Brad's Crew:
Hello all. For all those who are at home reading this, I wish you were here to experience this life changing trip. This morning, Brad, Doug, Erica, and I finished the frame for the sidewalk from the church to Camp Hope. It was a short adventure, so we moved on to join up with Mort's crew at the Haven's House. Earlier in the week, we dropped off Ashley at the Haven house and we could see the backyard through the house. When we rolled in this morning, the progress made during the week was obvious. We jumped right in around 10:30am with siding, insulation, and sheet rocking the house and by the end of the day, the whole house was enclosed in siding, with a handful of rooms insulated. The Haven Family cooked us catfish, chicken, hushpuppies, fries, potato salad, baked beans with hotdogs and some ground beef, and I'm sure I'll think of the rest of it later tonight. Meeting the Haven family was by far the best part of this trip. The Haven family spent the whole day talking, helping, thanking, smiling, and hugging everybody as if we lived there all along. Words can't describe the feeling you get when you see tears in a grown man's eyes as he watches his house finally take shape. This really has been a trip I'll never forget. I want to especially thank Brad Hinman and 
Doug Kapral for their patience and guidance this whole trip. They are working machines, and they work flawlessly together. Even though they could do a job fast, they took the time to teach both Erica and I how to do whatever we encountered. I have a new repect for both Brad and Doug and I'm thankful I had the opportunity to work with them this week. Thank you all for reading along with us and praying along the way. If you ever get a chance to come down here, I strongly suggest you pack a bag and come.
Thank you all again. God Bless.
By Scott Portwood
Gary and Mort's Crew:
Day 5 at the Havens' home was bittersweet! The crew arrived to a very soggy w0rksite this morning, but was greeted with the warmth of a wonderful, gentle man named Jody. Jody is the man of the house and a man who works very hard to provide for his family. Today was Jody's day off, and he worked as hard as anyone on the crew. We all were greeted personally by him, but he soon was putting on siding with Mort and Gary. They spent a lot of time on the mucky side of the house. Dick, our resident electrician, was kept very busy trying to finish up the rough wiring overhead and collaborating with Tom on the wiring and circuit plans for the house.
Dick also had time to teach Barb how to strip wires in the wall cases and bond the ground wires.
Heaven help the next electricians who have to work in these cases!! Our college crew of Alyssa, Julia, and Ashley finished insulating the outside walls and worked on
sheetrock in the utility room under the instruction of Dave and Rich. Julia also assisted with placing wall cases and running wire to them. Later in the morning, Brad's crew of Brad, Scott, Doug, and Erica arrived to assist us. They went right to work, and we could not have completed everything without their assistance. The reward for all our efforts this week was a true Southern style dinner(lunch) at about 1PM. Sue, the lady of the house, made the most fabulous whipped potato salad we've ever had along with fried catfish, chicken fingers, hush puppies, chili French fries, chili, and topped it off with real NEW YORK style cheesecake. After all of this, we were expected to go back to work and we did! As the end of the day approached sand clean up began, there was a lot of just talking with the Havens' family. Everyone had a sense of not wanting to 
leave, and just desiring to stay and finish the job. There were a lot of pictures taken and tears shed, but these tears were tears of hope and thankfulness. We truly have new friends in Mississippi and New York. We saw Jesus many times today in the eyes of both Jody and Sue! We finally closed the day with a blessing for this family and their new home and there was not a dry eye in the house - I guess that maybe we baptized this house with our sweat and tears! Good night and God bless y'all from Mississippi.
By Barb Hurd
Paul's Crew:
Today our team entered our final day at the Peoples home with a different pace. Every one understood from the start that we would not complete the home. The time between Monday and Thursday seemed to speed by. We just plugged away daily trying to accomplish as much as possible. Lunch was a quick sandwich and right back to work. Today was our last day and I think everyone was a little more relaxed than the previous days, maybe because we needed to slow down and savor each others company or it might have been because of the fact that we were all a little tired from the hectic pace we have been running at all week. I think we may have unknowingly used the Nascar concept of slowing down and you will go faster. We took a little more time to enjoy each others company, share 
more food (thanks Al for the donuts) and we just had a bit more fun than usual. Maybe we accomplished more because Rick Saxton’s wife Colleen joined the team for the day and motivated Rick more (BG). I don’t know for sure how we accomplished what we did today but it seemed much easier to work and it seems we accomplished more than most days.
