Praise!

I (Amy) just got back from a second job interview and was offered the job! I start Friday. Yea, God! I'm the new Marketing Coordinator at Great Lakes Credit Union. I'm excited about this opportunity and am really excited about working at the credit union again. It is the best place I have ever worked.(and I highly recommend them if you're looking for a good credit union)

This is definitely an answer to prayer. Within only three days of moving back to IL, I have a job. Such a huge blessing! Please continue to lift Phil in prayer as he is continuing his employment search. He has an interview tomorrow.

Thanks!

Back home now

So, I had a desire to do one final blog update from New Orleans before we left to come back home, but it just didn't happen. We left there mid-morning Saturday after a long, tiring week. We had gotten all packed up by early Friday afternoon then went out for one last dinner with some of the team. We had a great time saying goodbye. I'll miss them greatly, but I know I'll see many of them soon. A couple of them live here in the mid-west and will be coming home at the end of the summer. Some don't live here, but are considering moving here. That would be awesome.

We had a great drive home. We left Saturday morning after a Prince Family Pancake Breakfast, a Saturday morning tradition. We drove through to Pekin and stayed with Amy's brother there. We went to church Sunday morning and her parents came down that afternoon. We got back on the road and were back home here by 10:30 pm. Very stress free. We got the trailer unloaded back into our garage yesterday and are starting to get re-settled here.

We're excited about being back home. We're still looking for jobs, but there are some good opportunities. Continue to pray for our adjustments back home and that we can get some good rest before re-entering the workforce.

We hope to continue to update this blog as long as people will read it. We feel like we are still a part of the team in New Orleans, continuing to pray and support them even as we are not physically there in LA. Also, we are praying about our involvement in the flood effected areas here in the area. Pray with us about this as well as there will probably be some great opportunities for Kingdom work to be done in our own back yard.

Thank you all for your support, again. The last 8 months have been amazing, and I'm glad you all had a chance to share in this with us. Talk to you soon.

Getting ready for another week.

We got back just fine last week. We were greeted by some serious heat and some good friends who came to get us from the airport with our dog. I was right back to work Wednesday, but since there were no teams here, Amy had some time to catch up at home. I was helping with some framing on a house that needed to be done last week so we could get the electrical run. I'm happy to say we got most of it completed. The electrician should be able to get it done this week. It was really hot in that house, like a sauna at times. I hadn't been used to working, and when you add the 95 degree weather with some wicked humidity, it's tiring. It seemed like I couldn't drink enough water. I just kept sweating, which I guess is a good thing, eh?

This week, I'll be back to supervising. I've got a couple of job sites going. Rock of Ages will be getting some tile work done. The laminate flooring is all done, as well as the painting, and some of the trim work. We're really getting close now. At the other job site, we'll be finishing the drywall. A couple of weeks ago, the construction team worked together to get it started and polish the technique that we'll teach volunteers when they come. So now I'll get to practice that as we finish the rest of the house. Then it will be time to paint there.

Amy's back in the kitchen this week. She'll hopefully be doing breakfast most of the mornings from here on out. This will give her a bunch of time during the day to pack as we prepare to move home. As many of you may know, the passing of my step-father back home has been really tough on my mom and caused us to think about our stay here in LA. We've decided to move back home and be with her. We will move on June 21st.

This decision is bitter-sweet. We have mostly loved being here. There have been some set backs here and there and some complications, but, for the most part, we've really enjoyed our time here; making friends, meeting tons of people, and seeing God work in some amazing ways. At the same time, we felt it was time for us to start looking to get back home. There were several things we wanted to be a part of back home. We had prayed that God would be preparing our way home, if that's where He wanted us to go. We had talked about the timing of it all and had initially thought August would be a good transition time. But God had another idea.

We had seen God working in a number of ways around Bill's passing, and we saw this as an answer to what we had been asking God to do in our lives. I've mentioned before that I had lined up a job interview for the week we were back home weeks before we left for Chicago. I had told them I would be back in August and that didn't scare them off. As the interview approached, we started to realize this was God's way of saying "it's time."

This is what makes it sweet. We're following God's plan. It became very clear to us that this was the right thing to do almost immediately. Without a plan, we had tremendous peace about it. That makes it really hard to find sorrow in this decision. We'll miss the people here, we'll miss what we're doing, but we know this is what God wants for us right now, so we need to follow, just like we felt when He called us to serve in Louisiana.

While this circumstance that has caused this decision is awful, we're grateful that we have the opportunity to be there for my mom. We are also thankful that we've had the opportunity to see God in a whole new way, to meet such wonderfully special people, to have learned about rebuilding of homes, but more so rebuilding of lives. It has truly been a pleasure.

We are anxious to finish well here. We have a lot of ends to tie up before we leave. We want to be able to spend a lot of time with the people on our team here and with the homeowners we've made connections with. Please pray that this time of transition will go well for all involved. Please continue to pray for my mom and Bill's family as they grieve his death. Pray for the continued work in the city of New Orleans as thousands of people are still without homes to live in. Pray of the ministry to continue sending out people to the community to reach the lost in the Name of Jesus Christ.

