Galveston Construction April 23-24, 2009

Final Day
We have come to the end of the week with no injuries. Thanks for your prayers for safety. Yesterday was more sanding and mudding. Bruce Gumtow and Marold Lohrenz worked on putting a ceiling in the converted garage. Jeff Polk has guided us on mudding the drywall in. Team co-leader Mike Mastraccio has managed us well on work assignments. Steve Zenthoefer our other leader has kept us focused on daily devotions and using the new VIM books "Called" and Challenged". Dr Rex Smith out traveling "Arborist" has continued to remove dead trees from the yard. So many have been killed on the island from too much salt water.

We attended a Galveston Disaster Recovery worship service last night. We worshiped with VIM teams from several states. It seems we are all doing similiar reconstruction work on homes. The Texas Conference staff for disaster recovery was also present and thanked all the teams. The asked we return and tell the story of the great need in Galveston for more workers. They also updated us that the Asbury Deaf Ministry VIM team that worked earlier this year that the family would be moving back in soon.

We will complete our time of work on Bea's home today and be driving back to Oklahoma on Saturday. Thanks for your prayers.

Survivor Galveston Island-Day 3
We had tribal council and voted last night. It was a tie so no one was voted off the island! We are getting tired but all torches remained lite. There are some we would like to send to "Exile Island". The homeowner that is currently living with her son Gilbert north of Galveston came by yesterday. Her name is Bea and she serves with the Salvation Army. She is a widow and is 80. She expressed her gratitude to the Asbury team and prayed for us. This home had 6 feet of water inside after Ike.

The work continued yesterday with more mudding and drywall work. Rex, Linda and Steve worked on clearing the yard of downed trees. There will be more sanding and drywall work today as this older home is being rebuilt from the inside. Lisa and Angela have a contest to see how much mud they can apply to their clothes as well as walls.

We went and walked the beach after dinner last night. That is something you can't always do on a VIM trip. We are staying safe. We will attend a Ike Recovery worship service tonight. Thanks for your prayers and "Tree Mail". Your Asbury Galveston team.