Day 8: Saturday, January 15, 2011
The team got a good start on the trip home, leaving New Iberia around 6:30 a.m. There were not traffic problems and the weather cooperated for an uneventful day of driving. The group stopped in Knoxville, Tennessee, again and will resume the trip Sunday morning. Arrival back at HCC should be early evening Sunday.
Testimonies and a report of the trip will be shared with the congregation during the morning service on Sunday, January 30.
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Day 7: Friday, January 14, 2011
Today was the final work day for this team. A smaller group went to the same house and continued with the various jobs in progress there. They were again treated by Bud Lee to delicious southern style cooking at the same restaurant. Excellent food.. and lots of it! Other members of the team were given jobs elsewhere today.
Plans are to get a start bright and early tomorrow morning for the long trek home. Please pray for safety traveling as they have two long days ahead of them.
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Day 6: Thursday, January 13, 2011
Ahhhh... we got to sleep in a bit this morning. In fact, we knew our entire day would be laid back. I was looking forward to it! The day started with a visit to the local Avery Island, which houses the tabasco pepper sauce plant. What a fun little excursion! Did you know the red peppers are fermented for three years and mixed for 28 days straight before the pepper mush can be separated to make pepper sauce? I came away from the little gift shop convinced I liked hot stuff! Tabasco ice cream is surprisingly tasty.
We arrived on the job by mid morning and were treated to lunch at a local restaurant. Bud Lee, from the Methodist church, continued his hospitality and gave us a chance to try some authentic Southern cookin'. The restaurant looked like a dinky, run-down little building, but the hot hearty choices were certainly pleasantly surprising.
If you asked about my day, I'd say it couldn't get much better. After a warmer afternoon of work (warmer is key to the enjoyment of my day), we left a little early to get ready for an authentic crawfish dinner... we are in the vans now on the way to a friend of Ray's who welcomed our team and the MDS workers to his house for this authentic dish. All this southern hospitality has us spoiled! All this good cookin' and local flavor is hard to beat!
Steph Shenk |
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Day 5: Wednesday, January 12, 2011
The rebuilding has now begun at the same house that demolition was happening the beginning of the week. The weather remains very cold for Louisiana.. barely hitting 50 during the day and going to the mid-20s at night. The team was thankful for the nursing expertise and skills of Sharon today when Jay grazed his thumb with one of the nail guns.. but maybe more on that in their own words later on. In the meantime, here are a few more pictures of their activities..
 
A brief update from Steph:
The alarm rang a little too early once again. But we got off running and ready to work after a short devotional that Karl shared with us. It was another good day of work. We have moved passed the demolition to rebuilding all the floors and walls we took so much pleasure in tearing apart. We replaced some floors, tore off all the shingles and we were entertained by chatter of Dennis and Jay replacing a section of the wall. I enjoyed helping Ray and Pat work on their marriage as they replaced the floor. I did a little nailing, but I couldn't stop Pat from hitting Ray with broom! (See the picture below.. OK, so she was really just sweeping off his back!)
 
 
Southern hospitality continues to spoil us! Our methodist friends brought us some more fresh boudin, bread and hot coffee. Last night we had the the opportunity to interact with Bud Lee, a well-respected retired layer who has been working with us from the Methodist church. We learned about the community we are working in an their vision to revitalize it.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 13 January 2011 09:23 |
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Day 4: Tuesday, January 11, 2011
The alarm went off at 6am again today; hopefully I am ready for another day of demolition. Our team was split again today—David and Dennis C. were assigned to build shutters at the MDS campus. After a few minor issues (a locked trailer without a key and generator trouble), the rest of us were off to our house in New Iberia. We got right to work, tearing out rotting floors, tearing down ceilings, ripping out nails, taking out a few walls etc...
 
Once again we were treated with such great southern hospitality! Our friends from the Methodist church came by to discuss plans for the house and to bring us lots of southern goodies to try. We had local coffee, a King cake—traditional cake with a plastic baby inside (with a story behind it!), and Boundon (a sausage-like food with spice and rice served in fresh baked bread). Yum! This afternoon a man came by asking if he could work two hours for $15, he really needed it for some kind of test to give to his parole officer. After a short discussion the money was given to him, and he came back ready to work. We thought it best if he didn't work for us, liability etc... We further discussed the situation at dinner—seeing how each person would respond.
 
Today was another cold day; some of us mind it more than others. But we had a delicious hot southern meal awaiting us! After dinner was a short time of debrief and relaxing around the couches. Most of us will be off to bed soon. :)
 
Steph Shenk
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Last Updated on Thursday, 13 January 2011 06:39 |
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