Day 3 - Progress and Fun

On the first day of the mission, we looked into one apartment, and saw piles and piles of stuff that looked like either dirt or mouse droppings.  It turned out to be insulation that was blown over the ceiling.  I looked in the morning and thought "no way - let someone else take care of this."  Then, after lunch, I thought, "someone has to do it, it might as well be us."  So Matt and I started taking down the insulation.  The first day, I shoveled it into a trash bag that Matt held and then took to the dumpster.  I asked a worker about why the ceiling collapsed.  He said that people were pulling electric wires in the attic so they could sell the copper.  One of them slipped off a beam and fell through the ceiling.  It came clear how desperate people are to get by.

Matt shoveling insulation (Before)


The next day, we all got smart, stopped by a hardware store to make the job easier and more efficient.  We got a tarp, so both of us could shovel the insulation on it, like fallen leaves, then we could both take a load to the dumpster.  By yesterday, we cleared out the living room and felt a deep sense of accomplishment, wondering what was next.  Then I walked down the hall to a bedroom and my heart sank - another room with huge piles of insulation.  After a few curses muttered under breath, we could only go after this room.  By lunch time today, we cleared out the room of insulation, plus two disgusting mattresses.

The apartment empty (after)


After lunch, we and other workers pulled up the carpet and padding, took that to the dumpster, and the apartment looked empty.  Then Dotty "Sledgehammer" Blake came in and took the hammer to the kitchen.  By the end of the day, all cabinets, sinks, etc. werer gone from the apartment, and several walls were stripped to the studs.  It seemed like a miracle.  It seemed impossible the first day and now it is stripped down.  All it took was a willing spirit, ready to start.  One shovel at a time.

Dotty "sledgehammer" Blake going to town on the cabinets.


Again, St. Francis came to mind.  When God asked him to rebuild the church, he started putting one stone on top of another, and all the sudden, the chapel was restored.  Yet the job was not done.  This spirit of one stone at a time renewed the whole church.  And this is what mission does - on stone, one shovel at a time, the church is renewed.

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Doing this type of work - demolition - is actually hard from a mission perspective, because you don't get to see the final product - nothing constructive.  We won't see the faces of the folks who get a new, beautiful apartment.  We won't even see indications of a new beautiful apartment.  We just have an empty structure.  St. Francis' prayer came to mind: he prayed where there is darkness, let me sow light, where there is sadness, let me sow joy, where there is despair, let me sow hope.  The emphasis is on the sowing.  It is close to sowing time, and as a gardner, I know there is lots of faith throwing little seeds into the ground, and watering the ground, waiting for those stupid seeds to start sprouting.  It is a waiting game and it takes lots of faith that what you sow will eventually turn into a seedling, a plant and eventually fruit.  We are sowers this week.  We can hope to come back sometime and see beautiful apartments, but that's not guaranteed.

Accomplishment!  The truck takes away one of two and a half dumpsters we filled over the 3 days.

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The day was not all grind.  Since today was raining (pretty hard at times) - we skipped our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches by the river and went to Biscuit World.  Coming into West Virginia, we started to see Biscuit Worlds all over the place.  I had to try this place - it sounded so good.  So tday, my wish came true.  It was absolutely glorious.  We all enjoyed our biscuit sandwiches.  I had the "Duke" which was an egg, bacon, cheese and a hash brown between biscuits.  It was glorious!

Biscuit World selfie!
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After dinner tonight, we had a real treat.  Billy Payne came to the school next door and gave us a private concert.  He was "old school" country music.  He played for an hour and a half for us.  Apparently, he is pretty popular in England and Australia.  We got cultural immersion.  His guitar was amazing: beautifully crafted in Nashville.  He sang with his guitar to a backtrack that he and a band put together.  A couple of my favorites:  "Give Me a Triple on the Double Because I'm Single Again" and "Flat Champagne and Wilted Roses."  He lives in Kincaid, right down the road, and tours around.  I guess he plays for SALS guests.

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All this week, music from one of my favorite groups, "The Band" kept going through my head.  I guess this country inspires this type of music: Americana at its best.  I was playing "Music from Big Pink" while cooking dinner when "The Weight" came on.  Remember?  "Take the load off Fanny, take a load for free, take a load off Fanny, and put the load right on me."

The song was written by Robbie Robertson, who was bewildered why fellow human beings refuse to hlep their neighbors in need.  We see this all over this place.  How can the human heart be so cold to refuse to help even the guy next door?  But the refrain seems to be a compassionate response that his me..take the load off Fanny...and put the load right on me.  That seems to be what we're doing.  It really amazes me that seven people paid $175 to get the privilege of ripping apartments out for people they don't know and will probably never meet.  That is a miracle in my book.  They could have gone to Aruba for April break, here they are, taking the load for free.  I am so proud of them.

Keep praying for us - one more day of strength to do what needs to be done at those apartments.  Then Friday morning, we enjoy some hiking and scenery in the morning, and start making our way home in the afternoon.  See y'all Saturday, Sunday or whenever.