We’re on our way home. It’s hard to believe that we’ve been here since Wednesday. We did get to worship at St. Paul United Methodist. The congregation was small, probably because of the holidays, but the men sang a song and Eule’s brother-in-law Lionel got a solo. They wanted me to sing, but I wasn’t sure when and they didn’t invite me up individually. I was going to get the group to join me and sing “Here I am to worship”, so they’re all relieved.

We heard an older woman, Lois (whose birthday was on Dec. 3, 1937), share that she had just gotten back into her home for Thanksgiving. She and others expressed their appreciation to us for coming to work, even though we didn’t work on their particular house.

But Eule told me that no one has been sent to work on her home, and during the storm her roof was leaking right onto her bed. So I talked to site-Mark and asked if he’d look into it. Fortunately, Randy has her contact info, so I’m going to make sure we get that info to Mark so he can make sure that she gets help.

It’s been a really good trip. And I’m glad that we can continue to do something for the people of Biloxi even after we return. I hope a lot of people will come to Grace Community on Jan. 14 to hear our stories.

Grace and peace,

Steve and the M2M2 team

I’m sitting in a dry office right now, but the storm is raging so hard outside it beats on all of our buildings and tents for attention. I hope we’ll be able to sleep tonight.

Thankfully, most of the day was dry. We finished Melvin’s room addition flooring and even did baseboard and trim around the door. My team finished so quickly, we came back to ULM and spent most of the afternoon organizing the supply tent and tool shed. The tool shed, especially, looks completely different.

The team led by Randy managed finish the tub surround in spite of several construction challenges. Another team led by Michelle went to an elderly woman’s house that we had painted earlier and put down sheet linoleum in her kitchen. That was also a major challenge, since none of us had worked with that material before. We had intended to finish by 5 so we could go to dinner by 6, but we didn’t get back till after 6. The rain waited until we were done, but not until we had returned the tools to their newly organized storage areas, so some of us got pretty wet putting stuff away. Ironically, I wanted to take a shower after a long day, but our showers have no roof. So I took a shower in the rain. Then we went to dinner.

We went to a restaurant that was a little closer than Aunt Jenny’s, site of last year's memorable celebration dinner. Homestead Restaurant was recommended by site-Mark for its buffet and price: $8.25 including tax and unlimited drinks! The down-home food included catfish, shrimp and chicken just like Aunt Jenny’s, but also included baked chicken, collard greens, and stuffed crab. To make up for the lack of fried green tomatoes and fried dill pickle chips, Homestead threw in lemonade pie and sweet tea. I think there was a salad bar…

We returned to share what we appreciated about each others’ words, actions and attitudes during the trip. It was a fun time of blessing each other… and then the Speed Uno started. It’s probably still going on, since the rain is so noisy and heavy it’s hard to think of leaving the dining tent and going to sleep.

We’re looking forward to returning to worship at St. Paul United Methodist. Eule dropped by one of the houses we were working on to invite us to worship and told us the men’s choir is singing. Should be some good music.

Pray for Traci. In May she was ULM personified to us. This time we’ve hardly seen her and when we do she's looking pretty frazzled. She’s had to hit the ground running hard after her Christmas break. And serving all of the teams that come through here must be wearing.

Pray for our safe return home tomorrow. The weather should subside by morning. Meanwhile, we’ll try to get some sleep… or just keep playing Speed Uno.

Steve and the M2M2 gang

Nothing cute to post, just a prayer request for the weather. Chance of rain is 90% by this afternoon, with 1-2 inches expected this evening. There's even a possibility of a tornado watch later. Pray that we'll be able to finish our work on Melvin's house and that everyone (and the tents!) will be safe.

I’m having to miss a very rowdy game of Speed Uno because I’m writing this blog post, but I’ll sacrifice so you can know how hard we’re working :)

The weather’s been very warm and windy. It’s gone from the dead of winter to cheery spring in just a couple days. But it’s very blustery. The large tent at the Salvation Army center that feeds volunteer relief workers was suffering from the wind, so Seaton, Matt and Paul helped to put the tent in order. Meanwhile, Randy, Michelle, and Dean went to Connie’s to finish some painting and found that site-Mark (as opposed to construction-Mark) had assigned a group to help there. However, they also found that the shed several of us built back in May had withstood the winds that blew down tents a week ago.

The other team at Connie's wasn't an official ULM team. They'd signed up with another relief organization that had run out of things for them to do. So they came to ULM. We're impressed with how well-run ULM is and how they can find tasks for even non-ULM teams to do. Site-Mark says that this happens 4-5 times a month.

The rest of us were at Melvin’s finishing up popcorning the ceiling, putting in the tub surround, and installing flooring in the room addition. Paul is now known as Orville, since he’s the popcorn expert.

This evening Dean had us put on the armor of God on each other. As I was receiving the shield of faith it reminded me that I need to trust God that he has given me the role of team leader. I spent a lot of time making sure that people had things to do and were resourced and in the right places. My title is “pastor” which literally means shepherd, but I felt more like a sheep dog! Sometimes it seems like the sheep don't always go where I want, but it's the Good Shepherd who's giving the ultimate orders and it's my job to keep nudging people in the direction God wants them to go.

Cecily had an upset stomach at lunch. We laid hands on her and prayed for her, and Deb from Northern Michigan gave me some hyacinth-scented olive oil for anointing Cecily. She feels better now, but please pray that she’ll be well and can enjoy the day tomorrow.

Thanks for praying for Justin. He joined our group after dinner when we went back to Melvin’s to work on the tub surround and the room addition flooring. Dean Hu, Michelle and I all got a chance to talk with him about spiritually-related issues. He seems open and willing to discuss. Pray that he’ll find the Truth.

