2011 Mission Trip Information
Friday, February 18
Today found Randy & Paul heading off to finish the drywall project for Willie and Yvonne.
Janice finally got out of her "nail sorting" chair!
We knew Janice had finally lost it when she wanted to ride the floor jack -
she coerced her friends into going with her!
Randy, Robin, Paul & Ginny completed some unfinished projects at Donnie's house.
Gary, Peggy, Lisa, Karen, Lynn, Mitch, Bill & Arletta were assigned to the home of a disabled gentleman
and his wife. Repairs included tree trimming, spouting installation, mold removal, hanging a porch swing
and a sewer project.
We shared our experiences of the week as we had dinner at Cafe New Orleans.
We realized that our week had so quickly come to an end.
We feel fulfilled as we head home!
The Himmel's Mission team would like to thank everyone for their support.
Karen, Gary, Mitch, Ginny, & Bill finding some humor while continuing to organize the warehouse!
Janice & Robin found NO humor while work continues on the nail project!
Paul, Ginny, Robin & Randy did some work for Donnie - the home where Robin & Paul worked last year
They worked on the kitchen sink, pantry and did general clean-up.
Ginny presented an afghan made by Lisa to Donnie.
Lynn, Peggy, Lisa & Arletta agreed to do some "filing" for the Red Cross; however, the job was really taking inventory! Along with counting blankets, disaster kits, masks, etc, much cleaning was required!
We are pictured with the staff outside the pod that we had organized!
On our travels to the Red Cross, we saw some beautiful chainsaw art made from broken-off Live Oak trees.
Eddie is our nightshift cook and is in charge of camp clean-up! He has coerced all of us into helping with kitchen duty, sweeping, moping, bathroom cleaning, shower cleaning, etc. after he feeds us dinner!!!
Wednesday, February 16
In our devotions last night, we talked about God being in control. We came here with the idea of rebuilding homes but found that God had another plan. We are rearranging the Camp Victor warehouse so that items are easier to find. After two other camps closed, supplies were quickly moved to Camp Victor and placed randomly in the warehouse. We are now charged with organizing the chaos!
As we were aware when we organized the trip, Camp Victor (CV) had no funds of their own but would house willing workers who would work for other organizations such as Hands on Mississippi (HOM) who had projects arranged for us; however, these projects were cancelled at the last minute. At this time, CV has applied for grants in the hopes of resuming work projects to cover the needs of the area.
God sent his servant, Evelyn, from Washington state who formed an organization to fund projects in the area. She spends several weeks at CV each year and happened to be here with us from Saturday until today. Through her efforts, some of our group assisted with two small jobs.
We are still hoping for home projects to do; however, the camp staff and volunteers are absolutely thrilled with the work that we are doing to help them and cannot thank us enough! The work is different and hard but very satisfying. The work is not what was on our agenda but we are considering this God’s agenda!
Robin leads devotions
The Chaotic Camp Victor Warehouse
Janice organizing another 5,000,000 nails
Randy, Gary & Paul continue their drywall job - no breaks for them!!!
Tuesday, February 15
Randy, Gary & Paul were assigned to a bathroom job today. The bathroom is very tiny for 3 big guys!
They did drywall, wiring and finished the installation of the shower. They'll return tomorrow to finish the work.
Our project today was cleaning and organizing the Camp Victor warehouse. The unusable lumber was
"duct taped" to the skid to move it via forklift from the warehouse to the dumpster.
Mitchell supervised the project!
Even though we weren't going into surgery, face masks were more than necessary
due to the extremely dusty, dirty conditions!
Lynn, Janice & Arletta sorted 5,000,000 nails and are not even half way done!
Janice was having a GREAT time!
Eugene & Karen take a break from filling a dumpster to pose for their picture.
Robin & Ginny cleaned floors, tables and shelving.
Mitch isn't happy with his task of sorting supplies
Mitch & Bill assemble shelving
Peggy, Lisa & Karen stack siding, soffit and lumber
Monday, February 14
Due to no construction work for the day, our job was doing environmental work for NatureConservancy Land Trust. We picked-up trash (bottles, cans, tires, clothes, etc.) along the Tchoutacabouffa River. The job was labor intensive due to the thick brush but we impressed our supervisor, Peter, by doing the job with enthusiasm and finishing much sooner than he thought we would.
Sadly saying goodbye to Danielle - we were so glad that she was able to spend time with us.
