Dear Friends,

We’re signing off as a family ministry team.  Even though Greg, Molly and I will still be working in PS for another week, we’ll be working with the team from HRBC.  So all our info will be included on the team blog.  Be sure to check there for more great info and stories.  You can get there by clicking the link in the PS Team article on the church website, or by choosing the PS July option in the catgeory section on the right side of this page.

It’s been two days since we posted our last blog.  We’ve been busy continuing with preparation and carrying out the activities with the PS kids.

We’ve also taken some time to do a little sight-seeing in New Orleans.  Yesterday we went to the New Orleans Cooking School  and took a 2 1/2 hour class!  The instructor combined history and cooking.  He was very intertaining and we learned tons of new stuff.  We’re thinking about trying out a new recipe on the HRBC folks that join us this weekend!!   Shhhhh — don’t tell them!!!

Hey all you 2006 NO World changers people ……. We drove through the 9th ward and looked at the Crossroads Habitat location.  All the houses along the edges are finished, landscaped and occupied.  They are beginning construction on new houses within the inside area, behind the ones you worked on.  There has been some more clean up in the area.  But it still looks like a war zone.  We drove through the Lakeshore area where other HRBC teams worked.  More folks have moved back, but again, tons more work to do.  There are still a lot of FEMA trailers, but there are definitely more houses and yards finished.  The roads are still awful — like a small earthquake broke them up.  The best news is the addition of a Starbucks next to the bank!! 

The activities in PS were more of a challenge tonight.  I don’t know what was up, but the younger kids were full of themselves tonight!  Lots of picking at each other, quite antsy overall.  We still played games, made beaded pins and had some snacks.  There were still lots of smiles and laughs.  We started off the week taking the van and picking up a few loads of kids.  Tonight they showed up on their own!  Driving right up, waving and yelling that they had arrived!   

Here are some specific prayer requests for us and PSBC –
1.  Continued good weather.  (We’ve been lucky for July!)
2.  Health.  (Molly has a sore throat.)
3.  Creativity and patience with the kids.
4.  Safety for Ashley and Kristin as they are no longer working with us.  :~(
5.  PSBC.  That they will take the connections we’ve made within the community and continue to nurture them over the coming weeks.  That they will use these relationships to rebuild their church, and in turn, the kingdom of God.

Well, the first 2 days of activites are over.  This week we’ve split the teens from the elementary age kids.  M,W,F are for teens only.  T, Th are for younger kids.  So by the end of tonight we’ve had both groups once.

Monday night — We had 15 teenagers come and participate in activities.  There was a lot of b-ball playing, craft making and dancing going on.  We started making new friends, and learned that the teens just want to hang out and talk.  They’re great kids with nothing to do.  One of the guys playing b-ball with Greg said, “You’ve played this game before, haven’t you?”  Greg replied, “Yes”.  Then the guy said, “Did you play for the NBA?”  We had a good laugh at that one!!  They played a few games.  The girls played against the boys at first, but the guys kept losing!!  We may have to re-juggle the teams on Wednesday!  Molly met a girl that plays for an AAU team.  She’s 18 and is real good.  They’ve become f
It was fun to watch the kids sit in a circle with yarn and craft sticks creating God’s eyes.  They laughed, talked and it gave us an opportunity to get to know them.
Wednesday night is tie-dye night.  That should prove to be a lot of fun.

Tuesday night — We had a great time with younger kids.  We started off getting to know them by playing a b-ball name game and some other ball games.  We laughed a lot. 
A church from Virginia built a playground at PSBC.  THANK YOU!!!  We had a great time on the playground.  Then it was t-shirt tie-dye time!  They got to pick their patterns, help twist and attached rubberband, and then choose their colors.  We’ll see what their creations look like on Thursday.  After snack time, we went back to the playground and each of us spent time talking to the kids.  One boy told me “this was the greatest day in the whole world”.  Another one told Ashley that “today was his favorite day”. 
One of the teens from Monday night asked if she could come back, bring her nephew and help with all the other kids.  We welcomed her offer.  When she arrived with her nephew, she told us he was shy and not used to doing these kinds of things.  He might not get involved much.  Well, he and Molly are best friends.  (You’ll see Reva and her nephew, Harold, in our photos.) 
We’re watching kids smile, laugh, run, play and have a ton of fun.  We’re talking to parents who are thankful that we’re giving their kids a place to go for fun.  Some of the parents have already started sticking around and talking to us.  Hopefully, this is the start of the relationship-building process that will help connect PSBC to those in the community.

Keep praying for us!!  And thanks for sharing in our stories.

