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We started a bit late, but we had a long night with packing and getting ready to leave.

What a hot day…it was 90 at 7am.

Mark, Nicki, and Rob worked on finishing siding.  I (Rob) wound up falling from some scaffolding and have an ugly red mark on my elbow.

Kevin and Eric did some area clean-up work.

Steve did caulking work.

Mike, the site director, allowed a few of our folks to try driving the bobcat tractor.  Kevin showed the most skill at driving it, but Nicki sure had the most enthusiasm.

We stoped before lunch so we could eat and get going back toward Lansdale.

See you soon!

The team left Hattisburg at 1:20 CDT and we are headed toward Knoxville, TN for the evening.  More updates on the way.

 Update: 9:30 PM EDT

We crossed into Alabama at 2:56 CDT and then drove until 7 PM and had dinner in Fort Payne, Alabama at a Cracker Barrell.  We have a good 2 hours or so left to drive for the night.  There have been a number of thunderstorms along the way and we saw two accidents.  Please continue to pray for safe travels.

Updated: 1:00 AM

We finally made it to the hotel in Knoxville a little after midnight.  We are meeting at 7:45 in the morning, so it will be kind of a short night.

The was a long backup we were stuck in for the better part of an hour.

We will continue to get updates posted along the way.

Update at 11:20pm oin 7/1/2007

Sorry we didn’t get updates posted along the way on the last day due to technical difficulties.  We did write it down, and here is our journey’s details…

We left a Marriot Courtyard in Knoxville at 8am.  We stopped at a McDonalds for breakfast just a few miles down the road, so we really got on the road around 8:45am CDT.

We crossed into Virginia around 10:20, and took a break in Chilhowie, VA around 11.

Went throught Roanoke, VA 12:50, and stoppped for lunch at a Subway near there at 1, until around 1:30.

Mark had an upset stomach, so we made a few stops in remote parts of Virginia.

We passed…
- West Virginia - 4:40
- Maryland - 5:15
- Pennsylvania - 5:25

We arrived back at the church to a small group of greeters at around 8:20.

Thanx to all for your prayers, comments, and email.  We look forward to sharing our experiences in person now.  I will be posting a page of pictures over the next few days.

Its kind of hard to believe we are down to 1 short day left working.  We will be working until around noon tomorrow, then we will get packing, and start out on the road back north.  Its kind of a strange feeling, especially since there are no volunteers scheduled to come here next week at all.

We were split into two groups again today.  Nicki and Kevin, along with Steve (San Diego) and Dave (South Carolina) went to work insluating under 2 houses.  They had to pull off lattice work, and crawl under the house on their backs putting insulation under the floors.

Mark, Rob, Eric and Steve all worked on finishing the siding and metal work on the house we have been working on.  Rob (I) learned how to make a bird house (or apparently whats called a “pork chop” in the north) which is boxing in the rafters on the edge of a roof peak to make the transitions between the soffets go smoothly.  Eric and Steve were pretty much “gophers” and cutters, making all the siding pieces and such.  Cleaning up scrap, getting tools, etc.

After lunch, everyone got an on-time (maybe a little early) release…except Mark and Rob.  They had to finish up re-doing some bad siding spots on the house.  What we thought would be a simple 30 minute task became a 2-3 hour nightmare.  We did get done, but what a mess!

We had Dinner (a little late due to some ingredient errors and the chicken being partly frozen) consisting of Chicken, rice, green beans, and biscuits.  Rob was the cook today.

We had devotions, discussing our interactions with the poor, similar to Jesus’ interactions with the Widow’s offering in Luke.  We all pretty much agreed this trip gave us a perspective change, and a bit more humility.

We finished the evening with our newly learned card game…with Nicki and Rob’s team winning.

We have changed our plans for coming home slightly, and we hope to get into Knoxville tomorrow night.  We switched the reservations for the hotel, so its kind of a done deal.

We still need prayers for a good day tomorrow, and for safe travels as we start back.

I am very tired now…heading to bed…will post along the way home.

We started the day by being split into two groups…Rob, Kevin, Mark, and Nicki would work on continuing to put siding on a house.  Steve, Eric, and our friend Steve from San Diego (a teacher I may have mentioned in an earlier post) and Dave (another new friend - a Doctor from Charleston, SC) went to the “warehouse”.