Last, but not least, thank you all for your wonderful support. We have appreciated every word of encouragement we've received, every financial donation that has been made on our behalf, and every prayer that was prayed for us in our time here. From the bottom of both our hearts... THANK YOU!!!

Phil (for Phil and Amy)


*Please note that if you are a monthly donor to our ministry, you'll receive a separate email from us in the very near future.

We're on our way home

Finally on the way back to LA. It's been really good to be back home in Illinois the last couple weeks. We've had a chance to see a lot of friends and family. Probably more than we had planned. We're flying out of Milwaukee tomorrow AM and will be back in New Orleans in the afternoon. 

We have a lot of catching up to do with our jobs there. The high school youth group from Lakeland will be coming down in just a few weeks. Amy and I are really excited to see them all again and have the privilege of working with them when they get there. 

Please be praying for our trip back. Amy got pretty sick last time we flew. We are asking you all to join with us as we prayerfully consider what further impact the passing of my step-dad will have on our term in LA. Please pray for wisdom and clarity over the next few days as we meet with some people in New Orleans. Thanks again to all who offered words of encouragement and prayers to and for us during the past few weeks and please continue both. We love hearing from you. 

So here we are... wherever that is.

First off... thanks to everyone who has left notes, comments, emails, voicemails, prayed for us and gave us words of condolence and comfort in this time. All were tremendously appreciated. Please continue to pray for my mom and Amy & I, as well as all of Bill's 8 living children, their spouses, and 20 grandchildren, as we grieve the loss of this wonderful man. 

Well, it's been a bit of a whirlwind since last Friday night. We just arrived back to Chicago from Tulsa, OK where we had a funeral service and burial for my step-dad, Bill. We had a wonderful service in the Chicago area. Most of Bill's kids made it to that. That was Monday night. Tuesday night, we flew to Tulsa for a Wednesday night/Thursday morning service. We had a great time at both, getting to see some friends and family and honoring Bill's life on earth and his new birth into eternity! It's funny how death can bring people together and offer a tremendous amount of healing. It's also hard to not see God in all of this. From our presence in Chicago for my mom during this time, to some of the things we're all learning from interacting with one another, God's fingerprints can be seen are all over. 

The interview for the job I applied for a couple of weeks ago was this morning. I feel that it went pretty well. I should hear something in the a couple of weeks. Continue to pray for this opportunity as we plan our transition back to IL, whenever that may be. 

My mom flies back to Chicago tomorrow night, so pray for a safe, uneventful flight for her. (Unlike ours this morning, Amy's still not feeling well.) Pray for a restful time for Amy and I this weekend and coming week. We are extending our stay here in the Chicago area at least another week, so we look forward to catching up with as many people as we can. Hope to hear from you soon. 

Phil  

Urgent Prayer Request

My step-dad, Bill, passed away last night. We have already seen God working in this situation. The fact we're home this week has been one of the many mercies we've seen from God through this. Please pray for my mom (Noreen), Amy and I, Bill's children and several grandchildren. Pray for strength, peace, and guidance these next several days.
Lastly, Bill loved the Lord with all his heart and we know he's with our Savior this morning. We're thankful for that and grateful for the time we've had to know a wonderful, loving, caring, man.

Just about there

We're catching our flight back to the Chicago area tomorrow AM. Be praying for our trip; for a relaxing time with friends and family, and re-juvination of our bodies, minds, and spirits.

I'll try to update the blog while we're home, so check back every so often. Hope to see many of you soon!

Phil

Prayers for the 7th Ward (Rock of Ages area)

I wanted to post a quick prayer request for the area around Rock of Ages, where I and several volunteers have been and will be for the next few weeks.
There have been at least 2 separate issues that I know about and have seen in the last week. On Thursday, another staff member and I were at the church delivering some supplies. Suddenly there was a storm of NOPD in the area, blocking off streets, etc. We found out later that some was shot and they were looking for him. They quarantined a school that was in session near by.
The other incident was today. Just blocks from the church at a gas station, a man was shot in the back of the head. They don't have any suspects in this shooting.
The scary part about both of these incidents is that they happened in the middle of the day, in heavily populated areas.
Please pray for this area. For safety for the people of the community, the volunteers and the staff that work in the neighborhood. Also pray for justice for the men or women responsible for these crimes, but more so that God would be seen and glorified through these tragedies.
Thanks for all your support!!

Phil

A busy one

We've been a bit busy as of late. Between all the vehicle problems I had the last few weeks and getting ready for teams each week, I've been pretty tired. Last weekend, I don't think I really moved until Sunday, then it was back to work. Not to mention, Amy's been really busy in the kitchen.

So, I'm heading off to Pensacola, FL with a couple guys from CO here for the next couple weeks and another staff member. We're hoping for some good conversations and relaxing time on the beach. Pray for our time there this weekend and for Brandon and Charles, the guys from CO.
We're also gearing up for our trip home. We'll be flying there one week from today and will be there until the following Saturday. While home, we'll be trying to catch up with as many people as possible, check out a baseball game with my dad, and top it all off with an "interview" on Friday. I was poking around online and came across a job that I had applied for before, but didn't get because I needed some more experience. Well, I got that and even worked part time for the company before departing for New Orleans. Amy and I are really excited about this opportunity and another opportunity. We're praying about all these things and asking that you would join with us in prayer for the Lord's will in this area.

