MDS, from Hartville Oh to New Iberia La.

Feb 26th

2011-03-03T09:01:00.000-08:00

Tha 5 homes are now complete except for the finish plumbing which is being done by a local contractor in New Iberia. We were blessed with beautiful weather the last 2 weeks which allowed us to complete our part of the project on schedule. Thank you to all who were involved in this project. Any of the pictures can be downloaded from the blog.

Feb 24th

2011-02-24T19:46:00.000-08:00

GOT SHRIMP ?

Today the majority of the help had a paintbrush or roller in their hands as they attacked the interior trim in the houses. The last driveway was poured before lunch and Blaine graded the dirt around the houses. Durell finished hanging the shutters this morning and they look awesome. We had our weekly shrimp boil (my 4th) tonight along with a youth group from Canada and the MDS group from the RV Camp at Big Four Corners. There were about 70 people there in all. They had a group come in dressed up like they do for Mardi Gra and they put beads on everyone. It was a great time for everyone and a good way to end the week as most will be leaving Friday afternoon. Everyone really worked hard this week and our Lord blessed us with 4 beautiful days to work outside and now it is raining this evening after all the exterior work is done. Thank you to all who helped on this project in so many different ways. We also thank First United Methodist Church in New Iberia for the incredible hospitality they have showered us with.

Feb 23rd

2011-02-23T20:40:00.000-08:00

Today was another great day in New Iberia. The last house was painted on the exterior and 2 more concrete driveways were completed. The trim work was completed in the last house and interior painting is going good. Tomorrow we will have about 20-25 people painting inside which will really speed things up. We hope to be completely done by noon on Friday.

Feb 22nd

2011-02-22T19:07:00.000-08:00

Whats this?

Today the 4th house was painted on the exterior. 4 houses are now trimmed and ready to be painted on the interior. The cabinet crew finished setting all the counter tops. 2 driveways were poured with 2 more being done tomorrow. The last house was finished sided and will be painted tomorrow.

Feb 21st

2011-02-21T21:12:00.000-08:00

Today was a very productive day. There were 3 trim crews in 3 houses, a siding crew on the last house without siding, a painting crew painting the exterior of the 3rd house, a cabinet crew that installed all the cabinets in all 5 houses, a concrete crew preparing 2 driveways to pour on Tues., a shutter crew preparing all the pieces for installing the shutters, a caulking crew caulking siding and interior trim, and 1 supervisor driving around doing nothing. The weather has been very favorable for working outside so our focus will be to finish the exteriors while the good weather lasts. I forgot to mention, we also had a food crew that prepared 3 great meals today. Keep us in your prayers for saftey and good weather and for those at home in Ohio we will let you enjoy the snow for us.

Feb 18th

2011-02-19T15:24:00.000-08:00

On Friday the flooring crew finished the floor in the last house. The painting crew was able to paint all the interior trim and Rich Wittmer painted the exterior doors on the 2 houses that the painting crew had painted earlier in the week. It was a very productive week and today (Saturday) we are getting ready for the trim crews and the final paint crews to get here. It is about 75 degree's down here today and the forecast looks good for next week to get the concrete driveways done as well as the exterior painting that needs to be done yet.

Feb. 17th

2011-02-17T18:31:00.000-08:00

Today Lee Kurtzman started the day off with a "Get R Done" Mennonite charge. It was another beautiful day in New Iberia. The painting crew was able to get another house painted on the exterior and the caulking crew has another house caulked and ready to paint. The flooring crew finished 2 more houses and has to install the laminate floor in one house and they will be done with all the flooring. Tomorrow we will be concentrating on the interior trim so we can be ready for the trim crews coming next week. Tonight our host church had another shrimp boil for our crew as well as the RV MDS crew. Tonights picture are a compilation of pictures from the last 4 days. There is also some pictures posted for the 2 week period during the insulation stage.

Feb. 16th 2011

2011-02-16T17:21:00.000-08:00

Albino Willy Nelson ( Rich after spraying 75 gallons of primer in all 5 houses)

Today was a very productive day. It was over 70 degree's today and we were able to paint the exterior of one of the homes. We have one crew laying the tile and laminate floors in the houses and they have completed almost 3 houses. The houses are all painted on the inside and we will be painting another house on the exterior tomorrow. 4 of the guys went back to the one house after supper to finish the tile.

