Monday Report!

Today was a different kind of day. Whenever someone wanted to know the answer to a question, they looked for me instead of David. There were some disappointed faces as they realized he wasn’t there and all they had was me. But I did the best I could … and for a few I told them to come back Thursday when David would be back. We did not do a bus run today, things were just too busy preparing for the coming rain. We had the crew from Illinois and tonight three men from Missouri came to work. We also had six from Americorps. I appreciate all of the workers, but the Americorps are special. They are young people who work down here right now for FEMA, doing some interviews. They work six days and get one day off. Can you believe that they spent their one day off working around the church? One of them helped a lady pull up her wood floors. A few of them helped me deliver some beds and move some vanity sets. Some worked in the clothing room. All of them had big smiles. They are from all over the U. S. Of the four that helped yesterday, one young lady told me that she was Jewish but still liked our worship services. I would venture that for those four, this was a first visit to a ‘church of Christ’ worship service. Opportunities seem to be growing. Today I met a 92 year old man. He will be 93 tomorrow. He was an absolute delight. I also met a tired woman who has a chronic sickness. She has a FEMA trailer in her yard, but no keys to get into it. I met the director of a relief effort at a Lutheran church in Biloxi today. He stopped by to ask about our operation and to see if we had any MREs (Meals Ready to Eat). Since FEMA has pulled out of here they are hard to come by. You can buy them on Ebay, though, I hear. Saturday night some brothers and sisters from the Hillsboro Church of Christ in Nashville will be cooking a dinner for us and our friends and neighbors to share. This outreach event also serves as an encouragement to all of our workers. Charles called me today and reminded me that they will be coming and doing this. I think it will be great. A brother from Oxford, MS called today to ask about our church building. We haven’t talked about our building repairs much … there’ll be time for that later. I told him that I wanted to urge us to look at nice padded chairs rather than expensive cumbersome pews. But I don’t always get my way! Maybe his church or another one will help us get chairs in place, but that will come later. We’ll have to have a talk about carpet and colors and all that important stuff. THANKSGIVING is not far away. We are contemplating a cookout for our community. I’ll share the plans with you as we get closer. Pray for Nathan, the painter from North Carolina. His 7 year old niece, Brittney, had surgery today to remove some fluid from her lungs. They do not know what is wrong with her, but she is having some significant symptoms. He is worried about her. Lee asked about climate. If our weather information is correct, we are on a warming trend. We had a cold front come through last week which sent our night-time temps into the lower 40s. Now, temperature is one of those things like beauty - it’s in the eye of the beholder. I thought the temperature was glorious. Great for snuggling under the covers, great for wearing a nice jacket (Thanks, Dusty for the jacket), and great for drinking hot beverages as the sun goes down. Not great for living in a tent. Not great for those exposed to the winds. Not great for those who do not have a television and didn’t know a cold front was coming through. It was even not a great thing for some we know who are living in their homes … but with sheetrock and paneling removed, and cracks in their walls you can stick your hands through … it’s a bit chilly. It has warmed up a bit, though, and we’re thankful. However, it is only a temporary reprieve from the coming winter months. Although our winter is milder than much of the US to the North of us, 40 degrees feels quite cold to us. Tomorrow we face thunderstorms. With all of the supplies and equipment we have on the ground, we are hoping that we are well prepared for a deluge. We need one. It has only rained a few times since August 29th, when we got a big storm. Well, enough weather talk. Perhaps The Weather Channel will invite me to do the weather opposite Heather Tesh or Alexandra Steele? Of course I’d rather enjoy the cool weather with my Maggy. On a personal note, we now have six rooms painted in our house, and some of the framework back up in one room. There was a little stumble when the painter opened a new can of paint to do some trim painting, and afterward saw that the paint didn't match. (That's what that picture of my light switch is about on my picture page). But it's fixed now. We are still looking to get the rotten floor in the Kitchen replaced / repaired and some work done in the back bathroom. Once we get the back bathroom ready, we can take up the flooring in the main bathroom and just hope we do not find more rotten flooring. I want to keep at least one bathroom functional for obvious reasons! Flooring is another issue, with some rooms being carpeted, some rooms we will sand and stain a wood floor, and some rooms we will place some other kind of flooring. And there’s heating/cooling units. After that we should be able to move back into the house and start thinking about furniture and a dishwasher and replacing my recliner! All in due time. I don’t want to have an anxiety attack by naming all of these things at once! QUESTION: Does anyone who reads this blog have contact with the AIM program in Lubbock? I’d love to have some of those students come and spend some time here. Help me out! Wow, this is tooo long! I’ll try to be more concise … maybe. Until then, here is a long list of stuff that would be helpful to us. CURRENT NEEDS: *Volunteer workers, both skilled and unskilled. Carpenters, plumbers, roofers, electricians, sheet-rock hangers, and painters can all be kept very busy! We can use ladies to sort clothes, load the bus for bus runs, and go with us on the bus runs. *Ministers who can give up several days to come and pray with the community members, conduct Bible studies as available, and fill in on work as needed. *Youth ministers who can bring their teen groups (mature teens willing to serve, please) for one or two days on the weekends. *Small electric heaters *Hotplates *Towels, Sheets, Pillows, Blankets *Deodorant *Laundry Detergent in boxes or bottles we can give away easily. (Note: The big 5 gallon buckets of detergent are nice, but we would rather have smaller quantities to spread it further!) *Plastic tableware (forks, knives, spoons) and napkins. The FEMA trailers come with no items such as these. *Snacks, drinks, and other foods that can be kept in our Dining Hall for workers as they labor here on a volunteer basis. *Cleaning supplies (pine sol, mops, brooms, buckets, etc.) *Delivery Truck. At some point State Farm will come get our totaled church bus and we will need a delivery truck to make daily deliveries through our neighborhoods. This is from the "I doubt anyone can help with this, but it doesn't hurt to ask" department. *Large Print Bibles. We have a lot of elderly people here in our community, and they cannot see the small print editions. I have a special need for a Thompson Chain Reference Bible if anyone wants to make an investment in an older man who is hungry for the Scriptures and needs the helps to get him started. It needs to be LARGE PRINT and NIV please. *Chocolate and Coffee. Ok, those aren’t necessities. You caught me. All of my contact information is to be found at http://www.123jesus.com/. My picture page is located at: http://community.webshots.com/user/jedobber Thanks for reading!