Working on Estella's house

Donna S. writes:


We hit the ground running today (oh, okay, there were a couple of false starts) but we met our first homeowner, talked and prayed with her, then started on a list of things still needed to be done on her house before she can move out of the cramped FEMA trailer in the backyard and into her real home about 10 blocks away from the ocean.

We spent the day sanding drywall, taping and re-mudding places needing extra attention, framing in windows and putting on interior window trim and other small jobs as they came up. We tried our best to make use of Bud's guidance and expertise before he has to head back north on Wednesday morning, and we ended up with some carpenters in training plus some grunts who can sand and mud!

Tonight Bud and John 3 are scouting out the next house on the list to see if it would be best to to split into two work crews tomorrow. Soon we will know!

A note about Gateway UMC, our host church: There are 62 people staying here this week and competing for 4 showers and prime sleeping space. Gets a little tricky from time to time. But we're preparing our meals communally and Mission Teams from Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan and South Carolina have been in high spirits and cooperative. A group of breakfast-lovers from all the groups gathered at 5 a.m. today to make pancakes and sausage. It sent us off in a good mood for a drizzly Monday morning! Tomorrow night our Team will prepare Red Beans & Rice W.C. Handy Blues & Barbecue Festival style for all.