Billy’s Birthday Week

Teams: 1-Region 8/7/9 Feeding Team-Herb, Louise & Paul; 2-University of FL-BCM; 3-Westwood Baptist Church, Cary;  4-Steven Jones & Ted Hawkins, Sneads Ferry Baptist Church.

On Monday the Florida team started a tear out.  The rest of the home will be done once the owners move their personal stuff out.  Kris and Maggie did the devotion for us on Monday night. On Tuesday, their last day here, they joined Ted & Steven as they removed foam insulation from under a home.  It has been seven months since Sandy visited New Jersey and there is still water in the foam.

The group from Cary split up into three teams.   Team one cut hung and started finishing sheet rock.  They also did a little yard work.

Team two spent the week in Seaside Park rebuilding what use to be a fishing shack before they were all converted to homes. They rebuilt walls, reworked sheeting, hung three pocket doors and installed vinyl along with hanging insulation.  Team three did trim work.

Monday we went to the grand opening of the Lavallette boardwalk.  The whole Lavallette Elementary School was there to see Gov. Christie.  I managed to get close enough to get a picture made with him.( if I would have bent down a little you could have seen Billy) It’s been a good week for walking and I saw this beautiful porch in the town of Manasquan.

Thursday was Billy’s birthday so I decided I would spend the day with him.  I helped him fog a house which was a first for me. I rode around with him most of the day checking on jobs.  I made it back to the kitchen in time to make him (and everyone else) banana pudding for supper.

Ann

College Week Again

Teams: 1-Alliance Bible Fellowship, Boone; 2-Grady and Danny, Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church, Fayetteville; 3-University of FL Baptist Collegiate Ministry, Gainesville, FL; Region 1 Feeding Team lead by Hollis and Billy Williams.

Another week of both tear out and rebuild.  Billy W. & Gerald put down laminate flooring in two homes when they were not cooking.  The Florida college team put in sub flooring, installed insulation and hung sheet rock. On Saturday they did more tear out.  Looks like David pulled seniority and supervised duct work removal.

The Alliance Fellowship college team  & Mt. Pisgah team spent their week doing tear outs. Tearing out sheet rock, pulling insulation, clearing crawl spaces, pulling nails.  Well lets just say “ complete gut out jobs.”

Ever since Sid and Betty Anne were here and we hiked on the trails in the state park I have been eager to do some more.  On Sunday I talked Billy into hiking another part of Allaire.  On Thursday Hollis and Louise and I went for a walk on the boardwalk in Lavallette. On Friday we explored the trails at Manasquan Reservoir. It was a beautiful place with lots of wildlife. Saturday Louise and I went to Allaire Village for their opening celebration. Ann

Another Productive Week and Welcome Back Louise

Teams: 1-Region 5 Feeding Team lead by John Johnson;  2-Mitch and Mary Lou Byrum-Center Grove Baptist, Ahoskie;  3-Ray Graham Team-1st Baptist, Matthews;  4-Richard and Carl-1st Baptist, Salisbury;  5-Tom Leeper Team-Biltmore Baptist, Arden.

On Monday the Biltmore team tackled a large tear out job.  It had been on hold due to Ms Tillie had been ill.  However it is now gutted and treated so the rebuild can began.  You would think after 6 months the floors would have dried out but NO there was still soaked insulation and water between layers of flooring.

The rest of the week they hung sheet rock and started finishing it.

On Tuesday The 1st Baptist group installed cabinets, doors and trim on Joseph street. Wednesday and Thursday they installed sub flooring, Then on Friday before they left they installed laminate flooring and window trim.

Everyone looks forward to dinner, debriefing and devotions at the end of the work day. The cooks did a great job this week.  Some of them helped unload materials at homes as well as did mold treatment.  Louise did a good job with her devotion getting the volunteers to help with a lot of answers. Carl and Chad gave a from the heart devotion.  God laid some verses on me to use but I got lost and couldn’t find the meaning to express.  After a long days work many volunteers have taken advantage of the youth lounge while doing a little internet surfing.

