FCC Paducah - Mission Outreach

Last Days in NOLA May 1st and May 2nd

2008-05-11T18:00:00.003-05:00

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

2008-04-30T16:39:00.002-05:00

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

2008-04-27T20:49:00.002-05:00

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.

2008-01-18T16:21:00.000-06:00

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

2008-01-17T16:48:00.000-06:00

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

2008-01-16T16:38:00.000-06:00

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

2008-01-15T17:00:00.001-06:00

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

2008-01-15T17:00:00.000-06:00

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

2008-01-14T17:23:00.000-06:00

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

2008-01-13T21:08:00.000-06:00

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

2008-01-09T18:47:00.001-06:00

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.

Good Night, N'Awlins

2007-10-19T21:11:00.000-05:00

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.

Photos From Day 3 & 4

2007-10-18T22:03:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-18T21:26:00.001-05:00

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

2007-10-18T21:18:00.000-05:00

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.

Photos From Day 2

2007-10-17T17:21:00.001-05:00

Tuesday, October 16 -- Pews!

2007-10-16T19:52:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-16T19:42:00.000-05:00

Monday, Oct. 15

2007-10-16T07:22:00.000-05:00

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.

We'll Be Back!

2007-10-15T19:37:00.000-05:00

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!

Mission Team to Leave October 14th

2007-10-08T18:18:00.000-05:00

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

Next Mission Trip Scheduled For October 14, 2007

2007-09-24T20:59:00.000-05:00

First Christian Church will be sending a Mission Team to New Orleans in October. This is our 5th mission team in 2 years and our 4th mission team to head to the Gulf Coast. Please be praying for this team as they prepare to go to New Orleans.

Friday the 13th at the Exxon Station

2007-07-13T23:03:00.000-05:00

Greetings from the Exxon Station. Yes, most nights we come to the Exxon station to bring you our daily reports and for Ben to do his homework. It has a great Internet connection.

Today was our last day of work. They crew finished all of the painting today. Dudley finished installing the toilet for the house. It feels good to see some projects completed. The home should be complete in about 1 month.

Mariann took Mary back with her today to the Christian Care Center. They worked in the back room sorting clothes and going through donations that were brought in to the center. Today was dollar day, so the store was rather busy.

Tonight, the North Carolina group and FCC spent some time together. We went to eat at a wonderful Seafood restaurant. After returning to the church Mariann lead us in worship concluding with sharing communion together.

It has been a great week, but everyone is ready to head for home in the morning. We will leave about 7:00 A.M.

We want to thank Slidell for opening their home and heart to us.

The couple (Lee, Michelle, and Cooper) pictured opened their home to us to have a source of water and a bathroom.

This is Mary's childhood friend Jerry. She grew up with him in Louisiana.

Birthdays, Water, and Toilets...Oh My!

2007-07-12T17:09:00.001-05:00

Today is Meg’s Birthday. Happy Birthday Meg. We have enjoyed having her as part of our group. We are going to try to keep her instead of sending her back to her own church.

News Flash: It has been two nights since Ben has fallen out of bed (this does not include the time Mary pushed Ben out of bed for no apparent reason).

In other news, Drew awoke with a special surprise--- Pink Toe Nails. This is courtesy of Hannah and Jamie.

Today was another day of work at the Liberty Street House. The group finished chipping up the old flooring. Yeah!!!!!! Priming was also completed in the main living room and closets. We were able to get the water turned on today. The group worked on getting a pipe fixed in the kitchen. This involved tearing out dry wall, fixing the pipe, putting up dry wall and mudding the dry wall back in place. Tomorrow they hope to bring us a toilet that can be installed and used We will begin painting the walls in the morning. That may sound easy, but there is still no air conditioning and it is 300 degrees outside.

Today Mariann went to the Community Christian Concern office. This organization is much like our Paducah Cooperative Ministry. It is funded by local churches and civic organizations. They help with people getting emergency assistance. They also have a small food bank and a thrift store called Janet’s Korner . Their secretary was out for a while, so Mariann was quickly trained to complete intake forms so that people could see a counselor and receive help. After their secretary returned, Mariann went to help out in the thrift store. She spent some time sorting clothes and visiting with the people that came in to buy items of clothing for themselves and their family. She met lots of interesting people and listened to their stories about their survival of the Hurricane. She will return there tomorrow.

Look out New Orleans here we come.

Also included in our pictures today are ones of our trip to the 9th Ward yesterday.

If you would like to visit the website of the church where we're staying, go to http://www.firstchristianchurchdoc.com/. If you'd like more information about Community Christian Concern, visit http://www.slidellccc.org/.

FCC on Tour

2007-07-11T21:47:00.000-05:00

Our group continues to work at the Liberty Street home. Today we got to meet the mother and uncle of the owner of the house we are working on. We continue to remove tile from the floor and prime the walls for painting. Again today ,we had to unload a HEAVY load of flooring. Work continues to go smoothly.

Today was a half day of work for both groups. After meeting back a the church we headed off to New Orleans for a tour of the Hurricane damage. The trip in was amazing. Lots and lots of buildings still sitting as they were left after the hurricane. We saw apartments buildings where help was painted on the roofs.

We also visited the 9th Ward. It was a very emotional tour. There were whole neighborhoods that were just abandoned. In some cases there are just concrete slabs where a house once stood. In some of the pictures you will notice where they sprayed painted on the houses. This was done to identify homes with bodies, abandoned animals, and toxic flood waters.

After our tour we went into downtown New Orleans. We did a walking tour of the French Quarter. There is still evidence of how the wind damaged the downtown.

Below are pictures of the 9th Ward and downtown New Orleans.

Lights On!!!!!!!

2007-07-10T20:08:00.000-05:00

Our day began at 6:30 A.M. sharp with the call "Lights On!". After breakfast the groups headed for their work sites. The groups separated today to work on 2 different sites.
Our group went back to the Liberty House today. We are learning that we have skills such as scraping floor tiles and texturing the walls with joint compound that resembles an orange peel. Its ashame that we didn't have a tan color for the sprayer since we were covered from head to toe.

We continue to rely on the generous nature of the next door neighbor for our nature calls, however we think Ben has worn out our welcome since he would traispe over frequently today to work on the cross word puzzles in the bathroom!

Speaking of Ben, we need to add an item to our mission trips in the future -bumper pads for the air mattresses - he has fallen off his each night.
During the day, a huge thunderstorm approached the house. Our field coordinator Jamie was wiped-out from carrying supplies to the other job site. As the rain began to fall, Jamie stayed asleep on top of the plywood in the back of her truck. Ben is seen in the picture on his way to the house next door for word search time.

As we were leaving the work site, a truck load of HEAVY floor tile was delivered. We had to unload it in the pouring rain. Yet we found out that we had the easy task. The North Carolina group had to dig a trench in the pouring rain at their site. Mariann thinks she had the worst job of all today - sorting our dirty laundry and washing it! At least it wasn't in the pouring rain!

The church provided us with a wonderful potluck meal. Red Beans and Rice, Crawfish pie, and our standard chicken and dumplins. It was a wonderful time of food and fellowship. We may be the only mission group that gains weight while we are here.

LIGHTS OUT!

It's a hot one!

2007-07-09T22:49:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone!

