Fruits of the Spirit

Praise the Lord for His traveling mercies and the wonderful, clear skies as we made the long trip home. Of course, we couldn't see the clear skies when we left Gateway at 5:00 a.m., but some of us did see the sunrise. We arrived at Chapel Hill at 3:30 p.m., so, we had very quick stops.

We were heavy hearted to be leaving Mississippi with so much more, years worth, work to be done, but we were anxious to get home to our loved ones. We had a wonderful team and have been blessed too many times to count. We served, we were served and we had a wonderful time. Many, many heartfelt thanks to those who made my job so easy: Bud and Karen Hill, Debbie Sides, Jim Walters, Allen and Stacey Singer, Brad Higginson, Maria and Emily Raleigh and Brandon Long. And of course, my bride, Leslie.

God teaches one so many, many things on a mission trip; that may be the greatest benefit each missioner receives. And I think it to be no coincidence that, in my mind, they are all related to the fruits of the Spirit, named by Paul in his letter to the Church at Galatia, chapter 5 verse 22; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Love: a deeper, more meaningful Christian love for those we serve with on mission and those we are serving. One truly learns of the worth of fellow missioners, more so each day, as one toils side by side and learns of others trials, victories and hidden talents.

Joy: in seeing hope rekindled in the forlorn eyes of one who has lost every needed earthly thing with formerly little hope of regaining a portion. Or in seeing a partially demolished house nearing the stage of habitation or even better, one now being occupied as a safe, comfortable refuge; and knowing that you had a hand in its renovation.

Peace: at night, in bed, physically and often emotionally drained, knowing that this day, you have been a messenger of God's love and a tool He has used.

Patience: because you know you didn't accomplish all you wanted to today, but by God's grace, the sun will rise and there will be more to do. And even when this trip must end, there still remains more to do and perhaps another trip can be made in a few months. Realizing that one cannot do it all, each and every house, but there will be something one can do, when one heeds the call.

Kindness: because often that is all you can offer one you pass by on the street or in a store. Many of these people have not been directly affected by Katrina, in a monetary or possession manner but their lives have been changed just the same. While making a late night purchase at a store on the last night in Gulfport, one of our missioners happened to be sharing with the cashier and mentioned "you have lovely region". The person behind in line, obviously an area resident, replied sadly "It used to be." Then he smiled and said, "Maybe, with more people like you, it will be again."

Goodness: it is nearly impossible to spend a week, helping rebuild a house, and hopefully lives, without coming away with a GOOD feeling.

Faithfulness: "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

Gentleness: gently sharing with others of your love for your Saviour and His love for you. Or, on a more earthly plane, sharing your knowledge and expertise with team mates to make the job better, easier and more fulfilling. (Bud Hill personified.)

Self-control: because a short cut is not good enough, and again you did not accomplish all you wanted, there is so much yet to be done here and other places, so many more could surely find a week to invest in not only others, but themselves, and nothing is going perfectly well the way it is envisioned, and on and on. (Katrina missioners call this "fruit", flexibility.)

Volumes could be "blogged" about what all one learns on a mission trip. Trust those of us who have been when we say "It was one of the best weeks of my life. And I want to go back."

AND WE WILL!


Joy, peace, and love,

Henderson County UMC's Team 3
Steve Hoskins

P.S. Look for a special "Bloopers, Bleeps and Blunders", coming soon to this blogspot.

Pennsylvania Team as Guest Blogger

We received the most gracious Thank You card from our new friends on the team from Pennsylvania. Many of the sentiments expressed in this card are the comments received and praises given during our daily devotionals. We thought it was very fitting to include these comments in our blog.

To our Kentucky Brothers and Sisters!

Katrina may have been created to allow humans to stop for a moment and realize that its GOD and only GOD that matters, and for us to band together as strangers to help strangers. If her winds and waters that created so much destruction could realize how much she has truly rebuilt, and how many of us have found new hope for life, friendships made and real life beginnings, then perhaps she was created for us.

God Bless you and may you continue to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Thank you for all you've done.

The Pennsylvania Four: Carlos, Bob, Mike and Leslie

PS. The two older gentlemen joined us on Thursday and are retired engineers. Their names are Joe and Glenn, they will be at Gateway for a month. Keep them and all the teams in your prayers as they tackle the still monumental task of rebuilding people's homes and lives.

As much, as well, as long...