A quick update on our friend that was sick. She's feeling much better now. She had to go to the hospital one night because she passed out. While waiting for the doctor to see her, she and her husband just prayed for about an hour. The tests came back totally normal. Kinda strange since she had been diagnosed just days earlier with Mono. But praise the Lord. She's been getting better and better as of late. Thanks for all your prayers for her and our team in her absence. We really appreciate it.

We look forward to seeing those of you in the Chicago area in a week and always look forward to reading your emails and comments. Have a great weekend.

Phil (for Phil and Amy)

A Couple of Prayer Requests

One of our dear friends and team members here in LA is very ill. Please pray for her to get better and that the physicians would have an understanding of what is going on and clarity in her treatment.

We're also praying for another car for us to get around while we're here. We are looking for something inexpensive (under $1000) that I can drive to and from the church or whatever.

Thanks, everyone!

Phil

Kind of a rough week

That may be a bit of an understatement. Monday was riddled with problems for the rest of the construction team. My Monday didn't go too bad. It started Tuesday afternoon. I stopped by a job site in the city and ran in to check on a team of plumbers. About 10 minutes later, while walking out to the truck, I heard tires squealing. I had just poked my head out the door and saw the truck pulling out and rounding the corner. I grabbed for my belt loop where I normally keep the keys to the truck... oops. I took off running through a field towards where the truck was going. A neighbor had heard the commotion and came outside to check on it. We hopped into his car and took chase, all the while, updating the police over the phone. Eventually, we spotted the truck. We pursued it for a while, but after about 10 minutes, we lost it for good. The police stopped their search shortly after. It was gone. Along with a bunch of the ministry's tools (brand new Dewalt 18v cordless tool set), my tool belt, camera, iPod, etc. My heart sank. It's gone. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much that night. Wednesday was without incident, just some processing, which wasn't much fun.
Thursday came about and I needed a truck to haul some materials for Rock of Ages and get the tools. I took the '96 F150 that we call the Spud. It was donated with a bed full of potatoes from Idaho, thus the Spud. got off the highway on my way to Rock of Ages. It was just a couple minutes later as I was sitting at a red light, I was resting my foot on the break when it suddenly lost pressure and went to the floor. "Great... no brakes. This will be fun." I was able to carefully get to the church, which was only a mile away or so. Further inspection... broken brake line to the front brakes. OK. Now what?
I was able to get a ride to our Thursday meeting where we picked up a trailer to tow the Spud back to Trinity for repair. We loaded it up and were on our way. Before we got to the highway, we hit a bump and the trailer jumped the ball, hit the ground, slammed into the back of the truck we were towing it with, and we dragged it by the chains until we could safely come to a stop. "Well, this is going well." At this point, I was pretty discouraged. A long week just got longer. After a trip to Lowe's to get the right size ball on our hitch, we were finally on our way.
All that to catch you up to where we are today. Amy and I are pretty tired. It was really hard to focus on what we were doing last week. There's going to be a little time to recover and try to catch up on some of the areas we lost track of. Amy has been there for me every step of the way, helping me cope with this, as well as helping another family on our team. Mom has mono and dad was with me, so Amy has been watching their kids. She has been great. I would really have been lost without her around.
I'm getting ready for next week, trying to put all this behind me and get back to "normal". We've learned a lot, both as an organization and as individuals, about how to handle situations like this one in the future. It's opened up the door for some good communication.
Please continue to pray that we would all see the good God has planned to come out of this. Pray for the person who took the truck, that they would know God through this. While it was partly my fault, having left the keys in the truck, I know God will provide for exactly what we need. The beauty and mystery of His grace.

Hello everyone!

Greetings from Louisiana, where the weather today is the same as back home. Sunny and 60. It's a nice change from the upper 80's and humidity we'd been feeling the last couple weeks.
Well, Amy and I have been kinda sick again lately. I'm getting over a cold, but I think it's turning into a sinus infection. I've been congested for over a week now and my face hurts when I bend over to tie my shoes. Amy's got strep, along with two or three others here on staff. We've been joking that it's our latest "Staff" infection.
My eyes have been feeling better the last couple of days. After another irritation, I've been wearing my glasses. I got a stye later in the week, but that's gone now, too. I'm hoping to wear my contacts for the rest of the week. My dad sent me some safety glasses that don't fog. I'm hoping that this will help. That way I can still see what I'm doing and keep my eyes safe from debris. I had an appointment with the LASIK guy here in New Orleans. He does 400 procedures a month and did one of my friends eyes. I'm eligible for the procedure and will be doing some additional research on it before I continue with the process. Please be praying for this.
Amy's home church, Grace EFC, was here from Aledo, IL last week. There were about 10 of them here for the week. Amy went out with them for Monday and Friday and I was working with them most of the rest of the week. We worked at Rock of Ages mostly, but found our way to a couple other job sites trying to get them ready for this week. They made a lot of connections with the people in the neighborhood around Rock of Ages. They also had some great ideas for bringing what we do here in NOLA back to Aledo. I'm really excited to see how God uses this trip to further His kingdom through this team.
This is the last week of 100+ volunteers. We'll be slimming down to 40's-50's until school lets out, then it'll be crazy again. Please be praying for the staff here as we will have some time on our hands to plan and prepare for the summer. We are also going to be looking to replace about 6 people that will be leaving between May and the end of July. Thanks to all that read this blog for your support, prayerfully, financially, and with your encouraging words. We really appreciate all you do for us!! God bless.

