A Visit From Home

  The Region 9/10 feeding team was great this week.  They put in some extra work and even made lunch time special.  They had called earlier and asked if they could bring a few extra guys who wanted to do rebuild. They brought many skills with them.  They built a ramp for Bob so for the first time in 17 months he could leave his home on his own. (local guys have been carrying him up and down the steps).  They also finished the trim work at Margaret’s and installed countertops at Jayne’s.  Paul helped them remove Margaret’s wall air condition and repair the hole.     A team also came up from our home church, Momeyer. As always it was great to be with folks from home. They split up and did many tasks. They hung sheet rock, sanded and painted, packed up belongings and put them in storage unit, put down floor decking (not shown). Pastor Phil blessed the sheet rock that was being hung while the guys kneeled and prayed.  Al from California also worked with the Momeyer team.   We also had a group from Georgia Baptist Collegiate Ministry. They are students from several GA colleges. Being a large group they also split up.  They have installed floor insulation, worked on flower beds at Union Church, moved furniture and belongings back into a home, did yard cleaning for several seniors, reroofed 2 homes (with the help of Greensboro Presbyterians) and demolished a damaged deck. This team came in on Monday, May 19 and are staying until Friday May 30.  How’s that for commitment?   There was also a lot of memories made. Buying ice cream from the truck, putting together puzzles while fellowshipping, Ann doing precleaning before washing spatulas (Billy’s birthday cake), beach time, meeting Nick the parrot, Tim showing how to finish off a desert, watching the local cops do their job, and three got hot so they went for a dip (or was it a dare?).

Work requests continue to come in. Therefore there is still a need for rebuilding teams. We have space left for others over the next 3 months and then the winter has LOTS of open weeks that we need volunteers for.  To volunteer contact Billy or Ann Layton.

Thank God for Grandsons and Presbyterians

  With no scheduled volunteers for the week Ann & Billy took a quick trip to Ohio to spend Mother’s Day with Kim, Brandon, Matt and our foster grandson.  On Saturday morning Matt cooked his first pancakes for us. He did a great job.  Then we had to opportunity to baby/kidsit while Kim and Brandon went to a class. We had a great time.

On our way back two Presbyterian groups called and needed somewhere to work. One group started replacing the roof on the Jolly home. The other group split up. The guys worked on closet shelves while the ladies cleaned up a house a few doors away so it can be retreated for mold and then rebuild can start.  On Saturday Ann & Vickie went to Ocean Fun Days in Island Beach State Park.

We are in the process of starting eight new jobs and need volunteers.  We expect to continue to get new request through the end of the year so please consider coming to New Jersey to help.

Please share the following video with your churches and friends.

A Week Away and Biltmore Baptist Week

  We didn’t do the blog last week because we were home in North Carolina getting some much needed chores done.  It was good to see family and friends and attend Momeyer Baptist Church.  We also spent a little time at Lake Gaston working in the yard.  Clockwise from top left: Region 7 feeding team led by Terry Barnes; Feeding team serving Tom Leeper who leads the Biltmore team; Dianne Leeper doing final trim touch up on Anthony’s home (best ladder ever); Biltmore team plus three that came with the feeding team. We are always excited when the Biltmore team comes every other month.  We know from experience that they will get a lot of work done.  Some of the guys helped Rick pull wire while others did some additional framing repairs.  Several worked at Jayne and Ashley’s caulking, final painting, installing kitchen cabinets and laying flooring.

The weather is warming up in Jersey which is a sign summer will soon be here. The roads are also getting repaired and opened to make ready for the summer tourist.  Many people have been to New Jersey over the past 15 months and helped the NCBM work on 74 homes getting them ready so the home owners could move back to their primary residence.  Many of them were living in motels or with relatives and are now glad to be back home.  I know GOD is still calling volunteers to respond to New Jersey to help rebuild the homes damaged by Super Storm Sandy.  While working on these homes the door has been opened wide many times for the message of GOD and HIS love to be shared.  If you can come and help we have many weeks with openings and many with no volunteers that need to be filled.  So please share the need of volunteers at this site with anybody you know that may be interested in helping us serve GOD in New Jersey.