Follow the Progress of Our
Mission Team in Biloxi, MS
Howdie Kids!
Tim here. Everyone's asleep here. Hopefully Sarah &
Christine have arrived home and are tucked away in their beds.
We had a productive day of work - though some of us did sneak off to
enjoy the sites before heading to the job site this morning. We
had hoped to go out tonight - but everyone was so tired that it was all
we could do to eat, finish the last of Hunt For Red October
(begun last night), and crash. I did get to put together a couple
of movies. One is above. You can find the others by
clicking on the "revtimdowell" youtube link after watching the above
movie. There are new pictures as well, so enjoy!
Time for all good pastors to be in bed... Nighty night!
td
Hey Gang,
We survived another day in the bayou! It was a very tiring
day. Sarah and I replaced 2 out of 3 windows in our house
project. Sarah showed her daredevil side and truly tested the
power of prayer, I became an expert at unorthodox uses of a circular
saw.
The people whose house we are working on have been living in their
house since Katrina. They apparently were offered a FEMA
trailer but refused it because they thought there were so many people
worse off than they were. Now 2 years later they are getting
there house taken care of 1 room at a time. At 1 point there
were 17 people living in their 2 bedroom 1 bath house.
Jillian and Christine are still painting at Don's house and helping the
guys about a block away with electricity and, since the arrival of Tim,
plumbing at Mary's house. Jillian spoke with Mary today and
learned more about her story,but I'll let her tell that one.
The boys could probably spend a year at the house they are
in, I hear they are almost finished with the electricity, but
I heard that yesterday too. I'm not sure but i think they may
just be goofing around. Tim keeps talking about how he played
in the mud alot today.
Tomorrow we will be loosing 2 of our workers, Sarah and
Christine. We will have to work them hard in the morning and
get a full days work out of them. Please pray for them as
they travel. Sarah has some allergy sinus thing that has
kicked in to full gear and you know how that is horrible with
flying.
Our week is winding down and we are all anxious to finish as much as
possible. To make at least a small dent in the mountain of
work that still needs to be done here. Continue, please, to
keep us in your prayers and a big thank you to Sandy and girls who
delivered meals to our families tonight. My children were
very impressed. Of course, they ate the brownies first!
Yours in Christ,
Beth
4/29
Hello from the Deep South,
We started off our second day in Biloxi bright and early. Sarah and
Beth got recruited by Pastor Dave, the pastor here at Heritage UM, for
a special job building a brand new house for a family in great need.
After Katrina hit, they received a trailer from FEMA. But when the
mother, who's name the trailer was in, passed away, the trailer was
taken away. This left the rest of the family living in tents for over a
year. Finally, UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) found a
trailer for most of the family to live in. The children are still
living in tents. Now they're in the process of getting their new house.
Today Sarah and Beth helped build the frames for the concrete footers.
Though it was muddy, they got most of the frame done and hopefully
concrete can be poured soon. (Pastor Dave is Sarah's new hero...you
should see all the stuff this church does, to include the disaster
relief program for rebuilding houses!)
After working in the mud all morning, Sarah and Beth then had to go
pick up Tim from the airport and go over to another site that needs
windows in Gulfport. They were able to head over to Lowe's and pick up
the windows that this family desperately needed. They'll be heading
back tomorrow to put the windows in.
The rest of us went back to the house in need of electrical work. When
I saw this house yesterday, I was shocked and amazed at the state this
house was in. All that was left of the house is the outer walls, the
roof, and the new framed out walls that another team had built. The
house itself looked like a giant piece of drift wood. I couldn't
believe that the house has been in this condition for the last two and
a half years.
We picked up where Ron and I left off yesterday with the help of Jill
and Christine. Once we figured out some early questions, we hit the
ground running. Since Ron and I would probably fall right through the
ceiling if we went up in the attic, Christine and Jill bravely took up
the task. With myself pushing the wire up, Jill and Christine running
it through the ceiling, and Ron feeding it into the breaker box, we got
more done then I could have possibly hoped. And the pictures are
priceless. Now that Tim is here, we should be able to get the plumbing
finished up and get the rest of the sub floor in. With that done, we'll
be able to move to another site that needs electricians.
We finished up the day with chili that we found frozen in the kitchen
and it was great. Now we get to relax for the rest of the evening, so
we can get an early start tomorrow.
I have to say that I was apprehensive going on this missions trip. I've
never done anything like this before and had no idea what I was getting
into. After only being here for two days, I have already been richly
blessed by the interaction with the people here and the fellowship with
the others from Faithpoint.
God Bless,
Aaron
4/28
Hello to
our
FaithPoint friends and family,
All is well here as we wind down from a memorable day in Mississippi.
As I listen to Jillian's angelic voice singing, I write this with
thanks for the opportunity to be here (you are the best Dave!) and with
gratitude for all I have and admit that I sometimes take for
granted.
After meeting with our coordinator this morning we were asked to help
three families this week. Two of the homes are in Biloxi and one is in
Gulfport, approximately twenty miles west of here. We were basically
given a "things to do" list for each home and were asked to accomplish
as much as we could based on our skills.
Aaron and Ron spent most of their day wiring electric in a completely
gutted home with nothing left but the outside weather-beaten shell. The
only thing left standing in the home is an electric organ that
obviously did not weather the storm. Tomorrow Jillian and I will draw
straws to see who is nominated to climb into the attic to help run the
wires!
The girls spent their day a few blocks away in the home of a man named
Don. Presently he lives in a trailor next to his inhabitable home. His
first FEMA trailor caused him to have medical problems due to
formadahyde and he recently spent time in the hospital. Don shared that
after each mission group leaves he spends time in his house thankful
for all that was accomplished. He shared his story of weathering the
storm from his attic along withhis son. The water was just inches away
from reaching the attic. Today an inspector came to check the electric
and we were hoping for power by the end of the day but it didn't
come....maybe
tomorrow. Jillian and I were covered in drywall dust after some serious
ceiling sanding and Sarah and Beth honed their spackling and drywall
taping skills.
After a yummy dinner of crock pot chicken we are all clean and showered
(well most of us!) and are hoping for sweet dreams and the strength for
another day of service. In the morning we plan to travel to Gulfport to
assess the needs of the third family we have been asked to help. They
are living in their home as it has been gutted room by room. They are
in need of some windows so we will be making a shopping trip after
doing some measuring first. We plan to divide our time between all
three homes and hope that by Friday we have made substantial progress
in all three.
Thank you to everyone for your calls of well wishes, emails of support
and for your prayers. We are thankful to have this opportunity and are
proud to represent all of you.
Love,
Christine
04/27/08
"Yahweh, here I am. Send me."
Dear FaithPoint,
We made it! The team
is settling in here at Heritage United Methodist Church of D'Iberville
MS. What a fantastic facility they have here!
Plenty of room for our team of 6 (soon to be 7.) I
think we are all anxious to get started on our job
assignment. We will meet the job coordinator at 7:30am to get
the details of our mission.
Thank you all for the
beautiful send off, your energy and love stays with us. Keep
those prayers rolling in!
