Turtle Soup

Thanks to the people that sent letters.  We got a bunch today!  Gary got a billion cards.  It was really cool.  

Thanks to everyone that sent email notes.  I was able to read a lot of them

Thanks to all that have been praying for us.  here is a list of things we pray for each day:

Corrine M. and her daughter Laurie--  Corrine was supposed to come and couldn't at the last minute.

Jim P. Surgery recovery

Maureen (Darlene's step-daughter) for recovery from surgery / cancer

Our home owners

Betty and Betty-  two women we met at the community breakfast yesterday.  

Jeff S's. and Dave W's kids, who are having a hard time with their dads being away.  

All the work with pictures takes me several hours each night-  I copy everybody's pictures each night.  

Pray for our rootbeer float party.  We don't have a big tent or lights this year.  And I just don't see when anyone will have time to make and distribute flyers for promo.  -  

The pictures are - 

 The homeowner that Howard's team is working for

(This) Rod on the roof

Bob working on grout on the countertop

Troll hard at it.

Deb doing devotions in a park on a bridge

Barbara after doing texture on a roof.

Day 5- New Orleans

It has been a long day.  

The highlights:

Troll got in around 8:00am.  Very good to add him to the team.  

Worked a half day, then went to New Orleans for a half day and into the evening.  On this trip, we saw the devastation of the Lower 9th Ward.  Unbelievable.  At our orientation on the first day, the leader told us that in Slidell, they are back to 85%, but that in New Orleans, they were at 5%.  There are several factors that play into the severity of the devastation.  One of which is just the amount of people living in New Orleans verses places like Biloxi and Gulfport.  Keep in mind, also, that in Mississippi, when the water came in, it left right away.  In New Orleans, it sat for weeks and had to be pumped out..  There are some areas that have their houses rebuilt, and are shooting for normalcy (however this situation defines the new normal.)  Even if rebuilt, however, there is so much changed.  There are so many people that didn't come back, and that affects the economy of the area, which impacts the jobs available, which impacts WHO can live there, etc.    

In the half day of working, Gary got the tub installed and is trying to finish that bathroom completely before we go.  Darold led Howard's team today (added Rod Sc., Matt, and Troll) and got a lot of the shingles on.  Bob did a lot of misc. stuff in the house he has been working on.  It sounds like they keep adding stuff to him.  Howard was asked to go fix some last minute things for a home they are going to rededicate to the homeowner, so he did those thing on his own.  Erin's group is waiting on the supervisor from UMCOR to supply some tools they need for fixing a bunch of doors.  Sounds like they are getting a lot done there, too.  

There are so many pictures on our photo album pages.  You can click on this link to get to them.  I think tonight, I'm just going to give you the link instead of uploading these pictures.  http://picasaweb.google.com/RodScofield/NOLA1 That will get you to our pictures.  I think there are about 79 pictures in there.  For some reason, I couldn't reorganize them so they are chronological.  

Thank you to everyone that has sent emails and cards supporting us.  No cards have arrived yet, but I'm hopeful for tomorrow.  It means a lot to the crew to hear from y'all.  

Goodnight -  I have to sleep fast.  

NOLA 1 Day 4 Tuesday

Howard's team (Darold, Dave, and Lewis) got a lot done on the shed they are working on.  It's not completely square, so they have been struggling.  -  They have the decking and the paper on the roof of it.  Still to put on shingles and vinyl siding

Gary's team (Rod Sc., Darlene, Deb, Ali, and Matt)- got a lot of painting done.  Gary worked on installing a new tub.  He was frustrated with it.  I never heard him use curse words.  Matt stayed home sick today.  Something gastro.  The picture of him sleeping was in the TV room the night before.  He fell asleep watching an NBA game.  The picture of the couple shows the homeowners for Gary's house.  