We hope you enjoy reading this blog, because it is not easy to post it every night. After driving around several parking lots in Slidell, we finally found one where we can pick up a wireless Internet signal, as the church where we're staying does not have one. So, we have to park the van, and balance the computer on the armrest of the passenger seat in order to barely receive a signal. Just know that it ain't easy!

Today we went to orientation at Aldersgate Methodist Church which is across the street from where we're staying. This church is the headquarters for Northshore Disaster Recovery, with whom we're working this week. We're part of a group of about 300 volunteers this week working on different projects in Slidell. Today we were told how important we (and all the volunteers) are to the recovery effort. Slidell's population has increased from 35,000 to 75,000 since Katrina with virtually no increase in the workforce because most of the new residents are elderly. Workers are so scare that even McDonald's and Burger King pay kids $12 an hour to work behind the counter!

Our worksite is a house on Liberty Street in Slidell. It has been vacant since Hurricane Katrina hit. The lady who owns the house lives across the street in a FEMA trailer with her mother who has Alzheimer's Disease. We did not get to meet the owner since she works during the day.

The house has no electricity or water, so we have to get those two necessities from a next-door neighbor. The neighbor's house was also severely damaged by the hurricane, but she and her husband were able to return to it shortly after Christmas--just a few months after Katrina--and the house looks beautiful. Since volunteers helped them get back into their home, they offer their bathroom and electricity for the volunteers working next door.

We had to do a lot of waiting today for supplies and instructions, but we should not have that problem the rest of the week. Here's what we're doing to the house, in no particular order: scraping up old flooring (very difficult and time consuming); finishing drywall (not to difficult if you know what you're doing, like Drew and Hannah); texturing drywall (should be easy once we get a sprayer that works); priming drywall and ceilings (not difficult). Although most of these things are not difficult, having no air conditioning raises the bar quite a bit. Needless to say, we were ready to hit the showers when the workday was completed! They told us at orientation to drink 8 to 10 bottles of water a day, so we filled up a cooler to refill our bottles.

After we finally got to work on the house, we accomplished quite a bit in few hours. Then, we went back to the church for dinner. The North Carolina group made spaghetti, and we made garlic bread and salad. It was a good meal.

Afterwards, a few of us went to the mall and Starbucks just to get out of the small fellowship hall for a little while. Since it's about 11 now, we need to go back to the church and get some rest! Catch up with us again tomorrow!

The FCC Mission Team

Photo 1: The Northshore Disaster Recovery office flies the state (and country) flags of its volunteers for each week.

Photo 2: This is our group with the North Carolina group outside the church where we're staying.

Photo 3: Our orientation this morning with volunteers from all over the world.

Photo 4: Mary and Dudley survey the situation at the house where we worked today. (I don't think Mary wanted her picture taken.)

Photo 5: Meg does some priming in the house.

Mission Team Travels to Slidell Eating All the Way

2007-07-08T20:29:00.000-05:00

The Mission Team left F.C.C. at about 5:15 A.M. this morning. We have managed to eat our way across several states. We started out with Kathy McHaney's Homemade Blue Ribbon Biscuits. Yummy. Thanks Kathy.

It has now become Mission Trip tradition to eat at Ruby Tuesday's. This is where we had lunch.

We have also snacked on brownies baked by Rhona James and Chocolate Chip Cookies baked by Gail Wagner, and snacks provided by Drew's Grandmother. Thank you all very much!

We arrived safely in Slidell about 5:00 P.M. We will be staying at F.C.C. of Slidell. There is another group here from Walnut Cove, N.C.

A total of 14 people and 1 shower in our building. We will have to go over to the shower trailers at the Methodist Church. We will get our work assignment in the morning.

There are still signs of the awful effects of Hurricane Katrina. Many places are still not rebuilt as you can see in the pictures. One of the church members told us that 80% of Slidell was flooded.

Gotta Go

2007-06-29T07:29:00.000-05:00

Well, not much time to post today! We're headed to the train station a few hours early...guess why!

The FCC Mission Team

Our Last Day in DC

2007-06-28T23:00:00.000-05:00

So here goes the last official blog entry of our day in our Nation’s capital. Oh yeah, this is Hannah by the way. I figured I needed to write on the blog tonight because Ben always talks about how I’m either in the shower or just TOO busy to possibly write on here, so here it goes again.

Well for today’s job for my group (Ben, Kay, Allison, Chris, Jessica, Madison and I) went to Elder Buddies. It is a program run by a woman named Karen Greene who works for the AARP office. She has volunteers come into an apartment building, housing for low-income elderly, and clean out their rooms. She told us when we first got there that the tenants of the building are subject to inspections of their apartments and, for some of them, are evicted due to two things: 1. failure to pay rent due to high medical costs, or 2. failure to pass the inspection test due to lack of cleanliness.

We were then spilt up into smaller groups to assist two women in the cleaning process. Kay, Madison, Allison and I were fortunate to work with a WONDERFUL woman by the name of Jean Campbell. Ms. Campbell is a minister, and going through her cluttered apartment, we came to find out how strong her religious beliefs truly are. Allison and I first tackled a hard job of organizing a table with a bottomless pile of papers. When one thinks of this minor task they might think, “Well, luckily, today there will be little sweating.” Well I will have you know, I have NEVER EVER IN MY WHOLE LIFE sweated as much as I did in that apartment. This woman had been living in her apartment with NO AIRCONDITIONING for who knows how long and all she had to keep her cool was a small fan that I often found myself in front of (that is whenever Madison or Allison weren’t hogging it all). I think Kay, however, worked the hardest out of us all. She was some how fortunate to have the task of cleaning Ms. Campbell’s kitchen (with Allison’s help after we cleaned off the table), somehow eventually finding her way to the bottom of all the mess. Mark today down as another good, rewarding work day…if you are keeping score.

As for the other small group (Ben, Chris, and Jessica) they helped out a woman by the name of Ms. Jones. Ms. Jones is a retired military nurse of some kind from what little I heard about her and she needed some assistance organizing clothes. This group worked to help her get everything the way she wanted it, which as most of you know can be challenging for a woman, especially with her clothes.

After making MANY improvements to these women’s apartments, we caught our Metro (which was the best walk/metro ride we have had to a work site our entire trip…but what could have been worse than the 328 block trek earlier in the week?) back to Metro Center to grab some lunch. We had about had enough peanut butter and jelly this week so we decided to give away our lunches and go somewhere fun to eat. We ended up at a great sandwich place right down the street and then proceed to head on to Barnes and Noble soon after. After hitting up Starbucks and Madison getting a new DVD, Ben, Jessica, Allison, Chris and I headed on back to the church for reflection. After reflection and meeting up with the other part of our group who had been to Food and Friends (the organization my group went to yesterday) we once again split into two groups amongst ourselves and did our nighttime activities. Ben, Erin, Madison, Chris, Jessica, Cara and I ventured out (and when I say ventured, I MEAN ventured) to Tyson’s Corner shopping center. After a long afternoon/night of wrong trains, wrong buses, long buses, rain and fun we finally made it back to pack and prepare for tomorrows train ride. Everyone has been packing for the departure tomorrow morning to Union Station to catch our friend the Amtrak to, once again, ride our 15-hour adventure. The bags are mostly packed…well except for Cara who says she is already packed even though she has more stuff in MY suitcase then I do. So Cara, if you are missing anything when you get home, its more than likely in my suitcase.

