Coming Home

I am sharing this post from the passenger side of the white van as we are on the last leg of the trip.  If all goes as planned we will be home by midnight.  I think I can speak for most all of us when I say we had a great experience that culminated with a wonderful dinner and time of sharing  on Wednesday night with our friennds at Osbornville BC.  They were such a warm and gracious church.  I had a deep sense that our crew helped to give them a renewed sense of hope, especially as they enter into a new chapter of ministry with Pastor Jim.

 I think this deep sense of hope along with a renewed awareness of the importance of teamwork was the theme of this trip.  Many of us shared with one another how rewarding a feeling it was to work together to accomplish so many projects

 At Julia's house, the team working there repaired two windows, kitchen cabinets, and a dresser.  They primed the ceiling in two rooms.  And, of course, installed a chain  link fence about 120 ft long.

Along with that, the other part of the team helped a lady move everything out of her attic, raked a yard, cleared sand from two boardwalk ramps, and part of a walkway, cleared debris from a significant stretch of beach (if I were to guess, 300 yds long or about 3 football fields in length), and cleared and raked a couple's yard of debris as well as cutting and stacking some scrap wood.

Most importantly, we "pitched our tent" among the people and did the kingdom work of Christ with them.  Many were Christians but a few were not.  We will not soon forget our many new friends on and near the shores of New Jersey.

One Day Left of Work

Tuesday brought continued work at Julia's house.  The crew there got the fence all finished except for putting on the chain link.  This involved digging more holes and setting the remaining stakes.  They also did some repair work on the kitchen cabinets. 

The rest of the team headed back to Seaside Park and continued working with Americore. Today we cleared debris from the beach.  Most of it was wood planks and pieces from various piers and docks that have washed up on shore.  There was also other random debris which we were able to sort out for recycling as well.  It was awesome to look back and see the beach cleared where we had been.  It was quite a mess upon arrival and to look to see how far we had come in clearing the debris was quite rewarding.  We worked with a girl named Savannah who is from Georgia but not Savannah, GA. (I know because that's the first thing I asked her.)    

It is safe to say that all of us are pretty worn out, but we are enjoying the many people we have met and are working with.  People at the church are clearly going out of their way to assist us and help us get anything we need.  Tomorrow night they have planned a pot luck for us and the entire church to celebrate with us and give us a special send off.  We ask continued prayer for our work tomorrow and safe travel on Thursday.  Thanks to all for your prayer support thus far.  It has truly been felt.                  

Much Accomplished So Far

       

I apologize for not posting sooner but we have not had access to wifi as we thought we would and we have been too busy to get to somewhere with wifi to do so.  Our travel on Saturday had its moments of difficulty as we faced some bad weather and lots of traffic in places.  We came through some that became sleet and then snow.  We were on the Pennsylvania turnpike and happened to pass the accident where the Seton Hill College Girls Lacrosse team had gone off the road.  If you didn’t see it in the news,  two were killed in the accident including the driver and the coach.  This gave us some pause and a bit of fear as we traveled especially as the further we drove the more accidents we saw.  We traveled about 10 miles on the New Jersey Turnpike which took at least 45 minutes if not longer.  Regardless of all this, we arrived safely at Osbornville Baptist Church around 6:15 pm on Saturday.  We decided to order pizza and not make the ladies cook since it was so late.  Steve, one of the key leaders at the church and who has been a big help to us, turned us on to a place where we got some delicious New York style pizza.

Sunday brought a fresh start and the opportunity to take showers at the nearby LA Fitness.  They are allowing those doing relief work to take showers in their facility.  We returned to Osbornville BC and attended Sunday school and worship with our new friends.  A highlight of the service was the children sharing a skit about the life of Moses.  Our youth helped them rehearse and cut out some masks they needed for the play.  They were very helpful and respectful as the music director kept saying to Meg Biddle how she couldn’t believe they were so well behaved for teenagers. 

On Sunday afternoon we started working.   We divided the group in half and some went to help a lady named Julia who has many repair needs at her home.  Sunday, the crew there did some painting, repaired a window, cleared some hedges for a fence row and dug some post holes.  Keith and Dennis continued the work there today (Monday) by beginning work on the fence along with Teresa and Judy assisting her in some other areas. 

Also on Sunday afternoon a crew of us helped a lady named Kathy get some things down from the attic of her house, which had been gutted after the storm.  She is currently renting a condo.  Her struggle with insurance and FEMA is typical to what people are facing.  She’d been told she has to raise her house so high in order to be able to stay there but what insurance is offering her as compensation for loss of her house is well below what is was worth.  After helping Kathy, we raked Lisa’s yard for her.  She is the lady who is helping us by lining up the work opportunities for us.  She has a bad hip and has not been able to get to it and was very thankful for the help.

On Sunday evening we were treated by a wonderful couple named Ed and Donna Ford.  They took us to dinner at the Brick Diner.  Donna’s Father, Gene, had recently died and the money they used came from her father’s estate.  She shared that this is the kind of thing that her father loved to do for people and they wanted to carry his spirit on by doing this for us.

 On Monday, the rest of the crew who didn’t go back to Julia’s went to work with Americore at Seaside Heights, which is a town on one of the Barrier Islands.  We spent the day clearing sand on board walk ramps and part of a walkway near a pier.  It was bitterly cold but everyone worked hard and accomplished a lot.  We worked with a great young lady named Lynette who is working for Americore.  She is from Pittsburgh, PA..  She was a hard worker and a great leader. 

That’s all for now!  Keep praying for us, the folks here at the church and the people we are encountering.  It sounds like we might get some bad weather coming our way.  Pray that it won’t slow us down as time is short.             

  

Half Way There

We arrived at Simpson Creek Baptist Church in Bridgeport, WV close to midnight all a little road weary.  We were greeted by Pastor Rick who is the youth minister here.  He had pizza and drinks here for us and couldn't have been more hospitable especially for someone waiting on a group until midnight to arrive.  In the morning he promised us a full scale breakfast of pancakes, eggs and bacon.  We may be road weary but the body of Christ is already revealing blessings along the way.

Seven days and Counting

Hello All!

We are 7 days away from beginning our journey to New Jersey to help with relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.  I think our crew is finally set after some additions and subtractions, but all is good and God knows his plans for us.  I wish I could say we know exactly what we are doing when we get there.  Lisa Gerlach of Osbornville Bapitst Church near Brick, New Jersey is serving as our go between to line up work for us.  She has a few jobs set up but due to so many constraints involving so many different factors, we are just going to have to make more concrete plans when we get there and see what exactly needs done.  It seems pride and or fear cause folks to shy away from asking for help. Lisa is aware of many in need in their church but they seem hesitant to ask for help.  Yet, she has received more requests from those outside of the church.  I am sure it will be an interesting dynamic as we dig in and get working.  We covet your prayers for the people there and our interaction with them.  Here is a list of our crew and a few others who you can be praying for.

FBC Crew
Lance Alexander,  Keith Arbuckle, Teresa Arbuckle, Jacob Biddle, Meg Biddle, Lucy Cash, Mollie Cash, Dave Doles, Kyle Frost, Matt Hamon, Reilly Jones, Chris Nelson, Emily Nelson, Sarah Patrick, Judy Rhude, and Dennis Steele

Folks at Osbornville/Brick we will be working with:
Lisa Gerlach, Pat Ballard, Pastor Jim Sheldon
People of homes/places where we will be working
   

				Kyl Frost