Bob's team (Vern and Rod St.,) ended up getting a lot of projects added on to the house they were working on.  They worked on it all day, and are going to finish it (again?) tomorrow.  Apparently, they have earned a lot of trust by our work supervisors from UMCOR, because they gave Rod St. the key to their storage trailer.  

Erin's team-  (Barbara, Jeff, Kathy, and Ginger) installed some doors and some window sills.  There is still a lot of painting.  

We had a very good team meeting tonight.  Devotions were by Bob.  Gary has been playing his guitar at devotions.  That has added a nice touch.  

Troll is on his way.  He left Atlanta at 10:30 EST.  He said he was going to sleep part of the way and get here mid morning.  

This trip has been a lot different for a few reasons.  We are such a big group, and we are split up to 4 different sites.  Darlene and I talked a little bit about how it's been two and a half years, and while there is a lot to be done, still, The people that are here are moving on.  Most likely, the people in the Gulf will define their lives two ways-  before the storm and after the storm, but they are trying to move on.  They don't NEED to tell their stories anymore.  They have been telling it for the past 2.5 years.  Would you get tired of it?  

I am really proud of Erin.  I have treated her like a work crew leader, and she has stepped up into that nicely.  

The new people, Kathy, Vern, Ali, Gary, Jeff, and Dave have been fitting in well.  

Tomorrow, the UMCOR people suggested and encouraged us to New Orleans tomorrow.  We are going to do it.  So we are going to work a half day and see the 9th ward and other places around New Orleans.    

Things to pray for:

Matt's health

Corrine M. and her daughter, Laurie

Jim P., who was a part of our planning team, now recuping from cancer surgery. 

Our home owners   

Jeff's kids are having a hard time with him being gone.  

Dave's kids ditto.

Ok, that's all for now.  

Goodnight!

R

NOLA 1 Day 3 (Monday)

Today we got some work done.  We were divided up into 4 teams. 

Bob has one team with (That) Rod St., and Vern E.  They have installed cabinets and are already finishing up both of their two work orders.  

Howard has Dave W., Lewis W., and Darold S.  they are working on putting a roof and vinyl siding on a storage shed for a woman out in the woods.  More on her later.  

Gary has (this) Rod Sc., Darlene, Ali St., Matt S., and Deb S.  We put orange peel texture on walls and got things ready for painting tomorrow.  

Erin C. is leading a team.  Her team is doing door jambs, painting, and building window sills.  She is working with Jeff Sh., Kathy B., Barbara S., and Ginger St.

We heard a lot of interesting information and statistics about the progress in the New Orleans area.  Slidell is much farther along than New Orleans.  

Most of the pics today are from Erin's team.  I couldn't load Howard's pictures, and Ali has yet to bring hers tonight.  (I'm not holding my breath!)  

Troll might join us tomorrow.  Maybe Wednesday.

You can see more pictures at:  http://picasaweb.google.com/RodScofield/NOLA1

Ok-  that's it!

Thanks for your prayers!

R

NOLA day 3- Monday

Anyone want to write a card or a letter to a team member or to the team?  There are two ways to do it.  You can email and I'll read it to them at devotions or, preferred, better, great idea!, more effective, is writing a card they can keep.  Send it to:

Riverbend Mission Team

% First Presbyterian Church

1041 9th Street

Slidell, LA  70458

The people on the team are:  

Kathy Berhendt

Erin Clayton

Deb Solmonson

Barbara Schroeder

Ali Stemme

Ginger Stemme

Darlene Leiva

Rod Scofield

Rod Stemme

Darold Sanderson

Matt Sanderson

Dave Westlake

Howard Newton

Bob Newton

Lewis Whitehead

Jeff Shaw

Vern Emerson

Gary Baker

NOLA1- day 2

Day 2-  Sunday

 

We left Kirkwood (St. Louis) this morning around 8:00.  I should have looked back at my old notes, because apparently, we used to leave at 7:00am.  Howard and Lewis did leave a couple hours earlier so they could go and pick up Darlene from the airport in New Orleans.  We kept in contact throughout the day.  It was nice to have them running scout, because Howard would call back and say, "It's raining cats and dogs here in Memphis.  Maybe you want to eat lunch before you get here."  So we did. 

