This has been another great week here at the Inscription House. We had two teams here, and one was from a town near my home town, so it was kind of fun meeting people who knew my home area. I even found out that one of the team members was a friend of my uncle. So that was fun working with people from my home area.

Anyways this week shaped up to be one eventful week of service. We went back to Jean’s house this week to work on a few projects that could really help Jean out. One of these projects the team worked on was building a shade for Jean. Jean has a bad case of diabetes and has trouble walking around. So instead of moving around to shade, or finding ways to stay cool in the Arizona sun, she sits out in the open most days and bakes in the heat. So to lift her spirits even more and protect Jean from the sun we built a shade attached to her house so that she could enjoy the outdoors in comfort. We also patched up her roof to protect her house from the weather.

We also got the opportunity to help Grandma Mary repair her house. Mary is an elderly woman who has such bad arthritis that she can not walk upright and has to crawl around to get from place to place. Her family has been less than supportive and have torn up her house through vandalism and had put several holes in her walls.

So the team patched up the holes and then painted the walls. Mary was so pleased with everything that she showed the team how she spins wool. Mary was very inspiring to me. Even though she has such an intense handicap and very little help, she works so incredibly hard simply to make a little money. Mary left a lasting impact on my life as well I am sure on the team that worked to help her.

Chris

Our peaceful Sunday quickly became a frenzy of activity when the mission trips for the summer began, a team of ten from Montgomery, Texas, arrived over an hour ahead of the time we had scheduled. While this added some pressure, Team Pearlington enjoyed the surprise because it eliminated any potential nerves and prompted a pleasant alertness. For most of the Montgomery team, this is their second year serving in Pearlington through EM, and they have enjoyed reconnecting with people and projects from the last time they were here.

The team has been blessed with a few new volunteers, however, one of which is a contractor, David. This has enabled the team to meet most of their goals so far on the two houses to which they have been assigned: Joe Vince, whose home they helped construct last year, and Kendra McArthur. Both houses are almost finished and the future occupants are very eager to move in; the homes mostly require some electrical, plumbing, and painting final touches. Based on the statuses of both houses, it has been helpful to have a smaller, more experienced team working on them this week.

One setback occurred yesterday when they turned on Joe Vince’s water and discovered that some previous work on the plumbing (before this team even arrived) had left a leak. The team is disappointed that this will delay the finish date even more, but thankful that they could be the ones to catch the leak because of David’s expertise. During debriefing in the evening, the team discussed God’s sovereignty and foreknowledge, recognizing that He has a bigger plan than any of us can see right now.

While half the group has been working on the construction described, the other half of the group has been helping cook and serve lunch at a church close by that prepares food for hundreds of volunteers each day. The meal is a tremendous treat for hot, tired volunteers and some locals, giving everyone a delicious taste of true southern cooking. These women are also spending their mornings painting a building, which they finished yesterday, for the Pearlington Recovery Center, cleaning PRC facilities such as showers and the kitchen, and washing laundry that has been sitting in wadded, bug-infested piles for probably months. In the afternoons these same volunteers are visiting a few elderly community members and listening to their stories. Everyone involved seems to enjoy the reciprocal impact.

-Cheryl Knowles