Two Good Teams = Lots of Work Done

The region 1 rebuild team spent most of their time working on Mary & Anna’s home getting it almost ready to move in.  They painted walls, installed floor covering, kitchen cabinets and molding.  Billy (not Layton) repaired her brick wall around the front of the house that boats had hit during Sandy’s visit.   Harlon and David helped the electrician with some wiring at Grace Evangelical Church.Woody Tucker led the Region 8 feeding team.  A different team member stayed back to help do the cooking each day while the others went out to help with rebuild work.  The last two days they all went out.  They repaired interior steps, build walls and rails, hung sheet rock and did some much needed ministering to homeowners.  Woody was found sleeping in the drive way so they chalked him out.

Prayer request: We could sure use a plumber and an electrician to work with the licensed contractor next week if you or somebody you know could come up.

Feeding Team Turns Into Recovery Team

Although we only had one volunteer sign up for this week, the Region 6 feeding team led by Jerry Barbee, still came to serve.  After breakfast they went out into the field, cleaning out a church and a home.  Then in the afternoon they would return to cook and serve supper.  Tony Treat came up to do mold treatments and accessing. Ann went home to attend her Uncle Elton’s funeral and stayed all week to help Matt and Tanya at Yellow Dog Bread Company.  She had fun but worked really hard.  Her main job was washing dishes but was also able to help make cinnamon buns and other breads.

We wonder if people will remember what we have done for them or what we say to them. I know for a fact that the residents of New Jersey that volunteers have called to check on since the Seaside fire will always remember the phone call to ask if they were OK and to let them know others were praying for them daily.

Another good testimony we hear often is a volunteer will be somewhere and a total stranger who lives in Jersey but their home was not affected by Sandy will say THANK YOU for coming to help the ones in need

Back to Work in NJ

1-Carl and Richard;  2-Garden City Baptist, SC; 3-Marion and Harry, VA;  5-Ann and Diane from Liberty Baptist, Yorktown, VA.

Ann & I had the pleasure of a date night this week compliments of the captain and owner of the River Lady.  We had a nice dinner cruise and a view of the terrible fire on the Seaside Park and Seaside Heights boardwalks.  So sad that this place that is trying to recover from Super Storm Sandy has been destroyed.We had four small teams this week but GOD's work still shined on. The SC group hung sheet rock and started finishing it in one home along with finishing the sheet rock in another and started painting.  Some of them also helped remove heating units and flooded wiring from the church we plan to move to soon. Carl and Richard joined us again and did lots of mold treatment.  The VA rebuild guys did tear out two days and then helped rebuild.  They installed flooring, repaired shingles and repaired exterior trim on some homes.  They also had a chance to visit the boardwalk the day before it burned. We also had two ladies from VA join us to do the cooking and cleaning.

Grace Tabernacle has very kind and allowed us to stay in their facility for almost 10 months now.  However they are growing quickly and need there space back so NCBM will be moving to Seaside Heights into Grace Evangelical Church.  This will locate us close to most of the proposed future work which will allow us to spend more time with the home owners instead of traveling.  The building was flooded (6 feet of water) so there is lots of work to be done before we move.  That, along with homeowners are waiting for their homes to be rebuilt so they can also move back home leaves us with a need for lots of volunteers.  Please listen to GOD's calling and wherever it is PLEASE go and serve so HIS plan can be forefilled.

Our Vacation at Home

Different people spend their vacation different ways.  With no registered volunteers for 2 weeks we went back home to North Carolina for ours.  We did get to spend 3 days at Lake Gaston and enjoyed that very much.   A little relaxing, visiting old friends and several maintenance jobs were done.  At home we cleaned, repaired eve metal and did a lot of grass cutting.  Ann spent 2 days helping our son and his wife, Matt and Tanya, get their bakery ready to open.  Ann was also able to visit some with her quilting friends.On Friday, for our last  day of vacation well it was long. We spent the morning in Momeyer.  Ann did last minute house cleaning while Billy finished cutting the grass one last time.  Then we went to Momeyer Ruritan Club to eat some BBQ chicken and visit with friends.  Then we went to Yellow Dog Bread in Raleigh to help them with last minute preps for the grand opening at 6:00.  While the property landlord was making a big mess in the parking lot removing perfectly good trees Matt cooked bread and cookies while Tanya put the first display of bread for sale on the shelves.  Several of their friends and Tanya’s family came to help  however they could.  Thanks to all that came to help because at 5:45 a man came in to buy a loaf of bread because he had to be elsewhere at 6:00.  Well from that moment until 9:10 there was a large steady crowd of customers, family and friends coming in to visit and purchase bread.  When they finally closed the doors at 9:30 the shelves were almost empty.  Many items were sold out.  Please visit them when you are in Raleigh.  They have wonderful bread and pastries.

On Saturday we returned to Jersey to continue where we feel called to be.  We pray many of you will come to Jersey to help us as we strive to serve GOD while also helping the home owners rebuild their homes and lives.