July 2008:

 Epworth’s most recent hurricane relief adult work team just returned from Lake Charles, Louisiana.  That is a different location than where our adult teams have gone before.  Southwest Louisiana was hit hard by Hurricane Rita in 2005.  There are still 1600 homes waiting to be worked on.

This work team was a relatively small team –only five people.  Those participating were Lisa Nightingale, Chris Seslar, Laura Seslar, Lu Ann Roe and Ken Streitenberger.

The first question you might ask is “Can a team that small make any difference?  Any contribution?’  We now have a resounding answer to that question.  The answer is an overwhelming “Yes!”  That small team of five people did the following in their week in Lake Charles:  Day 1, painted the entire outside of the house;  Day 2, (because of 4 ½ inches of rain before noon) painted the inside of the house;  Day 3, painted all the outside trim;  Day 4, gave a second coat to the inside;  Day 5, laid tile on the kitchen floor (a job none of us had done before), steam cleaned all the carpets and all the upholstered furniture.  (The furniture all had to be carried outside for this.)

Was the team tired?

Absolutely.

Did they feel good about their accomplishments?

Sure did.

Do they feel blessed to have been used by God to touch the lives of others?

No doubt about it!

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Photos from this trip.....