~Phil

Another great week

The weather has started to warm up into the 80's around here. It's getting pretty humid. I've started bring extra shirts to work this past week. It turns out I sweat a lot. The work at Rock of Ages is moving along at a pretty good clip now. The sanctuary and classrooms are painted. The fellowship hall downstairs is almost ready for texture and the bathrooms are finally drywalled. Thanks to the team from Midland, MI that worked really hard on getting all that done this week. Amy's home church, Grace EFC, will be here next week. They'll be working on the church and another house in the city. I'm hoping we'll be able to close that house out this week. Our volunteer numbers will be coming down a little over the next few weeks. We need to finish up some of these smaller jobs so we can focus our few resources on the bigger projects we have open right now.

You can be praying for our health this week. I've started getting a cold. Amy's doing OK. We've actually had some of our volunteers getting really sick while they are here. Some have even had to make ER visits. Please be praying for this. We don't know what's causing it.

Finally, I've been thinking a lot about 1 Peter 2:9 lately.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

It's just been showing up in different places all this week. First in a couple of songs I was listening to in the truck, then on the backs of the t-shirts the team from MI was wearing. So I thought I would share it with you. Have a wonderful week. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

~Phil (for Phil and Amy)

Seriously... happy Easter

We had a pretty good Easter. We spent the day with some friends, the Nelson's, Liam, and the Prince's at the Prince's house. It was pretty laid back, which is just the way we like it!

We're finally getting back to a regular routine since Amy's return a couple of weeks ago. Of course, now that she's in the kitchen and her schedule has changed, we'll still be adjusting a bit.

Work at Rock of Ages is going pretty well. The drywall will have texture and primer and will be ready for paint on Monday. We'll be getting ready for final flooring then, too! We have a great group from Oregon this week. The Wisconsin team last week was wonderful as well. They got a lot done, including a final coat of the drywall compound. Not easy to do when you haven't done it before, but they were willing to learn and did a great job. The team this week had never textured walls before (nor had I), but they are doing great. Not real technical, but getting the consistency of the spray right is hard to do. The team this week also had a retired framer with them and he was able to take care of some of the problem areas without a problem.

We've met a lot of people at Rock of Ages. Many of them were members of the church before the storm. We found out that the original pastor's wife, who's 100 years old, is holding on to see the church completed. One man was driving past the church. He saw the doors were open and saw one of our volunteers walking out with a bucket. He stopped, walked in the church and was stunned by it's condition. He made a comment, through his tears, that he never thought it would be rebuilt. He was quick to leave to get his father. His dad, Edmond was a deacon at the church. His brother-in-law was the first pastor of the church. We learned he was s plaster wall and drywall installer for fifty years. He was there for the ground breaking and said his shovel was the first in the ground. His son, Clarence, said that the church is all his dad talks about. He was so happy to see the church drywalled and can't wait to come back for that first service. We had a good time hearing Clarence's story from the storm, and how he had to fool his dad into thinking they were going to church so Edmond would leave. Truly a moving story, Clarence was again led to tears as he told his story.

When I first set foot in the church, I felt like this was going to be an awesome project, we'll be able to keep a lot of people busy in our busiest time, and I'll learn a lot about drywall. I've realized this is a lot bigger than just a normal project. I'm not talking about the size of the building. It means more than I can understand to the people of the church, that this church gets back up and running. I know we talk about getting the church outside of the walls and that the church is the body, not the building. And that stuff is all great, but for this body of believers, it's really important that they get their building back. I can't wait for that first service. I know I'll be there.

Bad news medically for me. Turns out I've got a small scratch on the cornea of my right eye. The eye doctor (who goes to our church here) also saw a small ulcer on my eye, which is a known complication with the contacts I wear. It's pretty painful and my eye is really sensitive to light and air. It's a little better right now, but the numbing medicine she used in the office is starting to wear off. I'm really considering Lasik eye surgery. With the nature of the work I'm doing now, it makes a lot of sense. Dust and drywall particles are getting behind my contacts and causing all these problems.

Please continue praying for us. We've made it through the heavy spring break time, but we will still have volunteers in 120's for the next couple weeks, then we'll slow down again. Pray that we'll have the right jobs for the right people and that we'll get the jobs done that we start before the volunteer numbers drop again. Pray for the homeowners we're working with, the people in the neighborhoods we're working in, and specifically the members of Rock of Ages. God bless.

Phil (for Phil and Amy Stokes)

Happy Easter, everyone.

Amy found this video. Watch it over and over... it gets funnier.

Extreme Makeover... Home Edition in New Orleans.

Amy got back on Tuesday afternoon. It was really good to see her... even if she was tired. We decided to head right over to the Extreme Makeover Home Edition set.

