E-Journal
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Monday, November 21, 2005

Monday’s projects included:

  • A group who worked 12 hours cooking, serving, cleaning at a feeding tent that served probably 1500 people for lunch and dinner!
  • Library work that included delivering over 100 books donated from people in Wilmore, then helping to transport and sort books in anticipation of new shelves in the double wide trailer now serving as a temporary library.
  • Mudding Out a house on Davis Street that included tearing out drywall, baseboards, window casings, ceilings etc. The lady living in the house had been there for 50 years and just today her FEMA trailer was finally delivered to the property.
  • Tearing out Ceilings (and insulation) at a house a couple blocks from the Church.
  • "Treating” the parsonage of the Church with a 50/50 combination of Clorox and water to kill mold. Tyvek suits, goggles, hoods and canister ventilators were all standard equipment for this one!
  • Removing Debris from Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s yard which is scheduled for demolition because the house itself is not salvageable. A quote that the student’s shared that was meaningful shared by the resident in appreciation for their work…”As long as I breathe I wont forget this group and what you have done for us”
  • Taking out lots and lots of nails and screws from every stud and ceiling joist in a house after a group had removed drywall. At this woman’s house (who has been living in a tent on the property for 2 ½ months) the group helped her find a piece of jewelry in the yard that she had been looking for since the hurricane.
  • Removing wet insulation from under a house, and tearing down a fence were projects that our students participated in that were given to use from the Campus crusade folks.
  • Lifting a monument in War memorial park. Asbury Alum “Uncle Mike” Smith came from Columbus Ohio to spend the week. His tractor and help from the team is tackling restoring some cherished monuments in a favorite park.

At the end of the day on Monday, we debriefed and asked everyone to describe the day with words or phrases. Here is a sampling:

  • Encouraging
  • Eye Opening
  • Tiring
  • Quality
  • Bullet Holes (referring to the story of the police having to shoot their way out of the library through a glass window during the hurricane just to escape the rising waters.
  • Interesting
  • Beautiful
  • Smashing Drywall!
  • Fulfilling…
  • Thought provoking.

We hope to have some students write in the next couple days, but no promises, we are pretty busy. God is good, and this is one of the most incredible, sobering, devastating, yet growth-provoking experiences many of us have had.

Mark

11-20-05
11-21-05
11-23-05
11-24-05
11-25-05


Crew at the Smith House on Monday


How many workers can you fit under a house?


Some students pose for a picture outside of the food tent.

(click pictures to enlarge)