We thought that title would get your attention!  The sad part is that it is true! 
(You first need to know that the VBMB gave us a fabulous white Chrysler mini-van for our travels.)
Ashley and I came to New Orleans this afternoon to get Molly from the airport.  We’ll be staying in the French Quarter tonight and getting Greg and Kristin in the a.m.  We were parked in the hotel garage.  It’s a valet lot, so when it came time to go to the airport, we asked to get our van.  There were several other groups standing around waiting on their cars, too.  Two ladies in particular were waiting with us,and we were noticing how intoxicated they were.  Not much later, our white Chrysler came rolling down the ramp.  We thanked the attendant, got in, fastened our seat belts and started into the traffic.  Much to our surprise, someone banged on the back glass of the van.  It startled me and we stopped mid-lane!  It was the lady with the slurred speech!!!  She quickly informed me that we were in her van.  We probably looked stupified — and we were!  We looked around and realized this vehicle was identical to ours — except for the license plate!  Had she not noticed the situation, we might have delivered a different van to the VBMB!! When we got out of the car, all other customers were a little surprised.  Seconds later, another white Chrylser rolled to a stop behind the first!  The crowd then realized what had happened, and then broke into laughter and applause!  Fun was had by all — sort of!!!

Back in Port Sulphur this morning —– It was a day of cleaning, packing and getting ready for transition.  The Texas and Alabama teams working this week were departing today and tomorrow. Ashley and I spent most of the morning in the community handing out flyers.  We’ve learned that there’s a lot of communication done by bulletin board.  They are posted in all public areas:  post office, gas station, hardware store, convenient store ……. We’re taking advantage of them all.

Tomorrow is a day off.  The family will all be together, and we’ll enjoy some family time before going back to PSBC for church on Sunday.  Please continue to lift us up in prayer.  Especially, while everyone is traveling to Louisiana.

Can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard it ….. but that saying has no meaning in Port Sulphur!  Not only is there humidity, but it’s hot!!!  So it really doesn’t matter! 

Ashley and I woke up not knowing exactly what would be on our “to do” lists today.  The Texas and Alabama teams working here this week have invited us to join in their meal times.  So breakfasat was much yummier than if we were in charge!

After breakfast we met with Pastor Lynn.  It wasn’t long before Ashley latched onto some administrative tasks —- researching mulch for the playground, designing VBS certificates and making a flyer advertising events for the next two weeks.  She got a lot of good info about the mulch options. She even explained the PS situation to one company and got them to give an additional discount!  And that design degree is coming in handy, too.  She is using the blueprints of the new sanctuary and helping determine where to put cabinets and appliances in the new kitchen. 

Pastor Lynn then asked me if I knew anything about painting!  They need to get the new kitchen painted, but didn’t want to let a bunch of youth loose with rollers and paint until the edges were trimmed.  So it wasn’t long before I found myself doing what I know how to do!  Paint brush in hand, I got that job done in no time at all. 

Just goes to show you that God brings who he needs when he needs them.  You just gotta be willing.

This evening was the end of day 4 of VBS.  There were about 50-60 kids present.  Hey, Melissa and Terry, they played wiffle ball and loaded the wiffle ball with shaving cream before each batter!  You might want to try that one next year!  Ashley and I spent the time working the crowd and drumming up business for the activities during the next two weeks.  She is soooooo good at befriending the kids.  Then she finds the most defiant, stand off-ish one and goes after them.  By the end of the night, they’re dancing and hanging out together!  Amazing!!!

Hunter Hedrick, Laurel, Kyle Biggers and Mason —- We have about 600 water balloons to fill!!  Wanna help?  Jamie, you can come too, but we want to use most of the 600 balloons.  We’ll find another important job for you!!!

Gotta get ready for bed ……… until tomorrow ………

Julie

After 2 long days in the car, Ashley and I made it to Port Sulphur.  We arrived just before VBS and observed the teams in action.  There are 42 kids attending VBS.  That’s about 8x more than last year!!!  They range in age from Kindergarten to high school.  Some of the high schoolers seem a little bored.  It was all I could do to keep Ashley from snatching them away and doing some “big kid” fun stuff!!!

We found our accommodations for the rest of the week.  We’re in a totally different place than where the team stayed in May.  We’re about 1 mile north of the church in a trailer.  It’s a long trailer that has 6 outside entrances.  Each little room has a couple of bunk beds and a bathroom.  It’s kind of like quaint little dorm rooms!  The A/C is awesome!!!  The mosquitos are plentiful, too!  The goal is to open and shut the door real fast!

We’ve already talked with Lynn about plans for the teams arriving this weekend.  The two teams are from Virginia and are bringing some “professional” construction folks.  We’ll spend the next two days helping Pastor Lynn get things ready for their arrival.  That way they can hit the ground running on Monday, and get lots of work done. 

Enough for now —- thanks for your prayers during our travel.  We’ll talk to you soon.

Julie

Greg, Julie and the girls invite you to visit this blog site to see what they are doing while in Port Sulphur.  The goal is to post news at least twice a week.  Who knows — maybe you’ll get to see some photos, too!! 

Are you wondering why the Carr family is visiting Port Sulphur?  Are you wondering why they’re telling you about it?  Check out an interview with them to get the answers.  Go to http://www.hrbcrichmond.org/f/endsoftheearth/EoEJulynewsletter.pdf and see what it’s all about.

They leave on July 10.  So start checking back after that date.