They were here this past week working on a couple houses and a church in the city. The church is right down the street from the Yellow House and Castle Rock Community Church in Central City, New Orleans. They built the church and houses from the ground up in 6 days. A couple of the construction guys, a couple of Urban Impact staff, and even a team from Washington came over after our work was done for the day at our work sites. We worked well into the night, digging post holes for some stair cases and moving stuff around for the flooring crew to keep working.

Amy and I came back the next day when she got back. When we got there, people were painting in the front of the church and doing a lot of other stuff. Side note: It was amazing to see 100's of people all working on separate projects trying to get the work done in 6 days. At one point during the night, there were 4-5 different heavy machines running around us, carrying a variety of things. It was really neat to see. Especially since we have a much different philosophy for doing the work we do. We see the construction projects as way into relationships with people. So we don't mind if it takes 3 or 4 times as long to get the work done. That just means we're in the community a little longer.

We primed the hand rails on the front steps. One of the builders was going to hook me up with his drywall contractor to work around a door, but we left before he got back with the drywall, so it didn't work out. There were people walking around with video and still cameras. Click here for some pictures of me painting on set. Click "Day 5" and scroll through the pics. You'll see me in my orange hard hat. Those are Amy's white tennis shoes behind me on the stairs.

I went out there for the reveal and got to see some famous faces. Ty, Edward, Michael, and Paige were there for the reveal at the church.

I was really torn about all this. I kept thinking this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. To work on such a huge project, not to mention, high profile. A comment was made in crowd at the reveal. "Once they (the pastor and family) go inside, this place will turn into a ghost town because they won't be coming back outside until filming is done". This struck me. Once this crew is gone, that's it. They're gone. They'll pack up their semi's and buses and go back to where ever they live. We'll still be here. No TV cameras, no audience, just us and our volunteers, making relationships, helping people get back into their houses and churches and, as our shirts say, "showing the love of Christ to those in need".

I know... two weeks... sorry

It's been kinda crazy around here. After the last post, I was sick for about a week. TIU didn't come until the week after (last week), so I did get to work with them after all. I also made a trip up to St. Louis to see Amy for a couple days. It was good to be together. It had been a couple weeks and I was really missing her. I drove up really early Saturday morning and came back Sunday night. It's been a week, but doesn't seem so long since we were able to see each other. She'll be back early next week. It'll be good to have here home again.

After she gets back, my dad and step-mom will be here to visit. We'll be busy with about 250 volunteers that week, but it'll be fun.

This week we've got about 200 volunteers. I'll have 24 at Rock of Ages and a hand-full at the other job site I'm running in New Orleans East. We're putting drywall up in that house as well. We have about 16 job sites this week, ranging from demolition to finishing drywall, to putting down laminate flooring, interior and exterior painting, roofing. It's going to be busy.

I had an opportunity to pray with a homeowner in Central City last week. Her name is Ms. Geraldine. We're going to be starting to lay down flooring for her. She started to rebuild after the storm and had contractors come in to do the work. They charged her $4000 to put tile in a kitchen, bathroom, and hallway. She paid another man nearly $50,000 for the rest of the house, but he didn't complete the job and left town. We hear stories like this all the time. It's the most frustrating thing the hear. People coming in and taking advantage of these people that are just trying to get back in their homes and start over. Anyway, after all this, she had to undergo open heart surgery. Now she's working 2 full time jobs, 16 hours a day, 5 days a week to pay for the house. She's been going to Castle Rock, our partner church in New Orleans, for about 8 months now.

Please continue to pray for our ministry here. Pray for the homeowners, especially Ms. Geraldine. Pray for our staff, that we would be unified, that God would continue to bless and provide for us. We've all been attacked with spiritual warfare the past couple of weeks. Pray for protection against that. Thank you all so much for your support of our ministry. We look to hear from you soon!

Phil

Sorry... I know it's been a while

A whole week! It seems like longer. It's been a kinda strange week. Amy really felt a burden to be at home with her family last week, so she got on a plane last Saturday and has been hanging out with her family for the last week. She'll return March 11. It's hard being apart. We really miss having each other around. Things have been pretty good besides.

We started work on a church in the city this week. It's called Rock of Ages Baptist Church. If I heard right, they were a congregation of 250 before the storm, now down to 25. They have continued to meet in other churches and have stayed in contact with the community around the church. I've heard a lot about the people in the community being really excited about getting the church back in the neighborhood. We were asked to come in and hang drywall. The church had been gutted sometime ago. This isn't the first time we've sent teams to the church, however. A church from Naperville, IL replaced the roof a while ago (at least this is what I've heard). There were 30 volunteers working there this past week, representing 3 churches. A team from California, Pennsylvania, and North Dakota/Minnesota. There were 3 builders on the teams there so it made my job a lot easier. There were 3 or 4 crews all hanging drywall in different parts of the church. Some of them had never hung a sheet of drywall. By the end of the week, they were calling the shots! Others were installing insulation, others scraping walls and floors, others fixing some of the framing studs in the basement. They even built a wall in the kitchen that will act as a serving window. It was really cool to see all those people working together. Some that hadn't met before this week. They worked really hard and got more accomplished than I anticipated. They completed all but the walls of the sanctuary and a few pieces on the ceiling of the sanctuary. They even had time to put the first coat of mud on in the classrooms. "It's an awe-some spec-ta-cle." We're excited to have 15 more volunteers working there next week from Amy's alma mater, Trinity International University.