Overall, I would say that this trip was a pretty good time. Between the YSOP dinners with the homeless people of DC to Erin’s face when Madison asked her to carry his bags on the broken escalator going up, I can honestly say I had a great time. Thanks to Ben especially for getting us all here and hopefully home one way or the other, we couldn’t have survived without you even if it seemed like we couldn’t stand you at times. Also thanks to Kay, Allison, Vicki and Erin for chaperoning us all here.

I hope that everyone got something out of this trip some how or some way, and I can say that I would do it again in a heartbeat…as long as I don’t have to sleep on those balloon animal sounds cots.

—Hannah

Photo 1: Erin and Vicki post with Chef Tim at Food & Friends.

Photo 2: Vicki and Erin's group helped pack meals for Food & Friends.

Another Day, Another PB & J

2007-06-27T23:00:00.000-05:00

Hello readers:

You might hear a complaint or two in this blog. Don’t get us wrong—we know that we have it so much easier than all the people we’ve been helping, but here in DC it’s hotter than I don’t know what. When you walk outside, you sweat, no matter what. To make things even worse, we’ve had to wear the same unwashed T-shirts every day for three days now, and we get to wear it once again tomorrow. In fact, I can now just stand my T-shirt in the corner every afternoon—no hanging or folding required. The most difficult thing for me to deal with so far, besides the sadness and disbelief of the conditions in which so many Americans live, is the number of rats that reside in the courtyard of the church where we’re staying. I’m pretty sure that Sunday night was the first time I’ve ever seen a rat in person, but I’ve seen plenty of them now. I’ve been surprised by their size, which I’d say is about the size of an average clothes iron, and their fearlessness. I keep trying to remember that at least I don’t have to sleep with them. We’ve had so much fun and fulfillment this week, though, that little things like these don’t matter. The challenge now, as one of the people with whom we worked yesterday told us, is to keep up our work from now on—it must become a regular part of our lives.
—Ben

Now you’re going to hear from Megan about what her group did today:

Erin, Vicki, Cara, Samantha, Kristy, and I traveled to The Milestone House. At The Milestone House we were greeted by a vibrant man named Mr. Barry. We had heard stories from other groups about Mr. Barry, but were pleasantly surprised by his kindness and warm smile. He showed us the facilities and described to us how the Home was operated.

Milestone House is an apartment-style building which houses around 35 people. The people who live in Milestone House are those who were homeless or those who are getting back on their feet. To live in the House the tenants have to pay one-third of their wages up to $650. One tenant now makes enough money to get a real apartment still chooses to live at the Milestone House. He does this because on Friday or Saturday evenings Barry drug tests all of the tenants. By remaining at Milestone House, this particular tenant feels as though this requires him to stay clean and drug free.

In the Milestone House, four tenants have their own rooms, share a common area, a kitchen area, and share two bathrooms. The building was bought in 1995 from the government for $1. As a former crack house, much work needed to be done in order to make it suitable for residents. The Milestone House borrowed $1.8 million dollars from the Fannie Mae Foundation and received several government grants. They proudly will pay off their ten-year loan to the Fannie Mae Foundation next month. Also within the building are a modest library, a computer room, a computer repair room, and a state-of-the-art gym. The computer repair room also functions as a classroom, which is open to the entire community to learn more about computers and the way they function. The gym was furnished after a wealthy benefactor won unneeded gym equipment from the Price Is Right.

After the tour was complete we split up into two groups of three. The best group, Vicki, Kristy and I headed upstairs to do some much needed cleaning. A tenant had vacated the apartment and now it needed to be cleaned in order for one of the sixty something people on the waiting list to move in. The furniture needed to be cleaned, the small refrigerator needed cleaning as well as the floors to be swept and mopped. Kristy, eager to not have to mop, volunteered to clean out the refrigerator. BIG MISTAKE!!! Upon opening the refrigerator, she was surprised at the disgusting state. Inside she found trays of old, yellow water, grease, and molded remnants of someone’s lunch. Vicki tackled the floors, only having to re-sweep and mop while Kristy spilled the trays of water from within the fridge. Vicki also tackled the film that remained on the windows. I wiped down the furniture and continued to gag as she wiped out crumbs and hair from within the seemingly endless number of drawers.

Meanwhile, Erin, Samantha and Cara cleaned the conference room. The conference had been damaged last week by a fire within the building on the third floor. A mop was left in the water heater closet to dry. One of the tenants forgot to take it out of the closet throughout the night. After several hours it fell and the mop end landed right near the pilot light of the hot water heater. That immediately set off the sprinkler system. Gallons upon gallons of water spilled out into the floor which traveled all the way down to the basement workout room from the third floor. The conference room had been painted and by a group preceding ours. Erin, Sam, and Cara now cleaned off the furniture, windows, floors, and an adjoining bathroom. The conference room houses a small kitchenette. The day before we arrived, Barry informed us, the garbage disposal had broken. He asked of us only one thing, PLEASE DON’T USE THAT SINK. So naturally what does Miss Cara Boyd do? Well, everyone was advised to bring a water bottle. Cara brought probably the biggest cup I’ve ever seen. We were about to depart the Milestone House, Cara decided she no longer needed her water because our work there was complete. So she turns before any of us can stop her and dumps out her cup. From below the sink, we all hear the water spilling out onto the freshly mopped floor. We quickly ran to the broom closet and got the mop back out and cleaned up the floor before Barry returned. We now closely monitor Cara and keep her on a leash. We then said our good-byes to Barry and had our picture taken with him outside of the Milestone House. Tomorrow our group will head to Food ‘N Friends to serve food for those with HIV/AIDS and other terminal illnesses.
—Megan

This is Ben again, to tell you what my group did today. By the way, I’ve tried to get everyone to write this blog, but there are not many takers. I think it’s nice to see other people’s point of view, because they notice and experience things that I do not, so maybe, before the trip is over (one more day, really) you’ll get to hear from almost everyone. Until then, though, you’ll have to get your information from me.

Hannah, Chris, Madison, Jessica, Kay, Allison and I went to Food and Friends, an organization that feeds people with HIV/AIDS and other life-challenging, terminal illnesses. This organization does not rely on donated food, as many of the homeless shelters do, because all their clients are immuno-compromised due to their illnesses. Food and Friends is a beautiful facility that seems to do everything to perfection. They have an extremely nice kitchen, where Hannah, Chris, Jessica and Kay helped prepare meals. Allison, Madison and I did some administrative work. When it was time for lunch, the three of us took a break and went to get our peanut butter sandwiches that we pack every day for our lunch. One of the employees there saw what we were about to eat and insisted that he bring us something from upstairs. So we had no choice but to eat lasagna, vegetables and apple cobbler from the kitchen. Our group members who had been working so hard in the kitchen got a cookie from the head chef, and were sent downstairs for their PB and J sandwiches, just as we were finishing up. Needless to say, they were a little angry, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles (no pun intended).

If you would like more information on Food and Friends, you can visit their web page at http://www.foodandfriends.org/.

