Monday: Hanging Drywall / Installing Insulation

Today we met the person who’s house we were working on. Her name is Ms. Julienne and she told us her whole story. When she first heard about the hurricane her and her family weren’t going to leave, but as the storm progressed she and her family decided to leave. They left 2 days before the hurricane hit and stayed around San Antonio for about a week. After the hurricane had passed, her husband went back to Rockport and her and her daughter went and stayed with family for about a month in Minnesota. When they finally came back they found their house in shambles. They began to look for a contractor and found one they thought would be good. The contractor ended up scamming them out of $50,000 and left the house after only doing some work on the roof.  After that they got a trailer and have been living out of it since then. They only have $13,000 left to repair their whole house and still support their family. She was so happy that we were there helping rebuild her house because without volunteer help there is no way the house will get rebuilt! She was so excited about the work being accomplished she Face-timed her husband who was on the road (he's a trucker) so he could see the progress being made in their house. It was awesome getting to hear her story and to interact with her throughout the day.

~ Kaitlyn LeMahieu



Today was our first full day in Rockport. We went to a house that was in pretty bad condition. We could basically see through the whole house because there were no walls up yet. So our job was to cut dry wall and put it up. We also had to hold the heavy dry wall up so we could do the ceiling too. It was really hard. All of us spread out into groups and worked on different jobs. Some of us put dry wall up, some of us put insulation in between the studs and some people cut dry wall. We made a lot of progress.

My experience today really impacted me because everybody in Rockport was impacted by last year's hurricane in some way, and many people lost everything they own. To see how the one family we are helping never lost site of God made me think. They trusted in him to help them get back on there feet and get their house back after all they went through with the storm and then by being taken advantage of by scam artists. This trip already is a great experience.

~ Caleb Alsum

Our first day on our mission trip in Rockport, Texas was a great experience. Hanging up drywall and insulation in Miss Julienne's house was a meaningful thing to do for all of us because we could finally, like Joe Lemmenes said, "put a face to the people who were affected" by the hurricane and see that they still are experiencing the aftermath and consequences of it.

One highlight of the day for all of us was when we were getting back into the van after finishing at the worksite, I was about to ask Mr. Hendrikse a question when I spotted something crawling on his neck. I said "Hey Mr. Hendrikse! There is a cockroach on your shoulder!" As soon as I said the word "cockroach," he was already kind of freaking out and trying to flick it off to his right, which he succeeded in doing, but in doing so, he flicked it onto Mrs. Hendrikse's lap, who then started screaming and freaking out, and jumped out of the car and ran away. When she calmed down, she looked for it into the car, but none of us could find it, and we still haven't found it.

After dinner this evening, we had our first chapel session on our week theme of "Casting Your Nets." Tonight's talk was on the theme "follow." The Bible passage was Luke 5:1-11. Jesus called His disciples to become fishers of men, not just fisherman. He called them from there lifestyle to come follow Him. Many of the disciples, mainly Peter, responded with confusion. When God calls us to drop something in our lives for his purpose, we might not know why and we might be confused, but we need to have trust in Him that He will work things out for the good of those who love Him.

Thank you all for your continued prayers as we continue our work in Texas this week.

~ Shawn Kanz

Making lunches for the day.

Getting ready to head out to our different job sites

Initially very dark in the house as there was no lighting.  We went out and purchased a few work lights and extension cords to donate to the family to make work easier.

An outside look of the house we are working on.

The majority of the work in this house is replacing all drywall and insulation.  Most of the damage in the house came when a section of the roof blew off and allowed rain to enter the house.

Getting ready to leave for lunch.  I hate to think a cockroach may have been perched on my hat as I was taking this picture!

Lunchtime

An outside look at First Baptist Church in Rockport. This church building suffered a great deal of damage from the hurricane.  They are almost finished with all of the repair construction. They continue to serve the community by housing several hundred workers a month that come down through different organizations to help rebuild Rockport.

Sam's head is a little distorted, but this panoramic offers a good view of the house from the front entrance.

We headed to the coast after working for the day.  We say a jellyfish swimming by shore, a couple dolphins, a hermit crab and a few other types of native wildlife.  I think it was obvious to the fisherman on the pier that we weren't from around here:)

A little game of spoons before our meal tonight