Photos from Senior High Wednesday at the Thompson's

Our Senior High group went back to the Thompson's for a second day of ceiling and floor demolition. Today we removed all of the carpet from the house and finished pulling down the lathe. The house got much hotter as we removed the barrier between us and the roof.

We stopped work for a few minutes each hour and went across the street to the church for cold water and cool air. Two highlights were the unexpected arrival of an ice cream van, and the look of surprise on Rev. Thompson's face when he saw how much we accomplished.

We finished our work day with a late lunch at Frostop - foot long po-boy burgers!

Taquitos, Red Beans and Rice, Compline, Movie, and Bed

It is late and everyone is sleeping now. We spent the evening playing board games, watching Ghostbusters, and eating a late dinner of taquitoes with red or black beans and rice. Hannah officiated a friendly Compline tonight - a cheerful relaxed worship service. Time now to catch a few Zs and get ready for tomorrow.

Matt's first lengthy-ish update from New Orleans!

We've completed our second day here with much success! It was a sweaty time, but we're doing good work. Martha and I worked with the Jr. High group at a house in desperate need of emergency lawn care and an inside paint job. We were joined by another group of volunteers from Memphis, who were just as stoked as us to be there. We wrangled the lawn and the inside simultaneously and finished both before a delicious lunch of red beans & rice back at the cathedral. Our Sr. High group met us for lunch as well, after their morning of demolition work. After cooling off for a bit, we worked with the kids in the summer program on academic tutoring in math and other subjects for a few hours, then came back to our house for rest time and eventual dinner preparations.

Tomorrow we're returning to our worksites from today and wrapping things up there. After lunch, Jr. High will move on to another lawn, though Sr. High will probably return back to the same site as today.

I've pulled a few pictures from various activities from yesterday and today, see below!

Peace,

~Matt

PS - for the record, internet is scarce in the house so I'm posting this from the passenger seat of our van (aka, Derek Gets Shotgun, or, the DGS) where there is an inexplicably strong internet connection.

Gabe slammin some dunks behind the cathedral.

Many a ferocious game of late-night speed Scrabble.

Cooking class at the cathedral!

Playing sports with kids with the Anna's Arts for Kids summer program.

The front lawn of a house before we got to work.

Katrina effects

Most of the houses in New Orleans are marked with a spray paint survey stamp on the front of the house. Here are the attributes of the stamp.

You can learn more about some of the big picture effects of Katrina here:
http://danswenson.com/paper/katrina.html

What is a Columbarium?

After lunch Jack and I were walking from the cathedral to the van and we passed through the memorial courtyard. Jack asked me about the plaques on the wall and I explained that the plaques mark the recesses in the wall that contain the ashes of the person indicated on the plaque. Jack asked me about the unlabeled spaces and I told him that people can reserve space before they die and that the names are added when the spaces are filled.

Jack stopped to think.

He said "so, it's like calling Shotgun for when you die?"

Tuesday workday - Senior High

The Senior High group worked today in Reverend and Mrs Thompson's rain damaged home in Leonidas. We helped pull down the failing ceiling and we cleared debris out of the house into to the roll-off dumpster on the street. The work was hot, dirty, hot, fithy, hot, and rewarding. Mrs Thompson kept us company all day and insisted that we take water breaks in the chilled air of the neighborhood Baptist church. I am extremely pleased with the dedicattion (all heart, harsh conditions, and no complaints) that our team displayed today. A huge amount of work is done and I am looking forward to joining the team for more if the same tomorrow.

Here are pictures if the team pulling down the ceiling with prybars.

Tuesday workday - Junior High

The Junior High team painted, cleaned, and did yard work today for a family in the north end of the Lower 9th Ward.

A note from Campbell:
"Hi this is Campbell and today was painting day. It got super duper hot while we were painting and i almost died. Over all I guess that i could give today and yesterday a five but o guess o couldn't pick a favorite. But I guess that I have to keep in mind that this isn't play all day in new Orleans but more like fix houses and help children."

Derek Gets Shotgun

Derek has named our van "Derek Gets Shotgun". This leads to - "alright everybody, let's get into Derek Gets Shotgun". And yet, Derek has yet to get shotgun.

Breakfast meeting and Hurricanes

We are about to head out to our work sites. Lots of questions about Hurricanes this morning. Today's menu includes demolition, painting, and yardwork. 20 minutes till we load up...

Big words in Scrabble

It turns out that you can play a 25 letter Speed Scrabble word.

Walking the levee in the Lower 9th Ward

We took a walk along the levee this afternoon. It felt strange to walk uphill from the street to that water. From the top you can see hundreds of shipwrecked houses and rebuilt homes. There is a tremendous amount of work to do here. I think we are all looking forward to our workday tomorrow... And dinner :-)

Tekrema Center - Dance!

This afternoon, on our walk through the neighborhood, we met Mrs Greer Mendy when she called down from the balcony and invited us to come inside and tour the Tekrema Center. We went in and were treated to a walk through the beautiful art exhibit and dance space. Thank you Mrs Greer! http://www.thetekremacenter.com/

Junior High classes and workshops at Christ Church Cathedral

The Junior High group worked with the staff and volunteers at the cathedral. 

Campbell and Hannah wrote about their day.