A Few Random Things: 1-We are happy to have Louise back with us doing her shower/laundry/cleaning thing; 2-Friday night seafood; 3- John got caught doing the dishes; 4-Cookie in one of his favorite spots; 5-Billy hauling off another load; 6-Paul and his best friend, Rosie-We are helping him rebuild his house; 7-Mitch working on sheetrock.

A Great Week for Working and Adventure

Teams-1-Sid and Betty Anne Shearin, Littleton Baptist Church; 2-Elkin Valley Baptist Church, Elkin and Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church, State Road; 3-Theresa Baptist Church and Olive Branch Baptist Church, Roxboro; 4-Region 7 Feeding Team

The Theresa team went behind other organizations and cleaned up the homes after tear out had been done so the mold team could do their job.  They also painted two houses.  Something tells me Chris needs a little more work to do.

The Elkin/Mt. Pleasant team finished hanging sheet rock in two homes and started a third.  They also did the most important – they spent time with home owners ( and dog) and shared God’s love. Mary, the only woman on this team was our shower/laundry lady for the week.

The ladies on the feeding team had the kitchen covered so the two guys joined the Shearin work team after breakfast each day.  They moved furniture back into a completed home, pulled nails out of floors,  pulled out insulation plus reinstalled insulation on two homes.  Sid & Betty Anne did mostly mold treatment and assessments.  However they also moved furniture, painted and helped with sheet rock. Don (center) was our lone sheetrock finisher.  Billy was able to work on sheetrock some in between meeting with homeowners and talking on the phone.

Much work was accomplished this week.  It was great to have teams that were so flexible.  Their desire was to share God’s word along with doing what ever was needed.

On Saturday I went on a historical outing.  “A Weekend in Old Monmouth” is a yearly event and has forty-four stops.  Of course there is no way to visit all of them in one weekend.  First I visited MacKenzie House in Howell (top right). Then I went to Allaire Village (no pic) where they were having a craft show.  Then I traveled on t0 Wall to see (on the left) The Allgor/Barkalow Homestead and The Blansinburg Schoolhouse Museum-a one room school build in 1855.  The guide standing on the front porch actually attended the school as a child and was a delight to talk to. Then it was on to Ocean Grove, a camp meeting community founded by the Methodists in the post-Civil War religious revival.  They held their first prayer meeting here on July 31, 1869.  The Great Auditorium was built in 1894 and is the largest wood frame building in NJ. They also constructed a tent city for these meeting.  Families have been spending summers in these tiny tent city structures for over a century. The end of my tour was the Centennial Cottage (bottom left) and the Ocean Grove Historical Museum.

I have been doing a lot of walking this week.  The weather had been pretty nice and there have been volunteers here that like to walk. We have a state park almost across the street and since Sid used to be a park ranger he was interested in hiking some of the trails.  So Sid, Betty Ann, Doris, Ted and I headed out on Wednesday after dinner for a hike in the woods on a well marked trail.  Doris and I walked fast for exercise while the others must have been looking at the scenery.  Anyway we stayed way ahead of them.  The trail was a loop and Doris and I did not realize when we got back to the beginning. I was using the GPS on my phone but the battery was almost dead so I was trying to conserve it.  I checked to see how close we were to the end and realized that we had gone about a quarter mile too far and were looping around again.  We turned back and thought we were headed back to the parking lot but somehow had made too many turns.  Every time I checked the GPS it seemed we were getting further away instead of closer.  I was concerned that my battery was going to die and it was starting to get dark. Sid called and wanted to know where we were. I told him that I guess we were lost.  We finally got going in the right direction and found our way out before dark by the grace of God. It was a great adventure.

