Our final day- Friday Oct 22, 2010

It is hard to believe that the week is over.  Thirteen people from the Frankton First United Methodist Church journeyed the 300+ miles to the mountains of Eastern Kentucky to join with approx 85 others from all points to spend a week serving God.

We have had a good week helping those less fortunate thru the Redbird mission camp.  Our project for the week was to work on a house where a 63 year old lady by the name of Nora North lives. Nora's house, built on the side of a mountain has many problems and in a weeks time, we were able to take care of just two. We tore off and repaired a deck that was sliding down the hillside and made her kitchen floor a little more level.

There is much more to be done to Nora's house and a week is just not enough time to do everything, but I am confident that the Redbird mission will schedule future work teams to do more.

On our final day, we were able to complete the floor in the kitchen which included new vinyl.  The "floor team" did a tremendous job and overcame many obstacles to complete this task.

While the floor was being finished, the rest of us loaded all the debris from the weeks work into the work van.  The back of the van was completely filled with all the wood and trash and we took it back to Redbird to place it in the burn pile. While back at camp, we picked up some additional needed material (including the vinyl).

When we got back to the job site, after unloading materials, we began construction of a small wood deck at the back door of the house. This deck was not planned but we built it to replace some rotten wood steps.
Nora (the home owner) was overjoyed with this surprise and also grateful because she can now open her back door (because the floor is now level) and go out it.

We put in a long day and because of wanting to get the job completed, didn't get back to camp until after 5PM and had to go straight to our evening meal (5:30).

After dinner (and a shower) we attended the Friday evening service where everyone shares their weeks experiences, sing songs, and have a short worship service where communion is served.

The week is over but the memories are not and we are all looking forward to when we can again make a journey, whether it be to Redbird, Epworth Forest, or across town, to serve God by helping others.

I will make another post with lots of pictures once I get home and can get everyones pictures loaded into the computer.

I hope this blog has helped those not here feel as tho they are part of our journey.  May God Bless all.

Back to work- Thursday Oct 21st, 2010

removing deck tear off debris

Well, after a great day off, today found us getting back to work. One of the first things we had to do was clean up the debris from the deck tear off we did on Tuesday. This involved getting the cut off section back up the nearly vertical hillside from an over 30 ft deep ravine. The task was accomplished with only 3 of us ending up sliding down the hill.  The above photo was taken from the remainder of the deck.

The "deck crew" then used the remainder of the day putting the finishing touches on the portion of the deck that was saved.  This included putting lattice back on, finishing the railing and painting.  The deck is done!

While this was going on, the floor crew was inside doing their thing in leveling the kitchen floor. The job is nearing completion with over half of the floor leveled.  This task is hard to explain but I will give a list of the steps taken so far:

• The old floor was removed on the east side of the kitchen which revealed no support and the end of the house below ground level
• The ground was dug away to over a foot deep to get to the bottom of the outside wall.
• Jacks were used to slowly raise the wall nearly 7 inches and supports were placed under the wall.
• The hole that was cut away had new framing and sub floor installed.
• An additional sub floor is being installed over the entire floor with shims to make the entire floor level.
• Once the entire kitchen floor has been leveled, new vinyl will be installed.

Her are some photos taken by Bill Evans of the floor work.

Tonight was talent night at the Redbird camp.  Each church group in attendance does "something"  using many different kinds of talent. We had music, skits, history lessons, and even had a man play a saw.

Our group decided to sing, since we had several members of the Praise team here. The others with us also helped perform "Yahwah" which those gathered for the talent night really enjoyed.  I think we may have found some more members for the praise team (right Paul).

Singing Yahweh at Talent night
photo by Bill Evans


Some additional Talent night photos by Bill

Well it's past my bedtime and I must get some well deserved "beauty sleep". That is if Bob and Paul don't snore too loud.  My final entry will be tomorrow night and we will all be home sometime Saturday.