After we finished our work for today, we were able to do some sightseeing. We began at the Holocaust Museum. If you ever have the chance to visit this museum, please do so. I cannot say that visiting this museum is a pleasant experience by any stretch of the imagination, but it is something everyone should see. It is absolutely unbelievable to me that so many people could be coerced into believing that it is acceptable to kill people, not just because of their religion, but for their race, their mental and physical disabilities, their sexuality, or any other reason for that matter. The museum is truly an overwhelming experience, and I could never, ever describe it adequately.

Afterwards, we had a “Monuments by Moonlight” tour of the nation’s capital. It was great fun riding in a trolley and seeing the city. We saw the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the World War II Memorial (which is incredible), the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, the White House, and many other important sites.

Tomorrow is our last full day in DC. Be sure to check out our latest adventures soon!

The FCC Mission Team

Photo 1: The kids in front of the Washington Monument.

Photo 2: Chris and Madison having fun at Food & Friends.

Photo 3: Ben's group finished with a day's work at Food & Friends.

Finding our purpose

2007-06-26T23:00:00.000-05:00

Hello again, faithful readers! Today you’re going to here from several people on the trip—not just me, so enjoy! Samantha, Cara, Megan, Kristy, Vicki and Erin worked at a women’s shelter called N Street Village, and Hannah, Chris, Jessica, Madison, Allison, Kay and Ben worked at a men’s shelter called Central Union Mission.
—Ben

Today has been a very good day. Yesterday was ok, but I didn’t feel the sense of accomplishment that today brought. From the moment we entered the shelter until we left, the people made us feel very welcome. James was in charge of the kitchen. He was helpful, appreciative, and praised every task that was completed. After we finished prep for the noon meal he said we should sit down and take a break. He had gained the respect of our youth by his attitude in the kitchen. He began talking about his life. He had been one of the fortunate ones in terms of family and examples that had been set but he began to tell about the choices he had made that led to his being homeless. We went to the shelter thinking we would be helping them but we were on the receiving end.
He gave more to our youth and us in that short time than we gave the people at the shelter.
—Kay

Hey, everybody it is Allison. Today has been a very enlightgening day. I have been reminded how very BLESSED you and I are in this world. When I have my “poor pitiful me” days, I will be reminded of the individuals I have met here in our National Capital.
Today we worked in a soup kitchen. We each had several different jobs. One of the jobs I had was to make bacon bits for the salad. I was like Paula Dean and making BIG BITES and James the guy in charged told me we had to make the bacon last so I had to finely chopped the bacon. Hopefully I will become less wastefully in the future. I do pray that the youth will take some of the information the homeless are trying to pass on to them about choices.
—Allison

So far this mission trip has been a very humbling experience for me. Today, my group went to N Street Village, which is a homeless shelter for women only. The volunteer coordinator gave us a tour of the facility and explained all the programs and services they offered. They provide dental, chiropractic, massage, and basic healthcare for their clients. It was a very nice and clean facility. After the tour of the building, the volunteer coordinator gave us our project for the day. We (almost) put together two armoires. Vicki, Megan and Kristy completely finished one of the armoires. My group seemed to have a little more difficulty with the instructions. Cara, Samantha, and I worked very hard on the project; we just didn’t catch on as quickly as the other group. We walked to and from the facility. It was very hot and I feel like I have sweat since we got here.
I have to go to bed now. Hope everything is going well in P-Town. I love you: mom, dad, and Evan (you too, Bethany).
—Erin

When asked to come on this mission trip I was really excited about the good times with all of the people going. The really, really, REALLY long train ride was miserable and the conditions of the church we are staying in are kind of (and by kind of I mean REALLY REALLY) old and disgusting. So for the first two days (Sunday and Monday) everyone seemed to complain A LOT , myself included. But, today was the first day I felt a sense on completion and accomplishment not only for myself but towards others. We were sent on a half marathon trek (F street to R street with a few random name streets in between) to an all-men’s shelter, where we were given the opportunity to prepare lunch and dinner for the men staying the shelter. I was given the task of chopping up the onions, celery and green peppers for this odd concoction that appeared to be spaghetti sauce. If you have ever been with me in a kitchen or if you were in my group today you know that I am not exactly the cleanest cook, and poor Jessica had to sweep up my mess 3 different times…thanks again Jessica. So after we helped make the food and heard about the mission of the shelter we trekked on back to the church (but stopping somewhere between here and there for our gourmet lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and apple sauce) to get ready to cook for the meal we were to prepare for tonight.

So if you have read everyone else’s post on the blog thus far, you can see what we did tonight and how amazing it was…I wont bore you with the same story again. But I will say this, all the complaining that we all did during our trip up to today, I regret because I have seen the other side now. I have a newfound sense of compassion for what I have and don’t want to take advantage of it. So although the showers are still gross and I am still deathly afraid the track running around the circumference of our room may cave in on my head at any moment, I can appreciate the reason I am on this trip. Too bad you all aren’t here to sweat it out with us.

Mom, sorry I haven’t called but I know you are reading this cause you live for this blog and you now know every detail of this trip (love you!) and dad, well the same I guess, if you even know how to get to this on a computer. I hope everything is going well in P-town.
—Hannah

Hey everyone! This is Jessica, Kay’s Granddaughter. This mission trip has been an experience. Today we helped out in the kitchen and did a few cleaning things like sweeping and washing off tables and counter tops but I think my favorite part of the day was when we finished, James or D-Bone sat down with us and just shared a little bit of his story. He told us how he gave into peer pressure when he was younger and was at the wrong place at the wrong time and how slowly but surely bad things just crept into his life. And I think a lot of teens can relate to that because there is so much peer pressure in today’s society. You really have to be focused on what you want to accomplish and go for it.

Later, we fixed dinner for the homeless people and my group was assigned to fix the bread. This entailed cutting it, buttering it, and adding salt and cheese. Well let’s just say we kind of had a hard time with the cooking instructions and it ended up taking twice as long as it should have, as a matter of fact I think we were the last people done. Meeting all the homeless people was very humbling, they are all so happy and to tell you the truth if I was in their position I don’t know if I would be that happy. They were so grateful; every time I asked someone if they would like some more tea or something to eat they would say, “Yes Ma’am” or “No thank you, I’m fine” and then tell me happy they were to be here. It made me really think about some of the things I take for granted and how it could all be gone tomorrow. Overall I was very impressed with everyone and everything. I’m having a pretty good time and all of the kids and adults are awesome, I’m glad I came.
—Jessica

When I was helping prepare lunch at Central Union Mission, I couldn’t believe the quality of the food we had to use. I had to go through a box of rotten, slimy lettuce (I’m not exaggerating) to find edible leaves for BLT sandwiches. This was lettuce that we would never even consider using in our own homes, but toward the center of each lettuce head, I did find a few decent-looking leaves that I washed and dried. We also made a salad that started out with a huge bowl of fresh-looking lettuce, but then we added the chicken and parmesan cheese from about 30 pre-packaged Caesar salads in which the lettuce had gone bad, along with the individually packaged cheese, peppers, black beans and corn that were meant for southwestern omelets. In addition, I grated six pounds of cheese that expired last October, but at least it was Velveeta. My point to all this is that, to me, it seems unfair that if you hardly ever get a decent meal, it should at least be fresh, and not a meal that might make you sick. It also makes me feel bad a bout the times I’ve had a fully stocked fridge and cupboard, but went to Kroger to buy something else, just because I wasn’t in the mood for what I already had at home.
—Ben

Photo 1: Kay was the resident dishwasher at Central Union Mission today.