Wow! What a week. It seems like we just got to Gulfport yesterday. There are just a few things left to do and Miss Stella will be in her house. It's so pretty! Brandon, Stephanie, and Karen from Gateway visited the site today and were very complimentary. Stephanie said there had been teams from eight states involved in rebuilding Miss Stella's home. While we're dissappointed that we didn't get Miss Stella in her house, we leave knowing that there is less work for the next team to do to reach that goal. One of the blessings missioners receive is the knowledge that a positive difference is being made in another person's life, as well as their own.


God truly uses all things to his glory! As ugly as Katrina was, it provided a way to show God's love to many, many people. Sometimes when people talk about "those poor people on the gulf coast" I wonder if they have it backwards. Maybe the lesson is to push us out of our comfort zone to serve people. Just a thought......

It has been a lot of fun. Many friendships have been forged and we know from the last trip, that it is a bond like no other. We've had to bond with our team members and other teams. It helps us appreciate each others' strengths. To be continued......

Guest blogger: Stacey Singer

It's Coming Together

The comment today, from more than one team member, has been " It really came together today." The flooring is finished, the baseboards and quarter round fareinished, some light fixtures are in place and are working, the sink is set and will be hooked up tomorrow, cabinet tops were set and just about all the electical dilemas have been rectified. (Thank you for the troubleshooting, Rick!)

Our "young uns" headed home and we miss them already. Maria, Emily and Brandon were surely a blessing to our team. Their positive outlooks, willingness to learn and do anything, (always with a smile) their fun loving attitude and devotion to God were lighthouses for all of us. Please pray for their safe return and for God's traveling mercies as they come back to Kentucky. We laughed at Brandon yesterday as he was inundated with sea gulls after feeding just one. He was snapping pictures and he got the last laugh by catching some amazing photos.

We are bonding with the team from Pennsylvania, and two gentlemen from Missouri and Kansas, both engineers and both down for a month. Leslie and Stacy make the messes in the kitchen and Leslie from Pennsylvania and her team, clean them up. Believe me, its a great trade for us. Tonight we had spaghetti, salad and apple pie a la mode for dinner. The most amazing thing we had for dinner was garlic bread made with Denny "dough" bread. Wow! If Denny ever makes bread for you, try it in French toast, garlic bread, or on a sandwich. All teams have enjoyed it very much. Thank you Denny!

We hope to get the tub surround in, the stove set, the rest of the light fixtures up and set up whatever other appliances we can get delivered. Other projects that we are working on is getting a cover on the furnace closet, hang the medicine cabinet, caulk the little holes, do some touch up painting, trim and rehang all the doors, and put some wood putty in to completely finish the floors. Bud says we have to empty the house so we can really see what else might need to be done, so we will be moving everything, lumber and all, out.


We are pretty tired and plan to turn in early. We will give you our last update tomorrow and head on home Saturday. We will work hard tomorrow to get Stella that much closer to moving in to her home.

Destruction to Resurrection

Arriving at the house this morning we all had to get right to work! Knowing that there was a lot to be done and only half of a day to complete what we could, we worked feverishly to...trim and install baseboards and quarter round, solve an electrical dilema, finish l.aying floor, and install an air vent for the attic. The line for the mitre saw got long at times! Working at such a fast pace made the work day fly by in a hurry!

Since we could not have lunch at Mr. Joe's, we had lunch at the beach. Brandon decided to feed the birds and he, Emily and Maria splashed in the water.

Karen, Bud and Debbie were our guides as we faced a somber moment in New Orleans. Going to Lower 9th ward (the area right behind the levee break) was something that no one can be prepared for. The silence and lack of people was a hard concept to swallow. We all agreed that no matter what stories we tell or what pictures we show, justice cannot be given without seeing that for your own eyes. Driving back to Mississippi, we all had heavy hearts and again faced an eerie silence. Yet driving across the bridge, God showed us a beautiful sunset to remind us of His ever present protection.

After that trip, we needed a reason to smile, and boy did we find it when we arrived at Shanna's house! She not only has a completed house..it is definitely a home. Being able to see it in its completeness was a blessing, even to those that were not able to play a part in the previous work on the house.

To see so much destruction and then to be able to see the final fruit of a previous mission was God's reassurance to all of us that we are doing HIS work with our hands. To know that we are "eating that elephant one bite at a time" helps us to better understand our purpose for this mission.

Todays experiences have not only touched our hearts in a way to make us feel like we have done something good, it has encouraged us to want to do so much more. Each team member has been challenged to bring one new person on the next mission. We do not want to bring three groups next time, we want to bring six! Can you step up to this commitment? Simply imagine the impact that can be made in this area if we double our teams every time we come! We need to continue to do God's work as much as we can, as well as we can, for as long as we can.

