Wednesday Evening
Oy.
It's hard to believe that I'm this ready for bed at only 9:34pm, but I wanted to check in and write down a few thoughts from the day.
First off; I made a change to the structure of the blog; I'd forgotten to set the comments so that anyone can add a comment to this journal. That's fixed. Please feel free to leave a comment or message for the team as you read the blog. Thanks.
We were back at "Mumsy's" house today -- we'd hoped to finish what we were doing there by early afternoon and help out at another place where a person has been storing furniture in a garage; the furniture needs to be moved, and the garage may have some mold issues that need to be cared for. It definitely wasn't that we wanted to leave Mumsy's house; she is such a wonderfully sweet person -- she brought us lunch; hamburgers and fries from Wendy's, and apple pies from McDonalds! I had heard about "Southern hospitality" before, but this really takes the cake. We worked hard to finish taping a section of drywall and finishing the parquet removal, but some of the wood was damp and it took a lot more time than we were thinking to get it taken care of. We hope to finish tomorrow morning.
We also taped a message for the congregation to be shown on the 15th. We watched it afterwards; it says a little of what we wanted to say -- but like many of the workers here have told me; so much just can't be put into words.
I wish we could have taped Pastor Chris' message at vesper's tonight, or all of what Ray had to say when he and Gabrielle and Tony and I were chatting after interviewing him. The people here are incredible. Susan and George, the new site managers (as in, literally their first week on the job) have been absolutely wonderful in making us feel at home and connecting us with anything we need. In fact -- at their own insistence, they're doing our laundry for us tonight because they didn't want us to have to go to a local laundromat. That is definitely going above and beyond the call of duty. Fortunately, one of the other groups that arrived today will be installing both showerrs and a washer/dryer hookup, so hopefully that need won't come up in the same way again.
What to say about the spiritual impact of all of this from a personal standpoint? I was geared up to do a bit more interacting with people up to this point (and that may well be the case in the days to come), and so far that hasn't turned out to be the case. And that's ok. Maybe that's part of what I'm learning by doing; serving in whatever capacity is needed at the moment; and I'm glad. I am humbled by the spirit of the people who have been here helping for months, I am amazed at the way the folks here who lived through the hurricane and are still picking up the pieces of their own lives are helping others. If I say I wish you were here, it's not because I want a few more hands to tear out parquet, or because serving God at home is less important (because you and I both know that's not true), but it's such an experience that I wish you could share, people I wish you could meet. I hope this journal in some way bridges these many miles from Fond du Lac to Gautier.
Well, I guess I'm rambling, which means I'm tired, and truth be told, I'm a little surprised my fingers still work after two days with a hammer and prybar.
So I'm going to bed.
Good night, and blessings to you all,
-Brian
It's hard to believe that I'm this ready for bed at only 9:34pm, but I wanted to check in and write down a few thoughts from the day.
First off; I made a change to the structure of the blog; I'd forgotten to set the comments so that anyone can add a comment to this journal. That's fixed. Please feel free to leave a comment or message for the team as you read the blog. Thanks.
We were back at "Mumsy's" house today -- we'd hoped to finish what we were doing there by early afternoon and help out at another place where a person has been storing furniture in a garage; the furniture needs to be moved, and the garage may have some mold issues that need to be cared for. It definitely wasn't that we wanted to leave Mumsy's house; she is such a wonderfully sweet person -- she brought us lunch; hamburgers and fries from Wendy's, and apple pies from McDonalds! I had heard about "Southern hospitality" before, but this really takes the cake. We worked hard to finish taping a section of drywall and finishing the parquet removal, but some of the wood was damp and it took a lot more time than we were thinking to get it taken care of. We hope to finish tomorrow morning.
We also taped a message for the congregation to be shown on the 15th. We watched it afterwards; it says a little of what we wanted to say -- but like many of the workers here have told me; so much just can't be put into words.
I wish we could have taped Pastor Chris' message at vesper's tonight, or all of what Ray had to say when he and Gabrielle and Tony and I were chatting after interviewing him. The people here are incredible. Susan and George, the new site managers (as in, literally their first week on the job) have been absolutely wonderful in making us feel at home and connecting us with anything we need. In fact -- at their own insistence, they're doing our laundry for us tonight because they didn't want us to have to go to a local laundromat. That is definitely going above and beyond the call of duty. Fortunately, one of the other groups that arrived today will be installing both showerrs and a washer/dryer hookup, so hopefully that need won't come up in the same way again.
What to say about the spiritual impact of all of this from a personal standpoint? I was geared up to do a bit more interacting with people up to this point (and that may well be the case in the days to come), and so far that hasn't turned out to be the case. And that's ok. Maybe that's part of what I'm learning by doing; serving in whatever capacity is needed at the moment; and I'm glad. I am humbled by the spirit of the people who have been here helping for months, I am amazed at the way the folks here who lived through the hurricane and are still picking up the pieces of their own lives are helping others. If I say I wish you were here, it's not because I want a few more hands to tear out parquet, or because serving God at home is less important (because you and I both know that's not true), but it's such an experience that I wish you could share, people I wish you could meet. I hope this journal in some way bridges these many miles from Fond du Lac to Gautier.
Well, I guess I'm rambling, which means I'm tired, and truth be told, I'm a little surprised my fingers still work after two days with a hammer and prybar.
So I'm going to bed.
Good night, and blessings to you all,
-Brian
posted by Brian at 7:32 PM
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