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Wisconsin is dear to my heart of course and the people that have helped so far this week here in the Galveston County area are feeling warmth in their hearts as well. The blessings keep coming each time a new team comes in.

This we have been able to work on a roofing job that began last week while a them from LasVegas was here. Hai (owner of the home and mother of 5) has been so excited she is almost floating! Her home was gutted last week and this week we the new roof in going on! We will be continuing to have teams work in her home and with God's grace we will be bringing it through to completion.

Other members of the team went into the Galveston Vineyard Church plant building and completed the remaining gut out...insulated...are drywalling and today the plan is to start mudding!

Other team members are continuing the work on Marie's home... they are drywalling as well along with completing some plumbing. Our responder from WA is up to his elbows in that project.

Also another team is in Paul and Susan's home... completed the sub floor, hung insulation and are now drywalling.

Yet another team... the ladies... with a start from my brother and sister-in-law who took out the door frames, light fixtures and a few other things, completed a gut out with the home owner still amazed! Carl was more than shocked when I drove up and the ladies began unloading from the van. He did not expect the team to be women and he surely thought when he saw Jim that he was going to be staying with the team of ladies... I needed Jim to get them started.. take care of the things that may have been a challenge for them and get him to another job. Carl went home to get his camera!!!! Within 4 hours these ladies had the rooms that need to be gutted done, all the ceilings out, every nail pulled and the tile floor in the kitchen pulled up. When I came back to collect half the team for another job I found that Carl was still in dis-belief and had been calling all his friends to tell them of this team of women. He told me now knows that ladies can work just as hard as a team of men. He and his wife we blessed in a huge way.

As you can see the days are very full.. I have not been able to get to the blog on a daily basis but Susan has been able to be in the office a bit more than I so please look at her blog www.msmission.blogspot.com for a daily report of what we are doing. I will be updating my more on a weekly basis.

Miracles and Blessings

Each day we continue to see miracles happen and this week was no different. People opening there hearts, hearing God call on them to go serve and reaching out within their own team of men! This week was what they called their "Man Trip" which is one of the times throughout the year that the men from their church go on a mission trip. They are able to bond a men of God. Devotions were part of each morning and evening. One thing is for certain, they are going home tired! Not because they burned the midnight oil. It is due to the spent energies in completing the jobs that we assigned to them. Gutting homes is not an easy task and throw in the mix the family connections that are made, emotional energies also a spent in most time a much bigger way.

Families that thought they would be left to fend for themselves were extremely blessed this week. A man in his 60's was given help getting his home ready for the next steps to rebuild. He did not know what he was going to do but when I was able to call him and let him know that a team of six men were coming the following day... I could hear him choke up thought the phone. When they arrived the next morning all I could see in him was thankfulness beyond words. How blessed we are to be here pouring out God's love on these people.

That same pouring out of love was shown to a young mother of 5. Her home had 7 feet of water which destroyed most of her personal items but she remained focused enough to continue to be the mom to her children that she is. The five men from Las Vegas that went in to help her tear out her house bonded with her in a way that they and she will not be forgetting. We (Mercy Response) will be helping her rebuild her home step by step.

The other half of the Las Vegas team and Hugh from WA worked all week in Miss Marie's home. They replaced rotted boards, fixed the flooring which had buckled, tore an old window and replaced it, framed in her rooms, redesigned her bathroom configuration provided her with a propane heater to keep her warm at night. It was down into the 30's at night and she was using 3 hot water bottles to lay on to provide her heat until morning. Miss Marie is in her 80's and simply takes one day at a time knowing that God is in control. Amazing!! Her connection with these guys will always be near and dear to her heart, as it will be for them.

As you can see... our weeks here are endlessly blessed! God is in everything that we do... We feel him reaching down and filling us with is joy! We have three busy months ahead of us. There are teams in every week some exceeding 70 responders with the average of 35-40 each week from the 26th to the end of April. We prayed for teams to come in and remained faithful that our prayers would be answered...
THEY HAVE BEEN!

Reaching Out Continues

First I need to PRAISE THE LORD once again for laying his healing hand on my Mother. She was in the hospital for a few days this last week needing to have the fluid on her heart drained again. She had some other tests done and was sent home with new medication and the doctor saying her heart is strong. Thanks to all who covered her in prayer.

This week the team of one from VA, another team of one from WA and the team of 9 from Las Vegas have been very busy blessing some home owners and many people from the community.

Yesterday, Susan and I spend a good share of the day bagging up food supplies to be given out this morning to anyone who stopped by our certain corner in Galveston. The teams loaded two trailers with drinking water, vitamin water, bags of granola bars, bagged cans of french onions and some toys. We all went to the island and parked them on the cornert. As in the past, before we could get set up the cars began to stop. People are in such a great need for these types of things that within 35 minutes... all that we brought was handed out!!!! Blessings were given out and Blessings were received. We really love that we are able to give out theses donated items. Our plan for this week is to load up again but with pet food and water and for the ladies we have a few plastic bins of perfume preducts. It doesn't matter what it is we are able to bless any and all who stop by.

The homes thjat are in the photos are those of two diffent women. One who is our first rebuild project and believe me, Miss Marie is excited but somewhat nervous. Her father built the house in the 40s and she is totally attached. We will be making it look new again but new in a much different way. The other home just needed to have the ceilings pulled and the insulation taken out. I say just but, it is blown in insulation and a really big mess!!! The guys are really working hard and I know they have no idea how appreciated they are.

I pray that they are feeling God's love for them and what they are doing!

Ike ...Lost In The Mix of Life

It is always amazing to me to see what is depicted important in the news. Most times what is looked at as important is teetering on the wall of just plan old gossip. What has happened to the people in southeast Texas is that these type of stories and of course the timing of the election, they have been lost in the mix of life! Ike came in and affected the lives of hundreds of thousands with hundreds of lives lost and on Galveston Island alone there are approximately 60 thousand homes that are in need of repair. If the thought is that these people who own or live in these homes are all able to hire and rebuild, think again. The majority of them are either uninsured, under insured and on top of that have lost their places of employment. In that regard it was not only the small businesses that lost out it was some of the major places of employment. UTMB (University of Texas Medical)had to let 3800 of their employees go because of the damage that occurred to their buildings. That damage was 710 million dollars! Many of these employees also have sustained severe damge to their homes. There are 3 schools that are no longer able to hold classes as well.

What do the people throughout the country hear...nearly nothing, What did they hear on the onset of the storm...that it happened, then the news turned back to the election and other stories. Believe me I realize that our economy is in jeopardy and it will take all of us to make that turn around. I know that there are reasons to cut back in all areas and with that I still pour out my heart to those who are able to step out and give of there time to come help the people in Southeast Texas. I pour out my heart to all the people here in Texas an am blessed each day that I am here to give them hope through my OAKS Ministry from home and Mercy Response here in Texas will continue to send out our plea for help.

Other than the hands of labor our camp also need some building materials... sheet rock, trim, doors, paint, drywall mud... one other important item is an ice machine. Buying ice each day to cool the drinks that the volunteers need to sustain themselves each day may seem like a small thing but it all adds up!

Please don't let these people in Texas be lost in this limbo that exists today. My prayers is that this message reaches the hearts of many!