We were blessed!

Has it really been a week since we left Henderson?

It only seems like yesterday.

Eleven individuals, representing three United Methodists Churches from Henderson County.

We just wanted to make a difference in someone's life.

Did we ever?

Beginning with all eleven of us.

We developed relationships with Christian brothers and sisters that we had never known before.

We worked together, laughed together, cried together, built together, hung drywall together.

We were blessed with uneventful travel to and from New Orleans. Praise God, we traveled over 1,450 miles and didn't get involved with or even see a fender bender.

We were blessed by the visitation of three homes that the FUMC team B worked on in January. Mary Lee & Lee Obenchain took us to these homes where we met a lady that had recently moved back in to her home. When Mary and Lee knocked on her door, she screamed with joy to see them and thank them.

We were blessed by the fact that some team in recent weeks had built bunk beds for future teams. We were able to leave our air mattresses in their boxes and sleep on foam mattresses.


All the guys know who snores and who doesn't............WE ALL DO! Not a blessing!


We were blessed with beautiful, warm (not hot) temperatures, low humidity and just a little rain to cool us down.

We were blessed with the presence of Bud Hill, hereinafter referred to as "The Bud". His knowledge and skill in carpentry and remodeling are remarkable an his patience to teach and ability to teach each of us to measure, cut, break, nail, screw, hang, tape, and apply mud is astounding.

We were blessed by the people whose homes we helped reconstruct.

Ms. Ida Perry and her daughter, Kathryn with their contagious laughter, their enthusiasm for life, their faith in God all blessed us that Monday that we worked on their home.

We hung drywall in 2 bedrooms and 2 closets, installed insulation in those same rooms.

Here we learned a little of what was to come the rest of the week as we worked on Silas Dillon's home.

We were blessed by Silas Dillon and his story of survival during the storm and ensuing flood. He was asleep when the waters began to surround his bed. When the water touched his hand he was awaken and, he waded to the safety of the flood wall behind his home where he was rescued by helicopter.

And we were blessed by the many jokes, stories and events of the week.

The team: Barry Denton, Karen and Bud Hill, Beryl and Lester LaBruyere, Charles Lander, Mary Lee, Lee Obenchain, Debbie Sides, Kevin Stevenson and me (Paul Herron), have been blessed to have spent time together in New Orlean, Louisiana serving God through his people.

What happens in New Orleans, stays in New Orleans? Don't believe it. We brought a lot of it home with us. Thank You Lord for the Blessings.