It's Saturday morning, and I'm sitting in Hyati, MO waiting for the rest of the crew to come down to breakfast. We arrived here about midnite, so we have a decent nite's sleep to finish our journey home. In a couple of hours, we'll be connecting with Team 2 to hand off keys and send them on the rest of their journey south.
The last couple of days were very fulfilling, and we are very blessed to have continued serving in Central City. Thursday saw the completion of the fence posts at Caboose's House, the remaining floor tile to be set in place, drywall work starting at Rev. Landry's daycare facility, and much work completed at Sister Georgianna's House.
Her house in the 9th ward was very damaged from flood waters nearly topping the peak of the roof. Contractor's have been working for a very long time, and frankly their workmanship and sceduling left much to be desired. She's still living in the FEMA trailer, but is over due to that to be taken. Temporary steps were built in the back, blinds hung, faucets set in sinks, closet rods etc. installed...all work so she can obtain the occupency permit. We also set 2 pre-cast concrete steps in place. The yard where they were loaded on the pickup truck said 4 guys could pick them up and move them around. We certainly don't want to mess with those 4 guys...they weighed well over 1000 lbs. After taking down a section of chain link fence, and some quick thinking and rigging, we were able to slide them to the ground then into place.
As a thanks, a Cajun Boil was brought over for supper. Bags of shrimp, crawfish, turkey necks, smoked sausage, crabs, potatoes, corn...more food than I think i've ever seen spread all over the tables. After eating for an hour, she brings out huge Po-Boys...shrimp, ham & cheese, etc. and bowls of Gumbo. It was very special to experience such true Southern hospitality, and share with the surrounding neighbors, even as we waddled back into the vehicles to head back.
Friday morning we were able to finish up a couple of things at Living Witness, but more importantly spend significant quality time with our brothers in the Nehemiah program. The tile was grouted, another crew wrapped up some loose ends at Georgianna's, and a seperation wall was built between the new kitchen and dining hall. Bill enlisted a little help to remove a tree branch, and pull his soon-to-be-owned 68 Ford into a safer position. For those who have been on previous trips with Bill, he's been eyeing up this car for 2 years, and is finally in contact with the owner. I'm expecting him to bring this little green gem back to WI in the near future...
Parting was difficult as usual. In addition to saying goodbye to all the guys at Living Witness (many of whom we know that we will never see again) we also had to say goodbye to the crew from The Crossing Church in Florida. Some real connections were made there, and we saw God working in them and thru them. We really became 1 team throughout the week, sharing tasks, duties, ministry, events, and experiences. Many comments were made from their team regarding a return trip.
It was a true pleasure to serve in New Orleans again, and as always God's plan is better than ours, and we are extremely and humbly blessed by this experience.
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