Galveston - Thursday

Published: Thu, 03.26.2009

Today things got changed up a little.  Members from my house were taken to a house just down the road the other house to start tearing down drywall and insulation.  The original two houses continued putting up drywall and started mudding today.  My house almost completed it's first coat of mudding today, while the other house continued mudding their first coat and even started on a second coat in some places.  The group that went to the third house ran into some mold right before lunch, which had to be checked out before they could continue.  Near the end of the day at my house we had half the team mudding while the other half continued putting up drywall.  One of our leaders thought it would be funny to put some of the mud on one girl's face.  After that there was a mudding fight that broke out, which resulted in almost everyone on my team leaving the house at the end of the day with mud on them somewhere.  It's so great to finally see all the rooms taking shape and being defined, compared to the bare skeleton we found when we first got to the house.

Tonight after work we went out for dinner to a barbeque place down the road called "Leon's Barbeque House".  It was a small family restaurant that made amazing barbeque chicken and beef.  The entire team was there and took up the whole restaurant.  He locked down the dining room just for us.  It was a great way for us all to go out and fellowship together.  After we got done eating we had the chance to share things that had gone on at the worksite that day.  It was great to hear about the different teams working together and the fun things that happened on the worksite. 

Krista Deboy

Galveston - Wednesday

Published: Wed, 03.25.2009

Tuesday morning three-quarters of the group went to the fairgrounds to do some clean-up while the rest of the group went to a house to work on insulation and drywall.  The larger group was split into thirds.  One third mowed, another third shoveled dirt in the stadium, while the last third picked up dead branches on the horse trail.  After lunch, we decided to leave and find another project to work on.  The group was split in half to work at two different houses working on insulating and drywalling houses that were damaged during the hurricane.  The house I was at was split into three groups and each group got a different part of the house.  Although we got started a little late the group worked hard and the house was completely insulated and the drywall was starting to go up by the time we left.  Our team worked well together, encouraging each other and building each other up.  It was very exciting to have half the team working together towards one common goal. 

Today was another very busy day as we continued to put up drywall.  It didn't seem like that large a task this morning when we first arrived at the house, but as the day went on we all always had something to do.  Relationships really started forming as we got used to each other's work style and learned how to best utilize the skills of everyone on the team.  There was singing and laughing going on as the house started to look more complete.  It was so great to look around and see the work being done and things getting accomplished.  After dinner tonight the group got together for a time of worship and sharing.  People got to tell different stories about how they saw certain people encouraging others on the worksite and building each other up.  It was great to hear about the things happening on other worksites and talk about the things that happened on our own sites.  The worship was also fantastic! All we had was an acoustic guitar, a drum, and each other.  Hearing the people around you sing was great and made you feel an even deeper connection.  Tomorrow we'll be going back to the houses we were at today and continuing our work!

Krista Deboy

Galveston - Tuesday

Published: Tue, 03.24.2009

Sunday morning we woke up and were going to attend church at one of the local churches just a few blocks from the school we're staying in.  We loaded up and drove over to find out we were half an hour late for the first service and an hour and a half early for the second.  We decided instead, to have church on the beach.  We walked down to the Seawall and out onto a pier of sorts made of huge stones.  Dr. Heth started off by reading a story about Josh McDowell and his parents.  Afterwards we were led in worship and sang praise and worship songs right there on the pier surrounded by God's creation.  It was such a beautiful morning and was so amazing to sit there together and sing.  Afterwards a few of us stuck around to read our Bibles and enjoy the weather.  A local man and his wife came onto the pier and saw us reading out Bibles and stopped to talk to one of the members.  They were overjoyed to hear that we were there to do Hurricane Ike relief.  They talked a little bit longer and then left.  We spent the rest of the day at the beach just spending time together and enjoying the weather.

Monday was our first work day, which found our team spread in four different places doing different types of work.  One group painted, one gutted a police station storage building, one went all the way to Houston to a night club, and another had a cleaning job.  I was in the group that went to the police station storage building to gut it.  We had a team of twelve and when we arrived we were met by a local newspaper reporter.  As we waited for one of the police officers to open the building for us the reporter and another police officer told us what it was like in Galveston at the time of the hurricane.  They talked about the damage that had been done and the people living in Galveston.  As soon as we were allowed we went into the building and started working.  We torn down drywall and insulation, took down ceiling tiles that were still up in little rooms, and even took down some metal framing.  The team worked very well together and had a good work ethic.  Not long after we started a smaller group from New Mexico State University came in to help as well.  Throughout the day our leaders had interaction with one of the officers "Burt".  Burt's recently found out he had a number of health problems and about ten months earlier and started raising his two children alone when his wife left him.  We weren't sure where he stood in his relationship with God, but before we left we made sure to pray with him.  He said he felt honored and was impressed that a group of college students were willing to come down and work during their Spring Break. 

Galveston - Saturday

Published: Sat, 03.21.2009

We're finally in Galveston!! We arrived today around 2:30pm Galveston time.  We unpacked the vans, went to orientation, and then a group of us drove to the beach.  It's about fifteen blocks away and very beautiful.  A few people took cameras and took some great pictures and we were back in time for dinner.  After dinner an even larger group decided to walk to the beach.  It was a great way for us to talk to people that weren't in our vans on the way down.  After about an hour or two we headed back, but not before stoping at the Kroger to get some Starbucks.  While there we met a woman, her husband, and son.  They lived in the North Eastern part of Texas and told us about the damage that had been done to their own home and condo during Hurrican Ike.  We told them we were from Taylor University in Indiana, down for Spring Break on a mission trip to do Hurricane Ike relief.  After they got their coffee they left, the wife returned a few minutes later with some money for us to support our trip.  We told her we couldn't accept it and she replied with "It's Jesus' money."  We were shocked but blessed for the opportunity to talk to her and for her donation.  Tomorrow we're going to a local church then spending the day at the beach before starting work on Monday!

Krista Deboy

Galveston-Before the Trip Down

Published: Thu, 03.19.2009

For the past month and a half the Galveston team has been meeting on Monday nights for a Spring Break class.  In the class we learned about how best to serve God and work as a team while in Galveston.  After all our preparation it's hard to believe we're finally leaving tomorrow evening!  We'll be taking four vans and driving through the night down to Texas.  While we're there we'll be working with Good News Galveston doing Hurricane Ike relief.  The past two weekends the group worked with Affordable Housing in Marion to get a taste of the kinds of things we could be doing in Galveston.  We put up siding on the front of the house, cleaned the inside and out, and did other minor jobs around the house.

We're all eager and excited to get down there and get to work.  It'll be an interesting trip down, being in a van for over 20 hours, but it'll be a good bonding experience. 

Krista Deboy