First
Christi
an
Church Richlands, North Carolina
Team Members
Gary Edens (not pictured), Ken Brown, Brenda Huffman, Tony Bostic, Angela Bostic, Taylor Bostic, Mark Lunceford, Cindy Lunceford, Sarah Lunceford, Casey Lunceford, Pat Morton, Greg Jeppson, Roy Metts, Mary Ann Metts, Joe Stroud, and Susan Stroud.
2010 Mission Trip to Beaumont, Texas
Watch this site for daily updates starting July 3rd. Daily updates and photos will be uploaded hopefully around 11:00 P.M. central time.
Click links below to go directly to desired day:
Day 5: Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Today was just the beginning of a long, tiring, wonderful journey. We started out by heading to Albert Ellis for our first flight. We were greeted by friends and family willing to come out on a Saturday morning to come and say goodbye, which was a blessing in itself. Brett Miller gathered the group in a circle and we held hands and prayed for our trip prior to our flight. We were checked in and were on the plane in no time.
We landed in Charlotte and after we grabbed a quick lunch and were on another plane. After a weather delay in Houston, we landed and grabbed our bags and waited for Gary and his brother in law Jimmy to pick us up. They took us to The Tin Roof, for a real Texas meal which was large and filling.
Two hours later we arrived at our sleeping quarters/work site. We were excited to see that Gary had brought us some real sweet tea from Andy’s. Our excitement vanished when we realized that Gary had forgotten to refrigerate it, so it spoiled. After surveying the building site, we decided that we have our work cut out for us, but through the Grace of God, we will do great things. We ended this very thrilling day by playing an intense game of spoons and UNO.
Click here for pictures from Day 1: Saturday, July 3, 2010
Our day started at 6:00 A.M. as we had to wake Gary up so that he could catch a flight out of Houston to return to Richlands for Mrs. Edna Burch’s funeral. Around 7:00 A.M. several of us gathered in the make shift sanctuary and offered a prayer for Gary for safe travel home. We were on our own for breakfast so we went to Ryan’s for a buffet breakfast. When we returned to Northwood Christian Church, we were greeted by several members of the church as they started gathering for worship. We were all excited about worshipping with the church we came to help. We felt right at home when the multi-media left out a verse of the song. Mrs. Kay would have “took to task” the Doxology. Just when we have sped up our Doxology at home, Northwood Christian Church actually slowed it way down and sings it reverently. We had a “God Moment” when a member of the church had a testimony to share of our mission team. He said that “God told him that we were pure in heart and God would Bless our ministries.” That moment was almost as special as Gary telling us “that while he enjoyed staying with the family of his sister and brother-in-law on Friday and Saturday, he was more anxiously waiting for his church family to arrive in Beaumont.”
When church was over, we split up into groups and some of our team went to Gator Country, some went to see a movie and others went shopping. After a great meal, we had orientation with all of the long term volunteers and we were reminded to be flexible and to do whatever we are asked to do. We were reminded to be safe when we work. We were reminded to be sensitive to others around us. Finally, we were reminded to be sensitive to the spirit that God has a plan for what we have been called to Beaumont to do.
After our orientation, we met four new friends who have come to work with us from a Disciples of Christ church in Kansas City, Missouri. We were all aware that tomorrow will begin our mission of what we have set out to do, so we turned in to bed a little early.
Click here for pictures from Day 2: Sunday, July 4, 2010
We began our morning at 7 a.m. with a wonderful breakfast provided by our Mission Leaders. This was followed by a devotion given by MaryAnn on motivation. This was a wonderful way to start off our first day on the job. We were given our work assignments last night so we were excited to get started. Today’s temperature of 100 degrees made things a little more challenging. We are expecting a weather front to move in about mid week, so we had to work really hard while the sun was shining.
Brenda, Angela, Susan, Joe and Taylor worked on soffit around the upper outer roof of the church. Ken, Roy, Mark, Casey, Greg , Sarah and Tony did roof work consisting of drip edge, straightening trusses, lookouts and sheeting firewalls. MaryAnn and Pat were busy blocking walls. Cindy was the lady on the move today going with the main man to Home Depot to get doors, soffit, and other roofing supplies. Sarah was also our water general who was in charge of calling all of our water breaks! The highlight of our day was our popsicle break!!!
It was a tough day in the heat. We had to be careful to make sure no one became overheated. Although no one passed out from the heat, we did have two of our team members injured. While moving some scaffolding, Brenda injured her foot. Dr. Greg performed surgery on it tonight to help ease the pain. Ken was also injured while he and Roy were removing a brace on the rafters. When the board popped off the rafter and flew up in the air, it came down and landed on Ken's arm. The board had a nail in it and it landed first, straight down into his arm. Neither injury were life threatening and we thank God for watching over us.