The siding crew was tasked with siding the front of a porch roof, which we actually started twice…once kind of quickly, and a second time nice and level and with the angles cut correctly.  So while Kevin tried to make sure we didn’t fall off the scafolding, and did a great job of keeping the nails and tools coming, we cut and sided a porch for what seemed liks a long time…especially with the morning Sun being quite hot today.  I guess just 2 tries isn’t bad when your siding crew includes a Pastor, Computer Guy and a Hairdresser.

The “warehouse” crew spent the morning (did I mention this was about the hottest morning yet) in a non-air condiitoned warehouse sorting roofing shingles.  It seems somehow the packages were opened on many, and the palettes and packages have gooten scrambled over time and there was also some incident where some mischief was involved.

Anyway…it seems they got through it somehow…heat…ants…spiders…roaches…filth…building looking like it could fall over.

Part of our team was through for the day at lunch time and we were planning an evening drive to New Orleans.

Rob, Mark, and Nicki spent a couple of hours after lunch doing some more of the siding…we have a series of pictures that I hope to get loaded soon.  Nicki got a bit of sunburn today on her back that was bothering her, but its not super bad.

We all got cleaned up, and headed to New Orleans for the evening.  We took a little detour onto Route 11 so we could see more of the country side, and take an alternate bride over the large Lake here instead of the highway.  There is still an unbelievable amount of devastation around New Orleans that is strange to see so far after the storm came through.

We walked along the Mississippi river, had dinner at a restaurant near the Convention Center that Rob was familiar with, and the drove around a bit more too see some more sights before heading back to Hattiesburg.  Its about a 2 hour drive each way…maybe a little shorter.

We ended the day with our almost daily jaunt to the Walmart for a few more groceries.

We have been hearing through word of mouth from team members, via email, and this blog about people thinking about us a praying for us.  Your support and encouragement really make this a even better experience. 

Keep up the good work!

Today felt more like we were in a “groove”…getting up, getting ready, heading over to the house, etc.

It was REALLY hot at some points today though.

Nicki and Steve spent all morning painting inside a house.  Rob and Kevin put the siding up inside the porch roof (the Soffet…maybe spelled wrong).  Rob got the nickname “Soffet Man” by Mark, and he kept singing to the tune of the Elton John song “Rocket Man”.

Eric and Mark did various odd jobs all day…bending metal…siding…roofing…ask Eric sometime about how hot roofing material gets in the Mississippi Sun.

We have been trying to take alot of pictures, and we are hoping to try and post some at some point tomorrow.

We had Eric as our cook tonight, with Penne Pasta and sauce, and a Salad.  We had a dinner guest again…an English Teacher from San Diego who we have kind of adopted into our little family unit.

Mark’s devotions tonight included a discussion about each team members faith and physical journey to this point in time, at this location.  We all shared with each other our feelings about why we were called here to do the work of God.  It all seems to follow the same thread…this is the exact reason for a church…to reach out, glorify God, and enjoy the walk of faith we are collectively on.

We finished the evening being taught a card game called “Hand and Foot” by Mark and Nicki that is a favorite of a few families back in Lansdale.  Rob, Nicki, and Kevin won the first game…but a good time was had by all.

There are some plans about insulation work tomorrow…so I am sure there will be interesting things to be said tomorrow.

A special hi to Audrey Nace, who left us a comment about yesterday’s posting.

God bless all of you as you read this and hopefully feel a little closer to him as you hear whats happening so far from Lansdale.

Well, today we finally started to help with a group of houses.

Mark and Eric got to work on helping to finish siding on a house.

Kevin helped at the house next door, putting up shelves and shelf rods.  The lady who will own that home was there working with Kevin.

Steve, Nicki, and Rob all worked in another house.  Steve did caulking, then second coat painted the doors and trim.  Nicki second coated doors and trim and was the radio for us as she did it…she has a wide variety of songs to keep us entertained while we work.  I (Rob) put the locksets and doorknobs on all the doors and closets in the house.

And…this was all before lunch.

After lunch, we all focused pretty much on the same house where Mark and Eric had been siding.  Steve joined them, and Nicki, Kevin, and Rob all worked on some framing around the roof on the front porch to get it ready for siding.

Dinner tonight was homemade Pizza…including our newest creation…which included some of Steve’s leftover Broccoli soup from last night.