We’re looking forward to finishing the bathroom and room addition at Melvin’s tomorrow. It’s looking like it’ll be a trip on which we accomplished quite a bit for our fairly unskilled group.

With joy,

Steve and the M2M2 team

Just a short entry to let you know that we finished 3 houses (as much as we could do). We finished painting one house, we put in some vent covers in another, and put in outlets, switches, light fixtures, and an attic access in another. We’ve started popcorning a ceiling, installing a bathtub enclosure, painting and installing a floor in a fourth house. It’s been a full day!

We’re learning to appreciate the gifts and differences of the other 2 teams. Joni has adopted our Susan as her surrogate big sister. We’ve found that the Michigan teams are running on a different time zone from us, so they’re going to prepare breakfasts now and let us stay up late to keep on working (we didn’t finish till after 10 tonight). Cecily continues to be in command in the kitchen for us for dinner, but Paul and Matt’s bacon cheeseburgers with mac & cheese and pepper/garlic French fries were a huge hit for dinner.

Thanks for the prayers for our health. Seton and Dean H are feeling better. But now Susan’s stomach is bothering her. Fortunately, the weather’s warmed up a lot. We were working in t-shirts at 10 pm.

We’re happy that Traci and Mark are back, so things are running a little smoother. Mark got 4 of us settled into another trailer to ease congestion in the men’s bunkhouse. So it’s time to get some shut-eye in my new sleeping quarters.

zzzzzzz,

Pastor Steve and the M2M2 team

Last night we got two very pleasant surprises. We visited Gladys and found that she was living in her house! AND her son Slim was visiting! It was moving to see that house that we worked so hard on had become a home again.

For devotions this morning we reflected on the Magnificat. The phrase “the humble state of his servant” reminded me that genuine service is based on humility. I have so much that I rarely think of myself as being in a humble state. Even though it was cold this morning and our accommodations are much less than what we’re accustomed to, it’s still more than a great deal of the world survives on. We have heaters, running water, warm clothing and sleeping bags, and plenty of food. Being so far removed from a humble state, my serving can become self-serving, a way of congratulating myself instead of truly working for another’s benefit. But I’m also finding that I’m getting joy from doing things that, at home, would be a chore. And I’m doing them for people I don’t even know!

Speaking of servants, Ces is a great cook! I’m worried that I may actually gain weight on this trip. We found that there is a Super Wal-Mart very close by and we were able to buy fresh veggies last night. She’s doing a good job planning meals and coordinating her kitchen help.

We’re learning to be flexible (a lesson in humility?). We went to the Salvation Army for lunch and found that they weren’t expecting anyone and had only prepared food for their own group. Then we went to a house that we expected to paint and found that there was a lot of drywall work that needed to be re-done. We were expecting a group of 7 to join us on the ULM site tomorrow. 4 of them drove in at dinner today, but there’s only one more flying in tomorrow. And then another group (that we thought had cancelled) showed up! Both bunkhouses are completely full and we have to get additional sleeping quarters for tomorrow night because both of the other groups are expecting an additional person.

Traci and Mark still haven’t arrived, so the inmates are running the asylum. Our group has the keys to the office and all the vehicles. Clyde wasn’t around today. The newer Mark helped us tour the sites and figure out which ones we would work on. We split into 3 groups. Dean H and I did some minor finishing work and were done in about an hour. We joined Robin and Cecily and managed to do most of the electrical finishing work on a house (installing electrical outlets and light switches) until we ran out of supplies. The rest of the team was mudding and painting. We’re hoping to finish painting that house tomorrow and then we’ll start on a new house that needs popcorn ceilings in two rooms and a bunch of painting.

Mark is a character! His glib, light-hearted manner is the opposite of Kevin’s gruff, no-nonsense approach. But he is a very capable contractor who’s taught us a lot. But you have to be on your toes: you never know if he’s kidding around or giving you serious construction advice.

Even though the other two groups are unexpected, it’s great to be sharing the site with other people who have such a heart to serve. The second group even has an 11-year old girl with them (her parents have taken her on numerous mission trips already). It’s great that she’s learning to serve at a young age. But they also brought a college student, Justin, who claims he doesn’t believe in God. Pray for him.

With joy,

Steve (for the M2M2 team)

We're here! Everyone arrived safely (see the picture at left of some of us in the Biloxi airport with a ULM van) and we've finished our first task: some of the guys re-aligned posts in the large storage tent. Cecily has volunteered for daily KP, so other people are following her direction in the kitchen and we're hoping to eat our first meal here in 20-30 minutes.

It's really cold! I'm sitting in front of a picture of our Grace Community group from May and we were all wearing shorts. Not this time. Heaters are roaring in the bunkhouses and in the dining tent. Thankfully, we have heaters. The tents that the guys will be sleeping in starting Thursday night blew down last night in a big wind storm (which is why we're straightening poles in the storage tent today). That'll be another job for us tomorrow: putting back up the tents in which we'll be sleeping. We'd better do a good job!

We met Mark and Clyde, who've now left us in charge of the ULM site. Both are long-time residents of this area. Clyde told us that there's really no manpower to help with re-building people's homes outside of the church groups that come in. He was very appreciative of our arrival. One reason is that the casinos are gobbling up the manpower and other resources.

We're hoping to visit Gladys tonight after dinner. We helped out a lot on her house last time, so we're looking forward to see what further work has been done. We hope she's moved in.

Please pray for a few people who are not feeling well: Cecily, Seton, and Dean Hu. Thanks again for your prayer support.

Steve (for the M2M2 team)