Campbell -
"We worked in the kitchen to make pizza and I think that all of the kids enjoyed doing that activity and in the art class all of the  kids decided that instead of doing all of the activities that it would be fun to draw all over Campbell.  Other than that the majority of the time the teachers just asked all of the volunteers to just sit upon the side lines...apparently they didn't need us as much as Matt said that they did. Over all it wasn't the best experience that I could have asked do on my first day on New Orleans! But I guess it was alright."

Hannah -
"I had fun today! First we did dance, and the coreographer picked a dance that was really simple yet I couldn't get the hang of...I guess that's not my forte. Next was chior, and we sang "we are marching in the light of God (African version, too) the kids acted up often, which made the job mission trip worthy!! Karate was fun!! "the slimy worms" Aka the kids, had to do obstacle courses that we made extra difficult for them. That was really fun!!! For lunch we had some pretty decent food, which was like heaven to me because I was STARVING !! After that was recess. Me and Campbell played with a cute kid named Tyler. All was going well and then suddenly he chucked a rock the size of my head at us. He was mad at us for some reason, but i don't believe it would make anything better if he gave me and Campbell a concussion... He didn't though and I was happy about that. He forgave us, and now we're all friends!! We then made pizzas in cooking class and It was really cool!! 2 people in my group hated cheese, which I didn't think was natural, so half of our pizza was cheeseless. After that, we went home. Now we're chillaxin' and having fun!!!"

Senior High Workday Photos

Here are some photos from our workday at a house in East New Orleans. We groutted tile, swept, worked in the yard, and worked on kitchen cabinets.

An important part of this complete breakfast

Cereal, bananas, & sunshine. Mike is still working on being awake :-)

In a few minutes we'll head to the cathedral to start our workday.

Our House

Everyone is happy to be out of the van and moving around. Mike is tuning a guitar and ukelele while everyone else is unpacking and claiming sleeping bag space. Dinner soon. Status of team: very enthusiastic.

Driving through New Orleans

We've made it to New Orleans. We are nearly there :-)

Lunchtime in Beaumont

We are putting in a GIANT order at Sonic. The staff are friendly and taking it in stride. Good work Beaumont Sonic!

EYC Mission Trip is on the road!

We are on our way to New Orleans - twenty people, a basket full of board games and work gloves, and two ukeleles. We'll be back Friday; 'til then check here for updates.

The 2010 Mission Trip Team

Here we are - The EYC 2010 Mission Trip Team

New Orleans Mission Trip: Prologue

Friends and family,

Some of you may be reading this because your kid is going to be with us in New Orleans from July 11-16. Some of you may have a friend going on the trip. Some of you may read this sometime next year to see what an All Saints' mission trip looks like. Some of you may even be on the trip yourselves, reading blog posts about your life in almost-real time--ahhh it's so meta!

Anyhow, here's the short and skinny:

depart Austin at 8:45am, Sunday July 11

arrive in New Orleans sometime between 7 and 8pm

WORK ADVENTURE WORK ADVENTURE WORK ADVENTURE

depart New Orleans around 10am

arrive back in Austin around 8pm

You'll see the full details as the trip unfolds! Tune in daily next week to see what happens...

Peace,

~Matt

Mission Trip 2010 registration packet

Here's the mission trip registration packet! Download, print it out, fill it out, and turn it in with a check for $100 in my mailbox before May 1!

Download

Schlitterbahn: a magic castle full of water

hey everyone!

we're going out to Schlitterbahn this sunday, 9/20! 2 groups leaving, one after each service (so approximately 10:15 and 12:30). bring $15 and a lunch if you think you'll get hungry (especially if you're leaving with the first group). also a bathing suit would be a good idea. we'll be back around 7!

also, i'm posting up some pictures from our photo scavenger hunt on 9/13. the rain let up just in time for us to scramble around the drag and decipher and photograph the clues (some with more ease than others). check them out!

this is just my first post, but i'll be trying to keep this blog updated more regularly. keep checking in...

~matt

Super Epic and Awesome Photo Scavenger Hunt

photo hunt export

Help out with ECW Garage Sale and earn service hours!

Looking for ways to earn service hours?

All Saints' ECW Garage Sale needs volunteers this Saturday, 25 March! You will get service hours for helping out.

Contact Wini or Mary if you are interested.
mlwright@alumni.utexas.net
winiwood@usa.net

EYC January 18

4-6:30 pm

movie..."The Freedom Writers"

dinner...we are making pizzas...bring a favorite cheese or other topping!

Friends welcome

EYC This Week November 16

EYC THIS WEEK NOV 8

Movie night...bring a covered dish to share with the group!
We are also collecting shovels, crowbars, hammers and sledge hammers for our ongoing mission work in Galveston!

EYC - Canoeing on Lady Bird Lake

On the 26th the All Saints, St. George, and St. James EYC groups went canoeing together. Here are a few pictures from our trip.

EYC this week Nov 2

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EYC THIS WEEK OCTOBER 26TH

CANOE AND PICNIC AT ZILKER
4-6:30 PM
BRING: $5 PER PERSON, A SIDE DISH...WE WILL HAVE CHICKEN AND DRINKS
PLEASE RSVP TO ELIZABETH SO WE DO GET ENOUGH...963-0054

EYC this week! October 19th

EYC this week! October 5

BLESSING OF THE ANIMALS, PIZZA AND PLANNING RESPONSE TO IKE

Bring a pet ( have your folks stay if you do this)
Bring unopen pet food...this will go to help the animal shelters in town who have hosted so many displaced animals.
We will share pizza & ideas for our continued response to St. Augustine's community in Galveston.