I'm in the Rebuilding Coordinator's office writing this... she's the only one with an internet connection and has graciously allowed me to use her connection when she's not here. Courtney has been in Gulfport for over 18 months as the rebuilding Coordinator for Trinity UMC Church. In that time almost 600 homs have been rebuilt or repaired by volunteers, like us, who have come and stayed at Trinity. Tonight a group of Trinity members cooked dinner for 75 volunteers, who knows how many thousands of meals they have served... Over 450,000 man/woman hours have been put in by volunteers who have had Trinity UMC as their base.

Ron, Liz, Todd, Sharon, Colby and I spent today insulating and hanging drywall for a family whose had 2/3 of their mobile home blown away during Katrina, probably by a tornado... They received about $25,000 between insurance and FEMA funds. For 18 months they have lived in a very small FEMA trailer with three of their grandchildren. So Wanda and Dwight have chosen to build something a little more safe and substantial than the mobile home. They've undertaken the construction of a modest one-story home, but halfway through the money ran out. So they called on Trinity Church and here we are... The whole trip was worth the look on their 15 year old granddaughter's face today when she found out we were drywalling her room. She walked in, looked around, smiled and just said,"I'm sleeping in here tomorrow night!" And I believe she will...

Our groups are currently working on 5 different jobsites with a variety of tasks being performed. A lot of drywalling, the Koeller/McGillen crew is doing siding, the Rev Tom crew painted on Saturday and as it began to rain, water began to drip from a light socket. Needless to say, today they painted some more, but they also did some roof repair.

Everyone is in good spirits... Muna went jogging at 2am... Sharons Mom and Father-in-Law came from Florida to take them out to dinner (and maybe gamble a little...)... my snoring is driving Ron and Todd crazy, I suspect I'll be banished from the room if I snore alot tonight... more tomorrow, with photos!!!