 

And the rain was amazing!  From half-way through Arkansas until about an hour south of Jackson, it rained hard.

 

One of the best quotes of the day, "I LOVE salt!  I'd even salt my sugar!" 

                                                                                                        

Erin talked about how neat it is having new people along because we get to see things from an brand new perspective all over again.  This is Erin's fourth trip.  Sometimes, you have to be very deliberate about not making things old hat. 

 

We are very sad to not have Corrine with us on this trip.  Corrine had a family emergency  and was unable to come.  It happened just before the trip.  We are praying for her and her family each time we do devotions.  I would ask everybody to pray for her and for her family, and for us, having to do this trip without her. 

 

Gas continues to be very expensive.  We estimate that we will be $2000 for gas for all three vehicles down and back. 

 

Gary B. has joined our team for this trip.  He is a pastor from northern Kentucky.  He  was one our youth leaders when I was in High School in Michigan.  Darlene L. has joined our team again.  How fantastic for me to be reunited with my aunt!  Not only is she my aunt, she really is one of my best friends and partner in ministry, and a mentor.  I am looking forward to spending time with her this week.

 

The last story for the day.  Right after we left Kirkwood, we got caught in a traffic jam on I240.  We couldn't see what was going on, so we sent Matt to the front of the line to see what was going on.  Just a downed power line. 

 

Just a little bit about the facility we are staying at.  Lots of people in small spaces.  The common spaces are big.  The sleeping rooms are pretty crammed.  Erin asked me to ask people to pray that the women jammed in the rooms together are flexible and understanding of each other's needs. 

 

Goodnight.  Amen.

 

 

NOLA1 Day 1 on the road- Saturday

If you don't want to get these emails, please let me know.  I'll take you off the list.  If I told you before I would take you off the list and I didn't, sorry about that-  I'll really do it this time!

NOLA1 -  Day 1 (Saturday)

We are on the road again!  It came out on me quick.  I had been so busy at work, and at church, that while I knew it was coming, all of a sudden, we were leaving the next weekend.  I am glad to be on the road, but even though it is the first night out, I am still not quite ready to leave for this trip.  I think I packed everything I need.  I got up early this morning to pack.  It got to be time to leave, and I still hadn't found the padlock for the trailer, nor enough two-way radios for all three vehicles we were taking.  Just before I left for the church, I thought, let me look one more time.  And sure enough, I saw a box I hadn't looked in before, and there they were, the padlocks and the radios.  Amazing. 

 

We met at the church, some arrived at 7:00am, some at 8:00am. Erin led devotions before we left.  She talked about a CEO's daughter acting with authority because she is the CEO's daughter, and when she asks someone to do something, it was understood it was from the father's authority.  When we go out, we have that authority as Christians, as children of God to do kingdom work.  Let's use it.  Amen.  Thank you, Bridget W. for the Cinnemelts from McDonalds!  And thank you, Chloe for the muffins!  What blessings we have! 

 

So It was snowy.  This is the first time we have left in the snow.  It seemed like a lot of false starts, because we didn't get moving south until about 8:40. In spite of that, we made good time.  As I mentioned earlier, we have three vehicles this trip.  We rented a van from Boyer Ford again, and we have Howard's truck, and we have (That) Rod St.'s van.  Each vehicle is chock full of treats.  -  The drive was very windy most of the way down.  We saw some flooding in Iowa.   Since it was so cold, we didn't eat our lunch outside.  Instead, we went to a McD's and got a few sandwiches to go.  It saved us a lot of time.  Gas is mighty expensive.  I filled the van twice, once for $94, and once for $80. 