Photo 2: Chris and Allison prepare the bacon for BLT's at Central Union.

Photo 3: Sam and Cara put together an armoire at the N Street Village.

Photo 4: Rachael Ray's got nothing on Hannah!

Photo 5: Madison helps clean up the kitchen at Central Union.

Photo 6: Sam and Cara play Uno with a man who ate at the dinner we prepared.

A much better day!

2007-06-25T22:44:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone!

This is Ben again, since Erin and Hannah are still in the shower.

Today we met in the commons room at the church at around 7 a.m. We had to make our lunches, which consisted of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, applesauce, a fruit punch Capri Sun and granola bar choice. We will be enjoying this meal every day while we’re here, by the way. We also helped make lunches for another group who didn’t get to the church until around 8 a.m. This group is from the First Church of Lombard, Illinois. They are a UCC church and brought about 60 kids with them, and that’s not even all of their youth group. If all their youth group members have really strong personalities like the members of our group, their sponsors are in for a challenge! There is not enough room for them to stay here with us, so they are staying at a nearby youth hostel. We are enjoying having the whole gym to ourselves.

So this morning after making lunch we had breakfast here at the church—bagels and cream cheese from Au Bon Pain, which is a little bakery right next door to the church. After breakfast we had an orientation meeting with the other groups, where we were told exactly what we would be doing today.

Everyone here this week has been divided into smaller groups, and our group has been divided into two separate groups. The red group is Ben, Kay, Allison, Madison, Jessica, Hannah and Chris, and the blue group is Erin, Vicki, Samantha, Cara, Megan and Kristy. Each day we will be going to separate destinations, but today, both our groups went together to the Capital Area Food Bank.

The Capital Area Food Bank is the largest, public nonprofit hunger and nutrition education resource in Washington DC metropolitan area. Each year the CAFB distributes 20 million pounds of food, including six million pounds of fresh produce through over 700 member agencies. They sponsor classes for lower income people to teach them how to make nutritious meals and snacks on a budget. They also have a Kids’ Café, in which they teach kids to make their own food.

We took the Metro to the food bank, where we were assigned two different jobs. One group packed more than 400 bags of food for students who probably do not have much to eat on the weekends. The bags consisted of cans of luncheon meat and chicken breast, a box of macaroni and cheese, sunflower seeds and a juice box. The other group stuffed, stamped and sealed more than 700 envelopes that were sent to the food bank’s member agencies. As a side note, Hannah and Cara were called down for being too loud while stuffing envelopes in one of the offices at the food bank.

One of the main areas of DC that the food bank services, called ward 8, has only two supermarkets for more than 100,000 people. By contrast, most other areas have a major supermarket for every 15,000 people. So, if a person living in ward 8 does not have a car, or money for transportation, or is disabled, they have a very difficult time obtaining healthy food. One of the purposes of the food bank is to fill this gap by distributing food to people in this area.

After leaving the food bank, we went to the CVS near the church to buy some breakfast foods, soft drinks and other miscellaneous supplies. When we returned to the church, we had a snack (Club crackers, whipped cream cheese spread and water) and reflection time about everyone’s experiences for the day.

After the reflection, we were headed to the National Museum of Natural History. On the way out of the church, however, we struck up a conversation with Francine, who works for a newspaper called “Street Sense” written for homeless people to sell. She began telling us all about the paper and invited us to come visit the paper’s office (which is in the same church where we’re staying) where we met other people who work for the paper. We heard some interesting stories and ended up buying 13 copies of their paper and five copies of their book “Street Verses” which contains poems written by homeless people. Francine was excited that her recipe for scalloped potatoes, along with her picture, was in the current edition of the paper.

After visiting with Francine and company, we headed to the museum where we saw an Imax movie about lions in 3-D. We learned that elephants do not enjoy lions whatsoever, and tend to take charge of the situation whenever they’re around. The female lions do all the hunting, but as soon as they’ve killed a gazelle, the male lion comes and takes it away to eat. The females then have to go kill another gazelle. You’d think those gazelles would get a clue after seeing so many of their loved ones being attacked and eaten. I guess they just think, “That won’t happen to me.”

After the touring the museum, we headed to Chinatown, where we ate at everyone’s favorite Chinatown destination—Ruby Tuesday, where some of us got excellent service and others (namely Chris) got really poor service. While eating, Hannah was convinced that she knew a man sitting at an adjacent table, but did not want to confront him about it. Cara decided to ask him his name when she ran into him at the salad bar and she told Hannah that his name was Dan. The name didn’t ring a bell, but as he was leaving, Hannah told him she was sure he knew him. She asked him where he was from, and he’s from Fort Worth, Texas, and she met him just a couple of weeks ago at Frog Camp at TCU. It’s a small world after all!

Right outside Ruby Tuesday, a homeless man asked for bus fare. Chris and Kay gave him some money, and we learned that he was from Lexington, Kentucky. He was familiar with YSOP and he was trying to get to a shelter before curfew. He had just gotten a job today pouring cement, so hopefully he will be back on his feet soon. It was really interesting talking to him and finding out his point of view on different issues. We also had the chance to buy dinner for another homeless person.

After Hannah’s sighting of the man she knew from Texas, Jessica thought she saw a WNBA player for Mystics at the Subway station. When she was too scared to ask her about it, our brave little Cara confronted the woman, only to find out that Jessica was mistaken. This led to a string of mistaken celebrity sightings at the subway station, including Danny DeVito and Reba McEntire.

We headed back to the church after that for showers and bed. It takes a long time to take a shower here because there are only two for males and two for females, and they have the water pressure of slow-leaking faucet. The temperature of the water changes from freezing cold to boiling hot with each drop. Another interesting note about the showers is that we share them with homeless people, although not simultaneously. They use the showers while we’re doing work during the day.

Let’s see…what else did we learn today? We learned to stand on the right-hand side of the escalator in order to avoid death looks from commuters.

Tomorrow, we are all getting up at 5 a.m. to jog around the block a few times before breakfast. (Just making sure you’re still reading!)

We are having a really good time here in DC, and hopefully we are making our congregation and city proud.

The FCC Mission Team

Photo 1: Jessica and Chris make lunches while Madison enjoys a cup of water.

Photo 2: Cara and Vicki show a little love on the Metro on the way to the Capital Area Food Bank.

Photo 3: The team prepares bags of food for underprivileged children and their families.

Photo 4: The team takes advantage of a photo op in front of a Pakistani painted bus.

Photo 5: Madison in front of the Smithsonian.

Photo 6: ???

One of these days, we'll look back and laugh...

2007-06-24T21:32:00.001-05:00

Hello,

This is Ben writing the blog today. It’s rather long, because a lot has happened already!

Our trip to Washington DC got off to an interesting start to say the least. It began rather normally, with no problems during the drive to Cincinnati. We arrived in Cincinnati at around 8 p.m. and checked into our hotel, which was only about a mile from the train station where we were to catch our train at 3:14 a.m.

