FCC Paducah - Mission Outreach

A journal of mission trips by First Christian Church - Paducah, KY.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Good Night, N'Awlins


While John and Celine stayed at the mission station to recuperate from yesterday's ER adventure, Dudley and Kathy went with the rest of the volunteer group to help finish drywalling the showroom area at the strip mall this afternoon, and were able to return to Westside for some R&R before Rev. Moore led us in a brief worship service at five. It was a really nice way to end the week sharing how the trip was important to us, and hearing his words about what it has meant to him to have over 2500 volunteers come through Westside in 18 months to help in this area.


We were really glad we could help in all the small (and big) ways that we helped, and this has been an important trip for all of us. We appreciate the support and prayers we get from FCC and look forward to telling all of you about the NOLA mission trip.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Photos From Day 3 & 4















Tales of Target, the ER, and the Huey P. Long Bridge

As some of you know by now John fell about four feet from a ladder this afternoon while we were putting in ceiling supports for the framed walls at the showroom project. The ladder itself didn't tip, he simply lost his footing coming down from it, and in a fall that seemed to last for five minutes, landed on his shoulder and also hit his head on the cement floor of the office space, knocking him out for a few seconds. Dudley called 911, and within a few minutes John was communicating with Celine and the others there, but we kept him in place because he said his shoulder hurt.

It took about 25 minutes for the EMS to get there because they originally thought Dudley was calling from the other side of the river (Mississippi) and were trying to find him there. But he called them back and they used his cell phone signal to help track where we were. Turns out we were only a couple of miles from the hospital John was taken to.

John suffered a broken clavical, and after getting fitted with a sling was released from the hospital a few hours later. We were all very thankful that it wasn't more serious. He is back at the mission station for the night, and the docs want him to not travel for 24 hours, so we will go ahead and still make our return trip on Saturday. He and Celine are both in good spirits, and are doing fine.

While waiting for John to be seen at the hospital Celine accused him of doing this to get out of planned trip to the Largest Target Any of Us Have Ever Seen we had scheduled for after work today. Seriously, it is a two story Target about the size of a Macy's or large Dillard's-type store. After he was seen by the doc and things were a bit calmed down, and John was waiting for some xrays to be taken Celine suggested that Dudley and I go on to the Target to spend time rather than waiting at the ER with her. We decided that we would and then hopefully John would be ready to come "home" by the time we finished.

Now we know that there are certain church members (specifically those of you in the Changing the Current Sunday School class) who will appreciate the importance of a visit to a Target--especially one of this size--and this was only further reinforced when one of the EMS workers, hearing Celine make that remark, informed us that there was an escelator for shopping carts! Well, that sold us, and with Celine's encouragement and blessing, off we went.

Now to the Huey P. Long Bridge. For those of you who don't know what this is, it is a 80-90-year old bridge that spans the Mississippi with both railroad and car/truck traffic. Here's a description. Imagine a child's Erector Set run amuck. It is both the most dramatic display of steel and bolts, and frightning that traffic--let alone trains--are crossing it. Google it, people, and look at this thing. So the showroom project we were working on was right underneath the bridge. As going back to our mission station by any other route, especially during rush hour traffic, would have taken a very, very long time, both yesterday and today we took the HPL bridge. We all feel very brave for this adventure.

We are especially exhausted tonight, and ready for bed. More on Friday!

Wednesday, Oct. 18

We arrived early at the duplex we were "deconstructing" in Mid-City NOLA today to finish the job of removing the ceilings and walls. It took about 4 hours to finish, but having scaffolding helped a lot, and with a few folks tearing things down, and another team removing debris to the pile outside the house, we finished the job. The hardest part was the smallest room....the bathroom, which was just too small for more than one person to work in at a time.

