Last Days in NOLA May 1st and May 2nd

May 1st and 2nd were two 1/2 working days. Thursday's work involved loading and unloading lots of sheet rock to work on a new house in the Lower Ninth ward. the group also worked on building wall studs for the new house. After 1/2 day of work John and Celine enjoyed the Riverwalk in New Orleans. Friday was also 1/2 day of work after which John and Celine departed. They will be giving a personal story for the blog on a later date.

Siding a Home

Both J and I have talked to John and Celine. They report that things are going very well in New Orleans. They are currently working with three other teams. Two teams are from Texas and one team is from Tennessee. Jae knows the minister of the Tennessee Church from his Vandy days.

The teams are split up into two work groups. The first team is doing rehab on a local church. John and Celine are working with a team on the Lawrence house in the Legion Field area of New Orleans. Their main focus of work has been installing siding on the house.

Celine reports that if John is on a ladder, someone is close by spotting for him. She also reports she tried to use her thumb as a nail head (ouch!).

Tomorrow will be a short work day. They will be going over to see Willie's house. This is the house that the January mission team worked on. They are excited to see the progress that has been made since January.

Please continue to keep all of the mission teams in your prayers.

Mission Team Arrives in NOLA

Posted by Mariann Lankton

John Dickson phoned this evening around 6:30 P.M. to let us know that they had arrived safely at Westside Christian Church. They will be working with two other mission teams from Texas. John reported that Brother Vance has six homes currently on the work list. John is going to call daily with reports that will be posted to the blog.

Please keep John and Celine and the other mission teams in your prayers.

After a quick start breakfast, the group headed towards Gerttown to finish hanging the hardy board. After dropping J. and Jason at the job site, Dudley, John, Tandy, and Bro. Vance went back to Willy's house in lower 9th ward. Yes, there was more sanding and little more muddying of the walls. John prepared the texturing of the walls in the semi-automatic spray hopper. Bro. Vance taught everyone how to properly texture the walls. We packed up our tools and headed back to Westbank for a eight minute lunch. After lunch, we picked up J. and Jason in Gerttown. We wanted to say our good-byes to Willy. We went back to his home, and checked out the walls and ceilings. Willy's home is now ready for the next group to start painting his house. Willy thanked everyone for their hard work and effort. It was a pleasure helping Willy and his daughter get one more step closer to moving back home. We are ready to come home and we want everyone to have the opportunity to come home soon. We hope that you enjoyed reading this blog and encourage you to volunteer your time helping others.

Gritty in Gerttown

As we started the day, Jason prepared a hearty breakfast. The group began work on the four-plex in the heart of Gerttown on Lowerline street. Once completed, the four-plex will be used for transitional housing. J. and Jason began work installing hardy board on the second floor of the building. John installed dead-bolt locks in all the units. Tandy and Dudley continued with the demolition of the flooring on the first floor. After long and productive day, we headed back to the Westbank to join Bro. Vance for dinner. We are going to French Quarter tonight to eat at K. Paul's. We hope that you enjoy viewing attached photos. J. and Jason were on a platform between two stairwells. The rails on the units will be replaced once completed. Bro. Vance is getting ready before the inspection of the complex. He is trying to get a FEMA grant late January. We hope that out efforts will lead toward accomplishing the goal. Have a blessed day!

Day 3 - January 16, 2008

Here is a synopsis of our day - sanded. Mudded. Sanded. Sanded. Mudded and Sanded some more. We must be getting better at the sanding because we all left in a better mood today. Today we worked on the skim coat which is the last of the drywall mudding before the real fun begins. Tomorrow we are going to work at a different venue and hopefully return to Willy's on Friday to texture the ceiling and walls.

Tuesday, January 15

As you may remember the shortest verse in the Bible is, "He wept." The best summary of our day is "We sanded." Tandy painted a decorative wrought iron post. To take a break from our sanding we put up plywood decking on the ceiling of half of the carport. The highlight of our day was watching a delivery guy drop off a roll off box (big dumpster) on a very small driveway.

Tomorrow the forecast is for 1-2 inches of rain. Guess what we will be doing tomorrow? Keep us in your prayers. We are all sore.

Tuesday, January 15

Today we continued our work at Willy's house. As many know the shortest verse in the scriptures is in the new testament - "He wept." The best overall summary of our day is, "We sanded."

Who knew there was so much sanding to do with drywall finishing. Tandy painted a lattice work support in the front of the house. For a break from sanding, we put up some plywood decking under the carport. The highlight of the day was watching a truck driver drop off a roll off box (big dumpster) for a big pile of debris in Willy's back yard.

That's it for today. They are calling for 1-2 inches of rain tomorrow. Guess what we will be doing tomorrow? Keep us in your prayers. We are sore.