We currently have 28 volunteers signed up to come with us to New Orleans
from July 19, 2009- July 25, 2009! We are so excited!
Our next mission team meeting is Saturday, January 24th 9-11 a.m.
at Grace Lutheran Church, in the fellowship hall.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Commitment Meeting
Sunday, December 14, 2008 @ 12:30 p.m. in the Grace Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall
Anyone who would like to join our mission team MUST attend this commitment meeting! Paperwork, up to date pricing information, plans for trainings and prayer time, and other important news will be discussed. Come and join us!
2009 Fundraising Has Begun!
Fundraising has begun for our 2009 mission trip to New Orleans!
Now through December...
We are currently selling tickets to the "Simon Evening of Giving" events, being held at various Simon Malls at various times (depending on which mall you go to), on Sunday, November 23rd. Tickets cost $10 each, and our mission team receives $7 for each ticket sold!!
We are also selling 2009 "God's Creation" calendars! They are $10 each, and the mission team receives a little over $6 for each calendar sold!
THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Meeting Announcement
New Orleans 2009 Informational Meeting on Sunday, October 12th @ 12:30. If you can not make the meeting but are interesting in coming with us please sign up on either the Youth Bulletin board or the General Info. bulletin board! We will do a general overview of the trip, establish goals, and discuss fundraising ideas!
Monday, August 18, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Drywall work nearing completion
Scott and Mack in the room that they finished on Friday...
Mike in the same room that he drywalled with 
Scott on Thursday.
Scott on Thursday.Karen and Jeff - always smiling - and great worker-bees!
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
Team 4 in Ama
Here are the fun spirited girls of team 4, "Mishy, Meggie, Kiki, & Kaki" and me, Ingie, along with a team from Vanisota Texas. We are working at James' house in Ama. He is currently living next to his house in a trailer along with his wife Lorraine. Many houses are vacant on this street, so it is pretty quiet. The past 3 (hot) days we floated (mudded) and tapped the dry walls, and then sanded them. Then repeated the process. James was there working with us. He is very kind man. Sadly, he lost his original house, located on Lake Pontchartrain with 8 foot flood water in Katrina. Team 4 worked hard, drank much water, chatted with the Texans, Y'all, and entertained us with singing! Lots of great songs were composed, "I Sand the Walls" was my fav!It was really fun working with these girls! Eeeexcelent!
Friday
We had a very productive day at Howard and Helen's house. We all dug deep to get at much finished as possible. Rudy's team joined us which was a huge help. Scott jumped right in and dry walled a complete room with himself, Michael and Mack. Here is an example of what our team accomplished today.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
It was an emotional day because we didn't do everything we "wanted" to accomplish. Good people like Howard and Helen have gone almost three years without a home. We all wanted to do everything we could to shorten their wait. The promised FEMA money is slow in coming. The crooked contractors bilking people of thousands of dollars is infuriating. The cook in our camp was taken for $40,000. I was talking to a gentleman today that told me that there are 30,000+ people waiting for a home. The stories go on and on. The need is so great and it is hard to watch.
If you have any desire to do the Lord's work, please consider the people of New Orleans. Almost three years without a home is enough.
We had a chance to pray with Howard and Helen before we left. It was awesome!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Thursday Post
Hi All,
Sorry for the late post today. It will be brief as it is late and we have had a full day. We continued to work on Howard and Helen's house. Bryan and Adam cut the lawn and did some weed wacking.
I think we will finish the hanging tomorrow. We have started to tape the rooms we completed. We are making very good progress. Scott, Susan and Mike came over to help.
I thought I'd show you around the camp.
All the trailers to the left are the long term volunteers'. Pastor Ed also lives in a trailer.
This trailer has been converted into a full kitchen. This facility feeds all 100+ two meals a day.
Shipping containers used for storage.
Our bunk room.
Look for a Sweeney post tomorrow.
Sorry for the late post today. It will be brief as it is late and we have had a full day. We continued to work on Howard and Helen's house. Bryan and Adam cut the lawn and did some weed wacking.
I think we will finish the hanging tomorrow. We have started to tape the rooms we completed. We are making very good progress. Scott, Susan and Mike came over to help.
I thought I'd show you around the camp.
All the trailers to the left are the long term volunteers'. Pastor Ed also lives in a trailer.
This trailer has been converted into a full kitchen. This facility feeds all 100+ two meals a day.
Shipping containers used for storage.
Our bunk room.
Look for a Sweeney post tomorrow.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Wednesday evening
OK, we really packed it in today! Greg said that we should stop work early so we could tour the "levy district" (Lower 9th Ward) of New Orleans. We wanted to get just as much work done, though, so we really worked extra hard. Greg and I dry-walled a room (completely!) and the other 4 men (Adam, Matt, Bryan, and Steve) dry-walled the ceiling of what will be a laundry room.
Bryan and Adam had some quality time with Helen.