Please continue to pray for us as we're apart. Pray for unity and communication in our team as we look to having 1100 volunteers in the next 6 weeks. Pray for the homeowners and people in the communities where we are working. Pray for the teams that are coming to help in the next weeks. Pray that God would be glorified by our actions, words, and thoughts.

Thanks for reading, We look forward to hearing your comments. Also, there is a group on facebook.com called "I served with EFCA Crisis Response". If you've served with us, and you're on facebook, please join. It's a great place to post pictures, stories, videos, etc and keep in touch with others that have served here in NOLA.

Phil

God Provides Exactly What We Need

I wanted to share a cool story from a couple of weeks ago of how God provided financially for Phil and I.

The background...In January, we found out that we had a third renter on our house back home. Then the third renter moved out two weeks later. We found out the dishwasher broke in that house and that the pipes had to be roto-rootered so there was some part and labor costs that we would need to somehow cover.

In December, Phil received a speeding ticket on the Causeway...which some down here say that you're baptized into Louisiana by receiving one of those tickets. The ticket was to cost $200!

Two weeks ago I had a hair disaster. I had dyed my hair a reddish color that should have washed out in December. It didn't. I decided to dye my hair lighter because the lighter my hair is, the less I can see that my hair is thinning. Well, it turned out a neon orange! I found someone who could work on my hair on a Sunday, a local lady. She was very friendly and very helpful. Then she said it was going to cost $75! Not what I was expecting at all.

Later on that week, I was beginning to feel the stress of the financial burdens we had put on ourselves. I wasn't going to ask God for help because of my shame in our decisions and my pride. However, that Thursday morning I swallowed my pride and asked God to bless us financially so we could afford to buy groceries for the next week. The next week the ministry was going to be closed which meant we couldn't go to the church for our meals. I had asked God for a certain dollar amount, but said that He knew exactly how much we needed so that I trusted Him with that. I told Him that I don't know where the $ would come from but that He would just somehow miraculously provide for our needs.

Well, later on that day I spent time with a lovely lady from a church in Maryland. She is very lively and I was encouraged by her positive outlook on being here. I shared my hair story with her. She said that she woke up that morning and felt led to give a donation to Phil and I. What?!? The next day she handed Phil $100 cash.

Saturday we went to the grocery store. While in line, I had Phil bring a few items back and knew that we had everything we needed. The cashier said our total was $98.30! Not only did God bless us, he blessed us in abundance. I still have the $1.70 in my purse today. :)

Last night Phil went to traffic court for his ticket, and praise God!!! It got thrown out!

I'm just thankful that God continues to provide, hears my prayers, and teaches me daily to rely on Him. I need to not worry about things. He knows what I need before I even ask.

Great week off!

As many of you know, we had this last week off to regroup and refresh before the spring rush. I'm happy to report that the week was pretty refreshing. Amy and I just hung out most of the week. We had no specific plans set and just went into each day not sure what we were going to do.

We had some friends over for the Super Bowl on Sunday, Monday we worked on a table for our deck out back. We had the chairs already and had got a table off "free-cycle". It's a yahoo group where people from certain areas post offers and requests for items. The key is that everything is free for the taking.

Fat Tuesday we went to a parade on St. Charles St. In the city. The weather was beautiful. Amy and I and a couple of friends were there for the last half of the parade, but even that was about three hours long. We were exhausted and a little sunburned after that, so we went home and relaxed the rest of the day.

Wednesday we caught a movie and that night we went to a friends house for a fish fry. He had caught some catfish and red fish from Lake Pontchartrain and fried it up for us. We finished out the night with some Apples to Apples. Great game. You should play sometime!

Thursday and the first part of Friday was all about the last two seasons of Alias. Good show. Funny story. I thought season 4 was the last season, but when we got to the end of the season... huge cliffhanger. I went out to the video store immediately and got the 5th season.

We finished Alias late morning Friday. We then went on a bit of a journey. We just drove around to some places we'd never been before on the north shore. (We found what must be the only hilly roads in Southern LA). It was a lot of fun.

Saturday we picked someone up from the airport and did some yard/thrift store shopping. We got a couple of good deals. Let me tell you... good thrift stores around here are hard to find.

Today we went to church and did some grocery shopping. We're set to go for the next few weeks. On our way home, we saw a bunch of cars parked along the side of the road approaching our house. We asked someone what was going on and learned of another Mardi Gras parade. This one was for our furry friends, though. It was called Mardi Paws. We took Rusty down to the lake front, but quickly realized he wasn't ready for such a big crowd. We went back home and went for a quick bike ride instead. Good times.

Speaking for myself, I'm ready to get back to work. It's been good to have some time off, but I'm really looking forward to having teams here and doing some work.