May God bless and keep all

Photos from Cumberland Falls

Cumberland Falls

Cumberland Falls from downstream

Our group at the falls

Rainbow at the falls

Our day off-Wednesday Oct 20, 2010

It is hard to believe that it is Wednesday already and we are on the downhill side of our week serving the Lord here at the Redbird mission.

Today was our day off, and boy did we need it to refresh our batteries, do some sight seeing, and get back to civilization, even if it was only for a few hours. 

We all loaded into two vehicles and drove to Cumberland Falls state park where we were joined by Susan Shuter and Jan Elsten who came down to work for the remainder of the week.  After hiking around the falls area, seeing some fabulous sights, and taking a few pictures, we went to the State park lodge to enjoy a great lunch.

Due to the blog site being down for maintenance, I am unable to upload photos.  I will send them on a separate post in the morning.
If you would like to know more about Cumberland Falls, go to http://cumberlandfallspark.com/

After lunch, which was very filling, it was time to head to Pine mountain state park for dinner at 5 PM.
Keep in mind that we finished eating lunch about 1:30.  The drive to Pine mountain is a little over an hour but took us over two hours as we made several stops along the way.

Dinner at Pine mountain has become a tradition for our group and we had reservations for 5 pm.  Pine mountain is also just a few miles from where Bob and Jeanie Mills' daughter lives.  They joined us for dinner.
We enjoyed a great dinner buffet even tho none of us were very hungry.

After a great day, it was back to Redbird to get ready for another day on the job site. We hope to get the majority of our work done tomorrow as we need to cleanup the work site on Friday.

God has really blessed us with great weather, fabulous sights to see, and great people to fellowship with. I hope that everyone gets the opportunity to go on a mission trip to experience the emotions and gratification it gives you, but if you can't go, I am glad I can share our experiences with you.  May the Joy and Peace of God be with you.

Additional photos

Here are some additional photos taken by Bill Evans at the work site:

Deck tear off

Raising the floor

Floor repair continuing

More deck tear off
(this deck is 12 feet in the air)

Our second work day- Oct 19th, 2010-The challenges continue

Wow, it's Tuesday already, and the work continues.  I am not going to be as detailed tonight about the job we are on since we are continuing to complete the task we started yesterday.

I will tell everyone that the leveling of the floor is progressing slowly but the floor is coming up and today the pieces are starting to fall into place and the opening that was created to jack thing up has been closed. Work will continue on Thursday.  The tearing off of a portion of the deck and the reinforcement of the remaining part of the deck was completed today, with clean-up of the debris slated for Thursday.

Why are we waiting till Thursday?  Well, we are off for a day of rest on Wednesday and believe me, we are all tired and need the day off.  I will report on what we do on our day off tomorrow night.

After we got back from the job sight today and got cleaned up, we enjoyed a great evening meal of meat loaf, scalloped potatoes, corn, salad and desert.  The meals here are very good and no one goes hungry.

Mickey Lawson and I have been helping the morning cook, Martha, prepare the breakfast meal and this morning I cooked over 200 pancakes while Mickey fixed the sausage patties.  We also had oatmeal available as well as biscuits and gravy, fruit cocktail, fresh strawberries and Raisin Bran.

Tuesday night is also "Ice Cream" night (so is Thursday) and the Redbird Volunteer Fire Department sells ice cream as a fund raiser. The Tuesday night ice crream night is done by Bob, a Redbird staff member, and his wife.  Bob always ask for volunteers to help and since I can't eat the ice cream, I help sell it.  For volunteering, the gave me a Redbird Fire Department T shirt.

The night was capped off when our group sat around the campfire and many "funny" stories were shared by all, and of course Janine Compton kept us in stitches.

Here are a couple of photos taken by Bill Evans at the job sight:



Floor repair in progress



Work on the deck

It's time to retire for the night so be sure to check back tomorrow for details on our day off.  May God bless all.

Our 1st work day- Monday Oct 18, 2010

We have survived our first day on the job with no injuries and everyone ready to hit the sack before 9 PM.
The project assigned to us has already proven to be a challenge in more ways than one. After a 30 minute drive on narrow winding roads, up and down the mountains of Kentucky, we arrived at the house we were assigned to work on with the materials on a flatbed truck from the camp and our crew in 3 vehicles.