 

The weather in St. Louis were much nicer.  It was odd to see flowers and trees with leaves and grass and etc.  We had pizza at our favorite pizza place again.  Devotions were by Barbara.  It is getting late and I'm going to get to bed.  

Fwd: Updates and last minute requests

Wendy and Bruce and Jake-

Wendy and Jake-  were you planning on coming to the commissioning service?  

Wendy-  can we do a couple songs?  Do you know if Ron is coming?  

Bruce-  any requests?  - -  do you have any power point needs?  

Jake-  Maybe I'll try to throw you some pics of the past trips to have circulating on the screen.  -  

Everyone else-  

Updates

Bendu will not be able to come with us.  She has some other commitments that she will be attending to.

Corrine will not be able to come with us.  We need to pray for her and for Laurie.  Laurie has not been doing well, and in fact, was hospitalized.  She was released from the hospital, but needs her mom right now.  Corrine sounded pretty sad that she can't come and we will surely miss her.  

Elbert will not be coming.

Current plan is that Troll will be meeting us down there on the 30th and staying with us until we leave.  

Jim P. is back in the hospital.  You may know that last week he had surgery to deal with some colon cancer.  He was released, but readmitted the next day because things just weren't working properly.  He said he is going to stay there until he knows for sure he's far enough on the road to recovery.  He said that the pre-surgery checks showed no evidence of cancer in the lymph nodes, but there is a small, mysterious spot on his lung that the doctors pointed out, but don't seem too concerned about at this time.  We talked awhile on the phone, and he sounded like the same Jim that we all know.  

I need a couple things done before the big migration-

Jeff-  Howard will need a check for $175 made out to A to Z Rental.  He is going to pick up the trailer on Friday.

Jeff-  Can you pick up the T-shirts either Thurs or Friday?  They are in St. Paul at Merri Lynn Printing on Como.  I don't know how much they will cost for sure, yet.  I'll call them Thurs. to see if they're done, and let you know.  If you can't do it, let me know and I'll see if I can get Ali or LInda B. or Dave or Susan to go get them, but then they would need to get a check from you. 

I will need someone to help me pick up my car after the commissioning service, or to ride with me to pick up the van.  Problem is that I won't know what time I can get out of work until I get out of work....  - After commissioning, my car will be in Minneapolis, up by Broadway and Stinson.  Kind of.  

Erin or Ali or Matthew-  can somebody pick up window paint for the vans?  You guys hash it out.  

Darold-  On that sheet I gave you, there was a list of who is doing devotions.  Can you do devotions on Thursday evening?  

Deb-  Can you do change your from Thursday evening to Saturday morning?  

  

Rod and Ginger-  Thank you for letting us use your van.  Let me know if you need anything done to get it ready.  

Gary, Darlene, Bob, and Troll-  Can you each see if you can bring a flag from your state.  I have a Minnesota flag from the party rental we can use.  They like to fly flags above their headquarters of the states represented by volunteers.  They like that 3x5 size.  If you can't, let me know and if I have time, I might see what it would take to track one down.  Depends on time.  (Troll-- please do not bring a Confederate Flag....)

Darlene-  Sandi H. may possibly be making brownies to send with you for me.  Maybe you want to call her and see if they're ready yet....  

That's all I can think of for now.  -  

Rod

Fwd: SLDR Jobs

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ashlie Junot <ajunot@ladrmse.org>
Date: Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 9:30 AM
Subject: SLDR Jobs
To: Rod Scofield <rodscofield@gmail.com>

UM Southeast Louisiana Disaster Recovery
7100 Read Boulevard
New Orleans, Louisiana 70127
Office: 504-248-7558
Fax: 504-248-7584
SoutheastCenter@LADRMSE.org

Rod,

I talked with the construction supervisors and they have several jobs that they want your group to help close out, finish, and clean up. Your group will be doing primarily finishing work at several locations. We will also be rededicating a home while you are here.

 

Thanks,

Ashlie