New Orleans Mission Trip 2013

I was blessed to be asked to go with our youth group on a week long mission trip to New Orleans.  Here are some of the highlights from the week. #NOMT2013  #17G2G

We loaded up and departed Saturday morning at 5:30am.  The first bathroom break was at 7:15!!!!!  Yeah, this is not the way I'm used to traveling.We arrive in NO about 8:00pm.  We met John Martindale.  He took us on a tour of the French Quarter. We did avoid Bourbon Street itself.

Jackson Square with St. Louis Cathedral

Austin and Allison Marlett

Sunday morning we go to the Jefferson Parish Juvenile Detention Center. We met Chris and Sister Cathy.   Stephen and Abby led the group in some praise and worship.  Hayley gave the devo.  We then prayed for Cathy and her ministry.

Chris and Sister Cathy (not a nun, everyone just calls her that)

Re-enactments: We couldn't take pics while inmates were there.

 

That afternoon, we spent time doing small group team building.  Yes, the Camo team was the winner of the play-dough Bible story. (That was my group!)

Then we ended each night with a message and worship time.

Monday through Thursday we worked at an elementary school (priming, painting classrooms, cleaning out storage buildings, sorting books, etc.), visited a Pregnancy Counseling Center, played with kids at a projects playground, toured the 9th Ward devastated by Katrina.  Probably the most eye-opening experience was the two times we went to the homeless mission and overpass hangout.  The job for our group was to divide into groups of three and each group had to go talk to the homeless and find out why they were there, give them water and food the second trip, pray with them if they wanted it.  It's a strange feeling to go see almost a hundred people staying under this very long overpass and walking up to them. But this turned out to be the best experience for just about all of our group.

 

John giving info about Katrina and the 9th Ward.  We broke into the abandoned church in the background and prayed.

 Then Friday was our "fun" day.  It started with us going to a couple of old cemeteries.  Then we went to a swamp tour and then an alligator ranch.

Then on our way home on Saturday, we made a slight detour through West Monroe to visit the Duck Dynasty scenes.  Us and about 300 of our closest friends!

GREAT MISSION TRIP

Click on Flickr at top for many more pictures.

Helping Moore, OK

Seven people from Sweetwater, six from our church, recently went to Moore, OK to help with the cleanup for a couple of days.  We got connected through the Methodist Church's relief organization.

The devastation is really beyond words.  Our job was to gut a house.  What we found out when we got there was that "gut" meant demolish everything down to the foundation and move it to within 15 feet of the curb.  The city of Moore was picking up the debris with large equipment from the street.

We were told that insurance pays for the demolishing between $3,000 and $8,000.  But now, the families are able to use that money to build a safe room in their new reconstruction. Safe rooms cost about $5000 extra to build.

The house we got assigned to was also being worked on by a group of FCA from Kansas and Missouri.  The other group left at lunch on Friday.  They had been in Moore all week.  We finished that house (with a little help from the dozier operator busting up the foundation next door) by the end of the day Friday.

Saturday morning we went to another house that had been torn down but the roof remained to be drugged to the curb.  We worked with two men from Moore and group of ladies joined us from Cushing, OK.  We were able to clean that house all the way down to the foundation by 11:00am.

We then returned our tools and cleaned up and headed home.

We asked the director of UMCOR in Moore how long they planned to be set up there. (We thought we might try to get another group to go again.) His response is very telling of how bad it is there: 2 1/2 years.

 On the way to the first house.

 We found some things what we thought the family might want to salvage.

 Praying for the family (single mom with two children.)

Plaza Tower Elementary School.  This is where 7 children lost their lives.

Our Group

 Across the street from the elementary school.

 Our sleeping quarters in Goodrich United Methodist Church in Norman, OK.

 The Saturday house.

Also check out the four videos on YouTube.  Click link at top of page.

It's Not Suppose To Be That Way

Okay, so it's 104 in Sweetwater.  The air conditioner has been dripping it's condensation through the secondary outlet.  It's not suppose to be that way.  So upon investigation, there is a small hole in the primary drip pan so that the water is dripping into the secondary pan instead of out the drain line.  Now it's only about 130 degrees in the attic.

But I get some JB Weld and was told this would seal up the hole and fix the problem.  I follow the instructions to a tee.  It appears to set up just right.  So I gather up all the tools, towels, fans, and other stuff to come down out of the attic when...

...yeah, I lose my balance with my armload and the only place to step is...

...You guessed it.  Through the ceiling.  That hole up there...it's not suppose to be that way.

And to top it off...when your 55 years old trying to do this...

Right...it's not suppose to be that way!



But hey! The fix worked for a few hours...then the drip started back at the secondary drain :-(.



IT'S NOT SUPPOSE TO BE THAT WAY.

Hey! It's Raining!

It's been over six months since we have had a good rain.  In fact we have had less than 1/2 inch this year.

But today... It rained.  Check out the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuKafiXYBfU

Our rain gauge measured 1.25 inches.

Beat the Street for Little Feet 2013

Thanks to Chelsea, Brianne, and Shyanne for running in the 5K run this past Saturday.  We had a good weekend and enjoyed everyone that could getting together.  Here are some pics.

Caverns of Sonora

Since Sweetwater Girls were playing our old friend Vic Ivy's Fort Stockton for bi-district recently, we decided to go to the game with our friends Jay and Carolyn Lawrence.  And...of course we went down early to go through the caverns.  Jay had never been through them.

So on the way down there I relayed the story to Jay and Carolyn about the last time Susan and I had been to the caverns.  It was about 33 years ago.  We invited Momma and Daddy (Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw) down to San Angelo and took them to the caverns.  I had been through them earlier and wanted them to see the cave.  But there was an alternative reason we wanted them to come down.  It was on the way back to San Angelo after going through the caverns that I dropped the news that Susan and I were getting married.

It was classic.  Susan was driving.  I turned around and said to them that I had bought Susan a gift that week and handed Mom Susan's engagement ring.  Mom's jaw dropped open and she said, "Is this what I think it is?"  I laughed and said yes it was.  Susan never took her hands off the wheel or her eyes off the road.


So here are some pics from the Caverns of Sonora.  A special place for us.

 Jay suggested that I act as if I had proposed to Susan there.  Several people have been married where this pic was taken.


Palace of Angels

Cave Bacon

Helictites.

Leaving the cave.  This is the highest point in the cave beside the original opening.

And by the way...Sweetwater won.  Coach Ivy wasn't in a good mood.  And check out the YouTube video of the cavern I took.