Thursday July 26

Wow, as I am writing this on the eve of Thursday, July 26, I can hardly believe that we only have one work day left!  And what a fine day that the Lord has made today.  Sunny from start to finish, with some intermittent breezes.  I remember that once again the van windshield kept fogging up after we left the church.  There were many ooh’s and aah’s as we drove on the high overpass and we saw the red sun rising with the Lexington in the foreground. Many pictures were taken of that beautiful sight.  The TV weather guy said that this morn we had a record low temp of 72 F.  In other words, for us it was still a hot, a fine Texas summer day.  But at least the humidity was a little less than yesterday.  We broke up into two teams today since we had two separate houses to work, the first one in Refugio and the second in Rockport, which is right along the coast where Harvey came ashore last year. I was part of Team 2, and we woke up a little early in order to be able to leave at 630 AM and get there a little a sooner so that we might beat the heat a little.

    Bill and daughter Emma started to caulk the cracks and nail holes in the heavy wooden plank siding, while some of us including me did some much needed yard cleanup of wood and building material scraps that were all over the place.  Then we started to apply the bright blue paint to one side, then the next.  Even though the house is only one story, scaffolding was still needed to reach the highest spots near the roof.  Painting the siding on the south side was harder due to the bright and hot sunshine there.  Let me personally thank those willing to be in the sun and be up high on the scaffolding, which did not appeal to me.

   Thanks to Katie and a few others, the flooring was finished at House #1 so that crew was able to join us to finish the painting.  There were some out-of-state professional construction people willing to volunteer their time to help us do the tough stuff at both houses today, and we just tried to stay out of their way.  For instance, at House #2 electricians were busy inside, so painting the outside was about the only thing for us today.  But that’s OK, it was still a big job.  I think we all left with blue paint on our clothes and bodies!  An interesting side note, yesterday at House #2 a few other volunteers like us joined our crew to help out.  They were from the states of Pennsylvania and Kansas, and Ontario too.  God Bless them all. 

   Now because there were so many of us, we could not all eat at the nearby WhatABurger restaurant at the same time.   In case you did not know, that is a popular food chain in this part of TX, a bit more expensive than McD, but cheaper than Red Robin.  We all appreciated being out of the heat, at least for a little bit.  (No co-host church here.)  So we took two lunch break shifts.  By the time the first shift had returned, the second shift had finished painting all the sides except the one now in the sun😉  My burger and fries was great.  By the way, thanks Tori.

  By the time all bellies were filled it was OK to start the 2^nd coat of paint, which was done mostly in the shade now.  Before we all left we blessed the house and signed our names on the support board below where the front steps will be.  Yes, may the good Lord bless those people.  Actually we know that they include Captain Benny, a well known and liked restaurant owner, who also lost his business in the disaster.   Arriving back at Parkway a little early, we had some free time.  Tori and the rest of the wonderful kitchen crew prepared us a hearty meal of pasta and sauce with salad and even oven-roasted bread sticks.  The person that said Grace mentioned that even though the weather was at times hot and miserable for us this week, it was much worse only a year ago when Harvey first came ashore, so thank God for the “pleasant” weather we had.

   For evening  devotions Pastor Doug gave the parable of the Good Samaritan to think about.

   We have been asked to pray for 2 missionaries in Bangladesh, a country where the vast majority of people are not Christians.  They likewise are praying for our mission trip team.

    Another list of interesting facts I witnessed this week (like last year from West Virginia): all girls seem to know how to braid hair, and even one guy among us has some skill, Maddi can juggle quite well 3 billiard balls at the same time, Tori has an interesting story about Pizza Hut.  One guy takes bird watching WAY too seriously.  The young people like to hang out at the local public beach in the evening. 

   Well my assistant decided just to go to bed early.  Good for her.  Now it’s my turn.  God Bless and let’s talk later.      

clark t, staff journalist.