After cleaning up our worksite and calling it a day we all took “cool” showers in our new facilities. A devotion was given by Alex, one of the student interns here at the mission house. This was followed by a delicious dinner, again cooked by our Mission Leaders. Several team members visited the local laundry mat giving us all fresh clothes for later in the week. Everyone is exhausted but spirits are extremely high looking forward to our work tomorrow. Early bedtime tonight, more to come tomorrow!!
Click here for pictures from Day 3: Monday, July 5, 2010
Getting up this morning was a little slower for everyone. Body parts a little sorer than the day before! We began our day again with a delicious breakfast served by our mission leaders. Believe me, no one is losing weight this week. The food has been wonderful. Susan and Joe started off our morning with devotion about being in Christ’s image and how God has chosen us because he loves us just the way we are. From there we stepped out into our day in again 91 degree heat. Our prayer for the morning was that God would hold off the expected rain so that we could get the work done that we needed to. As always, God answered our prayers and we were able to put in a full day’s work without rain. A lot was accomplished today. Our highlight for the day was when Gary returned to be with us! We were so excited to have him back! It’s about time he showed up for work! HA HA!
Mark, Ken, Roy and Greg continued work on the roof. They have an extremely hot job but are able to take multiple water breaks. Sometimes they would get a little hard headed and we’d have to make them come down.
Tony, Casey, Sarah and Alex finished up the flashing on the roof.
Joe, Susan, Brenda, Taylor and Angela continued to work on soffit and fascia for the roof of the church.
Cindy helped build, paint and caulk a new permit box for the site. She also made the usual Home Depot run and helped with putting the Tyvek on the church walls.
MaryAnn and Pat cut the wood for the roofers.
Everyone but the roofers then proceeded to put Tyvek around the church walls. This consisted of wrapping the church walls and stapling, cutting it to fit, and being on very high ladders. Great group effort! Everyone is working together getting things done. God has definitely been with us in many ways. He sends those cool breezes just when you think you can’t go on.
Megan from Missouri gave an uplifting devotion on God’s steadfast love before dinner. We sang songs giving praise to God, including Lord, Do you hear your children praying. Ms. Kay would be so proud! His presence surely filled this place! We were served another wonderful dinner by our mission leaders. Too tired to wiggle, we laid around and reflected back on our day. The forecast is calling for 70% chance of rain again tomorrow, but we prayed it off today and we can do it again! We will get done what God wants us to get done! Continue to keep us in your prayers, they are definitely being felt as we continue to God’s work!
Click here for pictures from Day 4: Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Day 5: Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Today, we started out our day with…Rain! It had rained a lot during the night! After a hearty breakfast and a great devotion given by our youth, Taylor, Sarah and Casey, we waited for the rain to stop before we could get started with our work. We were only able to work a short while before the monsoon hit! While waiting for the rain to stop, we entertained ourselves by playing Charades, Catch Phrase and Indian Poker. It was hilarious! After eating lunch we were able to get started again with our work projects. We were able to work for about two hours before the rain hit again. It was disappointing that it rained, but we were blessed to get some inside projects accomplished, considering it was 100% chance of rain. Also, the weather was a cool 90 degrees!
Angela, Brenda, Joe, Taylor, and Susan worked on venting soffit and took a trip to the Home Depot. Tony, Cindy, Greg, Sarah & Casey worked on an attic floor for storage. Mary Ann and Pat helped with pull down attic stairs. Roy, Mark, Ken, and Gary are still in purgatory on those rafters!
Northwood Christian Church treated us with native cuisine for lunch and supper. We had “Links” which is a smoked sausage only found in Beaumont, Tx . We also had Boudin and they were kicking spicy! They have also kept us supplied with Blue Bell Ice Cream! (We are wondering how we can stow Blue Bell Ice Cream and Links in Gary’s truck for the ride home…) For supper, members of Northwood Christian Church served us, visited, and exchanged recipes. They also stuck around for a little line dancing. It was Mark’s birthday so we celebrated with cake and gifts.
We had an impromptu Worship Service prior to supper and it all started with a song! We started with How Beautiful, Days of Elijah, Here I am Lord, and My Redeemer Lives! Each one in the room began to sing and the room was filled with the Holy Spirit of God, as we praised the Lord! We had it going on! After sitting around and fellowshipping for a while it was off to bed. We are hoping for better weather tomorrow. The forecast is calling for 70% chance of rain. Please keep us in your prayers.
