2022 Madisonville Kentucky Work Day 2
Mission trip day 2, 6/28/2022 Madisonville Kentucky
We woke up to another beautiful, cool morning, with cloud cover that lasted for most of the day, helping it stay moderately cool throughout the day along with a slight breeze. Most of us wore sunscreen, which was still needed for everyone. I know a lot of what happened on team Bob, because that's what group I was transfered to today. We started out by putting down the sub flooring on top of the cement block foundation today. And once again we were joined by a very energetic work crew of 5 people that came from North Carolina. Instead of having a host church, that were staying in a camper for the week. Mary Rae and I met 3 different members of the North Carolina crew while working on the toolshed outside of the First Christian Church yesterday. I could not be helped but be impressed by Bob's skill at reading the blue print of the house we were building, and then telling us what we had to do next. Now Bob is a retired shop teacher in high school, where he taught carpentry. God must have led him down this path just so he could help us on these mission trips.
I was surprised at the amount of devistation from the tornado that was still visible from the house we were working at. There was once a beautiful forest behind the house, but all that remains are tree trunks with a few leaves. There was another nearby home which appeared to have taken heavy damage but wasn't fixed up yet. As the North Carolina mission team kept laying the plywood flooring , Team Bob started working on the outside wall framing. We were able to get up three 16 foot sections of the wall before it was quitting time. But just then, the home owner Debbie and her older daughter came by to say hello, and we were more than happy to sit down and talk with them. Like Rev. Peter said, our most important job is to relate to the victims and talk to them and let them know how important they are to us, and minister to the. We found out that they had many pets at their former place. For instance: two bearded dragon lizards which were lost after the storm for a while, but miraculously showed up in their driveway a few hours later. And they also had two dogs, a rooster, two hen chickens, and two goats, many of which did survive the tornado. The beloved family cat was lost for 3 months, then someone else found and returned it. And one additional sad note is that the house they had been living in was only built in 2014, so it was still fairly new, and Debbie had watched the former house being built from the very beginning. Hence she was heartbroken when it was decided that it had to be demolished, and she was crying as the Amish team was tearing down the house. And Debbie said that for a while the family has been living in a nearby state park that was partially turned into a sort of refugee camp. And that is what happened to our work crew today.
Carmen's team, which included Rick, whom we forgot to mention yesterday, was cutting and laying down bricks. The outer wall for the foundation is almost complete, with just a few layers remaining on one of the walls. Tori was walking around taking pictures, and saw a whole field of trees that had been knocked down, but among them were hundreds of maple sapplings growing, another example of our motto, out of chaos: hope. Kyle and Tori were responsible for keeping the morter wet, which meant that some of the team used their own water bottles to keep it moist. So in case there is a strawberry smell in the basement, thank Tori. And remember that rose bush I was telling you about yesterday? The homeowner said that the rose bush had been cut down, but had grown back. Almost like the house itself
Team Elvis was finishing the foundation, and then laying down the subfloor. All of the houses we are working on are in about the same early phase of building. Hence there is no roof yet to keep the teams cool inside, as on past mission trips that I have experienced. This is the last day that Mary Rae will be with us, she will be starting the long journey home tomorrow morning. Thank you for all your help and inspiration. After devotions we were posed for the team photo since now everyone was there.
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