We Have a Pope!

Today started out like any other day during this wonderful trip - the gift of seven days together has made the fourth morning rather predictable. Regardless, it was a delicious breakfast at a strikingly late time of 8:30 am - AN EXTRA THIRTY MINUTES OF SLEEP TIME. A surprisingly filling breakfast of french toast and sausages made for an energetic start to the day.

Ten of us were assigned to Deacon Peter’s house to continue restoration in his basement - day three of work in his property had us installing more insulation and plywood flooring to the main rooms that were flooded.  Additionally, roughly two closets needed to be completely demolished of its flooring and underlying insulation since both were saturated with four-month old water and mold. Needless to say, our group was ready and willing - we worked into the afternoon with the fuel of a delicious breakfast keeping our spirits high and our work-ethic even higher. Hammers, saws, nails, and brooms were our tools of choice - we wielded them with God’s grace and produced a room of respectable quality. All in all, Peter’s basement is finally coming together. Bill and Mike’s guidance was certainly a great gift to us because without it we would’ve been lost.

The remaining five of us went to Bill’s (not the Pastor’s husband) house. Bill is a member of Lacey. His house sits on the residential canal that leads into Barnegat Bay. During Sandy, over two feet of water flooded into his house. The inside of his house was a wreck after the storm. The bottom three feet of drywall and insulation in every room had to be removed. Most of that work had already been done before our group arrived. One room still had to have drywall removed. We also worked on hanging new drywall in his furnace room so a new furnace can be installed and heat can be turned on. Because the room has so many pipes and fixtures to work around, cutting and placing the drywall was slow work. We only hung five sheets up, but that completed all the intricate work. Tomorrow we should be able to complete the furnace room so he can have heat again.

For dinner, we were joined by the elementary youth of the Lacey UMC Community and closed the evening with a Taize prayer service in the sanctuary. Hard to believe Wednesday is already over and there are just two days left in New Jersey!

With love,
Joe Cuadrado, Darien Clark, and NJASB team!