Heading home.

We are on our way home.  

Our flight leaves New Orleans at 3 pm local time.  It has been a great week and while we are all glad to be heading home we are also saddened to leave this experience.  

We spent the week on a new build at 638 Georgia Street in Gulfport MS.  While we did not get quite as far on the build as we had expected we can see that while we were here to serve Habitat for Humanity God had plans to work in each of us. Each of us saw and met God in a different way this week and I think that the experience has changed each one of us permanently.  It was incredible to hear from the team each night during our debrief how God was working in their lives.  

We are excited to come home and tell our Daybreak family all about our time here on the Gulf Coast.   See you soon!

On behalf of the team,

Scott

Day 5 - New foundations and The Shed

We've been encountering challenges all week with the foundation of the home that we are working on.  The concrete foundation that was put in before we arrived is not level and we've encountered one challenge or another relating to that.  It could cause you to become discouraged however as we discussed during our debrief last night if you don't have the foundation laid correctly nothing else will be squared up and the whole house will be crooked.  It is very much that way in our lives.  If we dont have a firm foundation with God our lives will be difficult.  I think God is speaking to each of us differently through the work on this house.  

Yesterday was Thursday and if you have ever been on this trip Thursday is the night where we take the team out to The Shed. So last night we loaded up the van and headed out.  The Shed is a local BBQ joint that has received national spotlight attention because of its food and atmosphere.  The good is excellent however the atmosphere . . . well let's say if you didn't know about it you would drive on by considering health inspections and how a place like that could remain in business. But you would miss out on so much could food.  We invited a couple of the Habitat folks and their families to join is and had a great time getting to know them more.  Below are a couple of pictures from the Shed last night. 

We are all doing well.  We are tired but continue to have a great time and have real grown close.  See you all soon.  

In Christ,

Scott

Day 4 of our trip, Day 2 at the work site

Our morning started with another delicious meal prepared by our hosts here at New Life. Our team spends our drives to the job site enjoying a time of devotion and worship together as a team which sets our day off on a great foot!

The weather has been sunny with temperatures in the mid 80's with high humidity.  Today we were blessed with a nice breeze! Our main focus today was hanging the joists for the flooring.  It has been great to watch our team work together not only with each other but with the team from Habitat.  The best word to describe the atmosphere at the job site is JOY.  It has been such a blessing to be the hands and feet of Christ while enjoying making new friends here in Biloxi!

This week has been full of so many great moments together as a team.  Each team member has been growing in their own individual way while encouraging each other along the way.  We have enjoyed many memorable moments together and can't wait to share many stories with all of you when we return.  

We feel all your prayers and know that God is present and working in and through all of us this week. We are looking forward to returning to the work site for day 3 in just a few short hours!  In the meantime enjoy a few pictures from the work site! 

Full of Christ's Love,

Scott, Nate, Doug, Melissa, Kelli, Cyndi, Jeff, Ron, Mark

  

Day 3: First day on site

Whenever you are on a Short-Term trip you always have to expect things to change.  As of late last week we were told that we would be working on rehab, so I think we had some hope that we might get to work along side the family who lives there, however, when we arrived at Habit for Humanity of the Mississippi Gulf Coast on Tuesday morning we discovered that we would be working on a new build.  And when you talk about getting to work on something from the ground up, well that's what we are doing.  When we arrived at the job site we found only a concrete foundation there and we jumped in and got started right away.  Here's a picture of our team just before we headed out to the job site.

The thing that always amazes me is how God assembles a short-term team, He always places the right people on these teams for the right reasons.  Sometimes you don't always see that until you get into the thick of things.  But when you realize that this isn't a team assembled by Daybreak, rather it's a team assembled by God it is an awesome thing.

On Tuesday we were able to get a good bit of work done, everyone pitched in and worked hard in the warm Biloxi climate.  It was in the high 80's with high humidity.  By the end of the day we were all ready to get out of the heat and get cleaned up.  We are staying with New Life Ministries here in Biloxi and boy do they know how to host a team.  We arrived back here last night to a great dinner of roast beef and mashed potatoes that were very tasty.

We'll be heading back out to the job site this morning and we'll be starting our day here at about 8 a.m. CST.  We appreciate your prayers and ask that you continue to pray for safety and strength.  We all want you to know that we are doing well.  

Thanks,

Scott

Day 2: Tourism and arrival in Biloxi

The morning started out with a walk to see the sunrise over the river for some. While the rest of us stayed at the hotel to prepare for a day of tourism.

After a hearty breakfast at the hotel we headed out to start our sightseeing.  It did't take long for us to find Cafe Du Monde and have Beignets!! YUM does not even begin to describe these delicious treats!! Reminded some of us of funnel cake!

We enjoyed lunch at the Gumbo Shop in the French Quarter and before long we found ourselves stopping for more of those delicious Beignet's!! They even make Pig Nay! 

We spent the remainder of the afternoon on a 3 hour hurricane Katrina tour.  After our tour we all loaded up to make the 90 mile trip to Biloxi MS.  We were welcomed to New Life by Ken and Miriam who also had a delicious home cooked meal ready for us.  

After settling in to our "home" for the remainder of the week we enjoyed an amazing time of team affirmation and encouragement.  We are excited to begin working with Habitat for Humanity tomorrow morning and looking forward to God using us as his hands and feet.  

Please continue to pray for safety and that God will continue to center, grow, fill and use our team!

In Christ's Love and on behalf 

of the entire team,

Melissa

Biloxi Travel Day 1 evening update

After arriving without difficulty, incident, or complications our team of nine got a bit of time to recoup at the hotel.

It took a bit to figure out where to eat. We finally settled on the Grand Isle. The food was good and the conversation engaging.

We returned back to the hotel for a short team time of sharing about the day. Pictures books and smiles remind us of our loved ones at home.

Tomorrow, there is rumor of a group of team members who are planning to wake before dawn. The desire to watch the sun rise over the Mighty Mississippi River.

What is for certain is that we will take a city tour that will focus on the devastation that Hurricane Katrina perpetrated upon the city of New Orleans.

After that we will be head up to Biloxi to our camp site.

Thank you to all of you who are praying for us. We felt it today.

for the team,

Nate

We are on our way!

We all got up early and arrived at Reagan National this morning.  We've had our breakfast (isn't airport food awesome!) and we are sitting at gate 4 waiting for our flight.  At 11:40 we board our Southwest flight to head straight to New Orleans. Today will be a day of travel and taking in a little of New Orleans culture and sights.  

So here we sit waiting to take off. Keep us in your prayers this week as we now head out to be the hands and feet of Jesus.