RVing With a Purpose

Saturday, February 10, 2024

This weekend we said goodbye to Jeff and Joyce, Larry and Jean as they took some much-deserved rest time before moving to their next project.  Max and Anne took over as leaders.  We especially thank Larry and Jean for leading week 5.  Saturday, although the weather was not very welcoming, we welcomed Dan and Vergie and Sam to join the work on the island. Saturday and Sunday we had storms and lots of rain.  Monday afternoon Jack and Barb joined us and Tuesday afternoon Sherry joined us giving us a full team of six RVs and 10 talented NOMADS.

When we began the work week it was still too wet to go back to Bozo’s for painting, so the entire team began our work on Peanut’s house – a new jobsite for the NOMADS.  We made good progress, completing the removal of the bedroom flooring and began the installation of the new flooring, removed the window trim, removed quarter round, patched the kitchen floor, and began the arduous task of scraping and sanding the outside spindles and railings. By the end of the week, the railing and spindles were repaired and painted, the bedroom flooring was completed, paneling was installed and the ceiling and walls painted. The kitchen flooring is almost complete.

By Tuesday it was dry enough to return to Bozo’s to resume the exterior work there.  There was lots of painting and sanding, installation of new outside lighting, painting of baseboards.  Next week we hope to have a lift available to complete a little more painting at the highest points and repair and paint the fascia and soffit.

Our great construction manager, Dean, worked very hard and was finally able to locate and secure the necessary siding for Olga’s house.  It’s very hard to find a matching siding for siding installed in the 70’s.   Ken, Michelle and Sherry were able to complete that task on Wednesday.  We hope to have the soffit material next week so we can complete that home.

The team made great use of their varied talents and they made great progress on the three homes we are currently assigned.  We praise God for another successful and accident-free week!

Of course, since we are in Louisiana during carnival season, the team has been enjoying King Cakes and Saturday enjoyed the family friendly Mardis Gras parade here on Grand Isle.  There were side-by-sides, trucks, boats and floats in the parade with lots and lots of beads.  Everyone seemed to have a good time.

We would appreciate your prayers for our team as we will be working from scaffolding and a lift this next week.

Saturday, February 3, 2024

We were the new kids on the block this week as we joined 6 of our NOMADS friends last Friday afternoon, on Grand Isle, LA.  We had worked with four of the NOMADS on previous disaster rebuild (DR) projects and had the joy of making two new friends from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Jeff and Joyce.  We spent the first two days working at Wanda’s house, which was nice since it was all inside work and the mornings were pretty chilly (in the lower 40’s).  NOMADS had been working there for several weeks and we had the joy of being part of the team that completed her home and giving her the Bible that all the teams signed.  We painted and caulked walls, trim, and doors, installed her air conditioner, installed her storm door and various other punch list items.  Wanda was so very happy with her home.  We painted it bright and cheerful beach colors she got to select.  It was all great except for the LSU purple doors that Anne had to paint.  Just kidding, Anne was happy she could make Wanda happy even if it did go against her Tuscaloosa, AL heritage.

The last two days this week, we began work on a new to us home owned by Bozo.  Yes, that is his name – well the name everyone on the island knows him by.  We asked what his real name is so we could put that in his bible and the first few people we asked didn’t know anything but Bozo.  We worked on replacing siding, and priming, caulking and painting.  We completed most of the lower level but since all the homes in southern LA, are on tall piers, we will require a lift for the higher level.  We also did some additional siding repair work on Olga’s home which NOMADS began earlier.  We need some additional siding which hasn’t yet been located to complete that task – hopefully next week.

Friday was a beautiful day and we took our first beach walk.  The sea was very calm and the water very clear.  Friday was also that day that Jean and Larry, our leaders, and Joyce and Jeff left us.  We really appreciate the great job Jean and Larry did and for getting us up to speed on the project.  We will now be leading for the next three weeks and we will have 6 new team members next week along with Ken and Michele who will be stay for a few more weeks. Please pray that we all stay safe and accomplish much for the people of Grand Isle but most importantly that we show the love of Jesus to all we meet.

Saturday, January 27, 2024

We continued to enjoy our “Christmas break” the last three weeks at Gulf State Park. In spite of the less-than-ideal weather conditions, we were still able to be outside for at least part of all but 2 days.  Those 2 days were just stay inside and binge watching movies and reading days.  We didn’t get to use our bikes as much as we had planned because it was just too cold and windy to ride but that just meant there was more hiking.  It was all still good.  Our friends Barry and Donna visited with us one weekend. We had a great time hiking, geocaching and enjoying our visit that was just too short.

We are now at Grand Isle, LA, arriving Friday afternoon, to resume our mission work assisting in the recovery efforts from hurricane Ida.  Those of you that follow our blog will remember that we were here in Spring of 2023.  Grand Isle is a barrier island off the coast of New Orleans – about 50 miles south of New Orleans.  There is an eight-mile bridge to cross to reach the island that is about 7 miles long. It is absolutely the end of the road.  We noticed progress in the repair/restoration efforts since we left last year.  Unfortunately, there is obviously more that needs to be done. We are very thankful for safe travels and are looking forward to the next four weeks serving the people of Grand Isle.

Sunday, January 7, 2024

We are still at Gulf State Park enjoying some rest and preparation for our next NOMADS project. The trails here are wonderful for hiking and biking and even with the cooler than usual weather we have used them a lot. We also sometimes just walk around the campground meeting people – talking about birds, travel, RVs and our volunteer mission work.