After checking into the hotel, we decided to go out for dinner. We walked around Fountain Square, which was full of people watching a movie on a giant outdoor screen. We found the Rock Bottom Brewery and enjoyed a good meal there, then we headed back to the hotel.

We had decided we would leave the hotel at around 2 a.m. to make sure we had plenty of time to board the train. In the meantime, I decided to call Amtrak just to make sure the train was running on time. The information line said that the train was running 28 minutes late and wouldn’t be leaving until 3:42 a.m. So, we decided to leave around 2:30 so we wouldn’t have to wait around in the train station.

Using our Mapquest (use at your own risk, by the way) directions, we made a few turns and looked for exit 1H, the one we were supposed to take for the train station. We saw exits 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F and 1G, then exit 2. So exit 1H doesn’t exist. “No big deal,” we thought, since we still had more than an hour before the train was to depart Cincinnati. Kay, Vicki and Allison were following us in Kay’s car, so I called Vicki and told her what we were doing. We took exit 2, and decided we would head back in the right direction. There happened to be a 24-hour McDonald’s at that exit, so I decided to stop for a cup of coffee, since we still had at least an hour before the train departed. As I was paying for my cup of coffee, my phone rang. I noticed Cincinnati’s 513 area code in the caller ID, and couldn’t imagine who it could be.

I answered, and the man on the line asked to speak to Erin, so I handed the phone to her. I heard her explaining to the man how the train was delayed according to Amtrak’s 800 number. She hung up and said the train was leaving in 15 minutes. She tried to explain to them what their information line told us, and he rudely told her not to argue with him.

We were between the drive-thru windows, and I had paid for my coffee, but not picked it up yet. Needless to say, I peeled out of the line, and headed to the train station. It was like a chase scene from the Dukes of Hazzard: Church-van Style, with the only near-casualty being a man filling a newspaper vending machine on a corner we cut a little too close. We found the exit for the train station and took it. Kay, Vicki and Allison, however, did not—we saw them go right past it.

And so began the most stressful chain of events that I’ve experienced so far in my life.

We were unloading luggage like crazy people, and I was trying to manage my luggage as well as two telephone conversations at once. We were trying to stay in contact with Vicki, as well as get all the kids to the boarding gate. No one in the missing party was sure where they were or where they were going, and I knew that another train wouldn’t be heading to DC until Tuesday. We were all praying that everyone would make it on time, but it was also difficult to manage our anger (or my anger) at the Amtrak employees who could not seem to fathom why we were late.

When we told them what their information line said, they told us that the information was unreliable. “No $#*%,” I thought, or might have even said. They told us repeatedly that the train would not wait for anyone.

While everyone was getting ready to board the train, I was out in the parking lot trying to get the others to the train station. When Vicki said, “I see it!” referring to the giant clock (the irony!) on the front of the train station you can imagine the sense of relief I felt knowing that I would not have to single-handedly strap myself to the tracks in front of the train to keep it from leaving, like people do to prevent their favorite tree from being cut down or save an old building from the wrecking ball.

As everyone made their way to the platform, Kay, Vicki and I noticed some of our party’s luggage that was still in the waiting area with no one there to carry it. I still don't know how the three of us got all that luggage to the platform, up and down all those stairs and ramps. Seriously, we were so loaded down that we stopped just short of being like that African tribe that balances their every possession on top of their heads.

When we finally got on the train and sat down, and the conductor started checking our tickets, I had tears in my eyes—I guess from both stress, and the relief that we were all on board together and safe. The fact that I had been awake for nearly 24 hours probably also played a part. Anyway, the conductor told me not to worry, that everything was going to be ok.

Once everything was calm and the train was moving, I thought about how I had acted during those stressful minutes, and I didn’t like what I was remembering. Instead of keeping my cool, I snapped at Erin, who had done nothing but help me. I also barked orders to a few of the kids. I even got in the face of a woman I didn’t know about the extra luggage I had been carrying. “Whose bag is this?!?” I was shouting. She just looked at me, and, not lowering my voice I said, “I don’t even know you!” As you might imagine, running into her on the train later was more than a little awkward.

So, I’ve decided that I will try my hardest to handle such situations more diplomatically and more Christian-like in the future.

After a long, long time on the train, we finally made it to DC, where the stress met us once again. It was difficult getting everyone and everything off the train, and on to the subway, but we did it. Everyone handled things a little better this time, even when at the very moment we all boarded an escalator, it ceased to move.

We found the Church of the Epiphany, where we’re staying, very quickly, and Ali L. greeted us at the door. She is an intern for Youth Opportunities Service Project, with whom we’re working on this trip. She oriented us to the building and the area around us, and told us some of the exciting things we’ll be doing this week.

We’re staying in the upstairs gymnasium of the church, which is really old. There is an elevated track that runs the circumference of the gym, but we were told to stay off of it, as it is not sound.

We ate at a McDonald’s about a block away from the church, then went back to the church to take showers and go to bed.

Stay tuned for more adventures, and keep us in your prayers!

The FCC Mission Team

Photos 1 and 2: The group enjoying a nice meal at the Rock Bottom Brewery in Cincinnati before the train debacle.

Photo 3: Hannah, Megan, Cara and Sam wait for breakfast to be served on the Cardinal.

Photo 4: Vicki and Kay try to catch some Z's on the train.

Photo 5: Ben and Erin take a moment from their Railroad French Toast to pose for a photo.

Youth Are On Their Way! Washington D.C. Here We Come!!!

2007-06-23T15:28:00.001-05:00

The F.C.C. Youth and their Adult Sponsers pulled out of the church parking lot at 12:26 P.M. today. They are headed to Cincinnati to catch the train that will take them to Washington D.C. where they will be doing their mission work at a local shelter and soup kitchen.

Please keep this group in your prayers this week.

We Are On The Road Again!

2007-06-20T17:05:00.002-05:00

F.C.C. will be hitting the road again with two upcoming mission trips.

On Saturday June 23, 2007 our youth and adult leaders will be headed to Washington D.C. for a mission trip. While there they will be working with the homeless. They will return June 29th. Those that will be going are: Chris Wadlington, Samantha Jones, Madison Berry, Hannah James, Cara Boyd, Jessica Wyatt, Kristy Graziano, Megan Dewey, Ben Morehead, Erin Lyles, Vicki Jones, Allision Clark, and Kay Henry.

On Sunday July 8,2007 an adult mission team will be headed to Slidell, LA. While there the mission team will be rebuilding/repairing homes that were affected by Hurricane Katrina. Those that will be headed to Slidell are Ben Morehead, Dudley Wagner, Mary Boaz, Hannah James, Drew Martin, and Mariann Lankton.

Please keep all of these folks in your prayers. More updates will be posted in the upcoming days.

More Pictures of Day 3 & 4

2006-07-13T22:12:00.000-05:00

These are some pictures that Micah took in our adventures in Beaumont....

Picture #1 - Carl, our head honcho, and leader of Vision Builders for Disciples of Christ
Picture #2 - Our three Disciples Homeland Missions interns, posing on Fiesta day!

Picture #3 - The work continuing at Temple of Praise! We have replaced their roof, given a room a new ceiling, begun siding, and hope to finish a new handicap ramp by the end of tomorrow.

Picture #4 - The statement at the front of the sanctuary at Temple of Praise... it says "Look how far we have come with the Lord!"

