Monday's Mission Trip Report: Day Two

All praise to God for allowing us the abilities we have to do his work.  The day started out gloomy enough though, cloudy and steady rain, but our busy project manager Gary had plenty of stuff for us do inside.  We all met at his mother’s house, and there we were introduced to her friendly (at least once we got to know them) pair of dogs.  After a short description of the work that needed to be done there, 7 of us stayed to continue.  This group included Jean, Donna, Kelly, Elvis, Kyle, Dave, and Greg.  They helped to move furniture and fix the kitchen floor and laid down some carpeting. 
  I joined the team which went to Michelle and her daughter Tiara’s.  The 7 of us included Pastors Bob and Peter, Becky, Shawn, Pete, and Autumn.  Despite the rumor of black snakes being in the ceiling, that didn’t stop us from getting dirty.  Fortunately all we found were just their skins.  Chilling enough I guess.  Tiara was a great help to us, as we tore out the old insulation in the ceiling of the one room where we worked, as well as tear apart some of the walls and insulation there.  The roof is leaking, and also needs to be replaced soon.  We all pitched in and made the difficult task a little easier.  Pete even tried his hand at using Pastor Bob’s sawsall.   Michelle was so grateful for our hard work that her mother made us homemade biscuits served with apple butter, which really made our lunch great.  Gary ordered more supplies for tomorrow, then sent us onto Joanie’s house in Rupert.
   Here we joined the others in our group (who had finished with Gary’s mother’s house) and another mission group from New Jersey, who were so grateful for the response to their plight after Hurricane Sandy by groups from West Virginia, that they just had to repay the debt by coming here and lending a hand.  At Joanie’s house they were in the middle of hanging dry wall, and applying mud (the white putty-like stuff) to smooth things over and seal up any cracks, which then needed sanding to get rid of any final bumps. We split into 2 groups, and each tackled a room.  Due to his construction experience, Shawn was called upon to perform the unenviable task of crawling underneath the house to inspect and repair the plumbing.  Joanie was very grateful for all the attention she was receiving from good God-inspired people like us who were willing to sacrifice their time and money just to help her.
  At around 430 PM we headed back home (to Edgewood Presbyterian Church that is) for our showers and a spaghetti dinner fixed by the kitchen crew Jean, Donna, and Becky.  Devotions were led by Pastor Bob, and were based on the parable about the Sower.  Somebody said that he was amazed by how God gave us the motivation to work so hard, for even Gary was impressed by all the work that we were able to do today.  Kelly played the guitar to help inspire us for tomorrow’s work schedule.  It has been a real pleasure for me to work with my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, where all have the opportunity to feel included and worthy.

   Signing off, Clark.

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