Photo Story For July 15th Service

The Tale Of Two Toilets by Tammy Peters

Tuesday we got our assignments and Sam was our team captain. He of course chose me (his wife) to be on his team. Our assignment was to work on a bottom floor condominium which was damaged by the flood waters. Approximately 2 feet of water sat in the condo for awhile so all the walls had to be replaced. When we arrived it was surprising because we were expecting to be in a place that was riddled with disaster, but in reality you would not have suspected there were any problems in the area because everything seemed to be intact. Reality was that most of the bottom floor buildings were damaged by flood waters.

When we entered the condo we found that the entire place had been gutted and new sheetrock was put up in every room except the kitchen and 2 bathrooms. After assessing what we needed to do, our team of 9 students and adults alike got right to work. The first thing I started on was the bathrooms (2 bathrooms back to back). Between the studs on the floor was rotten, moldy drywall that had been sitting there for 2 years. I had to scrape and vacuum the sludge and clean the filthy floors. Jenny (another member of our team) then sprayed the studs with bleach to kill the mold so it would not grow between the walls. Good idea! Next we decided to tackle the toilets that must have had and inch of grime and crud stuck to the inside and outside of the bowls. The toilets appeared to be leaking so we took them outside and decided to replace the wax rings. Sam designated the stripping of the old wax ring to two girls on our team (Molly and Amanda). This was a really dirty job and you could tell the girls were thrilled they were chosen, but they did it without complaint. Max, another student decided to help out. It was quite a treat to watch them in disgust remove the stinky, gooey, yellow wax from around the sludge encrusted toilet hole in the floor. The pictures are priceless. They made the best of it and turned it into a fun time posing with their tongues out as though they were licking it. Yuck!

Outside, Jenny and I began to scrub the toilet bowls. Jenny did most of the work. With a little bit of elbow grease we got them looking like new. With Jubilation we put one of the sparkling toilets back in, but quickly found that it was leaking. Bummer! We had to replace the toilet with a new one after all that work! We then had another major leak that left the bathroom in 1 inch of water but Sam quickly fixed that and jenny and I cleaned up the water before it ruined the new drywall. Next, we put the remaining toilet in after the drywall was finished and realized that it no longer fit in the space anymore. We realized that we had to get another new toilet! All that hard work down the drain! Jenny walked with her head down as we trekked the toilets across the parking lot to the dumpsters.

Sam was our ring leader, handling multi tasks and was our resident toilet expert. Abbey was our resident cleaner, who not only cleaned nasty tubs, but also mold on the doors and anything else she could get her hands on. Amanda and Molly were jacks of all trades, getting their hands, clothes and faces dirty on all sorts of jobs. Kevin, Max, John, and Caleb were our resident drywall guys, measuring, cutting, putting up, taping, mudding, etc. We also had some new members join in the middle of the project, Katie, and Joe S., who were instrumental in helping us get the job done. It was a good experience for all. I was really impressed with our group who did not complain and worked the whole way through even on grimy jobs. When we were through we had completed drywall in both the bathrooms and the kitchen, tapped, mudded and sanded. Cleaned and replaced 2 toilets, and cleaned 2 tubs that were equally as dirty as the toilets.

Reflections

Mission trip participants, feel free to add your reflections as a comment here. Or, if you would prefer your reflection to be a post of its own, email it to me and I will post it. Let me know if you would like to do something with audio or video, and we can work that out as well.

My quick thought as I look back at the week - the relationship we each individually have with Christ and the relationships we have and nurture in community with each other form the foundation for everything. From that solid rock any storm can be endured. Maybe not easily and maybe not without heartache, struggle, and pain, but it can be endured. The CHF mission team moved many people a few steps closer to being in their homes again, and just as importantly, shared love and compassion with those homeowners, many of whom selflessly shared that love back with gratitude to the work team and with thanks to Jesus Christ.

Many Hands. Many Hearts. One Spirit.

More Photos

Please note there are two links for the photos, as we now are over 500 pics and the Picasa limit is 500. Also, a couple posts below has a video to better explain Man Pong... enjoy!

Many Voices

It will take a while, but I hope to have blog entries or audio or video files from as many of the mission trip participants as possible, so that this mission blog isn't just my perceptions and reflections.

Part of the wonder of these online, techie, connected things like blogs (and IM and text messaging and Facebook and MySpace and Twitter and on and on and on) is the fact that everyone, EVERYONE, can participate and be a part of the conversation. I grew up in the TV era, where the "stuff" was delivered TO or, more aptly, AT you. Now it is all about connectedness, and handled right and well, that connectedness does turn into knowing other people better, whether it be someone you see IRL (in real life in case you didn't already know that) or someone half a world away that you only know through digital connections. As a professional in the world of educational technology, I have had hundreds of online conversations with dozens of other professionals whom I have never met face to face. But do I feel connected to my colleagues and plugged into whatever the current buzz and discussions are about? Absolutely.

So, mission trip participants, if you want to write a reflection, add it as a comment on the post above called "Reflections", or email it to me if you would like it as a post of your own. If you want to do something audio or video, let me know, we'll get it worked out. Every little story tells a part of the tale that was the week of July 1st on the CHF Mission Trip To New Orleans.

And of course anyone reading is welcome to comment! Every thought, question, comment, and insight adds to the conversation! Maybe you've never participated in a blog before - jump on in! The water's fine!

Man Pong

While a full description of this event will have to wait until I can get one of the participants to describe it, I can safely say this Thursday night happening was a great way for a lot of people to expend some energy and dump some stress. Imagine your usual ping pong, combined with musical chairs (without the music), and a little bit of tag thrown in, and well, that doesn't even accurately depict it. I think someone got some video of this, and I know there are some pics that I will get later. I do know that if a cologne were to be created from the odor of this small room with at least two dozen people in it, "Old Locker Room" would fit the bill. And this despite everyone having showered earlier in the evening!

Maybe a video will explain it better...

Sweltering Here, But We Work On

Its already well into the 80s and very humid here today, so it looks like we will have a more authentic Louisiana summer day today. We took the opportunity to get about an extra hour of sleep, as we didn't get back from being in downtown NOLA last night until well past 10 pm. The fireworks were good, the food was terrific, and thanks to some light rain earlier in the day that cleared out, it was actually a pretty pleasant evening to stroll around. We started our Fourth of July recreation time with the entire group going to the IMAX Theatre on the NOLA Riverwalk, where we saw "Hurricane On The Bayou", a very well done documentary about how the Mississippi River delta wetlands are supposed to be a buffer when hurricanes land, but those wetlands are just a fraction of what they used to be thanks to man-made things changing how the wetlands replenish. That IMAX film is currently showing at the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson.

If you go to the photos link you can see many more pictures - I've added about another 150 this morning. Above are a few photos from one of the worksites. More to come!