Day 2 November 20, 2008

                                

 

    

So, I am a little late in writing this one.  I have to do a

quick catch up because I am so tired.  The days have been packed full. 

Yesterday was day 2 for our Biloxi mission trip.  I ended up working with the other group, taking over for Stacy while she was at the free clinic with Marcia.  As we entered the house, I was so glad it was MUCH smaller than the house I had worked on the first day.  The projects that need to be completed in this house are many, but are all in the living room and bathroom: putting in insulation in the walls and cieling, sheet rock installed in the ceiling, bathroom walls, install the toilet, and shower walls, install the heating element, tile the bathroom floor and install the laminet flooring in the living room.  We were able to get a great start on the house, it felt really good to do some hard work. 

 

The bathroom wasn’t put togteher yet, so we didn’t have a toilet at the house.  Considering I have to pee about every hour, this was a bit of a problem.  So, I took a walk down to the elementary school a block away to see if the administration would allow us to use their facilities, considering we were helping restore their community.  Even though they decided not to let us use their restroom, I was still able to meet some folks that work at the school and after chatting with them a while was able to pray with them.  A couple custodial staff were outside having a smoke across the street when I came out of the school, so we started talking.  I asked if the woman had a need for physical healing in her body.  She said, “Oh, hunny, too many pains in my body.”  She wasn’t specific, but that didn’t matter, the Father knew exactally what she was refering to.  As I started praying, I saw a vision of her getting up in the middle of the night with back pain.  So, I prayed into that vision, asking the Lord to heal her back so she wouldn’t be sitrred with pain in the middle of the night anymore.  Amen.  She gave me this look, as if she was thinking, “How in the WORLD did you know that?!?”  I told her that I didn’t, but the Lord did and His Spirit revealed it to me to pray over her.  I reminded her that if she had recieved Christ, the Spirit was in her too and would do the same as she encouraged others and was abiding (John 15) in Him.  How cool!  Thanks Lord for that divine apointment.  Also, I had prayed that I would get to see the inside of one of the schools down here in Mississippi.  Praise God!

 

The day of work ended with me having a severe case of jello arm, some refer to it as spaghehtti arm.  The technical definition of jello arm – When one exutes tremendous energy and pressure in one arm such as drilling screws into dry wall above one’s head for prolonged periods of time arm becomes limp and tired like jello or a noodle.  Yes, that is from Carney’s dictionary.

 

For dinner, we had some delicious shrimp jumbolia, shrimp scampi (I’m talkin’ about 8-10 count shrimp), hush puppies, and potatos.  Yummy!  The food here is stinkin’ amazing.  You would think I was staying at a bread and breakfast.  I would like to take Joseph and Kathy back home with me to Cairo so they can keep cooking for me.  Pocket people, you know what I’m talking about.  People that are just too cute or too amazing that you want to put them in your pocket and take them home with you.

 

Okay, before I fall over from sleep deprovation, I am signing off for now.  I will post pics with this post later on.

Day 1 of Work Projects November 18, 2008

Hello friends from around the globe.  I thought I would give a little update from the mission field here in Biloxi, MS.  Things are going wonderfully, the weather has been beautiful and sunny during the day with cold chills in the evenings. I hear it is much warmer here than Cairo and Colfax, so no one is complaining. 

 
Yesterday we had our first official day of work projects. Both of our teams (red and blue) went out to the same house, which was great for building a bit more team unity between Team Biloxi and Team Cairo.  The red and blue teams are composed of members of each group to mix it up. Anyway, back to work projects.  We went to this amazing home nestled right on the bay area (check out a map of Biloxi, it is kind of a peninsula), which was actually a place where the Confederate soldiers loaded up their guns and prepared for battle.  Now privately owned by a mother and her son.  The outside of the house isn’t anything special to look at, but once you get in, it is GORGEOUS!  The home owners were not there today, but hopefully we will meet them at some point.

 

The project consisted of mudding dry wall and more mudding!  The walls had just been installed and mudded and so we are doing some finishing work.  Good thing we have all had plenty of practice mudding!  I really like to mud, it has the texture of thick frosting.  I even got to mix the mud with the giant drill bit.  My arm nearly came off the first time – talk about a powerful tool!  I also took some video footage that I will probably link up to my blog, once I figure it out.  We had a sweet time of working together and fellowshipping.  Harlan even lead us out in a few worship songs with that deep baritone voice of his. 

 

We only had a couple hours left and the Chaplin stopped by to see how we were doing, also to pick me up for some community outreach.  He is currently training a young man in the ministry (who recently returned from China with his wife).  What a blessing to shadow them as they traveled to different homes doing one on one emotional/spiritual care.  I love this kind of ministry!  Are you kidding me, this is what we do in Cairo all the time.  The Chaplin said most people have a difficult time understanding what this ministry looks like, how it is measured and what the outcomes are.  The whole person needs to be cared for, not just the physical.  I am thankful for people like Chaplin and Drew who are here to lead people to the Holy Spirit – the Wonderful Counselor. 

 
I was able to meet a few community friends…

E, and older man of about 85 years old who had a beautiful 1920s home near the beach front, who now lives in his guest house.  The home is in complete chaos and the guest house has been fixed up pretty nice.  The house is seriously just sitting there, falling apart, awaiting its next robbery.  People loot out the homes that are awaiting demolition.  This man has lost so much.  He no longer has his wife with him and is just waiting for his home to be demolished.  I don’t know if he is interested in paying the $2,000 it costs to tear it down and hall it away.  Who would be?!?  Some people are still paying a mortgage on their house, which no longer exists.  Borrowed money building interest while they are living in a trailer or tent. 

 

J – Met this man in the trailer park (you know the ones, provided by that fed. org – F_M_).  He is pretty angry and bitter, but who wouldn’t be (without the power of the Holy Spirit to heal your wounds)?  He constantly researches information on the intranet finding out how much money was given by which group, grants, fed, and coorporatley.  He wonders why only certain areas were rebuilt while others remain completely in shambles.  He wonders why people are still living in trailers when there was enough money to go around.  He wonders why his people are still being opressed (African American population).  I let him talk.  Sometimes people just need someone to listen.  I let him deflate and get it all out on the table – well at least a small portion of it.  I think he’s got a lot built up inside.  He says he knows Jesus and follows his ways.  Drew and I were able to pray over him.  I asked the Lord to raise him up in the community as a voice of righteousness, to strip away the bitterness that it would not take root in his life.  I asked the Lord to give him a desire to draw near to truth and resist the enemy.  J, keep on keepin’ on, don’t let the enemy win in your heart.  Also, we prayed for his 25 children, who are spread out across the nation. 

 

Grandma – This woman is a great, great grandmother (that’s right, 2 greats) to two little ones that she is now the guardian over.  A five year old boy and a six year old girl.  I was able to play with the kiddos while the Case Worker and Chaplin were with her in the house talking about where she was going to move after that org. kicked her out of the trailer.  She does have a plan and the Lord is providing for her and her family – thank you Jesus!  The kids were great, we hung out on the porch, soaking in the sun, talking about our favorites and Jesus.  Here are two short videos with the kids.  I will upload these later on, once I get on my own computer.

 

So, that was my day in a nutshell.  Stay tuned for tomorrow as I update you with more stories from Biloxi, MS.

 

Bless you.

**If anyone knows how to upload the pictures to a normal size, please let me know…