Wednesday, Nov 26

POWER TOOLS RULE! Renae is the only chicken in the crowd - she is our Caulking Queen. All the rest of the girls learned how to safely use a power saw and a brad gun. Woohoo!!

Tuesday, Nov 25
Today we got a tour of Cedar Rapids and saw all the flood damage. Unfortunately it looked all too familiar to us! The good news here is that they didn't have the wind damage but the bad new is that the flood waters didn't receded for about two weeks.
We're getting lots of work done. Barbara, Blair, Hannah and Morgan are cleaning out the basement. Ray and Murrie are cutting lots of trim and Renae is painting, painting, painting!
Ray and Mary had to move out of the church building because the day care people didn't want the dogs around. They're now staying at the pastor's house.

Monday, Nov 24

We've been assigned the house of an elderly gentleman. The sheetrock has already been installed so we'll paint rooms, put up window trim and hang interior doors. Our project leader is Ray Marshall and we also have Murrie from Wilmington and Bob from Michigan on our team so we're in excellent hands!

FUMC Perryville and FUMC Marion

Sunday, Nov 23
We attended the 8:00 AM worship service at First United Methodist in Perryville, MO. The congregation was very warm and welcoming. Mary was asked to stand and tell who we were and about our mission. She also mentioned that we were missing the first worship service in our new location in Biloxi. The pastor offered prayers for our mission team, for the people we are going to help and also for our new church location. Lots of people visited with us after the service and all wished us well.

We made good time and arrived at FUMC Marion about 4:00 PM Sunday afternoon. There we met with the Lee cooking team from Wilmington, NC and with Bob & Rachel Fenton from Kalkaska, MI. Our Biloxi youth group will remember that the Fentons were the couple who taught us Archery at our church after Katrina. There is also another mission team from Wesley United Methodist in Wilmington, NC. They are sleeping across the street from us at the First Presbyterian Church.

PICNICS & PARKAS

Saturday, November 22
It was a dark and stormy night . . . not really. But it was a COLD and WINDY morning when we left the church on our Mission to Marion. We made it to the TN Welcome Station around 1:00 o'clock and had our picnic lunch inside the vending pavillion because it was too cold to eat at the picninc tables.
We stopped at every McDonalds we saw so Ray could get another cup of coffee. At Cape Girardeau, MO we had dinner at OLIVE GARDEN! We sure do miss having an Olive Garden on the MS Coast! Finally arrived Perryville, MO around 7:00 PM.

WE'RE ALMOST READY TO GO!

Now comes the excitement - questioning if we'll be able to do the work, wondering if we'll freeze to death, praying that we can be a blessing to the Iowa homeowners who have suffered so much from the devastating floods.

Our Mission Team mascot, MR. FROG, is all decked out at ready to go!

Fully Rely On God
1 John 4: 15-16 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

MISSION TEAM COMMISSIONED

On Sunday our team was dedicated to the mission and blessed by the congregation. We appreciate so much the financial support they've given us. Their promise of prayers for our safety and success will sustain us as we bring help, hope and witness to the people of Marion, Iowa.

VETERANS DAY LUNCH FUNDRAISER

Click on the pictures to see a larger image.

Our guest speaker was Rev. Gary Morris who is a Chaplain at the Biloxi VA .

It was our privilege to honor the many vets in our congregation who have served the country in the armed services.

GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS AND
GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Many thanks to the Mission Team members who helped with the lunch. Thanks also to everyone who gave donations for our Iowa trip.