Winding Up Our First Disaster Recovery Week with NOMADS

A number of thoughts and events after our first week--

Galveston Island was hit by Hurricane Ike (Category 2 winds) on September 13, 2008. Storm waters surged on the island to 19 feet. Over 4,000 homes were lost in the devastation. Now, 15 months later, there are 2379 homes left to be repaired. There is more work to be done.

NOMADS is a good fit for us. We enjoy working on homes, we meet some good people and we feel like we are doing something worthwhile. The prayer and fellowship aspect of our days are something we need.

Our project leader Marley had a quick team meeting on site where we agreed that a refrigerator should be bought for the home owner who is going to move next week. One was supposed to be here, but things didn't happen, so he thought that it would be a nice gesture and he will make arrangements to get one in the first part of next week.
As volunteers, we are expected to put our best effort toward a four day work week, Monday - Friday. And we were at it again yesterday with trim work: Bette and Pam measured; Nancy did detail painting; I took off trim to redo the bathroom floor, and Bette painted more trim. Harry hung some closet doors.

Yesterday we changed our routine and decided to take our lunch hour and run over the a nearby McDonalds. We usually prefer our own lunch, but we wanted to spend some time with the group and we introduced our French videotographers to McDonalds.
Later that evening, we had dinner at a local sandwich and soup place followed by a church service in town.
The United Methodist Church Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is operating out of a small UMC church in Galveston Island where Thursday night services are held for island volunteers. It was a great evening. The service was led by permanent volunteers Tim Schwartz (and his wife). They moved here from Pennsylvania permanently in March to volunteer on the island.

In addition to our group of 14 NOMADS, there were 22 from an Amish community in Sugarcreek, OH and another 20 from Oklahoma. Tim led us in worship, gave a short devotional (out of John Chapter 5) and then we had some extended prayer time.

After that we had some fellowship with everyone in the church hall. The ice cream and cookies were good, but talking to the interesting people was even better.
I met David Yoder who is an Amish minister and has a greenhouse business. He grows thousands of flowers and vegetables. He has five daughters and two sons who stayed in Ohio with his wife for the two weeks he is here. He is one of two ministers who are leading the Amish group. He told me about their paper, The Budget, which offers some insight into their life and culture. Very interesting man. It was my privilege to meet him.

The weekend begins for us on Friday and we will be seeing some friends and getting to know the area a little bit.

I want to continue to say thanks for those who are regular 'Followers'. To become one yourself, click on the button on the right that says 'Follow' and you'll get updates when I post them. My goal is to have 100 and we are on our way to that.

Thanks today goes to:

Gypsy Jane, Kelly, Mae(Meghan), Adam,
Linda McInvale, Lynnette McHenry
Mike & Gerri, Julie, Roberta and Debbie

I thank you so very much for taking the time to view the Roadrunner Chronicles. That does it for this edition. Hope to see you next time!