Give. Do. Be the Hope

Doyle and I signed up to be part of a local summer mission project in our city. The event kicked off on July 4th and the work began July 5th and ended on Saturday July 8th.

The project was coordinated by Mission Mineral Wells. Here is a an explanation of Mission Mineral Wells. 

MISSION Mineral Wells is a joint effort between the City of Mineral Wells, The Mineral Wells Area Chamber of Commerce, the Mineral Wells Police Department, several local churches, businesses and nonprofit organizations to help struggling homeowners make necessary home repairs. Mobilizing community volunteers, we aim to strengthen, grow and revitalize our community one neighborhood, one home and one family at a time.

There were several from our church that were also a part of this revitalization. 

We began each day at 8AM checking in and getting breakfast before heading out to the work sight. Breakfast was provided by a different group or business each day.

The house we worked on belonged to a single Dad. Our situation was unique in that this home owner joined our team in helping us work on his own house! 

In this picture is our Pastor's wife and one of her grandsons.

The first day was spent preparing the house for siding. There was a portion of the house that was covered with metal siding which had to come off. That's what we are doing here. I was working with one of our youth pulling nails and pulling the metal off. He and I are on the right corner of this photo. It was harder work that it sounds!

Those on the team with a little more construction experience installed some new windows in a couple of places.

As the siding goes up we have people calking and sealing. This siding was put up before it was painted. The rest of the sheets were painted before they were installed.

Work is in full swing! There were a total of 4 houses that were part of the mission. Ours was the largest square footage.

Our construction coordinator Paul Reed, checking out the work done and what is left to do.

On Friday, I did not join the team. I needed to go into the office since I had not been in all week. Doyle did go and had a great day working with one of our Pastor's grandsons. 

This guy is pretty proud to have learned a life skill and Doyle has gained a new friend 😊.

At the end of day 3 things are looking really good.

I rejoin the group on Saturday, our last day. A group pictures was taken before we head to our work sites.

Doyle & I are on the front row on the left side.

I did a lot of painting on the last day.

Painting the trim that goes around the doors and windows.

This is Paul Reed our construction coordinator. This kitten showed up about day 2 or 3 of the work and seemed to make himself right at home. Paul said he was the team mascot!

Each day lunch was provided for us by different churches. We also had plenty of water and gatorade. After all it is Texas...in July...it was hot!!

I did notice that some ants got very creative and made these two ant hills.

After it was all said and done there were four home owners with some wonderful, much needed home repairs. It was very fulfilling to be a part of something where the whole community came together to help each other. I can't wait to do it again next year! If you are interested in seeing more pictures from that week and of the other homes go here.

Have a good one!