Anyway, the Lower 9th... we drove to the place where the levies failed (or were intentionally broken by the Army Corps of Engineers) and flooded a HUGE area. This area is between the Mississippi River and the Industrial (a.k.a. Navigation) Canal. The levies are about 18 feet tall and made of solid concrete, so breaking them took tremendous force!
The area is still mostly deserted, though there are few places where, between the tall undergrowth and the piles of debris, new homes are starting to emerge, like a phoenix from the flames. Many places are just remains of foundations; others had bows and notes left by their owner; others had signs like "Rebuild or leave!"
At dinner, we heard the story of one resident of this area named Jerome Terry, who is now an ordained Lutheran Pastor. He is officially the Pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church, though this church, which is also in the Lower 9th Ward, was destroyed in Katrina, and he is trying to rebuild his congregation. He told the story of he and his wife trying to bail out their house as the storm hit on Monday, August 29, 2005, only to have to leave it by foot the next day when the waters rose to about 5 feet high. They carried what they could and walked through the waters, eventually making it to the Convention Center along route 90. They eventually journeyed to Houston, where they have a daughter, and then to St. Louis, Missouri, where he finished his seminary schooling and earned his Master's of Divinity in January 2006. Though he got several calls, Pastor Jerome felt he needed to return to Bethel in the 9th Ward and help them rebuild.
Most of the area that we toured were neighborhoods that are no more. Just concrete slabs and an occasional set of stairs. 
We came across a house. You can see that the family just left and never came back. What struck us was that the magnets are still on the refrigerator. I think it really hit home that every one of the concrete slabs we saw represented a family whose lives were sent into turmoil. We are doubly motivated to work extra hard on our Howard and Helen's home to get them back to "normalcie". 
When touring the 9th ward today, we saw a sign with a passage of scripture from Ezekiel -- it was about the valley of bones. Though the valley is filled with the dead -- beyond dead! VERY, DRY BONES -- Ezekiel recognizes that the Lord can breath new life into these very dry bones. HE CAN MAKE ALL THINGS NEW!
So, the lesson today is that God does let disasters such as Katrina happen and the bones of the valley get very dry and all seems hopeless. And though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, it is God; and through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who loves us so much that we may rise again and restore faith, home and community.
Signing out at 10:48.
God Bless,
Your Grace Team
Bryan and Adam had some quality time with Helen.
Anyway, the Lower 9th... we drove to the place where the levies failed (or were intentionally broken by the Army Corps of Engineers) and flooded a HUGE area. This area is between the Mississippi River and the Industrial (a.k.a. Navigation) Canal. The levies are about 18 feet tall and made of solid concrete, so breaking them took tremendous force!
The area is still mostly deserted, though there are few places where, between the tall undergrowth and the piles of debris, new homes are starting to emerge, like a phoenix from the flames. Many places are just remains of foundations; others had bows and notes left by their owner; others had signs like "Rebuild or leave!"
At dinner, we heard the story of one resident of this area named Jerome Terry, who is now an ordained Lutheran Pastor. He is officially the Pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church, though this church, which is also in the Lower 9th Ward, was destroyed in Katrina, and he is trying to rebuild his congregation. He told the story of he and his wife trying to bail out their house as the storm hit on Monday, August 29, 2005, only to have to leave it by foot the next day when the waters rose to about 5 feet high. They carried what they could and walked through the waters, eventually making it to the Convention Center along route 90. They eventually journeyed to Houston, where they have a daughter, and then to St. Louis, Missouri, where he finished his seminary schooling and earned his Master's of Divinity in January 2006. Though he got several calls, Pastor Jerome felt he needed to return to Bethel in the 9th Ward and help them rebuild.
We came across a house. You can see that the family just left and never came back. What struck us was that the magnets are still on the refrigerator. I think it really hit home that every one of the concrete slabs we saw represented a family whose lives were sent into turmoil. We are doubly motivated to work extra hard on our Howard and Helen's home to get them back to "normalcie". 
When touring the 9th ward today, we saw a sign with a passage of scripture from Ezekiel -- it was about the valley of bones. Though the valley is filled with the dead -- beyond dead! VERY, DRY BONES -- Ezekiel recognizes that the Lord can breath new life into these very dry bones. HE CAN MAKE ALL THINGS NEW!
So, the lesson today is that God does let disasters such as Katrina happen and the bones of the valley get very dry and all seems hopeless. And though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, it is God; and through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who loves us so much that we may rise again and restore faith, home and community.
Signing out at 10:48.God Bless,
Your Grace Team
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Katie & Michelle working hard!
Working with a group from Austin Texas, cleaning out the brushes
Getting more colorful as the day goes on!
Monday and Tuesday we spent painting this High School. The school was originally an elementary school, but there were so few families left after the storm that they had to close the school. Last year it reopened as a High School with 200 students. We worked to spruce up the walls with fresh silver/ blue paint. We had the delight if working with a great group from Austin Texas.
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