Wednesday, April 12, 2023
Last Friday (3/31) was an unusual day. Sara, Ken and Michele, Levina and Herman, and Jack and Beth, all left us. We thank them for their service to this community and pray for their traveling safety. Saturday we were joined by our new team, Kevin and Suzan, Mary and Phil, Mike and Carol and Dale and Anne. Another great team. Once again, we had a beautiful week in Grand Isle. It did get pretty hot with highs in the mid-80’s a few days but with the wonderful gulf breeze and plenty of sunscreen we could continue to work and accomplish a lot on Chris’s house. We spent all four days this week completing the house wrap, installing all but one corner piece of the trim, installing lots of siding using the lift and scaffolding, and of course painting lots of trim and siding. This team gelled almost immediately and just jumped in and started working. As leaders we just needed to make sure they had everything they needed and then just stay out of their way. We feel we left the team for next week in good shape to complete Chris’s house in 5-6 more days.
On Tuesday, the team had the joy of participating in the dedication of a new home for Jane. Sadly her home was a total loss from Ida and her husband died in January so he never got to see their new home. The Bayou Community Foundation, Rebuild Grand Isle (the agency coordinating all the rebuild work on Grand Isle) was instrumental in raising the funds to provide Jane a brand new home. The team was very thankful we were invited to the celebration even though we did not actually work on the house. Such a joy for NOMADS to be a small part of helping the people of Grand Isle.
Wednesday evening the team went out to the marina at the very far end of the island for pizza. We sat outside overlooking the water and watching the large shrimp boats and work boats come and go. The dolphins also put on a show for us. We had a relaxing, peaceful evening getting to know each other a little better.
This week being Holy Week, there was lots of activity at Our Lady of The Isle Catholic Church, our host church. Father Mark asked the team to participate in the Thursday evening service and joined us for devotion Thursday morning to explain to us what to expect. During the service he thanked all the NOMADS that have served on Grand Isle since October and talked about how the people of Grand Isle had felt forgotten. There have been many more disasters since hurricane Ida, so they felt Grand Isle is no longer of interest to most volunteers. The people are still really struggling. Father Mark told us that NOMADS have been instrumental in restoring hope for the people of the island. Remembering how Jesus became a servant washing the feet of the 12 disciples at the Last Supper, Father Mark asked our 10 team members along with, the Mayor of Grand Isle, and Jane (the lady whose house was dedicated this week) to allow him to wash our feet as a part of the service. It was a special time of worship for us all.
We turned over leadership to Kevin and Suzan Thursday evening. They, and their teams, will stay in our prayers and we hope, your prayers as well. Experiences such as our time on Grand Isle are the reasons we continue to be involved in NOMADS. May we all be faithful servants.
RVing With a Purpose 