Picture #5 - A FEMA trailer, they all seem to be the same size...the family we visited with has four people living in this small trailer.

Picture #6 - Some of the hurricane damage we have seen in our visit....

Picture #7 - Inside the damaged church we visited....amazing to see what withstood the winds...
Picture #8 - The attendance roll in the damaged church...still standing...wall it is on is 95% gone.

Picture # 9 - Micah climbs up on the scaffolding to put trim on the siding - it is HOT up there!

Day Three and Four

2006-07-13T07:41:00.000-05:00

Wednesday Hannah, Micah and Celine worked on the dry wall in the Temple of Praise computer lab. The put mud on the sheet rock. Now when you get ready to do dry wall in your home you know who to call. Roof work also continued as well as the new entry way on the church. Some of our members went to a local children's home to work some projects there.

All of the groups quit work about 12:30 to have the afternoon for some touring of the damage caused by Hurricane Rita. Our group went to see the Ramseys. This is the group that the first mission team helped in early May. They were very glad to see us and invited us into their home for a tour of the work that has been done. Progress is being made on their house, but sadly this is the last week that work will be going on in their house. This is due to the fact that their money has run out and they are having to fight with the insurance company for payment.

We also went by this Seventh Day Adventist Church. Notice that the steeple is still standing. While at the church we were attacked by a very mean group of mosquitos. We could hear them discussing if they were going to eat us there at the church or take us off and eat us later. When we tried to get in the van they followed us in the van. We spent the first five minutes trying to get them all swatted so we could drive home.

We ended our day with a trip to Whataburger for dinner and a trip to the mall for some fun.

Today (Day Four) has been a wide variety of activities for all of us. Micah and Hannah did more mudding work. They also did some siding work on Temple of Praise. Kent worked on the roof and that job has been completed.

Ben, Erin,, Beverly Celine, and Mariann went to Port Arthur to work on several projects. We first cleaned out a couples attic. Their roof has been fixed twice and is still leaking. So 42 years worth of stuff had to be brought down to the garage.

Next, this same group went to Victory Christian Church to start removing nails and a ceiling from the parsonage. It was hot itchy work.

John worked on the front porch of Temple of praise and then went cut brush away from a house that is going to be torn down.

Tonight we had a meal prepared for us by Temple of Praise. Micah was trying to figure out how to box us the left over to bring back to Kentucky. She says we don't know how to fix BBQ in Kentucky. We had brisket, chicken, and sausage, dirty rice, baked beans, potato salad, homemade rolls, and every kind of dessert that you can image. Are you hungry yet? Do you wish you had come?

Then the best came last. Our group was in charge of worship. And tonight we went to Church. The ministry team from Temple of Praise and F.C.C. of Paducah combined for spirit filled worship service. The neat thing about it was that it really just came together in a very God lead way. Temple of Praise started our music and began our worship. It was wonderful. We then came together as a group, with FCC leading the group in communion. Like I said we went to church tonight. Amen!!!!!

Tomorrow is our last day of work. We will be leaving tomorrow afternoon and driving to Little Rock and then in to Paducah on Saturday. It has been a week of very hard work, but we have come away with a whole lot a blessings. Even though we will be glad to get home on Saturday it will be sad to leave all the new people that we have met.

Thank you to everyone who has supported our mission effort to Texas. Start praying about Mission Trip Three because there is still much work to be done.

Work Day #2

2006-07-11T22:06:00.000-05:00

We got off to a slow start on Monday but today we really hit our stride today. The interns declared today make a new friend day. One part of our group returned to Temple Christian Church to work on the roof and part of our group stayed behind to work on our very hospitable host church, Northwood Christian Church. Kent, Erin and John worked hard on the roof and new front entry of the church! Way to go! In the time we have been here, the roof of the church has been transformed to new! Mariann, Micah, Hannah, Beverly, Ben, & Celine scraped their little hearts out ripping out the water damaged 40-year old carpet and scrapping out the floor glue. Awesome job! When we started it was a mess - when we left it was all gone! Check out the pictures of the progress.

Today we took a break from our hard work for some group bonding at Casa Ole - on Micah's recommendation - good dip! Queso, hot sauce, and green sauce - yummy! We have really gotten to know each other in just the two short days we have been here!

On our way to our group break, we met our new friend Connie. She was walking through the church parking lot as we were leaving for our break. She asked if we would give her a ride, because her normal walk to work would take her 45 minutes. It was at least 95 degrees and we told her to jump on in at shot gun. We gave her a ride to Waffle House, and she was surprised when we offered to come back in pick her up. We came back around 9pm - Ben, Hannah, Erin & Micah enjoyed a coke while we waited for our new friend Connie. She was so happy that someone was excited to see her. We joked and laughed while we talked about birthdays, anniversaries, and jobs. Ben met a co-worker of Connie's that had the same birthday as him - January 7 - so we had a mini-celebration for them. We took Connie home, and while we were driving to Krystal Burger to use the free internet, we all agreed that we had been blessed by Connie even if it was just for a ride. She reminded us not to take ourselves so seriously, and to remember that things are not always as bad as they seem. Connie is our new friend!

Today we felt that our gifts and talents were used to their best ability! We are hopeful and excited about what tomorrow has in store. As John would say, Uff Dah! As Hannah would say, Hoo Haw! As Micah would say, Yee Haw!

Work Day 1 - Pictures!

2006-07-10T21:28:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures of us in action....

Aren't we cute!

Hard at Work!

Way to go!

Fabulous in Red!

The Mission Begins, HOT, HOT, HOT!!!!!!!!

2006-07-10T15:13:00.000-05:00

Our mission work has begun. We are apart of a 42 person mission team from Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania.

We left for the work site about 7:30 this morning. We are currently working on a small Disciple church that was damaged by Hurricane Rita. Temple of Praise Christian Church has about 50 members. We are putting on a new roof over the fellowship hall, tearing out a damaged ceiling in their computer lab, adding siding to the outside of the building, and replacing a handicap accessible entrance. We also have a crew back at Northwood tearing out carpet in their sanctuary.

It has been a very hot day here. The heat index is to reach 10P4 by the end of the week. We are drinking lots of water. Needless to say this entry is hot off the press.

Yes, this is Micah and she is doing the dishes. I know that is hard to believe for some folks, but I was an eye-witness to the event.

2006-07-09T20:14:00.000-05:00

The van pulled away this morning from the church parking lot at 5:00 A.M. Today we rode and we rode and then we rode some more. Along the way we saw the landscape of Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas. Along the way we snacked on cookies made by the McHaney family , snacks furnished by the C.W.F. and Sandwiches made by Nettie Ruth Bingham and Alama Fritts. Everything was delicious.

It has been an eventful day. We crossed the Texas border twice. Yes Twice. Someone missed the turn and we went through Texarkana two times. Texarkana is twice as nice.

We arrived at Northwood Christian Church at about 6:50 P.M. This is where we will be staying for the next 6 nights.

We haven't heard what our job will be tomorrow. They will tell us in the morning. We will be working with a group from Indiana and Pennsylvania.

