Loads of tastycakes!
Tom from Hatboro, who had been on previous mission trips to Mississippi with us, sent us this absolutely huge box of peanut butter tasty cakes. What a crazy surprise! Can’t wait to figure out what to do with all of them next month. 
Thanks Tom!
Sandy gives Harriet the tour
Harriet and her son William were incredibly blessed on Wednesday to see their home coming together. I drove Harriet and William to meet Sandy and the Mennonite team who has been working on the house. It does not even look like the same place at all! Harriet commented that the place looks a lot more spacious. She is so looking forward to returning to her home. It has been and is still so difficult for her to be away from it and to have lost everything. She is still greiving, but she is remaining hopeful and trusting God. Sandy was so proud to give her a tour, and I was so humbled by the difference the volunteers have made in just a few weeks time.
This past week, Harriet had a little scare. Two men in United Methodist shirts stopped by the house to ask for a check. They even drove her to the house to show her the work they had been doing. Good thing Harriet’s money is in a savings account and not checking. Thankfully she couldn’t write one because those guys had nothing to do with us. Seems like someone tried to scam her and steal her money! Harriet really doesn’t need any more stress in her life right now. I don’t know who they were, but if they show up again, we told her to call the police. It’s scary that people are trying to manipulate an older woman like Harriet. She is sweet and trusting, but now she knows to talk only with Sandy or me about the house. Praise God disaster was avoided!
Anyway, it is so good to see all the progress on Harriet’s house. I pray that God would expedite things along so that Harriet can return home soon and set her soul at ease. May God grant her his peace in the meantime.
William in the backyard
Harriet and Sandy
Harriet with the volunteers
Harriet and Tim talking on the back porch
Welcome Rocky
Running across the flat ground of Houston (not the steps of the Philly art museum) is Rocky! On Wednesday we welcomed Rocky as he joined the UMCOR team. Rocky is now our construction manager in the Houston area, running volunteer groups and repairing homes that received mostly wind damage from Hurricane Ike. Now UMCOR has staff spread over the whole greater Houston area: Sandy in Galveston, Susan and Monty in San Leon, and Rocky in Houston. Alan is working with Rocky to show him the ropes. It is an exciting time to expand our ministry and reach more people who need help. Rocky has a lot of experience working with Habitat. I think Sandy is a bit jealous that Rocky is now the oldest staff member. He sure doesn’t seem it though. Can’t wait to see him at work! Please keep Rocky in your prayers as he starts this new ministry!
Carpet for the stage
Tuesday and Wednesday a group of Mennonites worked at Primera. They were awesome and fast. The guys cut and glued down the carpet in the sanctuary. Two of the younger guys finished the sheetrock in the bathrooms. Meanwhile many of the young ladies sanded, mudded, and taped the walls. Some of the girls looked like they powdered their faces from so much spackle dust; they were so white! They are serious about sanding for sure. It is incredible to watch them work. They do such a great job and move so quickly also. We are so grateful to finally have the carpet down in the sanctuary instead of just sitting in the entry way in a huge roll. I think it looks great!
Working on the carpet
Girls working on mudding sheetrock
Girls sanding the classroom walls
Face covered in white!
Even better!
Christmas party
Sunday at our house after church we hosted our church Christmas party. We had a lot of fun, even though some of the members couldn’t make it. It is challenging to try and communicate with those who speak mostly Spanish- really tough trying to convey the menu. It is the first big group we had in our house, and I was delighted to cook and serve them. (Well- mostly delighted since we were exhausted from Fiesta de Chili and spent most of Saturday night and Sunday morning preparing. Thankfully there was time to nap on Sunday afternoon). Many members of the congregation brought housewarming gifts- how generous! By the way, Aldo was also there but the picture of him and Tim playing PSP didn’t come out.
You may not believe this… but I decorated our huge cactus this year instead of a real tree. Because we are going to be away for Christmas, it didn’t seem worth the money to buy a tree. Before Tim and I got married, he always decorated the cactus at his house, which I thought was a pathetic bachelor tradition that needed to go. Yet, it was strangely fitting to decorate the cactus now that we live in Texas. Of course, I could only use really light weight ornaments, but at least it is decorated. So some of my favorite ornaments that my parents collected for me over the years made it into the nativity scene. A bit unconventional maybe but it works!
Christmas cactus
Nativity with massive amounts of the heavenly host
So… saw this lovely little tree for sale at Borders… can hardly resist the wild colors of it. Should this be our tree this year? Don’t think so! $10 for a tree only one foot tall!
Spectators for the bed races
Last weekend, Tim and I took Sunday afternoon to attend Dickens on The Strand. It is a yearly Galveston tradition, a Victorian era festival on the first weekend of December. We had a great time attending events such as the Queen’s Parade and Victorian Bed Race. The bed race had 3 entrants, where teams of 5 decorated a victorian bed, raced them down two city blocks, and stopped to change pajamas in the middle. So silly! Many attendees dressed in Victorian costume. It was a lot of fun seeing everyone all dressed up. The oddest costumes we saw were pirates (not quite sure why) and a Confederate soldier. It would have been fun to dress up, but it is too frivolous an expense, I think. I also enjoyed listening to the bagpipers play. It struck me that some people were dressed as beggars. You don’t have to look too many blocks from the festival to find people who are really hurting and not just playing at it. It’s funny how your perspective changes. Last year, I would have just thought that was a fun idea, but seeing real need has changed that. Still, I was able to mostly relax and have fun. (Sometimes I get caught up in the busyness and forget to!). Another funny thing at the festival was a roped off area full of real snow, and also fake soap snow fell during the parade. I guess that’s the best you can do for snow in this climate! At the end of the queen’s parade rode a bunch of outlaws on horseback (I’m not sure how that fits either!). What a fun experience though and an opportunity to get away for a bit. We enjoyed it!
Bed racing team
Bed racing fun
Snow in Galveston
Camels and Elephants in the historic district?
Bagpipers performing
Playing Christmas carols with water in glasses
Aren't they precious?
Crazy bike
Queen's parade
11 pipers piping
Saint Nicholas or the Pope?
Princess Carriage
Mini carriage - horse abuse?
Outlaws at the end of the parade
Tim's in trouble with the law
Lucy our worship leader and translator
Sermon: “Observations from Fiesta de Chili”
Text: John 3:16
To listen, click here:
To download, click here: Observations from Chili Fest 12-13-09
Special music for the service:
special music by Brother Robbins
Fiesta de Chili was a lot of fun! Lucy, Dolores, and Mrs. Rojas arrived early to set up the meal and heat the food. Almost the entire congregation was there serving.
Here are some of the highlights:
Lucy preparing for the chili fest
Dolores setting the table
Mrs. Rojas setting up
Serving crew
Inviting others to come to chili fest
New stove and fridge for Primera
Talking with guests
A full parking lot
Even eating outside
Full hall serving volunteers too
Serving chili
Lucy and Norma prepare the next batch of chili
Handing out chili from the truck
Setup in truck bed
Chili distributing team
You may remember Frances- she is the homeowner who attended last week’s Thursday night worship service. Friday, I delivered paint to her house where a group of Mennonites were working. They are an extremely fast group of workers. I was amazed to see how great the house looked. All the sheetrock is up, and while I was there, they were finishing taping and floating. They were hoping to start painting that afternoon. The group is awesome, and they are here until next Thursday. I’m looking forward to seeing how much they can accomplish. One of the Mennonite groups even wrote some nice words on the windows in dry erase marker. They are making a big difference on all the homes they are working on, but I really appreciate seeing Frances’ home come together. Frances is incredibly blessed to have such wonderful people working in her home!