The first thing we did was unload the truck, set up the tools, and start looking at the work to be done.  After inspecting the site, we divided the group into two teams, with one team tackling the very difficult task of  jacking up the floor in the kitchen and the other group tearing off a portion of a deck that is over 10 feet in the air on the side of the house, with a ravine over 20 foot deep below it.

The crew jacking up the floor immediately ran into difficulties which slowed their progress but as problems arose, the crew came up with solutions.

Rod & Paul raising the floor

While the floor was being worked on, the other group started tearing of the deck.  They also had many problems to solve and had to overcome the steep terrain.



Janine and Jeannie working on the deck tear off

We worked till late afternoon in beautiful weather and then pack up our tools and made the long journey back to camp to get materials need for tomorrow and clean up for the evening meal.

  Tonight our group had "KP" after dinner which included washing all the dishes cleaning the dining room.  After we completed our clean up, many of the group enjoyed fried ice cream which is sold by the Redbird High School Spanish club as a fund raising project.  Gary stated the ice cream was superb, and even got the recipe.  We also had a chance to visit the craft store and purchase items mad by local artisans and tee shirts and hats with the Redbird logo on them.



Pastor Gary checking out items at the craft store



Well, its time to get some rest as tomorrow promises to be another day of challenges and rewards as we continue to do God's work in helping those in need in the hills of Kentucky.

May God bless all.





Group Photo

Our Gang
Redbird Mission camp October 17, 2010

First day- Arrival



moving in.

 We are here!   Everyone has safely arrived at the Redbird mission camp. We have been assigned our "home away from home" for the week and have moved in.

 The weather was super for the the trip and everyone is in high spirits and ready to accomplish the task that has been assigned to us.






Cardinal house



Shortly after arrival, we enjoyed our first meal at the Cardinal House, a combination dining facility and fellowship hall  .

After the evening meal, the entire camp (over 95) met in the upstairs of the Cardinal house for devotions and orientation. 

After the orientation meeting, we had a group photo taken and the met with our group leader, George Snider (from Frankton) to discuss the plans for tomorrow, and how we are going to tackle the job assigned



Tomorrow we will all arise for devotions and breakfast before journeying to our job site to evaluate the job, unload all necessary supplies and tools and begin work.  Pray for us as we continue to help "Build God's Community" thru our mission work.

Come back tomorrow for more photos and information on what we didi our first "work" day.
May God bless all.

Preparing for the Redbird trip

Red Bird mission trip participants from
three Central Indiana UMC churches.

Well, everyone is preparing for the Redbird trip. We are getting our tools together, packing our bags, and preparing for the journey to southeast Kentucky.  Those going on the trip are: Rod and Janine Compton, Bill and Ginny Evans, Bob and Jeannie Mills,Ed Le Count, Paul Everest, Pastor Gary Elsten, Dave Shetterly, Mickey Lawson (from New Horizon UMC) and joining us midweek will be Jan Elsten & Susan Shuter.

We have been given or project for the week which includes jacking up the corner of a small house, repairing the foundation, tearing of and old deck, and re roofing the house.  The project is a big challenge, but we are confident that we can put a big dent in it and make this house better for the elderly lady that lives there. Pray for us as we journey to Ky and undertake this mission.

The Redbird experience

 

Hello to all.  This blog was created to keep everone up to date on the Frankton (IN) First United Methodist Church’s mission trip to the Redbird mission in Kentucky.  We will be departing for the Redbird mission on Sunday October 17th and will spend the week there doing God’s work thru using our hands to help those “less fortunate” in need.  While this is usually hard work, we all have a good time and feel rewarded by our actions.  I will be posting daily and will try to add some photos to help you see what we are experiencing.  Later this week, I will post the names of all those going on the trip and then start my daily post on Sunday Oct 17th.  Please come back often and let me know what you think.  May God bless all.