Crisco_Day 11

In the Name of our Risen Savior Jesus Christ, I greet you.

Yesterday I received secret photos of Chris in action at Trinity Church. He was helping construct ramps for the volunteer showers behind the church. Due to ongoing construction at the church, the showers had to be relocated (again) . This time they were placed in the area where the children's day care playground was last week. Unfortunately, that area is very sandy, which quickly turns to mud when 100 people with wet feet cross it daily.
So,,, Ramps!
I love the photo below with two 'older' gents on one side while Chris carries his side alone. And Better yet, Chris doing some detail trimming with his favorite tool, the chain saw!
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Chris_Day 9

Chris is not ONLY the official 'tool man' for EFCA Compassion/Katrina, but he is the newest addition to the logging crew as well. Here we see Chris very dirty after a long day of cutting and moving large fallen trees. Notice the nice tan-lines at the wrist! "Hey Chris - use Sun Screen!!"
In the background is his new toy, which he is getting very good at using.

Next we see Chris caring for his new machine, making sure it never goes thirsty. Good boy, Chris!

Finally we have Chris and his newest friend, Dick. Or- as the Compassion staff calls him, "the coolest grandpa you'll ever have". Dick goes down to Louisiana every 2-3 weeks to continue helping cut people out of their yards. He is thankful to have someone like Chris handy to help out. Chris cuts trees while Dick uses his skid-steer to moved them, if Chris gets too far ahead with the cutting, then Both men have machines to get the wood moved. Chris is really enjoying himself.

One day last Chris and Dick went out at 9:00 am and worked all day, until after 7:00 pm, then the home owner came home and offered dinner to Chris and Dick - but she had to cook it first. Chris says they didn't finish eating until after 9:30 at night, and didn't get home and hit the showers until after 11:00pm

Yeah, I have already warned Chris about burning himself out by working too many hours, too many days in a row.

Good News - Chris bought a hammock - now he can relax after the 90+ degree days they are having. Good Job! (no photo of chris relaxing yet.)

Pray requests: Continue to pray for the people of Southern Louisiana. Some neighborhoods have come a long way since the storm, other entire parts of town (HUGE AREAS) are still completely destroyed. It will be years (and years) before the clean up is complete. Perhaps it will be decades before the rebuilding is done.
Personal prayer requests: Chris only has one... it appears he has run into a lot of poison ivy in the past 2-3 days. So far he hasn't broken out yet, because Dick gave him a family secret to use to keep the itching down. But pray for the safety of Chris while he uses heavy machinery and chain saws daily. Pray for his stamina and continued high-energy enthusiasm, which keeps others around him recharged. Pray for Chris to find quiet time to spend in God's word - I personally know this is very difficult, and it leads to burnout and fatigue. Pray that Chris realizes how to end his day before 10:00 pm, and that he can find time to call his Mom. Pray for Chris' family, as they dearly miss their boy, and their brother.

Mainly - Praise the Lord for all the wonderful people Chris has met, including Mr. Steve and his wife Millie. Chris went out to have lunch with Steve & Millie last week.
Steve made a meal so good it was about to make you "Slap yo mamma" as Steve says about exceedingly good meals!! Continue to pray that Steve & Millie soon see the Lord as the only means to true forgiveness and salvation. I know Chris will do his part, as the Lord leads him.
Amen.

Chris' friend Andy, who just finished chainsaw carving this beautiful cross. His first ever
-mj

Chris_Day 6

New Friends:
Jenn, Andy (Chris) Brian, Carla:
These are a few of the new friends Chris has made over the last week since arriving in Louisiana. The two men surrounding Chris spent 5 days mentoring him on work integrity, tool maintainance, interpersonal relations, construction and - - having fun.