At the risk of having this post be really long, I'd like to share something with you all. I got an email from a friend back home tonight. She asked some good questions and I'd like to share my response with you. Nothing real profound, but I had to stop and think, especially about the first question. Not that I wouldn't be able to find hard parts of being here, but rather the hardest. The most rewarding question was cool, too. Hadn't really put that into words yet.Amy may share her response to these questions in a future post as well. Check it out.

It sounds like you're doing well down there...what is the hardest part for you? And the most rewarding? Are you missing the Chicagoland area? And how is the job?

Hardest part: When you are a missionary in a “developed” nation, as opposed to a “third-world” country, there are several challenges. Imagine being a true missionary where you live. We live in a pretty affluent part of the area, while nearly 30% of the people in N.O. live in poverty. It’s also tough because, as you know, America is becoming less and less of a God-centered nation. America is the third largest English- speaking mission field. People have either heard it all before and don’t want to hear any more, or they’re already “Christians”.

Most rewarding: People’s lives being changed, including our own. We see on a day-by-day, minute-by-minute basis how God provides. He provides the right people for the right jobs at the right time every time. He provides everything we need for our ministry. It’s really cool to see God answering prayers (sometimes before we pray!)

Missing Chicago: Parts of it. Definitely the people. Not the weather… especially now. It’s in the 70’s here. Who wouldn’t want that? Strange, but I miss the drivers. In Chicago, everyone drives fast and crazy. And that's fine because you can expect it. In the rural parts, everyone drives slow and obeys the laws. And that's fine because you can expect it. Here, you don't know what to expect. Some drive fast, some drive slow. Some fast then change to slow and vice versa. You never really know what anyone’s going to do. Mostly because they don’t use turn signals very often and when they do it's either too early, or too late! I also miss knowing my way around. I’m getting there, but the roads don’t make much sense. Check out a detailed map of N.O. when you get a chance. You’ll see what I mean.

The Job: Well, it’s been rough, but good. I’ve been learning a lot about the construction tasks we do here. It’s coming along. I get through most of the problems that come up, but it’s nice to know I’ve got a great manager available to help me if I need it.

Sorry for the long post. It's been a great week and I really wanted to share that with you all. (notice I didn't say "y'all" there?) Please continue to pray for our ministry here in New Orleans. We have a busy couple of weeks ahead. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Phil

Urgent Prayer Request!

Please lift up Amy's brother Matt and his kids. There are lies and evil prevailing right now concerning him. Please take 5 minutes to lift Matt up and ask God to continue to give him strength. Please pray that God would reveal the truth in this situation and that people's true colors would shine through. Pray that God would judge in his favor and that his innocence would be proven without question.

Please pray for his kids that they would not be harmed by the evil going on, but would see the love they are being shown. Thanks!

Matt, you are being bathed in prayer right now. God is the ultimate judge and he knows the truth.

Psalm 7: 8-10
8 let the LORD judge the peoples.
Judge me(Matt), O LORD, according to my(his) righteousness,
according to my(his) integrity, O Most High.

9 O righteous God,
who searches minds and hearts,
bring to an end the violence of the wicked
and make the righteous secure.

10 My(Matt's) shield is God Most High,
who saves the upright in heart.

AMEN!

A Lakeland Reunion...in NOLA

We were surprised by a familiar face at Trinity Church on Tuesday night. Some of you Lakeland folks might recognize the guy in the middle. That's Cabot Ashwill. He's here serving with his church from northern California. His team is staying in the city this week.

We had a good time catching up with him and hearing some of the great things TouchGlobal is involved with overseas, especially in the Congo.
As I mentioned in the last post, we're getting ready for some time off next week. We'll try to get our stuff in order and get ready for the teams coming in March and April. We need to get just a couple of things done, like cleaning out the car and some stuff around the house. Most of all, we're looking forward to spending some good time together.

Our team is saying good bye to a couple of fellow staff members this week. Aaron was in charge of the tools and supplies up at Trinity for the last several months. His commitment is up at the end of this week. He'll be heading back to Denver, CO. He's really excited about what God is doing in that city and he's hoping to be a part of that. Please pray for his ministry to continue in the Denver area.

Kevin and Babette are heading back home as well. They are currently in the application process to serve as long-term staff with Crisis Response. Kevin served as a Construction Site Supervisor and Babette worked with the Debriefing team for the past year. Their kids will be going to school in PA and will finish out the year up north. They will probably be back more permanently in just a few months.

Please pray for these people as they transition to a new area. Pray for safety as they travel. Also pray for long-term staff to replace them (in the meantime for Kevin and Babette). We could use someone to take over the tools and supplies area and some people with construction skill to serve for a longer term. If you know of someone that would be interested in serving in this capacity, please have them contact us!

Another Update

Nothing clever is coming to mind for the title. Well, the pink eye cleared up a couple days later. Antibiotics really help those sort of things. Amy's feeling much better. She made the comment that she's feeling more like herself again. That's a good thing.

Learned a lot from Sam last week. We finished the roof we were working on, though we had to tarp it again last Saturday. It appears there's still water coming in one of the corners of the house. We should be able to fix it. It'll just take a little time and effort. There was a team at the other house I was working on in the city (Thrift's) this week, but only for a half day yesterday. We'll have some more people there next week to hang the gutters outside and finish the drywall and start painting inside. I'll be up on the North Shore next week with a couple of teams finishing off some projects we've been working on. Some flooring, painting, and plumbing at two or three different houses.