After lunch the Paducah group, plus Danny--who is here from Tulsa on his third trip this year to Westside--went to a location in Jefferson Parish to build walls in a small office in a strip mall that the Church of Christ "Operation Nehemiah" will use to display cabinets and flooring that they will sell to people trying to rebuild under The Road Home Program at greatly reduced cost. In a nutshell, we were to frame and area in the front of the building to create a space where the products they will have available can be shown to clients. We spent most of the time making a game plan and buying lumber.

At the end of the day we made a trip into the Quarter for an absolutely fantastic meal at K Paul's Louisiana Kitchen. Chef Paul Prudhomme was actually there last night, so it was a special treat to see him. Food was great!

Tomorrow it's back to the showroom project.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Photos From Day 2














Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Tuesday, October 16 -- Pews!

This morning we were taken to a state auction warehouse in Jefferson Parrish (west of NOLA) to help move old courtroom benches into a truck to move them to a warehouse 20 minutes away to be stored until they will be used by a church in Alabama. There were 38 of the 10-foot pews, as well as several pallets of assorted other items that had been bought by a mission organization run by the Church of Christ in this area. We were brought in to help as the organizer for that mission station, and Rev. Moore, the organizer for our station, often trade out help as they have it available. It took us three trips back and forth with the rental truck to get all the pews, but we were treated to some great Po'Boys for lunch afterwards. Then it was back to the house we worked on yesterday for more deconstruction. The front two rooms are now completely stripped down to the studs, and ready for electrical work, and tomorrow we're going to finish the remaining three rooms, and tear out a wall in the bathroom.

Celine made a wonderful speghetti supper for everyone, so the food today has been GREAT!

We'll post another blog tomorrow and add more photos as well.

Photos from Monday





































Monday, Oct. 15





Day One -- Deconstruction! Our first day was spent tearing out the walls and ceilings of a "double-shotgun" house in downtown New Orleans. The house suffered wind damage to the roof during the hurricane, which resulted in interior water damage. The homeowner, a single woman who is finishing her college degree, is going to totally redo the inside of the house, which she shares with her younger brother, who lives next door in the other side of the duplex. The house is over 100 years old and is beautiful in the architectural details, including fireplaces in each of the five rooms, 12-foot ceilings, and lots of crown molding and details original to the structure. We all could see what a nice home it would be once she gets it repaired. For today, it was crowbars, dust, hammers, dust, wheelbarrows, dust, and did we say, "dust?" We made a lot of progress, but will have to return tomorrow to hopefully finish out the ceilings in two rooms, and the walls in the kitchen and another room. The bathroom will be the last room we tear up, and the homeowner actually wants to expand it from the existing 3' x 5' size to something a bit larger, so walls will be torn out for that.

We're tired, but having a great time. Celine is making a speghetti sauce that smells wonderful to have for dinner with our co-workers tomorrow night.

We are having some technical difficulties with Blogger, so we'll try to publish photos tues. night.

Monday, October 15, 2007

We'll Be Back!

We left Paducah at 6 a.m. for our mission trip to New Orleans. After an exciting first pit stop in Blythville, Arkansas--where the rest stop consisted of two small trailers and a lot of red construction fencing, followed by a 24-hour C-Store with a sign in the window that said "be back in a few minutes"--we made great time getting here.

Once arriving in NOLA, we met Rev. Vance Moore of Westside Christian Church. Westside is the home of a DOC "mission station"--a building with 50 bunk beds, a full kitchen and dining area, and restrooms and showers. Very nice accomodations!!! After visiting with Brother Vance, and getting our bearings, we claimed our bunks, unloaded the van, and set off in search of groceries for the following day.

Later in the evening the second group working with Westside for this week arrived...a group from of five men from Indianapolis.

That's it for now! We're off to bed to rest up for our first day of work tomorrow!

Monday, October 08, 2007

Mission Team to Leave October 14th


The bags are getting packed and the plans have been finalized. Our Mission Team will be leaving this Sunday morning for New Orleans. The group will be helping families that were effected by Hurricane Katrina. Please keep this group in your prayers.
Mission Team Members:
John and Celine Dickson, Kathy McHaney Dudley Wagner