Because we were so efficient, we were rewarded with early time-off and a trip to another NatureConservancy Land Trust area called Twelve Oaks. The trees differ from our oak trees because they are ever green; they are called Live Oak Trees. The three that you see on the pictures are named Faith, Hope and Charity! We took a nature hike and saw many plant/tree species and the bayou.
We took time this afternoon to visit the homes that we had worked on last year. Robin and Paul were more than happy to see Donnie and the progress that was made on his home. Donnie welcomed all 13 of us into his home.
Peggy, Lynn, Randy & Arletta were happy to see that the house they had been "fired" from
was finished and occupied.
Peggy, Lynn, Randy & Arletta were pleased to see that Rose's house had vastly improved since
we had only spent 2 days there before we had to go home last year.
Sunday, February 13
The New Orleans skyline
Our tour guide, Adrian (a friend of Lisa's son)
Adrian explaining Bayou Bienville
The marsh of cypress trees
The levee
We caught a "Steppers Parade"
"We" joined the steppers!
After the parade, a missing hubcap?????
Who do you send for a replacement hubcap when you need 1?
The youngest member of the Himmel's Mission Team Group (don't tell his Mom)!!! JUST KIDDING!!!!
We spent the entire day touring New Orleans. Our wonderful guide, Adrian, gave us much inside information about the devastation. We also got to see how the vitality of the area has returned. We're now rejuvinated and ready to begin our mission bright and early tomorrow morning. By the way, we're practicing our anthems!!!
Friday, February 11 - Saturday, February 12
Eleven of us left home around 6:30pm on Friday night traveling in 2 vehicles. Compared to last year, the trip was very uneventful--our only dilemma is that we lost a hubcap on the rental vehicle!!! After breaks for gas and restroom stops and breakfast Saturday morning, we arrived at Camp Victor around 2pm Mississippi time. Having left a few days earlier, the Billow's arrived a short-time thereafter. Danielle Klinger drove several hours from Fort Rucker, Alabama to join us for the weekend. We were oriented by the Hands on Mississippi staff and met-up with a few folks that we had worked with last year. We then met Richie Bingaman and family for dinner. Still not ready to call it a day, we celebrated Janice's birthday with ice cream cake! We're tired, but happy and so excited to be with church family from home. We'll be spending Sunday doing a little sightseeing in New Orleans and then get ready to get to work on Monday!
2011 MISSION TRIP
Plans have been underway for our upcoming mission trip. We started back in July contacting Camp Victor. Lynn and Paul were doing most of the legwork for that including registration. We were told Camp Victor would be closing the end of August due to lack of funding. However, plans changed again and Camp Victor is staying open now until the end of April, but the construction projects are being organized by an organization called Hands On Mississippi. We are leaving Friday 2-11-11 and will be returning Sunday 2-20-11. We are leaving a day early so we can do some sight-seeing on Sunday the 13th prior to starting our work on Monday, Arletta and Peggy have been our tansportation and travel coordinators. We sent an invitation to the group we went with last year, but had no one able to go. Several of them had gone to West Virginia to work on Appalachian projects last September. There will be a total of 13 people going, including two from Hunter Station Church, Lisa Williard and Karen Newman. Those going from Himmel's are Paul & Ginny Billow, Randy and Robin Latsha, Arletta and Bill Ney, Lynn and Mitch Rebuck, Peggy and Gary Starr and Janice Weikel. Cost per person is $195 for the week which includes lodging and 3 meals a day. That we are personally paying for. Any meals other than provided by the camp we will pay for personally. Expenses that would be coming out of the mission fund would be the rental van ($700) and gas (last year was $450 but will be more this year due to more vehicles and higher gas prices). We will also be taking one minivan, and Paul and Ginny are driving themselves to do a little sight-seeing on the way down and home. Though the projects there are fully funded, they say we can provide money for extra things such as landscaping and things of that nature. If there is anyone who hasn't donated to the mission fund and wishes to, please mark mission fund on your envelope and it will be put to good use. As of 1/4/11 the mission fund has grown to almost $2300! Over $1000 of that is from several of us working at Hershey Park this summer. Our "earnings" were given to the mission fund. The rest are donations from you, the members of Himmel's, and we are so very grateful for your support, not only financial but also your thoughts and prayers. We ask for your thoughts and prayers again for our upcoming trip. We intend to send updates to our webmaster so everyone can go on their computers to see what we are accomplishing the week we are in Mississippi. We look forward with anticipation to our trip and will to the best of ability represent you, our wonderful Himmel's family, as servants of Christ in helping those less fortunate.
Again, thank you for your support and prayers.
--- 2011 Mission Trip Team
See the attachment below for details regarding the 2010 Mission Trip.
