Author: rvingwithapurpose

Thursday, March 7, 2019

Today began as a rather cloudy day but we have had no rain, so far.

Rita and Dave brought our devotion today. They shared a Lenten devotion by Rev Penny Ford of Trinity UMC in Tuscaloosa. From Mathew 3, Jesus fasted 40 days – 40 days of Lent. We have ashes placed on our foreheads in the form of a cross for Ash Wednesday/Thursday, with the ashes representing our mortality and the cross forgiveness. During the time of Lent, we are encouraged to give up something to focus on God, or take on something to serve God. Thanks, Rita and Dave.

After devotion we all headed back out to our regular jobs, except for the two that had to go to the urgent care. It seems we are keeping the urgent cares in business. One of the ladies at church said “Welcome to Louisiana. It’s the Louisiana crud. We have all had it for over a month now.” Not very encouraging to us because none of us have gotten over it yet. We are all tired of being sick.

Max, Larry and Harry went back to Mr Jessie’s house to complete the front porch. They got it all completed. Mr Jessie was so happy. We presented him with the Bible from all the NOMADS. When the guys were getting ready to leave he was sitting on the front steps. He said he just wanted to sit outside and watch the cars go by. So glad we could be a small part of getting him back in a home. Now, after the VA installs the ramp, he will be able to get in and out on his scooter and up and down front steps with hand rails.

 

Out at Norwich, we continued to do what we have done all week. Anne, Rita, Dave and Jean sanded and applied more mud. You can really tell the improvements that are being made, but it’s still not complete. At lunch the twenty college kids arrived to load our construction debris into a trailer and help clean up our worksite. They picked up all the drywall scraps and even loaded the two cast iron tubs into the trailer. They made short work of it all. Those are some strong young women and men.

 

At Baker Drive, Janet, Lisa, and Anne O continued to work on drywall. Bob and Mark continued to work on electrical problems and they had to take out drywall to find some of the electrical boxes again. The ladies are never going to finish if they guys keep cutting more holes. Bob and Mark did make big progress today. They got the lights on at Baker. Good work! After leaving Norwich the college group went to Baker and cleaned up debris there, also. Before leaving there they came inside and had a prayer circle with the NOMADS for the home owner and the work. The entire team has really enjoyed getting to know these students. They have been very energizing and inspiring.

 

Tonight the team went back to Freddy’s for hamburgers and ice cream. So good!! We are saying goodbyes to Dave and Rita, Anne and Bob, and Jean and Larry. They have been such a joy to have as part of this wonderful team. They will be leaving tomorrow and we pray for safe travels for them all. After Freddy’s, we returned to the church for Ash Thursday services. Yes, we had Ash Wednesday services yesterday but today we had Ash Thursday service. Our college friends from Michigan were given tickets to the LSU baseball game last night so Pastor David agreed to have services for them tonight. Wonderful time with the young people tonight. They too will be leaving tomorrow so we also pray for safe travels for them. Another really good day. Now if we could just all get well.

 

Wednesday, March 06, 2019

The weather was a little warmer today, but the sun was out all day.

Anne O brought an Ash Wednesday devotion today from Joel 2:13. She reminded us that ash and sin stain everything and that God is imploring us to return to Him and have our stains cleaned away.

Anne O, Bob, Lisa, Mark and Janet returned to Baker Drive to continue working on finishing the drywall and repairing the wiring.

Anne A, Dave, Rita, Jean and Nancy returned to Norwich and sanded and mudded all day. Larry went there for a little while to install some corner bead. At breaks and lunch they sat outside to enjoy the sunshine.

Gary and Harry (and later joined by Larry) returned to Old River Road to finish the porches. They finished the back porch, leaving the railing off one side for the ramp. The front porch was constructed and decked and the steps completed. All it needs are the hand rails for the steps.

 

Max spent the morning delivering supplies and the afternoon working at Old River Road.

This evening we had a dessert supper and attended a very meaningful Ash Wednesday service with the host congregation.

 

Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Happy MardiGras! It’s a really big holiday in Baton Rouge. Everyone (except NOMADS) is off today and there are multiple parades and parties. Everything ends at midnight when Ash Wednesday begins. Our day was considerably colder. It was 32 degrees when we got up. We all had on many layers when we headed out to work today.

