The End Draws Near...

Scribe: Cindy
Special guest: a 1 1/2" long cockroach that I've named Bubba. He's keeping me company on the deck!

As I sit on the back porch of the fishing lodge in the cool breeze, listening to the sounds of the bayou at night, I can hardly believe that tomorrow is our last working day. This is always the bittersweet moment of any mission trip. I apologize for not getting up as many pics as I would like, but the internet access is difficult. I anticipate a large entry Saturday night from the hotel in New Orleans.

Last night, the town of Lafitte threw us a shrimp and crab boil at the town pavilion. Man, was that ever good! Here's a pic of the mayor of Lafitte showing some of us the proper way to open a crab:

Tonight, 13 of us went for an airboat ride through the swamps. Here are just a couple of pics from that adventure:

This is Tripod, a nesting mother who is so named because another alligator bit off her right foot when she was younger.

This is the outside of Miss Augustine's home. The contractor she hired took all her money and ran to Florida with it. We're replacing windows here and siding the house.

This is Paige's house. We're cutting brush, demolishing a shed, and putting up some siding.

That's all for this evening. I've got to get the laundry into the dryer. Tomorrow night, Judy from SMHA is taking us all back to Boutte's for dinner. Mmmmm...more frog legs and catfish!

Goodnight...

Working Hard...

This will be a quick post as dinner will be ready soon. Mr. Bozo, our go-to guy down here, arranged for us to be treated to a shrimp and crab boil tomorrow night for dinner! This will be a wonderful local treat for us. The youth enjoyed a trip to Sonic and Krispy Kreme last night, so they were very excited.
Some of the jobs are getting finished already and others are kicking into high gear. Miss Dot's needs to be done by Thursday afternoon as her daughter is having day surgery and, of course, would like to come home to a quiet house. That crew is working quickly but thoroughly to accomplish this for them.
As I type, a tug boat is signaling for the nearby bridge to open up. The tugs push huge barges up and down the bayou all day and night. Here's a couple of pics that Pam took that day we arrived of this:



I'm hoping tomorrow for more home-in-progress pictures. We've been downloading from different folks every night.

Update*** The above post was written last night, but Blogger was down so I couldn't post it. I've nothing new for tonight as the mosquitoes are vicious and Dave and I are cooking breakfast for the troops tomorrow morning. If the internet access holds, I should have MUCH more tomorrow night.

Better Late Than Never!

The alligators aren't nearly as scary as we thought....

Scribe: Cindy
Bodyguard: Dave

So, it's 11:24pm and I'm sitting on the dock of the bayou writing this as Dave stands guard for alligators. To answer a couple of your thoughts and comments first:

- The storm won't get to us, but the water on the bayou is rising. Nothing dangerous, though.

- Holly, I'll take care of Suzanne!

- Yes, Terri's shepherd's pie was terrific!

Lots of work was done and lots of supplies purchased. Here's a brief rundown of what we're doing:
1) 87-year-old Miss Mildred is having her bathroom floor replaced. You can see to the grass next to the toilet. Also, some painting.
2) Gene and Sherry are having railings put on their porches. Their house is about 10 feet off the ground now and they have a 14-month-old granddaughter.
3) Miss Shirley got her bathroom painted, a bedroom painted.
4) Miss Dot is getting paint, baseboards and floors.
5) Paige had her backyard cleared of brush and debris and is getting some siding done.

There are other projects in the works. I'll have more later. Tomorrow is supposed to rain so no one is quite sure what will happen to those doing outside work.

But the mosquitoes are awful!

Julie, hard at work!

A view of the bayou from the back of the bunkhouse.

Uri, the men's room mascot.

Boys in the bunkhouse.


On our way into church.

I'll leave you with these few images for this evening, as mornings come early here. Tomorrow I'll post pictures of some of the work sites.


Good night....

we are here…We Are Here…WE ARE HERE!!!

Scribe: Cindy

Like the Who’s, trying to make their presence known to Horton the elephant, we have arrived and made our mark on Lafitte, LA! Traveling was relatively painless, with one minor rain delay in Newark that caused us to sit at the gate for about 20 minutes before pushing back and getting airborne.

We had a wonderful dinner on Saturday night, including local favorites like fried frog legs, broiled catfish, fried flounder, and, of course, crawfish! We retired relatively early, as everyone was really tired.

Today, we attended church at the Barataria Baptist Church, a member of the Southern Baptist Convention. The congregation was very welcoming and we sang several hymns. Theologically, we are pretty far apart, but they blessed us richly on our journey here and couldn’t have been nicer.

Today, after a brief thunder storm, we toured the work sites. There is still much to be done for some folks,like Sherrie and Gene who are still in a FEMA trailer 3 years after the storms, and the woman who paid a contractor to do the work on her home, but he left with the money and did no work.

Right now, internet access is a challange. I'm currently sitting in McDonald's parking lot, using there WiFi!

I hope to write more tomorrow and have pictures for you. The work groups have been established and are heading out at 8am tomorrow morning. Please continue to send your good wishes and, of course, your prayers.