Reconstruction Begins

After days of tearing out and fixing other structural problems along the way we began reconstructing a small portion of Alice and Daniel's home. With a little more prep work on the small bedroom off from the kitchen the group began installing drywall. What a great thing to see! New white walls over the bare spare wood plants that were used to create the original portion of the house. As you might guess, not all of us were able to work in this small room so those who weren't working in the room did other jobs around the house. As we debrief in the evenings we think our mission will serve three very vital purposes. First, we have deconstucted and torn out all portions of the home that need to be repaired. Our work will enable another group to come in and get right to reconstructing their home. Secondly, since we have some experienced people in the group our work has made the home more structurally sound and sound construction advise has been given to our coordinator, Kim, to share with the next group coming in to work. Finally, we will get to see at least one room in the home well on the way to being completed. The group hopes to stay in contact with future groups who work in this home and receive pictures of their work that builds upon what we have done.

The group made a decision to leave the worksite a little early today and take a short tour to FCC, Port Arthur, which sustained significant damage. Kay and Judy fixed us a fantastic early dinner. We then drove south a short way to Sabine Pass (pop. <400) which was the epicenter of Hurricane Rita. We saw the tremendous destruction as well as the huge oil refineries that dot the Gulf coast. Our tour guide at FCC Port Arthur, who was the choir director and property chair, told us that 1/3 of all oil is refined in Port Arthur. While at Sabine Pass we stopped at the fire station which some of you may have seen on the ABC T.V. show Extreme Makeover. The firefighters gave us a tour (and shared their feelings about local politics - very interesting) and showed us their facility. After the tour we had our picture taken on the fire truck.

Tomorrow we plan on finishing up the small bedroom with drywall, wrapping up any loose ends, and packing up the trailer to head home. Our game plan is to leave early Saturday morning around 2 a.m. for Paducah. Keep us in your prayers as we finish up our mission work with Alice, Daniel, and their son, Christian.