Blessings and Peace,

Texas Mission Group #2

On the Road Again

2006-07-06T17:02:00.000-05:00

It is time to hit the road again. The second mission group will be leaving Sunday at 5:00 A.M. for Texas. Mariann Lankton, Micah James, Hannah James, Kent Price, John and Celine Dickson, Ben Morehead, Erin Lyles, and Beverly Craig will be spending July 9th-July 15th in Texas helping with Hurricane Rita relief. Please keep the mission team in your prayers.

Reconstruction Begins

2006-05-11T22:14:00.000-05:00

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.

Wednesday - Unforeseen Adventures in Construction

2006-05-10T22:30:00.000-05:00

Each night after cleaning up and eating dinner we have a time of devotion and game planning for the next day. Our plan for Wednesday was to complete a few last tear out projects and move on to doing some drywall work. The main focus for our work today was going to be reconstructing the small bedroom off of the kitchen. The group had noticed that the ceiling was sagging or bowing in the middle. Since the home is almost 80 years old no one thought too much about it - that's what happens in older homes. We will work around it.

During one of her routine stops by the house to check out our progress the site manager, Kim, asked about the bowed ceiling. She was watching and asking questions about how the ceiling was going to be drywalled, all the while sitting on the steps that looked into the room from the exposed wall. This exposed wall allowed her not only to see into the room we were working in, but to also see very clearing into the section of attic over the room being worked on. Kim noticed that the ceiling joists holding the ceiling up were in poor condition and that structurally it was unsafe. Andy went upstairs to investigate and came up with a game plan to help stabilize the ceiling and remove the bowing. The only problem was that Andy and Phil spent considerable time in the attic working on a project we did not plan on doing. This also meant that the rest of the work crew had to work on small jobs until the room was safe to resume work. Jason built a huge t-bar that was used to brace the ceiling and raise it up to the proper level and then the guys in the attic secured it - fixing the problem. We are blessed to have some talented people on this trip.

Once the ceiling was back in place the next phase of the project could being. Strips of 2x4 had to be nailed on onto the ceiling so that sheet rock could be connected to something of substance to form the new ceiling. This was no small feet but Andy, Del, and Jason got it done. Ben, Phil, and I cut lumber and took care of details as they arose.

Kay and Judy provided a fantastic lunch and helped clean up some of the messes we made as well as placing a new bracket in the living room for an existing ceiling fan.

The next big adventure surrounded the replacement of a window in the room. The old window was hanging in there by a prayer. Jason built a new structural support, bracing, and framing for a new, bigger window to be installed.

At the end of the day from an outsiders perspective it didn't look like much had been accomplished. Yet, from an insiders view the group got a whole lot done that will serve the house and the family well into the future and provide a safe living environment for them.

Tomorrow the group hopes to begin the process of drywalling and then taking a short trip to Port Arthur to see hurricane damage and then traveling on to Sabine Pass which was the epicenter of Hurricane Rita. This location was also highlighted on a recent episode of Extreme Makeover because of the new firestation that was built for the town. Pray that our efforts go as planned tomorrow.

Day 2 - May 9, 2006 -- Tear Out Continues

2006-05-09T19:53:00.000-05:00

Today the group continued tearing out damaged portions of the home in which we are working. The eight of us split up into three different work groups.

Andy Champion worked in a very hot attic putting in additional bracing to keep the roof from sagging. The temperature in the attic had to be well over 100 degrees.

Del Fleming and Jason McHaney worked on a small bedroom in the older portion of the home which was built around 1928. They took off the sheet rock to find two layers of very old wallpaper underneath. Wall paper that was made out of fabric and still in decent condition. The home belonged to the wife, Alice's family. She grew up there and was child number 11 out of 13. Four siblings stayed in this particular room that Del and Jason worked in - which was barely big enough to hold 2 twin beds and a dresser.

Under the wallpaper, was a mismash of very old lumber. They also took down the ceiling. The structure underneath was in sore shape so there will be some reconstruction that will take place tomorrow in that room and some structural support work. The third group was Phil Justice, Ben Henry, and Papa J. The third group tore out paneling in the stairway heading up to the master suite as well as paneling on the walls in the newer portion of the house which is a family room.

Papa J. also got the fun job of cutting up insulation to fit in between ceiling and roof joists to keep outside air from easily entering the house.

Kay Henry and Judy Fleming took care of our grocery needs for the week and planned a menu. They then brought us a great lunch at the site and helped in the removal of debris that was created throughout the morning hours.

Daniel, the husband, ended up having several stints placed in his heart today and is doing well. Tomorrow there will be a little more demolition, but a majority of the day will be spent putting up sheetrock(drywall) in the small bedroom that was torn apart today.

Arrival and Day One - May 8, 2006

2006-05-08T21:43:00.000-05:00

Trip and Arrival
The group left FCC, Paducah Sunday morning, May 7, at 4:30 a.m. The group took turns driving throughout the day and we arrived at Beaumont, Texas at around 5 p.m. With a few minor navigational errors with outer roads, highways, and turnarounds we arrived at Northwood Christian Church and met our site coordinator, Kim. We unloaded our sleeping gear and set up in an activities building which will be our new home for the next 5 days. We ate dinner at Chili's, again after a few detours due to navigating the highway and outer roads, but we finally made it.

Day One
Our work assignment changed and we are learning that they weren't kidding about being flexible. We are working on home that was damaged by Hurricane Rita. The work day began at 8 a.m. The couple, Daniel and Alice, who own it are retired and they have a 15 year old son living with them. They were fortunate enough to get a FEMA trailer which is sitting in their driveway. They also still use parts of the house that were not damaged by the hurricane. Our day consisted of tearing out dry wall and paneling both upstairs and some down mostly in bathroom and laundry areas. The upstairs bathroom had to be completely gutted down to the studs and everything removed. The attached master bedroom had to have the carpet removed. The area under this master suite is a family room area that was damaged from water in the upper part of the home. In this family room area, which the family still uses, we removed the ceiling tiles and tore out drywall in the laundry room/shower area as well as a small half bathroom.

All of the drywall and tear out had to be bagged in garbage bags and hauled to the curb for pick up. Due to dust and mold in certain parts of the home many of us wore surgical type masks which made for difficulty breathing in some instance and also were incredibly hot. The temperature here today was at least 85 degrees and high humidity. We called it a day around 4 p.m.

Upon returning to the church the shower facilities got a good workout. Around 5:30 the minister of the congregation here, and his wife, and another lay member brought us dinner. We had BBQ - sausage, beef, beans, rice, and banana pudding. Ben and Kay Henry arrived around 6:30 from Dallas to join the group.

We are glad everyone made it here safely and that we are injury free after the first day. We would ask that you keep us in your prayers as well as the family we are trying to help. The husband of the family whose house we are working on, Daniel, is a licensed minster at one of the African-American Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) congregations here in Beaumont. He had to go into the hospital yesterday with heart problems and as of 10 p.m. this evening we don't know if he had a stent or open heart bypass surgery.

Preparing for the Mission

2006-05-05T07:32:00.000-05:00

Friday, May 5

On Sunday, May 7, (the day after the Kentucky Derby Day) eight members of First Christian Church, Paducah, Kentucky will leave for Beaumont, Texas, for a mission trip. This is a big deal because our congregation has not taken an adult mission trip in at least 50 years. We hope that you will check this blog site regularly to get daily updates and stories from our trip.