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.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Today we got up around 5:45, got ready, ate breakfast and hit the road for the work site a little before 7 a.m. One of our projects for the week is to help out a gentleman named Willy who lives in the 9th District. His home had water in it up to the ceiling and water was standing in his home for several weeks. He was displaced for a full year before he was able come home and begin the rebuilding process. Vance and mission station volunteers have been working on his home for about three weeks. All the electrical is done and a group from Tennessee hung all the drywall in the house the first week of January. Willy was so impressed with their work he said "there were 20 of them from Tennessee working on New Year's Day."

Our task for the day was to sand all the drywall mud on the walls and ceilings in order to make them smooth so that we could apply another coat of drywall mud. This process is called 'floating.' It is dusty, dirty work. Oh yeah, it is also very tiring for your arms. We all have a new found appreciation for those who do this for a living. We sanded and sanded. Then we sanded some more.

Then we put more mud on the walls so that we can go back tomorrow or Wednesday and you guessed it - sand some more. We packed up and called it a day around 4 p.m.

After our day of work we drove by the Pink Tents that are right along the 9th Ward levy. They are there as part of an intiative by Brad Pitt to re-build homes in this particular area. The tent you see is unoccupied, but will eventually house the homeless and eventually will be replaced with a permanent home.

As I write Jason is preparing our dinner - a cajun dish called Big Mamou.

Travel Day

After picking up everyone in the group, we hit the road around 6:30 a.m. We stopped just outside Jackson, Mississippi at Exit 108 (one of Dudley's favorite exits) for lunch at Applebees so that we could watch part of the Colts-Chargers playoff game. Coming into New Orleans, we took the Lake Ponchatrain Causeway which is a full 29 miles. We arrived at Westside Christian Church where the mission station is located around 4:30 p.m. Then we went for a shopping excursion to pick up food for our meals at the local Winn-Dixie, ate dinner, and returned for orientation from Vance Moore. We start bright and early tomorrow at 7 a.m. doing dry wall work.

First Mission Trip of 2008

Our first Mission Team of 2008 will be heading to New Orleans January 13th. They will be returning to Westside Christian Church and working with Brother Vance again. The leader for this trip is Jason McHaney. Tandy Jones, John Dickson, Jae Gottman and Dudley Wagner will also be going. Please pray for this group as they go to help Hurricane Katrina victims.