Guest blogger Maria Raleigh

Sunburned Faces and Fried Chicken

Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah- it was 68 degrees today. Our ladies that painted the quarter round and baseboards are sunburnt. They spent the day in the sun and got all 520 feet painted, and repainted. That second coat of paint really covered the tire tracks well.

Debbie Sides says she just cannot understand what the big fuss is about the laminate flooring. She had some left over bananas from breakfast and taught a monkey how to finish the room. "It was so simple, I don't know what was wrong with those men!" This was after Jim and Leslie finally came out of the closet.

We got the cabinets set, we no longer have to visit the FEMA trailer for personal use, thanks to Brad Higginson's plumbing mastery, and Bud taught Maria and Emily to use the stud finder and Maria said they were few and far between.

Team leader Hoskins has this comment: "There must be four Bud Hills here, because every time I look somewhere, he is there." Bud has really been a blessing, as those who have been on a mission trip with him well know. Brandon has blessed us with two wonderful devotions today and has been voted most enthusiastic missioner.

Please keep "Miss" Stella in your prayers. She is going through some trying times right now and we need all of you to remember her daily. She was our special dinner guest tonight. We had fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, cornbread, and baked sweet potatoes. MMMMMM good!

We are very tired, very full and very ready to go to bed. We will try to update early in the morning, when we are not so punchy.

Genesis--The Beginning

Today was a day to organize, categorize, energize and sympathize. We organized the work yet to be done, we categorized our skills, we were energized by the beautiful "Miss" Stella and we sympathized with Team B about the laminate flooring installation. Our skilled people made needs lists, shopped and instructed the unskilled. It was a very busy day for Bud, Brad and Allen! We cleaned up left over drywall mud, vacuumed out the tub, moved cabinets in, measured twice, cut once, and installed flooring in two closets and one bedroom.

We now hope we have all supplies needed to finish our job. Multiple trips were made by the men and the Raleigh girls seem to have inherited their father's love for travel.

We finally met "Miss" Stella and what a beautiful lady she is. She surprised us by looking at us and calling some of us by name, before we were even introduced to her. We had great advance PR teams! Thanks! She is indeed a gracious lady and we hope to finally get her moved into her home by the end of the week.

We feel like tomorrow will be a productive day and foreman Bud has already given us our assignments. We will be painting baseboards and quarter round, installing more flooring, and setting the kitchen cabinets. Some of us will be frying chicken in the afternoon.

Our sleeping arrangements have been somewhat altered due to the rhythmic sounds of certain bodies at rest. No names will be given, but some of our team now have private sleeping quarters. Some others have decided to jump ship and seek their accomodations elsewhere, just a room or two down the hall.

We have discovered that Lookout 49 has something better than wasabi. Next team down will have to have the sweet potato bread pudding. OH MY! MMMMMMMMM! We hope to bring a recipe home and you all will be very glad if we get one.

Genesis??? Why did we call this post Genesis??? Well, it is our beginning day. We were also introduced to "Miss" Stella's seven year old grandson, whose name is Genesis. He is temporarily staying with "Miss" Stella, and he is a joyful child.

Team 3 touches down!

Well, we certainly had a huge change in the weather. When we left Henderson it was about 10 degrees, and when we pulled into the Gateway parking lot, 8 hours and 52 minutes later( road time) it was a balmy 50 degrees! We came through some snow in the Hopkinsville- Clarksville area and pretty much stayed to the cleared lane of traffic through to Nashville. It was smooth driving after that.

Thank you, Henderson, for the wonderful send off. We have enough brownies, chess bars and goodies to last us for the entire week. Thank you, especially, Denny, for the wonderful bread. I don't know about the other cars, but the Hoskins/Singer car took care of one of the loaves on the way!

Many commented on our safety green shirts at the Cracker Barrel just outside Birmingham. We really brightened their day, and not only with our shirts! Everyone was very interested in our trip, where we were going and what we were planning to do. Our enthusiasm about hopefully getting "Miss" Estellea into her home was contagious.

We actually arrived in Gulfport at 5:35, just five minutes later than our goal of arriving in time for the Super Bowl kickoff. We decided to find a place with television reception so our sports fans could watch the game and we chose Logan's Steakhouse. When we walked in, the manager could not believe we were from Henderson because he was from Bowling Green. Small world! We had a leisurely dinner, have shopped for groceries tonight and are getting ready to have our evening devotional, as soon as the game is over.