We're looking forward to some time off the first week of February. We'll use it to re-group, so to speak, and get some rest. We are expecting a lot of volunteers in March and April. Please pray for jobs. We're in the process of scoping and bidding jobs in the city and some on the North Shore for these teams to go to.

Continue to pray for the health of our team and its members, physically, emotionally, and spirtually. Pray for the homeowners and neighbors we're working with now and will be working with, that they would see God through the volunteers that come.

As always, if you would like to join our support team, please email us. There is a link on the right side of the page if you would like to support us financially. Also, if you would like to bring a team, please email us and let us know. We would love to serve with you.

Take care and have a great weekend!
Phil

Wink... if you love pink eye ;)

Hey everyone. Don't know how many of you are winking... I am, because of the itching. I got pink eye some how. Don't know of anyone else that has it right now, but whatever. I'm on antibiotic eye drops. What fun. It just so happened that the symptoms started while I was trying to shingle a roof. That made things interesting. Should be better in a couple of days.

I'm working with a guy named Sam this week. He's our only volunteer at Trinity this week. He's a building inspector from Maryland. He really knows a lot and has been teaching me as much as I can learn. We've been roofing an addition that we're building for a family at the church. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so we'll be at Trinity building a wall in the church nursery.

The team from Wyoming finished the roof and got a lot of drywall done in the house I'm overseeing in the city. This week, there's a team from Dixon, IL at the house. They are staying down in the city. One of the guys is really good at drywalling. They should be able to finish a big chunk of it this week. (It's a good sign when the team is getting the stilts ready to mud and tape!)

Amy's feeling a little up and down. She feels good one minute and cruddy the next. Keep praying for her. And also pray for my learning. I'm confident I'll get it, it just takes some time. Continue praying for skilled volunteers and more full-time staff with construction experience. We have some guys leaving and we're looking to God to fill the openings. We're sure that He will.

Leaning on our Savior,
Phil ( for Phil and Amy)

Thank You, Supporters!

Hey everyone! Greetings from a soggy New Orleans.

We just received our donor report from the EFCA. We are just blown away by how God works through this support raising process. We have now raised just over 30% of our needed funding to be here in New Orleans. This is because you have been faithful to God's call in supporting us. We really appreciate all that you give and thanks for continuing to pray for us. If you aren't already supporting us, either financially or prayerfully, and would like to, please let us know. There is a link on the right side of this page, about half way down, that has more information on giving.

It's been a pretty good week for me so far. We have a team here from Wyoming working on the house I'm supervising. They are great. Ten guys with great skill. They are just about done with the roof (should finish this week if the rain holds off!) and the drywall inside is moving right along. There are nine people coming next week and they have all said they're pretty good with drywall, both hanging and finishing. I'm pretty excited to see how that works out. There's still a lot that needs to be done inside and outside the house, but we take it one project at a time. I'll keep you updated.

Amy is still recovering. She has a doctor appointment today just to follow up and see how she's progressing. There is another staff member here that also has been diagnosed with pneumonia. It starts as a cold and progresses. It's our latest "staph" infection with about 3-4 people affected. Please continue to pray for the physical health of our staff, as well as emotional and spiritual.

Much needed update

Thanks to everyone praying for Amy and I. She's feeling a little better. She's been coughing a lot. We're hoping she starts feeling better soon. My back is feeling OK right now. We had a team here from PA. They Did a great job on the drywall job we're working on. I learned a few little shortcuts and I'm excited to get back at on Monday morning. At that same house another church from Vancouver worked on the roof... to make sure the rain didn't ruin the drywall we just put up. They were able to get a lot done in a short amount of time. It was good to get back to work after not having teams the last couple weeks, even though I spent most of the week trying to knock the rust off, if you know what I mean. We are now getting word that there will be over 130 people here each week in March! We are still in need of a bunch of volunteers, especially with construction experience. Again, if you or someone you know would like to come and serve, please let us know. Even if you or someone you know doesn't know that they would like to come and serve, let us know. We have some "techniques". ;)

We're gearing up for a New Year's Party this weekend. We know... New Year's has already happened, but we all had to work the next day, so not many of us were able to really celebrate. So we'll count down just before 10pm Saturday night, Jan 5th. Good times.

Please keep in touch. We LOVE hearing from you guys, either by comments on the blog or emails, or whatever. It really encourages us and brightens our days. You don't have to be profound, just a quick hello and how things are going in your life is great. Also, please keep praying. We're getting more settled in our roles, but there is still some adjustments being made, and as I mentioned in previous posts, we feel under attack from time to time, so continue to pray that we would be protected from those attacks. Most of all, be praying that through the work we are doing here and the work the volunteers are doing, that God's glory would be seen in us and through us and that His Kingdom would go forth. Hope to hear from you soon!

Phil

Oh, one more thing. Amy and I had intended on sending out Christmas cards this year, but do to a system problem in MN, we weren't able to get addresses and cards sent out in time. We apologize and want to let you know that we are really grateful for your love, support, and prayers during this time. God bless you all!