Wednesday, July 31, 2019
It was a typical day in Grand Forks, a cool morning, breakfast, devotions and off to our job sites.
When Gordon, Sam, Jake, Olivia, Sarah and I arrived at the Redding house, we found Jesse helping a contractor and his crew install his new septic system.
We did a little mudding and sanding and by afternoon, we started to clean up for painting. Olivia and Sarah cleaned to floor with brushes and brooms while I vacuumed the floor, outlets and windows,
while Gordon, Jake and Sam installed drywall in the basement.
At lunch time, we took a picture of our crew.
From left to right:
Back Row: Jake, Gordon and Sam
Front Row: Olivia and Sarah
At 3 pm the youth from three of the job sites returned to camp to clean the showers and their rooms. Gordon and I finished the drywall sanding and installed some more drywall in the basement. We returned to camp by 5 pm and showered before supper.
Jon, Caiden and Emily went to the McClelland house during the day. Jon installed trim, while Emily and Caiden installed flooring
Justin, Christina and Cassie went to the Kent Tough’s house, where they continued to paint the walls.
Peter, Robert, Jacob and Benjamin drove the 1 hour to the ‘ Fillo ‘ house. Jacob and Benjamin installed siding, facia and soffits, Robert installed windows and Peter supervised and helped co-ordinate all of the jobs. The owner and her son also assisted with the work.
Unfortunately, Wes had twisted his ankle before he had come to the project and he had worked the first day painting boards but his foot had swollen significantly and it was decided that it would be best if he stayed at camp and not strain it any further.
Kent Tough and his girl friend, joined us for supper and told his what had happened to him during the flood.
From Left to right: Roman, Mo ( Kent’s girlfriend ), Kent, Justin, Robert, Sam, Abby, Peter and Gordon.
Kent’s story started with him coming home at 8 pm on the night that the flood occurred. A friend had dropped him off, noticed that there was water on the yard, but Kent hadn’t thought anything of it. He woke up later that night to the sound of running water and when he checked it out, he found that there was a few feet of water in his yard and his crawlspace was flooded. He built a raft using two stacked skids with some insulated doors in-between for floatation. While he was preparing to leave, he saw some rescuers go by, but they hadn’t paid attention to him or asked if he needed help. He grabbed some clothes, put them in a cooler and set out on the raft using a long pole from his fence to push himself along. He said that it was a beautiful sunny morning, other than the fact that his house was being flooded. He was able to make it to safety and later he borrowed a friends aluminum boat to go to his house and rescue some more items. His house had about 3 feet of water in it and when he left again, he decided to cross the river, not realizing how strong the current was. He came upon a large log that was wedged in place and as the water pushed him towards it, his boat capsized, so he grabbed the log. He struggled to get on top of it but the current was very strong and was pushing him under it. After a lot of effort, he made it on to the log, he was eventually rescued.
We spent a little time after supper reviewing the reports for each of the job site and at 8:15 pm the youth, Justin and Jon had prepared an evening service of singing and testimonies.
It was the last day for the youth at Grand Forks, as they would be leaving in the morning to go home. It was a pleasure working with them. They were friendly, polite, willing to work and learn something new. What more can you ask for? Maria’s cooking, learning some trades, interacting with the team and experiencing MDS were expressed as their highlights for the time they had spent in Grand Forks. The leadership team was happy that they came and we all enjoyed having them volunteer with us to help rebuilt the homes and lives of people in Grand Forks.
Ralf Hamm 