Hello all. For all those who are at home reading this, I wish you were here to experience this life changing trip. This morning, Brad, Doug, Erica, and I finished the frame for the sidewalk from the church to Camp Hope. It was a short adventure, so we moved on to join up with Mort's crew at the Haven's House. Earlier in the week, we dropped off Ashley at the Haven house and we could see the backyard through the house. When we rolled in this morning, the progress made during the week was obvious. We jumped right in around 10:30am with siding, insulation, and sheet rocking the house and by the end of the day, the whole house was enclosed in siding, with a handful of rooms insulated. The Haven Family cooked us catfish, chicken, hushpuppies, fries, potato salad, baked beans with hotdogs and some ground beef, and I'm sure I'll think of the rest of it later tonight. Meeting the Haven family was by far the best part of this trip. The Haven family spent the whole day talking, helping, thanking, smiling, and hugging everybody as if we lived there all along. Words can't describe the feeling you get when you see tears in a grown man's eyes as he watches his house finally take shape. This really has been a trip I'll never forget. I want to especially thank Brad Hinman and 
Doug Kapral for their patience and guidance this whole trip. They are working machines, and they work flawlessly together. Even though they could do a job fast, they took the time to teach both Erica and I how to do whatever we encountered. I have a new repect for both Brad and Doug and I'm thankful I had the opportunity to work with them this week. Thank you all for reading along with us and praying along the way. If you ever get a chance to come down here, I strongly suggest you pack a bag and come.Thank you all again. God Bless.
By Scott Portwood
Gary and Mort's Crew:
Day 5 at the Havens' home was bittersweet! The crew arrived to a very soggy w0rksite this morning, but was greeted with the warmth of a wonderful, gentle man named Jody. Jody is the man of the house and a man who works very hard to provide for his family. Today was Jody's day off, and he worked as hard as anyone on the crew. We all were greeted personally by him, but he soon was putting on siding with Mort and Gary. They spent a lot of time on the mucky side of the house. Dick, our resident electrician, was kept very busy trying to finish up the rough wiring overhead and collaborating with Tom on the wiring and circuit plans for the house.
Dick also had time to teach Barb how to strip wires in the wall cases and bond the ground wires.Heaven help the next electricians who have to work in these cases!! Our college crew of Alyssa, Julia, and Ashley finished insulating the outside walls and worked on
sheetrock in the utility room under the instruction of Dave and Rich. Julia also assisted with placing wall cases and running wire to them. Later in the morning, Brad's crew of Brad, Scott, Doug, and Erica arrived to assist us. They went right to work, and we could not have completed everything without their assistance. The reward for all our efforts this week was a true Southern style dinner(lunch) at about 1PM. Sue, the lady of the house, made the most fabulous whipped potato salad we've ever had along with fried catfish, chicken fingers, hush puppies, chili French fries, chili, and topped it off with real NEW YORK style cheesecake. After all of this, we were expected to go back to work and we did! As the end of the day approached sand clean up began, there was a lot of just talking with the Havens' family. Everyone had a sense of not wanting to 
leave, and just desiring to stay and finish the job. There were a lot of pictures taken and tears shed, but these tears were tears of hope and thankfulness. We truly have new friends in Mississippi and New York. We saw Jesus many times today in the eyes of both Jody and Sue! We finally closed the day with a blessing for this family and their new home and there was not a dry eye in the house - I guess that maybe we baptized this house with our sweat and tears! Good night and God bless y'all from Mississippi.By Barb Hurd
Paul's Crew:
Today our team entered our final day at the Peoples home with a different pace. Every one understood from the start that we would not complete the home. The time between Monday and Thursday seemed to speed by. We just plugged away daily trying to accomplish as much as possible. Lunch was a quick sandwich and right back to work. Today was our last day and I think everyone was a little more relaxed than the previous days, maybe because we needed to slow down and savor each others company or it might have been because of the fact that we were all a little tired from the hectic pace we have been running at all week. I think we may have unknowingly used the Nascar concept of slowing down and you will go faster. We took a little more time to enjoy each others company, share 
more food (thanks Al for the donuts) and we just had a bit more fun than usual. Maybe we accomplished more because Rick Saxton’s wife Colleen joined the team for the day and motivated Rick more (BG). I don’t know for sure how we accomplished what we did today but it seemed much easier to work and it seems we accomplished more than most days.I would like to thank the team for allowing me to be a part of this week!
By Mahlon Gridley
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