Fellowship Bible Church

After a long 15 hour day, we arrived safely at our destination.  We had a little time to relax and play, and now we're off to bed!!

This morning we get the opportunity to worship with New Wine Christian Fellowship. We are ready to hear what God has for us this week. 

This afternoon we got to hear from Sam, the volunteer coordinator with New Wine Christian Fellowship. He told us about the impact Hurricane Ida had on LaPlace, the surrounding areas, and the church. He also told us about all of the efforts the church has been doing to help the area recover from the hurricane. 

We have split into 2 teams, Team Damon and Team Travis, and are already hard at work!!

Team Damon is gutting a house that had a large pecan tree out front.  When Ida hit, the limbs fell through the roof which led to severe water damage.  We will be helping this family remove damaged furniture and muck and gut the rest of the house so they can start renovating.  

We are repairing this staircase, making sure that the patio is a little more sturdy, and mucking and gutting the house upstairs.

We are making a lot of progress on this house, but still have some work to do. We will finish up tomorrow, now it's time to go get cleaned up before dinner!

A little before and after on day one...

We made a lot of progress and seeing the joy in the owner's face made it totally worth it.  We also made some great connections with this family and were able to give them a safe space to share their story.  This work is so much more than manual labor.

This crew walked in and started tearing down walls.  Our goal is to get this side of the house completely gutted and ready for sheetrock.

Today we are finishing up gutting Mr. Calvin's house. After a fierce fight with the toilet, the bathroom is almost completely gutted. We are making a lot of progress in a short amount of time. 

We still need to finish the handrail, but we worked hard to get these stairs done. Mr. Calvin went up the stairs today to get into his home for the first time in months. 

We went into this house thinking we'd pull down some sheetrock and have it completed in 2 days tops.  What we have all learned is that manufactured homes don't just nail the sheetrock on.  They nail it, staple it, glue it, and then seal it with foam.  This has led to a lot of tedious work and we have all spent a little time pulling staples and nails with plyers.  Such a small job, but getting this done right will make it possible for the next group of volunteers to get walls up so much faster. And some of those little devils don't want to give it up!!

Some of us are getting to tackle a new house today.  We're demoing walls, floors, and a couple of bathrooms.

We have a lot left to do, but we are determined to finish what we started and get this family on their way to a fresh start.

Mr. Calvin is so happy with his finished stairway. We also feel really proud of our work. 

We had to get in a game of soccer with some neighborhood kids while some of us our finishing the cleanup at one of the houses. 

We worked so hard this week and it was such a blessing to love on this family.  We finished what we started and this sweet family is so happy to see a future in this home that has so many memories.

We ended our day celebrating the man who has meant so much to us and gave us this opportunity to serve.  Happy 50th Damon!!

We worked so hard this week, so today we get to relax!!  We're at Gulfport, MS, for rec day and are looking forward to some fun in the sun!!

We stopped for some yummy Mexican food!!  Some of us were bold and tried the shrimp cocktail...the rest of us played it safe and are stuffed!!

It's been a great week, but we are ready to get home and share more details about our week with our families and friends!! 

We may be bringing home 3 stowaways...

See you soon Kansas!!