Nancy led us in devotion today. She shared a reading from a journal of memories and messages that she is leaving for her children to one day read. Today’s entry was her thoughts on the story of Timothy and how many of the issues faced by Timothy are the same today. She encouraged them to remember their foundation of “being raised in the church but encouraged them to rely on their own personal moments with God.” This made us think about how precious these writings will be to her children one day. It also reminded us of the devotional notes and writings of our mothers that we found after their deaths – how precious they are to us. Perhaps we should all think about doing some writing to our families? Some might should be shared now. Others saved for later.

Today after devotion, we made a three way split. We now have a third project house. It is a new mobile home to replace the home that was flooded. It has been placed on a raised berm to hopefully avoid future flooding. The homeowner is a veteran with mobility issues. He is already living in the trailer but needs a front porch and steps and a back ramp for his scooter. Right now the only entrance is by way of some stacked concrete blocks. Not very safe. Max, Larry, Harry, and Gary began construction on the back porch because the VA is suppose to be bringing a metal ramp to attach to the porch. We will also be building the front porch and steps.

While they enjoyed a little time away from drywall and getting to do a little construction, Janet, Lisa, and Anne O continued working on finishing the drywall at Baker Drive. Bob and Mark worked on sorting out strange electrical problems on the Baker trailer. Today they were able to locate the light switches for the front of the house – behind the front door, covered by insulation and dry wall. Over at Norwich, Anne A, Rita, Dave and Jean continued finishing the drywall. They got second coat on the master bedroom and bath and hall. The third bedroom was also sanded. There was a lot accomplished at all three locations. The drywall is going slower than we would like but we are trying to cover as many things as we can for the agency. It was a beautiful sunny day that we all enjoyed – even if it was cold all day.

Monday, March 4, 2019

It was a lot colder today. The high yesterday was 75 and today the high was 49. It was mostly cloudy and tonight we had another heavy rain. Our low tonight is predicted to be 29. Average low for this date is 49. We know it’s not nearly as cold as our northern states, but it’s considerably colder than we all expected when we signed up for Baton Rouge. Oh well, we will survive.

Today Janet and Harry led our devotion time. They pulled their information from the book, “Enjoying The Presence of God” by Jan Johnson. We talked about how to integrate prayer in everything we do. Father Lawrence had four suggestions to assist in the integration. First reflect before each task. Remember you are doing it for God, no matter how simply or seemingly insignificant the task. Repeat a short prayer as you work. Reflect after you finish each task. Turn your thoughts to God as you work, keeping God in your head, much like getting a song stuck in your head. We had some good discussion during our devotion time. Probably more importantly, conversations returned to doing our work for God as we worked on each job site today. Some of us were having a little trouble finding Jesus in our drywall mud. We all eventually came around. Thanks, Harry and Janet.

We were glad Bob felt like working with us today, but today his wife Anne was too ill to work. Nancy just worked til noon because she was sick, too. We will be so glad when we are all well again. Today, Rita, Anne, Jean, Larry and Dave returned to Norwich and worked on sanding and mudding the drywall. Rita, Anne and Jean decided to attack one of the bedrooms while the guys worked on mudding corner bead. We have one bedroom we think we will call complete tomorrow after we take a look when everything is dry. It may need a little sanding. We will be excited to declare one done! We are making progress. Out at Baker Drive Bob and Mark worked to frame in some cabinets in the kitchen. Lisa, Janet and Nancy worked on finishing the sheetrock. Harry, Lisa and Gary worked on hanging the last of the drywall and and corner bead. A good part of the afternoon was spent tracing and trouble shooting the electrical wiring. It was another busy day. BTW, Max says Anne’s group didn’t do anything because there are no pictures. Yep, Anne is in trouble again. Maybe pics tomorrow.

The congregation of Francis Asbury UMC provided another delicious dinner for the volunteers tonight. This week we are being joined by 20 college “kids” from Grand Valley State University in Michigan. We really enjoyed the dinner and visiting with the young volunteers.