Click here for pictures from Day 5: Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Today was the day that the Lord had made! What a beautiful and productive day! Last night when we went to bed, the forecast called for 70% chance of rain. Before we went to bed, we prayed for better weather so we could work. We woke up this morning to sunshine, Praise the Lord! Overnight, the forecast changed to only a 30% chance of rain. Since most of the day yesterday was a rain out, we were excited to get to work! After a delicious breakfast, Cindy and Mark gave our morning devotion about finding great things in little deeds. Then it was off to work!
We were anxious to get as much work done today as possible so all team members were all over the work site pitching in everywhere! All of the flooring in the attic was placed down and installation of the attic staircase was completed. The roofers continued with their awesome work and were able to start sheathing the roof over the sanctuary. They also added trusses over the porch entry area. The soffit was completed on both sides of the church. A really exciting part of our day was when the windows for the church were delivered. One window was almost completely installed today, it was a beautiful sight.
Another fabulous lunch was enjoyed by all and then it was right back to work. Our time here is growing to a close and we still have so much we want to accomplish. God surely answered prayers today as just down the road in Houston it has rained all day. Jackie’s plane was even delayed due to their storms. We never saw a drop of rain today in Beaumont, so we were able to get a full day’s work in. God is so good!
We traveled to First Christian Church of Beaumont for our dinner. Members of their church prepared a fantastic Texas meal for us. It consisted of beef brisket, baked beans, potato salad, cucumbers and bread. Oh yea, and two five gallon tubs of Blue Bell ice cream!! This is the best ice cream ever, just sad we can’t get in North Carolina (yet anyway, we’re going to have to work on that, HAHA) .
Following our meal we gathered in their sanctuary for worship. It was truly a beautiful place. We began by singing Amazing Grace together followed by a time of personal meditation and reflection. Within just a few minutes the altar was full with all of our brothers and sisters in Christ on their knees giving thanks and praise to God for our week. Appropriately enough, we began to sing “Surely the Presence of the Lord is in this Place.” The Holy Spirit‘s presence filled the sanctuary and everyone who was present.
Team members stopped off at the laundry mat for more refreshing clothes. Our Missouri friends will leave for home tomorrow morning at 7:30. We have so enjoyed getting to know them and working side by side. Please keep them in your prayers for safe travel home.
We have so much that we want to get done tomorrow before we leave for Houston. Please pray that the rain will hold off and that God will have his hand on everything that we do. Keep those prayers coming. They are most needed and appreciated!
Click here for pictures from Day 6: Thursday, July 8, 2010
Wow! What a week it has been. Honestly, when we arrived in Beaumont and first saw the “S” shaped trusses over the sanctuary space, most of us (even Ken Brown, Mark Lunceford and Roy Metts) thought the only way to fix the problem was to remove those trusses and start over. But, we all know that the best way to solve a problem is to tell those three guys it cannot be solved. Well, it worked again. When we left Beaumont today, all the trusses were straight, square and plumb, over half of the west side of the sanctuary had roof sheeting installed, the fascia and soffits had been installed on the south gable end, the fascia and vented soffit had been installed on the east AND west faces of the education wing and the rest of the soffit on the east face had been completed and trimmed out , the entire education wing had been wrapped with tyvek, and one door and three windows had been installed.
When the time came to stop work and begin showers, we had mixed feelings; on one hand, it was HOT and our “cold” water showers were actually very refreshing, but on the other hand, we had reached a point where we were making a lot of visible progress and wanted to keep on rolling. Well, logic overcame passion and we showered, packed up and headed back to Houston. Our hosts there, Rev. Edens’ sister and brother in law, Ruth and Jimmy Dawson, and their daughter and son in law, Mark and Debbie Ward, treated us to a pool party/barbecue with burgers, sausages and chicken breasts. We followed that with a time of sharing our experiences through the week and then we shared communion.
There were several common threads that bound the sharing time together. Almost everyone agreed that he or she had learned something new about building but EVERYONE agreed that we had learned much about service, about cooperation with friends both old and new, and about ourselves and our relationship with God.
Click here for pictures from Day 7: Thursday, July 9, 2010
If you would like to send a message or ask a question of the mission team, click here. (If this link does not work, you can send an e-mail to kbrown117@charter.net)
Visits to this page since July 1, 2010
First Christian Church Richlands
124 Trott Road
Richlands, NC 28574
Phone: (910) 324-4690
E-mail: office@fccrichlands.org