Happenings of the Week

Sunday November 22 our MDS group drove to Johnson Bayou to attend that communities Baptist Church Thanksgiving service and lunch. Our visit to this community was initiated by Linda and John because they had volunteered here two years ago and wanted to see the community and its church people again. After the wonderful Thanksgiving lunch we continued our travels along the Gulf Coast and back via Hackberry, Louisiana where we served three years ago.

Our group made up nearly half of the congregation.

This house in Johnson Bayou built by MDS two years ago withstood Hurricane Ike’s attack but was damaged and is now undergoing repairs.

The past week’s rebuilding work included the installation of a garden door in Loretta’s home (Project #1). This completes the work at this house.

Siding work at Darcy’s house (Project #2).

Carl & Lois did an excellent job at caulking.

This is how Darcy’s house appeared at the end of our last day with the siding completed and the porch beam and posts now in place.

This week John and Bernie began work on Project #3 which will be a new porch and wheelchair ramp for Orma.

Jim volunteered to be in charge of the weekly cleanup and checks of the MDS truck and van.

Thursday was our Potluck night, but because of American Thanksgiving we chose to have our weekly outing at Ryan’s Buffet this time.

Friday was our pack up day in preparation for our departure early Saturday morning. We have been invited to return to Cheek, TX for January and February. We are posting our blog from Sioux Falls, South Dakota after two good and safe days of travel. We expect this will be our last post until we resume our volunteering adventure.

Worship and Work

We as a group have attended three different churches in our area. A white Baptist mega Church with eight buildings on their property in the city of Beaumont was the first place we attended. The second church was a small black Baptist Church in the community of Cheek where punctuality was not a priority. The whole church made a sincere effort to welcome us. Last Sunday we traveled to Orange, Texas to attended a Cowboy Church. This new congregation showed their faith through their music, hospitality, preaching and rodeo events planned to attract others. We were impressed by their unique, simple and yet attractive building. We hope to attend there again.

We meet for devotions each workday morning at 7:30 where we are encouraged to each take a turn in leading. This is where prayer and praise items are shared.

Seeing how many people need help in Cheek, Texas but realizing we can only help a few. One of the devotionals shared spoke about faith is something we do, not just what we feel. It’s easy to think, “But I can’t meet everyone’s needs!” That’s right. None of us can. But we can meet some. What we can do may not make a difference to everybody, but it will make a difference to those we help.
Think of it like this: When the tide went out, hundreds of starfish were stranded on the beach. A little boy began to pick them up and throw the starfish back into the ocean. A man came along and asked, “What are you doing?” The boy said, “I’m putting the starfish back into the ocean.” The man said, “But there’s too many! You can’t make a difference for all of them!” The boy tossed another starfish into the water, and said, “I bet it makes a difference for that one.” One-by one. Great opportunities to serve God often come as small opportunities to serve those around us who are in need.

After repairs that were made last week to Darcy’s house we now finished the fascia and soffiting, and started on the siding.

The work done at Loretta’s house is evident and she is excited about the improvements being made to her home.

We take the easy removal of garbage so for granted back home. Here it seems difficult and expensive. Linda and Lois cheerfully removed the garbage pile at Loretta’s.

Because of rainy weather we spent our time off relaxing, shopping and visiting the Beaumont Conservatory.

Time for Work and Play

Mennonite Disater Service is working under the direction of SETIO (South East Texas Interfaith Organization).

Homeowner Loretta with her granddaughter.

We finished our second week of work here at Cheek, Texas and are amazed at how much work got done.
The exterior work on Loretta’s house was nearly wrapped up this week. This included the second coat of paint on her siding and the brown trim paint by the ladies. The front door ornamental posts got sanded and spray painted by Bernie.Some interior work that got done was texturing, painting walls and ceilings in the kitchen, hall, bedroom. The bathroom had its ceramic tile and drywall removed and rebuilt with a new tub surround.

Jim trying out the "Mennonite Recliner" for comfort after lunch.

Work began on Darcy’s house on Monday, which is the second project begun by MDS. Jim & Carl started with removing old siding, followed by repairs to rotten boards beneath the windows. This was followed by replacing the fascia board.

On Thursday, Annette came to assist the guys with replacing the vinyl soffiting.

On Friday most of our group went on a day outing to Galveston to check out how the city has recovered from Hurricane Ike’s destruction.
Some of the group toured the Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig Museum, while others explored downtown shops. A stroll on the quiet beach was enjoyed by all.

Saturday we toured Spindletop Museum at Gladys City which became a famous oil boomtown overnight when the Lucas Gusher blew on Spindletop Hill on January 10th 1901. They say the flow was 100,000 barrels of oil per day. Within 10 years Spindletop Hill was virtually a ghost town.

Our group took advantage of an invitation to watch the Southeast Texas Mavericks play their season opener on Saturday evening. The game was next door to our camp at the Ford Arena.

Week Three – Starting MDS Work

Our MDS camp is located in Beaumont between Hwy. 124 and I-10 at Ford Park. Therefore we hear the hum of traffic day and night, which we are getting used to. This park has numerous baseball diamonds, the Ford Exhibit Hall, an 8,500 seat arena and a 14,000 seat outdoor amphitheatre. Our RV’s and the office trailer are in a fence enclosed paved area.

This is our group relaxing and reading Sunday afternoon in the warm sunshine. We had a fifth couple arrive unexpectedly Saturday afternoon.

We are working at Cheek, TX which is about seven miles from where we live. Cheek is a spread out rural community having shabby as well as luxurious homes.

The first home that we have been working on is for Grandma Loretta who is taking care of three of her grandchildren. This home has been lacking maintenance for many years and when Hurricane Ike struck the shingles were ripped off causing ceiling damage. The shingles have been replaced by someone else. We needed to remove the insulation and drywall from the kitchen, hall and one bedroom

We removed the bottom siding board and replaced it with hardy board (cement board).

The ladies scrape and sand the old siding.

Jim makes some exterior repairs.

Annette, Doreen and Agnes paint the exterior.

Bert finishes up on the third new door installation.

John and Bernie removed the old ceiling and installed the new.

Linda begins the taping.

On Friday, our day off Jim and I started exploring Beaumont by doing a driving tour, stopping for groceries and also toured the Fire Museum of Texas.

On Saturday part of our group went to Shangri La Botanical Gardens & Nature Center in Orange, TX. Annette poses with one of the nearly eighty scarecrows created by various community groups for their fall display.