Thursday

By Thursday our schedule seems more routine. Breakfast is served at six, the bus leaves the motel at seven, ladies leave at 8:15 for their activities.

Most of the construction work today was hanging sheet rock in the sanctuary. At times it seems to go slowly but by the end of the day there was evidence of a lot of hard work.

The women and youth worked around the community again today. I am sure they will have some interesting stories to share when they return home.


























After work pizza ordered to the motel just hit the spot. We met the delivery man in the meeting room of the motel.

Wednesday

The ladies and youth did more door-to-door visitation today and reported several good contacts made in the community. I hear that a dog chased them at one home! A special thanks today to Brittny Self for assisting with the photography.











The construction team continued with fiberglass insulation, sheet rock, and mud work . The scissor lift came in very handy for the ceiling in the sanctuary.

Break time!

The crew from Money, Mississippi worked on the outside of the building.




At lunch time the local church showed us a slide show of the community just a few days after Katrina. I think I saw a few tears from our group just from watching the pictures. The last word I heard was that we would have a mission trip report time on Sunday, August 10 after we return home.

Tuesday

Someone graciously informed me that I had dated hurricane Katrina in 1905 on a previous page! That error had now been corrected. Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005 with the heaviest storm damage along the Mississippi coast. Each day that we are here we see more signs of the damage and hear almost unbelievable stories of devastation from the local residents.

In the park today a few children and their parents came for the activities. Afterward the workers left more fliers and packages of snacks at nearby homes. We learned that the elementary school building has not been completed and many of the families with children that lost their homes have not returned to rebuild since there is no local school for their children. They would have to be bussed to another school district farther inland. The high school building is complete and ready to be used this fall. It looks like the elementary building should be ready by next school year.

The construction workers did several small jobs today while waiting for the completion of the electrical inspection before hanging any more drywall in the sanctuary. Moisture resistant wallboard was installed in the restroom areas, work started on a doorway into the baptistry area, dry wall hung on the wall of the stairway behind the sanctuary. We didn't get a lot of good pictures today.

When you drive back away from the beach front mansions many of the local residents have replaced their homes with these very small trailers. They look nice but are so small. Some still have the wheels under them.

Monday

Our workweek began in earnest on Monday morning. The sheet rock was delivered.

The pink styrofoam insulation was delivered.

Our guys did some last minute electrical work to prepare the way for the insulation and drywall.




The building is constructed of concrete block with extra reinforcement to help protect against storm damage.





Each rafter has a metal "hurricane strap" to hold the roof in place during high winds.




All the guys did a lot of stretching and lifting today. There may be a few sore muscles before the week is out.




This tank sits in a tiny park across the street from the church. We haven't had time to check it out yet.




Some volunteers from Money, Mississippi came to help this week. Mostly they are working on the outside of the building.




One of the jobs today was tearing out some plaster in the old part of the building. That made lots of dust...

... and lots of trash to haul away.

Amy put a lot of effort into her work. Or could she have been acting?



No children came today for the Bible study in the park so the workers handed out more flyers in the community and altered plans some for tomorrow.

Each piece of pink insulation had to be measured and cut to fit.

Will helped with the insulation.

Bill worked in a tight spot.

By the end of the day a lot of insulation had been installed,

as well as a few sheets of wall board.



Come back tomorrow. I plan to post new pictures at the top of the page each day to show the work in progress.