Crisco: What happens when someone who is dear to you has their name used the same way over & over again?? "Chris go here", "Chris go there", "Chris go back to Home Depot again", Chris go take a water break", well, you end up with a fun new Nick-Name "Crisco". Truely a term of endearment given by the Compassion staff to someone they love.
This Week: Crisco is 'The Tool Man'. All other Compassion-staff have returned home after completing their 60-90-120 day assignments, except Mark Lewis, Jenn and Shawn & Danielle. They make the Core of the office staff. And of course, Vixie, the camp cook - or 'executive chef' who makes incredible meals possible from the tiny kitchen. Last week was Huge for Compassion and Trinity Church with over 120 work volunteer putting in over 4000 hours of labor. This week is a much lighter volunteer week, with only 56 people sleeping at the church. But that's good for Chris, because everything that happens in & around th tool sheds is 100% his responsibility. Hopefully that last week of training has paid off, and Chris knows where all the tools are.
. In these photos
we can see that complete Chaos has broken out at the tool shed. Thankfully in photo #2, Chris appears to have the situation under control. Actually photo #2 is a candid shot of Chris having some one to one time with his friend Andy. (click to enlarge photos)
Contact Crisco Here: katrinarelief@efca.org. Put Chris' name in the 'subject' line. Since I am unsure of Chris' schedule for checking his emails - or the availability of office computers, the office coordinator, Jenn, has agreed to retrieve and print out email messages for Chris. This way he will be sure to get them, and be encouraged by them. Being far from home alone for the first time, I imagine Chris can use a little encouragement every once in a while. Let's keep him encouraged!

I am honored and privilaged to keep this web update for Chris as he continues to serve the Lord in Louisiana. If you have any conversation or stories from Chris that you would like to share with everyone else who is reading this webspace, please email me.
Until next time, may the Lord Jesus bless you abundantly and keep you safe. -mark j

Chris_Day 4

Finally an update from the (non) prodigal son! (N. O. file photo to right -click to enlarge)

Chris called me last night around 10:00 pm after I returned home from Xtreme youth group. He was in very good spirits (of course) and was quite talkative.

To begin - you all know that Chris left home on Sunday afternoon, so that he could drive down and stay with his brother Ben and family near Chicago for his first night. What you didn't know was that Chris decided to drive the remaining 14-15 hours straight through to Covington without any additional stops. His original plan was to stop for a second night somewhere South of Illinois, or after about 8 hours.
He says the driving was going great, and that his car gets in the 'vibration-free' zone around 80 mph, so he just decided to go for it.

I finally got to ask Chris "what's new?". After only a brief pause he responded with Eccl 1:9 "Nothing is new under the sun". Hmmm, I believe hanging out with other young missionaries is making Chris just a little 'sassy'. Finally he answered that he is not living on the floor of the sanctuary for the first week as we anticipated because of over crowding. The Compassion staff is serving over 140 volunteers this week (recordhigh).
Instead of the floor, Chris is staying with the Director of EFCA-Compassion/disaster relief, Mark Lewis. Mark's story was highlighted in EFCA-Today 1-2 months ago. Click here for the article and some nice photos: http://www.efca.org/today/media/06sp_across.pdf.

Chris is spending the week working with a couple of guys from Wisconsin - how cool! These guys, Andy and Brian came down last week, and after seeing the need for workers, they decided to stay an extra week or so - Andy is about 32 years old and is working on work estimates for Compassion construction projects. Chris spent his first day riding along with Andy to different job sites and to get the layout of the area. Yesterday and today Chris is spending with Brian, a guy in his early 20s who is showing Chris the 'ropes' around the tool sheds. Chris has already learned how to sharpen chain saws and has completely straightened out tool shed #1 (out of 3)

Tuesday after work at the church, Chris went with fellow missionaries Shawn and Danielle Kelley, to their house. Shawn is remodeling the interior of the house they are living at, in exchange for free rent. Chris had to help Shawn pull electrical wires in the kitchen so the drywall could be done today. Chris was out until after 11pm.

In closing for his first official update, Chris wants to tell everyone that he is doing just fine, he is already adjusted to being back in Covington he is working hard and excited to be the new 'Tool Man".

Chris thanks everyone for the prayers which went out on his behalf and on behalf of his car. There were absolutely no problems during the trip, he never got sleepy and his car is running smoothly.

A special note for Abigail: Chris says "hi" to his favorite niece. :)