Heritage Presbyterian Church

PRESBYTERIAN DISASTER ASSISTANCE (PDA) - HURRICANE IKE
Check our blog site for pictures . www.presbycincimission.blogspot.com

Greetings From Texas City, Texas

Day four - Thursday March 5, 2009
Today is our fourth day on the job here on the Texas Coast and our work teams got into the home stretch on their project homes. For some of us Tuesday and Wednesday felt like two steps forward, one step back, as linoleum refused to come up, door frames were out of square, a bathtub removal turned up rotted sill and lower framing, and concrete floors defeated masonry bits and high strength TapCon fasteners. Today everything started to come together and we went to dinner feeling like we finally made real progress.

The four pilgrims from Heritage – Karen and Jon, Dick, and Roger – apologize for coming late to the Texas blog. They were preoccupied Tuesday night and Wednesday doing kitchen duty. They prepared breakfast (bacon and scrambled eggs) and dinner (both Italian and Cincinnati spaghettis), while still putting in time on their work sites.

Roger and Dick were honored this afternoon to present their client, Cora, with a prayer shawl hand knitted by a women’s group at the Mt. Washington church. She was moved to learn the knitters all say prayers for the unknown recipient of their shawl. Yesterday Cora’s daughter Sharonda cooked lunch for the work team of roofers and inside carpenters. We pigged out on fried chicken, sweet potatoes and greens. It’s a real mystery how we can do hard physical work and still gain weight on these trips.

Most of the teams have managed to take quickie tours of Galveston to get a sense of the hurricane damage. Even among the debris and devastation there are moments of beauty. Jon and Karen talked about one blooming bush in the midst of ruins, where two doves billed and cooed.

The work had its Wild West moments. Mark Mahan, Rev. Jerry Pitman, and Dick Jensen took turns shooting the floor – finally managing to nail down subfloor to old, stubborn concrete with a .27 caliber nail gun. The shots went on for hours and filled the house with the smell of gunpowder. Of course, the roofers were also banging away overhead, finishing up a new roof for Cora. A professional carpenter, Mark managed to install three new doors while teaching and supervising the rest of us.

Day three - Wednesday March 4, 2009
This evening the Rev. David Green, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Galveston shared dinner with us. Afterward he spoke about what it was like to live through Hurricane Ike. First Presbyterian Church of Galveston was established in 1840. It is a historic building. It has withstood many storms with no water in the sanctuary. But Ike brought three feet of water to the sanctuary. Rev. Green had told the staff to put everything on their desks, but since the water came over the desks, the church lost everything that had been put there. The congregation thought that they would be back in their church in three weeks. They did not realize the extent of the damage. He told us all that the church has been through as they recover from the hurricane. The insurance adjuster told Rev. Green, “Pastor, the foundation of the church in gone.” That statement brought to Rev. Green’s mind hymns like “The Church’s One Foundation,” and he realized that the church’s foundation is Jesus Christ, and no hurricane is going to wipe it out. Then he told us about his family. He has a wife and three children, ages 7, 9, and 12. Parents of children that age have a challenging time dealing with the questions.

Rev. Green told us that the people in Texas feel abandoned by the government and the rest of the country. The fact that Presbyterians are coming to help gives the people hope. We were inspired by his presentation.

Day two - Tuesday March 3, 2009
What a day! I feel like we are making progress. We should finish the new roof tomorrow. Since the guys found out they had to replace all of the wood on the back side of the house, we are a bit behind where they had hoped. We were so thankful, to find a strong, fiberglass ladder in front of the house, when we pulled up. The wobbly, scary, ladder from yesterday was gone, YAY, GOD! It was so scary watching Dick carry the shingles up yesterday, while it wiggled, let alone getting on it myself, going on a roof for the first time.

Gretchen and I have named us the “Dream Team” because everyone is so kind , helpful, and patient with our lack of skill. We (the women) have learned how to cut shingles, lay a roof, properly nail, are developing many new valuable “skills.” We are so thankful for our new friends and coworkers. Our roofing crew consists of Jerry, who inspires us with the word of God, (also a gifted craftsman) Harry, our ace navigator who was able to get us home today from the worksite without Garmin and only two prompts from Lori, Gretchen (who is now qualified to work for Uncle Karl), Lori (who has a pocket for every tool), Renee (who suffered a smashed finger) and Harold, our patient, and awesome leader. Since the women are now hammering most of the shingles without the aid of a pneumatic hammer we are going to call them the Texas City Roofettes.

Our inside crew consists of Mark, a very skilled carpenter, Dick (the brawn, who carried all of the shingles up the roof yesterday) and Roger (voted “best dressed” because of his fabulous tape measure suspenders). All of these guys are highly qualified and glad that the Roofettes are up on the roof and out of their way.

Everyone comes together at lunchtime for food and fellowship. Today’s food was exceptionally good – Church’s chicken.

We cannot neglect to mention our fantastic traveling companions, Ron and Juan. Poor guys probably never heard so much giggling in their lives.

Day One - Monday March 2, 2009
Today’s report is prepared by three of of our younger members of the team to give all of us a different perspective on these mission trip as we serve the churches of the Presbytery of Cincinnati.

Today was the first day of work. It was sunny and breezy, but warm in the sun. We are sorry you are stuck in the cold weather. Our group, Bill’s harem, worked at a Vietnamese man’s home. Our group is called Bill’s harem because it is made up of Bill Ryan and five lovely ladies. We insulated the walls and stripped nails from the wood to prepare it for dry walling tomorrow. We had the local food, Taco Cabana, for our lunch since we had to pick up our friend Amber from the airport. She missed her flight yesterday because of the snow in Atlanta. Dinner was amazing. We had red beans and rice, banana pudding, and corn bread. Tomorrow however, dinner will be even better since the young folk; Melinda, Amber, Taylor, and Juan, will be making tacos. We are the only four adolescents on the trip. We appreciated the camp a lot more today after working all day long and seeing the conditions that other people are living in at the moment. Our homeowner was living out of the upper level of his home and did not have many belongings. The hotel that the couple owns is also experiencing reconstruction and they haven’t been open for several weeks. Our help is obviously appreciated by them and we also felt appreciated when we gave our business to a local hardware store. The store had not received a lot of business as a result of the hurricane. We look forward to seeing how our improvements change the house and the owner’s lifestyle. We will all sleep very well tonight after a long day.

Amber, Taylor, and Melinda

Travel Day - Sunday March 1, 2009
It’s the night before Day 1 of the Mission Trip to Texas City. There are 32 of us, 12 people flew and 20 of us drove for two days. On Saturday it rained so hard you couldn’t see the car in front of you, and snow and fog so thick you couldn’t see the Mississippi River flowing under us finally arriving in Pine Bluff AR for dinner at the First Presbyterian of Pine Bluff and a quick snooze before leaving at dawn on Sunday for the second half of the journey. Sunday was gorgeous as we drove into 60 degree weather. Once again dinner, at the Texas City Church, then orientation, job assignments (5 groups for 6 houses) and finally devotions by Holly Robertson. A little more organizing for cooking and travels for tomorrow. Then off to bed. I’ ll talk to you again tomorrow. Peace.

The author of today’s note is Sandy Phillips Greetings,

6546 S. Mason-Montgomery Road Mason, Ohio
Phone: 513.398.7671
Worship Service: 8:30 and 11:00 AM
Sunday School: 9:45 AM
(During Summer months, single 10:00 AM service and no Sunday School)