Mark's Notebook

Week One

One Week

We have just finished our first week here. Since Monday we have been doing many different things that we haven't done before.

Monday, April 24

Today we stocked the shelves at the distribution center. Boring. Nothing new today. Oh, I think we also tried to fix some tents that had come down in the last storm. Not too exciting there either.

Shirley made a dinner of shrimp alfredo and barbequed shrimp. Mary liked it even better than red beans and rice, but of can't eat the alfredo pasta at home ... maybe we could create a gluten-free version of it.

Tuesday, April 25

Today we did something entirely different. Mary and I cut down a bunch of dead or damaged bamboo for a couple not far from here. Their yard was pretty large. Their house is only the second from the water. But they got only minimal damage because the larger house next to them on the water shielded them, their bamboo prevented a lot of debris from landing in their house, and they are on an inlet, not directly on the gulf, so the water sort of came up their street sideways instead of straight on.

It was quite warm and sunny as we cut the bamboo, and Mary started to feel sick. But then a starm started, and it felt really good to work with a little water to cool off. We took a bit of a break, sat on their large front porch, drank cokes, and chatted while it was raining only a few feet away. A very southern kind of experience. But eventually it turned into a real thunderstorm and they chased us away so we wouldn't be hurt by lightning.

While cutting the bamboo, at one point I dropped my car keys and didn't notice until about an hour later. We scoured the whole yard, hoping that the keys had not ended up in the huge pile of bamboo we had made. We didn't find it until the moment Mary started praying ... and there they were, right at my feet.

Nola made spaghetti with cajun spices tonight. Wow!

Wednesday, April 26

The storm started up again early evening, and it rained all night long. In the early morning, it turned into a severe thunderstorm that prevented us from opening the distribution center today at all. They were afraid that the tent poles would act as lightning rods and people would get hurt. I was surprised that anyone would even show up to get food at the distribution center in such a storm, since it tends to be moms and their kids. But a few did show up anyway. We were sorry to have to turn them away.

I slept in this morning because I woke up with a sore throat. I felt better after a coke to cool off my throat, and some aspirins that Mary found for me. It turns out the storm was so bad they just told us to stay in our trailers anyway. Even the mess tent etc. are natural lightning rods. They even turned off all the computers and the wireless routers to prevent any damage to them. This meant we couldn't even use the Powerbook from our trailer because the wireless system was turned off.

In the afternoon, once the storm passed by, they told us just to clean up the camp, things that the storm had caused. Things like water in the trash cans. A screen room that Mary and I had put up before was damaged in the storm and we couldn't repair it right away, so we took it down. Some other tents that we'd fixed earlier also suffered some damage. All of the guy lines and other parts of the tents had rotted away in the changes of weather over the last few months. Mary and I bought some nylon twine at 84 lumber and we tried to replace all the guy lines, and we also patched up some of the other problems. We hope this keeps them going for a few more months.

They took us to Sicily's, all you can eat Italian, buffet style, with pizza, pasta, salad, and desserts. All the food we can't ever eat at home! Yum.

I cleaned up the showers again with the power washer because after dinner there was just enough sunlight left to get that done.

Thursday, April 27

Today was the most different of all for us, because they sent us in different directions. Mary stayed in camp to help with a ladies luncheon that was attended by about 18 women from the community. They had lunch and did a craft project.

I spent the day with Roger and John installing carpet. That was fun, and I felt that for the first time I was doing the real hurricane relief work that I had intended when I came here. I had never really done anything like this and I really enjoyed learning new things. It was Roger's birthday today so we bugged him about getting old.

Tonight Nola made gumbo, with sausage and whole legs of chicken. The food gets better every day!

Tomorrow I am supposed to go with Nick to hang some drywall. Mary is anxious for me to learn all this stuff. I wonder why?

Prayer requests

Mary and I continue to get lots of bug bites, and they are growing into large welts all over our arms, legs, necks, and even chests. Someone told Mary today that it looks like she is having an allergic reaction to the bug bites. We think there may be bugs right here in the trailer where we are sleeping, biting us at night. They did give us some Benadryl, which stops the itching for a little while, but also makes us sleepy. I did OK today as long as I was working hard, but as soon as I stopped to rest I would start to fall asleep. Mary was able to take a nap in the afternoon, lucky her.

There is always extra stress in a situation like this because you are thrown together to work with people you don't know. Most of the guys I have worked with are really cool and mellow. But there are a few people here who are just really hard to read. I tend to be insecure by nature anyway, and sometimes some of the people give me the impression that I'm not wanted here, that I'm doing the wrong things, or that we're rubbing some people the wrong way. Mary has felt the same thing too. Mary and I have talked about it and we both have similar impressions. I think maybe this is a device of the enemy to discourage us and make us think of leaving early. I know God has a special purpose for us here beyond just the "normal" aid we are lending. God has us here to bless some special someone is a specific way and it hasn't happened yet. We don't want to miss that opportunity when it comes.

We continue to pray for all of our friends and family back home, everyone here, Calvary Chapel San Jose, the upcoming Harvest Crusade in October at the Shark Tank, and other things as we are impressed to pray. We also pray for everyone here that God will keep them healthy and effective.

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Last updated Tuesday 13 May 2008