Be Careful Where You Pitch Your Tent - Week 3

Each week our MDS group decides where we will attend church so, last Sunday our group attended the New Iberia Cowboy Church for the second time. The pastor's sermon title was "Be careful where you pitch your tent". He took his Bible passage from Genesis 13 where Abram and Lot part their ways. Lot chooses the fertile Jordan Valley which was near Sodom and Gomorrah and Abram stayed in the land of Canaan. The lesson from the sermon taught us that all our choices in life can either draw us closer to God or lead us away from what God has planned for our lives. A few days later we were reminded of the Sunday sermon when Jim noticed a snake on our outdoor rug only a few feet from our door. Be careful where you pitch your tent! The snake was not in a hurry so Jim got a picture of it so he could determine what it was. From the picture we decided it was probably a venomous copperhead snake. Now Annette is much more cautious when walking through the grass.

This weeks work days zipped by quickly with tasks getting completed like drywall mudding, sanding, painting, and putting down plywood underlay for the kitchen and bathroom. After Bob and Jim repaired the soffit and fascia Jan and Annette painted it. Kathy and Annette stained and varnished eleven new doors throughout the house. New appliances arrived Thursday and the gas cooktop and oven were installed by the end of the day. Ms Beulah was very excited about all the progress. Thursday late afternoon our group increased to five couples with the arrival of Andre and Suzette from Quebec. It's been three years since we last worked with them.

This time part of our weekly shopping trip included an oil change at Walmart. This turned into a bit of an adventure when Jim thought he heard his name being paged over the noisy intercom, so we went to the automotive area to check it out. The service manager said they could not start the truck. Jim tried it too and was confused why it wouldn't go. After a few minutes of checks and thought Jim realized that he had removed the anti-theft (thing-a-ma-jig) from his key ring, so that's why it didn't start.

Have a good week. Be careful where you pitch your tent.

Time to Explore - week 2

This is our October MDS team. The lastest couple to arrive is from Idaho who are new to MDS. We did our usual four days of work this week and continued work on painting ceilings, staining doors, more drywall & mudding, scraping linoleum off the wood floor, mounted a washroom sink.

Friday we made a road trip to the south east till Morgan City, taking small scenic roads instead of the hectic and bumpy Hwy. 90. This highway has signs stating it will become the future I-49 from Lafayette to New Orleans, but it is a long way from being up to snuff for an interstate.

Franklin, LA had the best looking Main Street, decorated with their fall scenes created by various groups and businesses.

Our Saturday outing included more country drives, some being a bit rough with stiff truck suspension. We did find Lake Fausse Point State Park eventually and while there we hiked some trails. The wildlife was numerous but not the scarey sort. We saw 13 armadillos, 2 small alligators, a turtle, several small black squirrels and our highlight a "Barred Owl".

Our days off always include errands and our weekly grocery shopping. Over the past several weeks we have been checking out our options for reliable internet while away from home. It appears that Verizon has the best coverage all over the U.S. We decided on a new 4G hotspot, but were told it is not available for prepaid service, but only on a 2 yr. contract. So we made up our mind today we would settle for the slower 3G that would work in most areas. Then today as we were about to make the purchase the store manager found out that the new 4G Prepaid is expected to be introduced in the next month - so we'll wait for it.

We had heard from others in our group that in past years they had purchased Satsuma oranges from a citrus farm a few miles down the road from our home. So today we purchased a 20 pound bag for $10.00. Wow are they good!

Bringing Renewal - week 1

Our volunteering this fall (Oct. and Nov.) is in New Iberia, Louisiana with Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS). We are staying at a former community Center now owned by Southern Mutual Help Assoc. 20 miles away. SMHA is also the organization that we work with. At this MDS project we work to revitalize homes in an African-American neighbourhood.


Our client Ms Beulah was surprised to receive a call saying she would receive help. She had applied for help four years ago, and had forgotten about it.


It was great to have mother and son pitch in with removing ceiling tiles, staples and old flooring.

Annette spent a day on her knees removing glued down linoleum from a bedroom floor in order to salvage the original wood floor. Jim has been installing sheet rock on several ceilings and also doing the mudding.

Dick gets assistance with installing the last of eleven new windows, which are a great improvement to Ms Beulah's home. That sums up the first four days of work.

We are in the heart of sugar cane country, it's right next to our MDS camp.

The annual sugar cane harvest began October 1st and will continue till December 31st. The farmers equipment is lined up and ready to go to work on the fields next to our camp.

We don't have a photo at this time of the cane being cut and loaded into the wagons on the field. Hope to get a shot to share with you.

The farmers are assigned a time slot to deliver their cane to the farmer owned co-op processing plant and are also paid a premium for their loads to wait in line for the night shift to keep going.

We have learned that after the stocks are squeezed the fibers are burned to create steam for generating power to run the plant.

The drive through the Jungle Gardens of Avery Island on our first day off. We enjoyed the live oaks draped in spanish moss.

An airboat on the bayou - what a noisy mode of travel.

This 170 acre garden with azaleas, camellias, and many varieties of bamboo. The shade of the holly hedge and wisteria arch was enjoyed on this hot day. Avery Island is the home of the world famous Tabasco Pepper Sauce.

 

Fall 2011 Volunteering in Louisiana

Welcome back readers. Half a year of summer activities have slipped by and now we are on the road again exploring new places.


As much as we like volunteering and exploring it is hard to say goodbye to our family.


We had only been on the road for an hour when the trucks "maintenance required" light came on. So we stopped in at a garage in Letellier and received immediate help with resetting the message code. I quote from Annette's journal. "We arrived at the U.S. border where we were asked to go inside for the paper work. Here we were served by a friendly gal who knew what she was doing and had us finger printed and photographed in less than half an hour. We figured God worked it out so we wouldn't get to the border until this clerk was there to help us so efficiently." We had been warned this process could take 2 - 3 hours.



We had a new experience as we filled up with gas in Fargo, ND, when a young man approached Jim with an empty gas can and asked for a can of gas so he could go back to California. Jim commented to him that he would need quite a few of these cans filled to get him there. So he helped him out.

We chose a new route heading south this year by taking smaller highways instead of Interstates. One area of interest was the Rolling Hills Wind Project in southwestern Iowa which is one of the largest in the nation with 193 wind turbines to be completed by year end.

We made a two night stop at Watkins Mill State Park, Missouri (getting into their very last campsite). Our friends Walt and Ruby invited us to join them for their Sunday morning breakfast and church service. That afternoon the four of us went to the Watkins Woolen Mill and toured the house and mill. Here are a few pictures to interest you in checking out the website for all it's history. www.watkinsmill.org

After enjoying the Pierce Arrow show in Branson we continued our travels through the Arkansas Ozarks on a small scenic drive with many switchbacks and speeds as low as 10 mph.

Well we have arrived in Louisiana the land of sugar cane, rice, alligators, armadillos, and ANTS. We had our first invasion of sugar ants our first night in the state.

Sorry about our delayed blog post, because the US postal service did not deliver a package containing the MDS wireless card instead returning it to MDS in Pennsylvania. We will try and have our next post ready in a few days.