January 10, 2012 by MarkH.

Well this is extremely late but this is the newsletter for Friday/Saturday and also just a recap of the entire week as a whole.

So as I sit here in the airport around 3PM in the airport waiting for the plane, running on less than two hours of sleep, trying to think of something to write for this newsletter, the only thought on my mind is about how incredible of a trip this has been for every single one of us here.

Friday started off with some fun. In retaliation of Crew B’s silly string prank on Thursday, Crew A saran wrapped their car. But not just the outside of the car, the inside too. Imagine walking up to your car getting ready to leave for the work-site and realizing that your car is covered in saran wrap. As soon as everything is cleaned off the outside of the car, you open the door and there’s about another roll and a half worth of stuff to clean up. The look on their face was well worth staying up late and the 13 dollars worth of saran wrap.

There are two sides to Fridays. On the one hand, it is our final workday and each crew wants to make sure that their job is completed, and completed well, but it comes at a cost because we only have a half-day of work. Everybody wants to finish their jobs, however it doesn’t always really work out as perfectly as we would like. We might not finish everything we wanted to accomplish. The thing that we have to remember is that there is always going to be more work to be done. The work is never going to be finished. And we will come back.

But on the other hand, we take a half-day in order to spend time in the city that we are here to rebuild. New Orleans has such a vibrant culture that having a few hours to walk around and enjoy the area is truly something to appreciate. Whether it is shopping for a few souvenirs to bring back home, eating beignets and drinking coffee at Cafe du Monde, seeing the bright neon lights coming from Bourbon Street, or randomly bumping into each other just in time for dinner at the Market Cafe, the city is an experience to say the least.

We ended up not even leaving the city until 9 o’clock.

By the time that we got back to the church and everyone got ready, we started the Thanksgiving circle a little after 10. I think we finished up around 12:30AM. That is the latest that the Thanksgiving circle has ever gone, but it is well worth every minute of it. Each and every person on the trip shares what he or she was thankful for during the week. There was quite a lot to be thankful for; rekindled friendships, along with new faces, new experiences, pranks (well maybe not thankful for the prank itself, but the people involved), inside jokes, crew leaders, one liners having everybody laughing hysterically, and of course the occasional sentimental tear. These are the kind of things that really make the trip special and connect everyone. No matter how long it takes, it is well worth it listening to how the trip has impacted everyone’s life.

As per tradition after the thanksgiving circle everyone is allowed to stay up, as late at they want. Some people go to bed, mostly adults, but a majority of the youth stay up…until 5AM…when we have to be up at 7.

Around lunch time we left to tour the Ninth Ward, the area impacted the most by the storm, in New Orleans. I can’t even begin to describe how powerful of a sight it is to see all of the devastation that was still there after 5 and half years. Seeing how much of the city has already been rebuilt is a true testament to how much progress has been made. But the most shocking thing was seeing a house completely redone, rebuilt, and lived in when right next door there was a house that had yet to be touched since the storm. It’s a very sobering sight.

In conclusion to our Ninth Ward tour, we visit the levy that was damaged. Some of the area around the levy has been rebuilt, a lot of them Brad Pitt houses (he teamed up with the architecture and engineering program at LSU to design and create eco-friendly homes). A lot of the area was just overgrown with weeds and trees, covering up the old foundations that were once homes. Walking around looking at the scenery everyone has their own reaction, but one thing is common, it is a reminder of exactly why we go down to New Orleans, to help serve the community after such a devastating storm.

YOAM was an amazing trip. What happened on the trip has impacted every single person that went down there. On the worksite or off, in the French Quarter or the Ninth Ward, with the homeowner or with crewmembers, YOAM was quite a memorable experience

Speaking for everyone I say that I can’t wait until I get to go on YOAM again.

Ephesians 2:8-10
For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith- and this if not from yourself, but a gift from God- not by works, so that no one may boast. For we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepares in advance

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January 6, 2012 by MarkH.

Hi Everyone! This is Crew E saying hey and giving you an update as to what we were doing on day 4 here in Slidell, LA. Our weekly work assignment is to continue hanging sheet rock where needed, taping, to sanding, mudding, and painting. Currently our team is working with Crew A, on our job site.  Today our home owner Sharron came by with her mother to help out with the painting.

The whole YOAM group went out to dinner at Ryan’s. Several home owners including Sharron and her mother enjoyed a wonderful dinner with the group.  We are looking forward to a great day in New Orleans tomorrow.  We will work a half day then gather tools to return to the Epworth Project and then enjoy an afternoon in the French Quarter!