Ann

New Friends From Maine and A Quick Trip to Ohio

Wayne and Hilda Corey-New Bern-Shower/Laundry

Danner and Steve-Blue Hill, Maine

Billy and Ann-On Site Coordinator and Cook

Dan & Steve worked on finishing sheet rock in four different homes.  Chris The HVAC guy (local) did some plumbing repairs for us and also sent two guys to help hang sheet rock on Tuesday.   In addition to their shower/laundry duties Wayne & Hilda spent a day at Union Church of Lavallette to help them clean up from the rebuild there, cleaned the bunk unit that we now will be using, cooked breakfast two days (so Ann didn’t have to) and helped Ann with dinner and the dishes.

We took off Friday and drove to Ohio to spend some time with our daughter and her husband and to meet the two nine year old boys they are adopting.  We drove back on Sunday.  It was a long ride for a short visit but well worth it.

During June and July we have several youth teams coming to Jersey.  We need some help from people willing to come up and help guide these groups.  Also Ann and I would like to spend the week of June 17th in North Carolina so we are in need a coordinator for that week.  Please contact us or Bill Martin if you can help.

Spring Has Arrived in New Jersey

Teams this week:  Providence Baptist, Raleigh; Wayne and Hilda Corey-Shower and Laundry; Region 1 Feeding (Kay, Phil, Ray and Kim)

The Providence team is getting ready to start work.  It’s always good to start with prayer.  We had nice weather this week so the team enjoyed lunch on the front porch.

The Providence team started the week doing tear out and fogging.

Insulation and sheetrock was installed.  The feeding team and the shower/laundry team joined in the fun.  It’s great to have flexible volunteers.

Even though the feeding team worked on houses they still managed to prepare great meals every day.

The weather has been nice several days this week.  On Sunday we went to the Sea Girt Lighthouse and for a walk on the beach.  Ann has enjoyed the signs of spring on her daily walks.

Cookies and a Thank You Card

Tony and Mike watched the site so we could spend a few days away in Momeyer.  They came in last week and were the only volunteers we had this week. They were able to catch us up on mold treatment and assessment jobs.  They stayed over on Friday so we could install flooring in a Seaside Heights house so the plumber and electrician could get started on rebuilding the utilities of the house.  Ann was our cook this week and Mike and Tony were nice enough to wash the dishes each night after super. Tony had a boo boo while washing dishes so Mike came to the rescue. 

Everybody was gone on Saturday which left Ann & I alone.  Ann choose to go with me to check on a few jobs and clean up some in Lavallette.  We had left to go get lunch and do another assessment when Pat called to say they were at the house and her granddaughter had made cookies for us.  So after we ate we went back to meet Claire who also made us a thank you card.  Thanks to all the volunteers who have worked on this house.  I’ll eat your cookie rewards.  Chris the plumber was there so we went over several issues with Pat while Ann visited with the daughter and granddaughter while also watching the swan swimming behind the house.  As many have heard the board walk is being built back and we took time to walk on the Lavallette part while viewing the Atlantic on this beautiful day.

We have chosen to answer the call to go to New Jersey, to serve GOD by helping people rebuild their homes.  However it is a very slow process when we don’t have any volunteers.  We have very few signed up to respond during April and May.  We would like to have 40 plus volunteers each week. That way we could get lots more work done which would bring more glory to GOD.  Even if just two or three more will volunteer it will make a big difference in getting these homes repaired and the residents moved back home.  Please contact us if you can find some time to come and help.

Easter and a Trip Home

Sid Pittman’s team from Spruce Pine sprayed and fogged several homes for mold.  They also continued doing sheet rock work in one of our rebuild projects.  Linda was our nurse for the week.

The Kentucky team split up and did several jobs.  The ladies cleaned and painted at Devarone’s house as well as painting at Union Church of Lavallette.  The guys installed insulation in three crawl spaces along with doing sheet rock finishing on three homes.