Our devotion for today was spent on the verses of the bible leading up to the “Love” chapter in 1 Corinthians where Paul describes us as all being a part of the body.

Please continue to remember us in your prayers.  We made it through our first day with a good amount of sweat…and also a pretty good feeling about the day.

Its a priviledge for us to be serving as a part of the body of believers at First Baptist…an arm reaching out to touch lives in a very needy place…a foot going that 1000 miles to get here…and a mouth to share Gods love with all we can.

Wishing you God’s peace.

Believe it or not, we all got out and in the vehicles, having already eaten breaskfast, and ready to go by 8am (actually an hour early if you take the timezones into accout).

We stopped for gas at a bit of a scary Shell station in Alabama, complete with hot cold running roaches (don’t ask…)

We then drove into Mississippi and the visitors center where people could gather more reading material and free maps.  Shellie also left some Tasty Kakes behind for the nice people attending the desk.

A little further into Mississippi, we had a bit of a scare…first the Oild light came on in the rental car, and seconds later, something happened to the Right front tire of Mark’s Truck.  We pulled over and pretty much cleared the message about needing an oild change on the rental, but the tire was another issue.

We wound up pulling off a few miles further down the road, and putting the spare on.  The tire was jumping on the road, so we figured it was a thrown weight possibly…but a nice local guy, who happened to be towing a racing vehicle, helped us out and found there was a large bump on the tire.  We set off to Hattiesburg with the tire changed, and the truck running smooth.

We got to our residence, to find nobody there.  After waiting for a while, and then Mark going in through an window we found unlocked, we checked out the house.  It is basically an air conditioned, 80% finished house…no rugs, paint, furniture, etc…just a bunch of beds and a 4×8 piece of particle board on saw horses for a table.  We are sure we can make due, as this is still more than many others in the area have.

We locked the house back up, and headed to Walmart.  We had pre-chosen cooks for each day, so we bought the required groceries for each of the cooks creations for the day, and we stocked up on Breakfast and Lunch food.

When we returned to the house, we were greeted by Mike, an onsite coordinator.  He gave us copies of forms, and safety books, and told us we would be helping finish up on houses, starting at 7am on Monday.

We went about setting up our rooms and putting away groceries.  Steve started making a cream of Broccoli soup that smelled wonderful cooking (and tasted great too)…but we unfortunately had another situation come up.

Due to a family emergency Shellie and Sherry left here today, and will be flying home from New Orleans in the morning.  Please keep Shellie in your prayers as her family goes through this, and keep Sheery in your prayers as she loves and supports her friend.  We will greatly miss the two of these team members during the rest of our time together.

Mark and I (Rob) drove Shellie and Sherry to a hotel in New Orleans so they would be able to get on the plane early Monday.  We got back to the house around 1:30 am (2:30 in PA).  We even had a “flashing light in the rearview mirror” scare on the way back here tonight, that only turned out to be an Ambulance.

We really need your prayer support, and please email us using the gulfteam email address, or leave us a comment so we know you have seen this.  We could all use a bit of encouragement right now, as tomorrow is the first day on-site, and today was quite a stressful experience in many ways.

In HIS service…

We met at the church at 8, and got the vehicles loaded by around 8:30.  We were sent off by a great group of members and Prayer by Pastor Berghuis.

Around 8:45, we started South (well…a bit North first…for those really keeping track).

We stopped in Virginia for a picnic Lunch around 1, then Dinner near Knoxville around 8.

We arrived at a Hampton Inn in Chattanooga, TN around 11:10 and we are all getting a short bit of rest until we get going again around 7:45 in the morning.

God has granted us safe travels so far, and everything has been going very smoothly.  The only issue we had was about an hour of rain between Knoxville and Chattanooga, but it really did not cause any serious problems except eye fatigue for the drivers.

Please continue to pray for our group as we arrive in Hattiesburg around 2pm tomorrow.

As Mark says…keep on Rockin….Peace…

Today we went to Budget to pick up the rental.  We got a large Mercury SUV.  It doesn’t have as much storage as we might have hoped, but we should be able to jam 5 people and some of our gear in there.

Mark’s pickup is going to get the brunt of the gear.

Hopefully some pictures from our departure and a few updates along the road tomorrow.

All the team members are anxiously awaiting Saturday when we leave.  There will be much more activity here as we leave, and travel to Hattiesburg.