Getting Ready for a Move and Moving More Sand

Although the guys from Burlington Assembly of God were only here for three days they got a lot done.  They cut out and started assembling our bunk beds for our soon to be new location in Seaside Heights.  Then they moved up to Margaret’s home where they added height to the ceiling rafters so we could insulate it properly and put in a floor for her.  They also hung insulation and some sheet rock. On Sunday we visited Union Church in Lavallette and then stayed in Seaside Heights for lunch at 3 Guys Pizza & Subs on the boardwalk followed by the Columbus Day Parade.  Billy shared that meal with Ann.  Ann has gotten back into running and finding some great scenery provided by GOD.  On Saturday Todd,  Billy, and two ladies from Todd’s church moved more sand at Joanie’s.  A group of students were cleaning the beach and when they finished one of the ladies asked if they would help us, so several came over and helped until their rides arrived.  THANK YOU GOD for the extra help.  Ann also came to help although we were about ready to call it a day when she arrived.  Unfortunately there is still a lot of sand in the pool but we are making progress.

October 29th marks 1 year since Sandy hit the New Jersey Shore.  As one of the parents who came to pick up his son today said, “I didn’t realize it was still so much destruction left after a year and I had no idea so many people are still needing help”.  We have started to get calls from people in need of help to get the walls and floors of their homes insulated before the winter sets in.  These are seniors who don’t have funds to hire contractors and are not able to do it themselves.   Let us know if a small voice is telling you to go and help.

Playing & Praying In the Sand

Don Gallimore from Roxboro answered the call when he found out we need a sheetrock finisher.  Ginger and Paul from Blue Hill, Maine pulled electric wires along with Don for the electrician in the church we will be moving to.  They also went to Sea Bright to help Don hang and finish sheet rock.  Tim Etheridge came up to give Billy a hand this week.  Ann was the cook for the week.  Our friend Elaine came on Tuesday and cooked an Italian supper for us. It was delicious.Tim also helped The Summit Church group from Cullowee move sand out of a pool and sitting area.  Lets just say they hung out at the pool and on the beach for three days.  But seriously, it was hard back breaking work.  We’re glad a few of them were young but the older ones worked just as hard, including a eighty year old man and his wife.

We have started to rebuild The Grace Evangelical Church building in Seaside Heights and once it is complete we will move our operation there.  We feel this will make things a lot better for our volunteers and put our housing within minutes of the jobs we feel we will be working on next year.  At present time we only have a few teams signed up for November and only one for December (one for 2014).  Please consider New Jersey when you plan your next mission trip.

The Beginning of Fall

On Sunday Chris & Elaine invited us over for lunch.  It was a beautiful fall day so we ate outside on their deck and enjoyed the colorful leaves.  The Sweet Water Association of Tennessee brought us a trailer full of paper products on Sunday afternoon.  Since we had no volunteers we went to Seaside Park on Monday to paint primer on walls and sand floors.  The cute puppy dogs were not too sure about us being in their house. On Tuesday we carried tool trailer #3 to New York and then brought us a bunk unit back to New Jersey.  Billy would  have enjoyed the scenery more if there had not been so much traffic.  Four men from Hope Community Baptist Church in Carthage came and helped out on Friday and Saturday.  They rebuilt steps, hung a door and hung sheet rock.  They were a great help.

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.

Returning Volunteers from Austin Grove Baptist Church

Our team this week was Austin Grove Baptist Church from Marshville, NC. Four of the team had been earlier in the year.  Their hearts were touched by so much need they returned and brought four more. Being it was a small group Ann, Polly and Rita did the cooking, cleaning, laundry and ice cream making.  They brought their own ice cream maker and peaches so we were good host and said yes you can make ice cream.  Polly made homemade chicken pastry one day.    They also brought a lot of laughter and joy which spreads very well.  Billy had a lot to do with getting some of the equipment ready to move but the team was nice enough to allow him to help with sheet rock mudding one day.The team finished hanging sheet rock and finished it, repaired windows that were about to fall out, cleaned cut a crawl space, laid floor decking and even took a break every so often.  We enjoyed this team being in New Jersey to help with the rebuild process and look forward to their next trip which they are already planning.

NCBM and the people of New Jersey are in need of volunteers to help rebuild the shore area of Ocean and Monmouth counties.  At this time we only have two teams signed up for the remainder of 2013.  However four other teams are working to set a week to come help serve.  We ask that you join us in prayer for the people of New Jersey as well as for teams to come and help as we serve GOD in the way and location we feel he has called us to serve.  There is so much rebuild to be done and gospel to be spread in New Jersey that if the volunteers respond NCBM could spend another year in Jersey and still only make a dent in the relief effort.  If you or your church needs more information about the operation please contact NCBM or Billy and Ann Layton.  If you need somebody to come share with you about what we are doing we will do our best to locate somebody in your area to come tell you what GOD did for them while they were in New Jersey serving. 

A Team All the Way From Germany

1-Matthews Baptist Church; 2-Region 7 Feeding Team led by Terry Barnes; 3-Mt. Olive Baptist Church, Pittsboro, NC with traveling companions from Charlotte and Hillsborough; 4-Impact Team from Germany with www.liebenzell.org; 5-Alan Harris, Conway, NC; 6-Eric and Billy Cook (Billy came with the feeding team but became a mold specialist along with Eric.Great week with first timers and returners.  Allen Harris was still here to help us oversee teams and do assessments.  Matthews Baptist returned to do whatever needed. Their second job actually finished one that they started several months ago.  A blessing to be at a home in the beginning and be there for the final.  They installed cabinets in 4 homes.  Almost time for home owners to start cooking again.  A group of young adults were in the area from Germany doing sports camps.  Being they had no camp this week they asked if they could help us. They cleaned yards, painted, moved sand, hung insulation and sheet rock, and help move the contents of one of our storage boxes.  Hard working and energetic group.  The Mount Olive Baptist group built walls, hung sheet rock and helped with mold mitigation.  Eric and Billy Cook also did mold mitigation  this week.

We are in need of additional volunteers each week for the rest of the year.  Please join us in prayer that the ones GOD is calling to go to New Jersey will listen and respond.  Along with prayer PLEASE spread the word that we need volunteers.  Let them know this is a N C Baptist Men’s operation but they do not have to be trained or Baptist or men.  They just need to want to serve GOD and help others.

A Little Vacation to Ohio

With no volunteers this week we took off to go to Ohio to see family. We stayed with Kim (daughter),Brandon (son-n-love) and grandson who they are adopting.  Started the week off with Brandon preaching and then baptizing grandson in a swimming pool, followed by a cookout and pool party. Kim had to work so we took the guys to The Wilds on Tuesday for a safari.  On nearly 10000 acres that was previously a strip coal mine there is now a wildlife conservation center.  Kim wanted the carpet out of the grandson’s bathroom so Billy was glad to help with that project. Projects make Billy happy.We left Kim’s on Wednesday morning and went to Intercourse, PA (Amish Country) and spent the night.  We visited the Pretzel Factory while there and got a lesson on pretzel shaping. We returned to Allenwood on Thursday and was met by Alan Harris who will be helping Billy for 2 weeks.  Billy and Alan spent Friday checking on the status of job sites.  On Saturday Billy worked on straightening out tool trailer while Alan built storage shelves and Eric washed the bunk unit.  Later Billy and Alan sorted all the cleaning supplies we still have on hand.