We feel as if we have the entire place to ourselves as there are only4 other missioners here. We have met part of the other team from Pennsylvania, and have really spread our sleeping spaces out. Perhaps we will not have to worry about who snores the most!

Our cross ministry is up and running and we could have given away some shirts had we had extras!

We thank the Lord for His traveling mercies and the absolutely beautiful sunset He sent this evening. He always seems to remind us of His wondrous works, just when we need it the most. The work begins tomorrow and we are anxious to meet "Miss" Estella. We are excited about the work we are doing here and about the seeds of mission we hope we are planting in others.

Team B At home

Team B began preparation for departure from Gateway UMC after finishing at Stella's home on Friday.

A tired group of guys packed and packed some more for an early morning departure on Saturday.

A couple of guys thought the getting up at 3:30 a.m. was a good idea, 9 others didn't think so highly of it.

We left the church at 5:45 a.m. had a beautiful and cold days travel home. Arrived at Chapel Hill UMC at around 4:00 p.m. Hopefully I will finally be able to add some photos of last week's
mission team B. to this blog. Below - right is Bill Preston having measured the house for floor covering.


Rodney Thomas installing popcorn texture to the ceiling. Did a great job.








Mr. Joe, Estella, Lester and Nathan White discuss Po Boy sandwiches.



This my friend is a "Shrimp Po Boy" with hot sauce. Ummm Scrumptious!


All 11 guys on their knees..........................
installing laminate floor covering in the kitchen/living room.














A tired team with Estella on the front porch and steps of her home.













This is Shania's home in Pass Christian that the first team from Chapel Hill UMC worked on in April 06.











to be continue by Team B...........................

Tired and so weary

Tired? Yes

Weary? Yes

Happy to have accomplished what we did? Yes

Estella Happy? Elated

Short week, many things accomplished, still more to do.

Plenty for Team C to do.

Good weather all week except for a little rain.

Laminate floor covering in all but 2 small rooms and a hallway.

Almost lost our religion over installing laminate. Whew! It's a chore when you have no experience.

No major injuries, just minor scratches, a few bruises and lots of sore muscles.

But, we FEEL GOOD!

Looking forward to getting home tomorrow.

to be continued by Team C........................Peace

On Our Knees

Small crew to start the day at job site, 4 of our men had KP this morning which included sweeping, mopping, busing tables after breakfast. I'll let them tell you who they are.

All of us had KP tonight after dinner, we excuse me all but one, someone had to write this blog!

Georgous day in Gulfport, 52 degress to begin day, raining cats and dogs, had to hang tarps on front porch in order to hookup saws.

Started installing laminated floors. Instructions say, simple, no experience necessary, easy to install.

Well for about 2 full tiring hours it stumped at least 6 men, then we got the hang of it and it stumped 10 of 11 of us. Ron had another project going in another room.

But thanks to Brothers R & R with the help of C. H., we installed about 90% of the 12' X 40' kitchen/living room with beautiful wood grain oak laminated floor covering. Hopefully, tomorrow will see us install another huge chunk.

I am happy to say that I brought 10 guys with me and today I had all of them on their knees.

A forty foot long section of laminate flooring requires a person about every 4 feet to help snap the sections together.

A beautiful site all 11 on our knees.....................doing the Lord's work and as Rodney said tonight, "Yeah, some of the time we were really praying that these boards would snap together like they were supposed to."

Most of us have not worked this hard in years and never remember having as much fun, laughing and yes, shedding a tear once in a while. Yeah..........we've laughed so hard we've cried.

We know who has the best hands of the crew..................we know who has the lowest pain threshold.....................we know who talks on the phone the most...............yes, don't forget we know who snores the loudest! The last one is a tie by the way.

We will finish tomorrow after 5 days of helping another person who can not help herself.
Feeling the gratification and knowing that we have made a difference in someones life.

Stella is beside herself, hugging all of us over and over and raving about the beauty of the floor and how warm it's going to be in her new home.

We have met other mission teams for Minnesota, New Jersey and North Carolina and have made friends with many of them. Brothers and Sisters in Christ.............Thank You Lord!

All to say, the splinters, blisters, cramps, sore muscles, early morning wakeup calls, eating while sitting atop your cooler or on the front porch steps..................they are all worth it..................

WOW we can hardly believe we've been here this long and have accomplished so much. .........
Thank You Lord for this opportunity.

to be continued..............................Peace