On Easter Sunday we were invited to join Gail‘s family for an Easter lunch.  She had a beautiful Easter table set with great food.  We left early Friday morning and drove to Momeyer to drop off Cookie (the cat) and eat some world famous Momeyer Ruritan BBQ chicken.  Then we drove to Winston Salem to attend the North Carolina Mission Conference.  The Christian singer Meredith Andrews who grew up in Wilson was the worship leader.  Back in her high school days she was a friend of our son Matthew.  We both spoke briefly on Saturday morning at the volunteer breakfast about what we were doing in New Jersey.  Billy also spoke during the Baptist Builders break out sessions in hope of encouraging others to come to New Jersey to help clean up and rebuild while we also share GOD’s love.  We will be headed back to NJ on Wednesday.

Last Week of Spring Break and A Full House

Our Teams: 1-Cook Team Paula and her sons, Chris and Noah from New York and North Carolina; 2-Trinity of Fairview; 3-University of Delaware Alternative Spring Break Program; 4-First Baptist of Staunton,VA; 5-Sharon Chilton-Moser (crew chief for Delaware team); 6-Al Percy (assessor).

Sharon was gracious enough to come spend a week with us and teach the Delaware College a few things.  They tore out floors and walls along with yard clean ups.  Billy was concerned with 18 girls and 3 guys but Sharon was able to get a lot of work out of them.

Some of the folks from both of the rebuild teams went to Union Church of Lavallette to do some painting.  Although the building got water inside and walls and flooring had to be torn out and replaced Pastor Todd has been having services there since mid November.  In a few more weeks the fellowship hall and kitchen should be ready for use.

Pastor Todd replaced the flooring with tile so they are still doing the grout.  The rest of the 2 groups repaired walls, installed wall insulation, hung insulation and started mudding in a couple of houses.

The crawl space insulation was replaced in three homes.

On Friday morning several of the ladies from Staunton, VA finished cleaning up a yard to welcome a elderly couple back home.  Then Trinity started cleaning a crawl space up so fabric and stone could be put in.  Shortly after they started putting in the stone some of the Staunton group showed up to lend a much needed hand.   In just one hour the pile of rock was almost done.  Better known as team work.

Thanks to Paula and her sons for accepting God’s call on short notice to be our feeding team this week.  They are from New York but are living in NC right now and she just got trained at the Region 1 training in March.  Thanks also to several other team members that stepped up to help them.  They did a great job.  Does anyone think that Noah (in the plaid shirt) looks like Matthew? 

A few people caught Billy working this week and doing his favorite thing, talking.

We are still receiving lots of new request for tear out and rebuild help.  We pray daily for more volunteers.  Only a few weeks are full at this time and many are still empty.  Please pray and if led by GOD I hope you will go wherever it is He is sending you.  I hope it is New Jersey.  We are in dire need of tear out and rebuild teams during the next few weeks.  If you can finish sheetrock we have several homes ready to finish so teams can continue working.

 

Two Hard Working Teams & A Passover Seder

Teams; Long Branch Baptist Church, Lumberton, NC & Region 1 Feeding Team from Meherrin Baptist Church, Murfreesboro, NC.

During the day the cook team went out to sites to work for a few hours.  They moved food and supplies at Union Church of Lavallette one day.  Another day they pulled nails and staples. They cleaned up for the rebuild team coming next week.  However they made sure to get back to Grace in time to clean up and fix some great meals.   I understand now that they are back in NC they are going to help Allen build a Baptist Builders tool trailer.

If you notice Elton who came with feeding team is spending a lot of time on the floor, well he lost his legs several years ago in a farm accident but he will not give up.  He still goes and serves and on this trip well it was easier to get on the floor than bend over all day for him. The Long Branch team (and Elton) spent the week replacing flooring and insulation. 

On Wednesday night Grace held a Passover Seder.  Dr. Mitch Glaser, the president of Chosen People Ministries guided us through the Seder.  He explained the traditional foods and actions of the Jewish Passover and showed us how it points to Christ

We only had two small teams this week but they got a lot of work done.  Next week we will will have three large teams.  Stay tuned for what will for sure be a great week because GOD is sending each one for a reason.  Has he called you to go and serve ?  Big question is – when He calls do you listen ?