Day 3 of SP Deployment to Minot 8-17-11

We found out that the huge house from yesterday was most likely a scam. For one thing, it was in a more affluent neighborhood than we had previously been working in and while we were working, a man in a Jaguar pulled up and asked who was in charge. He then proceeded to tell Mike that he would like to save the windows and to only go up as far as we had to on the walls as they were planning to rebuild. Mike was already suspicious because it didn't look like any furniture had been on the carpet before the flood (there were no pressure marks) so he didn't think anyone was living there plus it is a HUGE house and why would a couple in their eighties build a home that big? When we got back to base, he went to the office and they did more research. It was discovered that the house was not owned by the elderly couple but by one of their adult children. It is suspected that they were hoping to use us as free labor so they could flip the house and sell it. Needless to say, we didn't go back today.

Instead, we went on to a home that was actually owned by an older couple; he built the house in 1964. His wife had wanted to move up the hill last year but he really didn't want to leave the beautiful spot where he had built their home all those years ago so instead they redid the bathroom and built an addition onto the house. The wife is so devastated by the flood damage that she can't come back to look at the house.

Today I got down on my hands and knees and pulled nails from the floor and then from the studs and ceiling as well. At one point, I almost toppled from the ladder where I was working but was able to grab a beam and steady myself. (I'm deathly afraid of heights but God is not letting that hinder me.) I also helped Helen and Bill pull up plywood flooring in the living room. Crew chief Mike left after lunch and was replaced by Becky. We got lost on our way to the job site this morning so didn't get started till after nine even though we discovered it's really only 15 minutes from the church.

Sheri shoveling debris in a house.

Jody pulling up plywood flooring.

Shoveling drywall chunks and dirt from a floor; pulling nails as well.

The deck-detached from the house and turned 180 degrees.

Here's what the inside of your house looks like

Keith taking out a wall.

The water lines on the houses never ceased to amaze and shock me.

When the "pope with the popsicles (and the popess)"  came by today for our afternoon break, they told us of a sad situation within the church where we are staying. A ten year-old boy named Joshua died in a four-wheeling accident last night in Canada where he and his four siblings were visiting their father before school starts. (The parents are divorced and the mother is a member of the church). On of his younger sisters found Joshua after the accident. Both parents feel guilty and each wants him buried in their country. There was to be a conference call today between Canadian and American judges and the magistrates from both countries to decide where the boy should be buried. (I never heard what the verdict was).

At supper, they told us that an SP worker in Haiti (driver and translator) hit and killed a 10 year-old Haitian boy today. The boy's name was Bailele. This is the first such accident that has happened for SP. After supper, we prayed for Joshua's family and for those involved in the Haitian accident. Everyone left the hall with heavy hearts. Some went to cry and pray and others left the church grounds to get away from it all for a while.