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January 6, 2012 by MarkH.

Sorry that this will be a bit out of order, last night’s post will appear later when finished!

The YOAM Winter trips last work day for the 2012 trip is also Epiphany!  We had the appropriate King Cake (two actually) this morning and a reading of hte King Cake tradition, as well as prayer and morning devotion.  John Ernest got one of the pieces of cake with the baby in it!  Have A GREAT year John!

The “tradition” of getting each other between the crews continues (sans Paul Behrens) Crew C attacked Crew D during their lunch time yesterday and this morning Crew D found their Van gift wrapped!

This is not the first year for these shenanigans, and since the only loss has been a box of saran wrap…we love it!

Please continue to pray for the work we are doing and for our continued safety as we are here being the hands and feet of our God!

Mark

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January 5, 2012 by MarkH.

Today, Crew D aka Crew DOMINATION began the day with a musical devotion. We sang, “The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock”, hoping others would join. Turns out, it was too early, and not many knew the song.  On to the worksite… We began our working with a prayer while each of us laid a hand upon the house for blessings. After that, our double crew (with Crew C) broke into our usual construction teams. Some caulked, altered and hung doors, put down baseboards and shoemolding, and grout on some of the remaining tiles.

Before lunchtime arrives, we have visitors! Our first connection to our homeowner who is currently living in Oklahoma is with the five young neighbors from down the street come to the work site, curiosity taking the best of them. They meet all of us and find out what teams are doing what. the nail guns seemed to be a sensitive sound to their ears but that did not impede them from asking to help us out. They were such a blessing to have! Lunchtime comes around and we decide to help out the small businesses and get some good home cookin’.

We went to Tony’s Poboy’s and eat more than we can handle and still came out with leftovers. After we returned from our delicious meal, we got crackin! The first thing we learned, is how they talk in Indiana. We learned that a bag is actually pronounced “beg”, and that after freshman year, we do not become sophomores, we become “southmores”!

Then after that, Ken came by and gave us his blessing, stating that we we doing a “very GREAT job,” which is the ultimate praise one could receive from him. We worked for a few more hours, then finally returned home to be welcomed by hot, steamy, and very tasty Jambalaya prepared by our wonderful kitchen crew!

Crew D (Joy, India, Laura, Marty, Tamela-Pamela, Brad, and John)

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January 4, 2012 by MarkH.

 The second day of our mission trip was absolutely wonderful. Our crew, Crew C, started off the morning with some AM DEVOTION! We wanted to spread the message that compassion is important. Brian passionately recited 1 John 4:7-8, “Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God, and everyone that loves is born of God. He that loves not, knoweth not God, for God is love.” SHABAMALAMABOPSKI!!! (SHA-BAMA-LAMA-BOP-SKI)… Anyways… After devotion, all the crews headed off to their jobsites.

Before heading off to our jobsite, we went to check out the Mississippi river. It was a great experience. Once we arrived at our jobsite we worked with another crew putting up windows and doors. We were super productive and had a great time continuing building our friendships with each other. Unfortunately we haven’t met our homeowner because she lives in Oklahoma, but we hope that we still make a difference in her life.

It was a great Tuesday!

God blesseth,

Crew Cizzle.

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January 3, 2012 by MarkH.

1/2/12

Today was what many of us familiar with mission trip lingo call “Mosey Monday”. On Mosey Monday we are expected to only get situated with our worksites and do a lot of standing around; Mosey Monday is about orientation and getting set up. Some crews were lucky enough to get work done on their sites today, declaring today the least Mosey of all the Mondays.

Today, our crew, crew B, is working on a site that requires a lot of spackle sanding, puttying on dry wall, placing of drywall and perhaps in the future, texture painting. We experienced a particularly Mosey Monday when another crew took off with our tools in the morning and we did not realize it until the other crew was already on their way into the city of New Orleans. However, we were particularly productive for the rest of the day to make up for all the MOSEY MOSEY MOSEY.

All crews agreed they were bonding with their crews and that they couldn’t wait to see what was to come for the rest of the week.

Katie and Randy work hard on sanding

Sara Works hard puttying drywall

Randy “falls” off a ladder!

Justin works hard on taking down drywall in the bathroom.

Amy works hard putting up drywall in a pantry!

Randy lets the girls paint his face with spackle!

God Bless,

Crew B

(Katie Hippen, Sara Grove, Justin Curley, Randy Hippen, Amy Hanlin, Hannah Hardin)

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