Storm Shutters

2011-02-10T04:51:00.000-08:00

On Monday and Tuesday evening the Storm Shutters were cut, assembled and painted in Hartville. They will be hauled to New Iberia the week of trim. Check out the pictures.

Feb 1st

2011-02-01T19:14:00.000-08:00

Today we got our first rough building inspection and Owen Coblentz and Lee Kurtzman were able to start insulating. Joe Troup, the drywaller, is arriving Friday to start hanging drywall. Ryan Miller arrived today to shingle the 3 houses that still needed to be shingled. Owen said Ryan was able to get 4 square down before it got dark. Pray for the weather to be favorable to shingle the 3 houses by Friday evening. There won't be any pictures this week because I flew home on Tue.for a 2 week break. Hopefully someone with a camera and computer will be down there next week so we can post some more pictures. Owen Coblentz is managing the project for 2 weeks and Loreen is doing the cooking . Thank you, Loreen, for cleaning up the sleeping quarters after the framing crews left.

Jan 27th

2011-01-27T19:59:00.000-08:00

Today was a beautiful day. Everyone got a lot of work done. One of the homes was completed with another to be completed by noon tomorrow and there is a good chance that the other homes will be completed except for the roofs. Everyone has worked really hard this week and are looking foward to going home. Tonight the church that is hosting us had a shrimp boil for us, and boy, did everyone chow down. Our cooks made dessert and it topped it off. Pray for saftey for those traveling home over the next few days. For those who are thinking about coming down here to work but haven't made up there mind, I guarantee, you will not be disappointed.

Jan 26th

2011-01-26T19:56:00.000-08:00

Today started out with a deliscious breakfast of baked french toast and grits. It was a beautiful day in New Iberia. Everyone worked hard and was wore out at the end of the day. The day ended with a meal of fried catfish, grilled shrimp skewers and fried shrimp. It doesn't get any better than that. Our cooks have been a real blessing to the workers. Thank you to all the cooks and those who work behind the scenes.

Fried Catfish

2011-01-26T19:49:00.000-08:00

Jan 25th

2011-01-25T18:54:00.000-08:00

Today the rains held off and we got a lot of work done despite the mud. Most of the houses should have the framing complete tomorrow and be starting on the siding. We have a lot of work to be done in 3 days so we ask for your prayers that we could work efficiently and get a lot accomplished. The picture above pretty much tells the story on the amount of rain we had.

Jan 24th

2011-01-24T14:55:00.000-08:00

Today started with everyone gathering at the jobsite for a kickoff to the framing blitz. People from the neighborhood were there as well as the representatives from MDS and S.M.H.A.(Southern Mutual Help Association). It was a very special time spent together. Later on in the day a local TV station was there interviewing some of us. They had a camera on the one job all day so they can do a time lapse video for the building process. It was a very nice day until the clouds moved in about 2:00 and chased us off. It is still raining at 5:00. Please pray that the rain would stop and that we can get a full day in tomorrow.

01/22

2011-01-22T12:22:00.000-08:00

Maple Grove's Tool Trailer leaving Hartville in the hands of John Miller, Dana Carey and Terry Miller. I hope it makes it!

Jan 20, 2011

2011-01-20T18:03:00.000-08:00

55 people from the Hartville area are packing their clothes and tools as they will be traveling to New Iberia this weekend. Some driving and others flying. The plan is to frame the five houses, complete with shingles, windows, doors and siding, in the next week. Thanks to the foundation crew who worked hard to get these ready!

Jan 16th

2011-01-16T12:56:00.000-08:00

There was a nice article In the Daily Iberian today. Tyler Miller is on the front page. Click on this link and it will take you to the article. Bud Lee brought me about 10 copies to bring home.http://www.iberianet.com/ At the bottom of the article is says, more of this story, but it will take you to the wrong article. Click on the word, Transitioning, at the top left corner of the picture and it will take you to the correct page.

Jan 14th

2011-01-14T18:53:00.000-08:00

Today was much warmer in the morning due to the cloud cover over night. We were able to get concrete much earlier this morning and were done pouring the last 2 houses by 1:00. Glens Coblentz, Opie Taylor, Eric Wehrlin, Rick Miller and Tyler Miller finished the concrete by 4:00 this afternoon. Nancy Beachy tried her skills at concrete work but decided she would stick to feeding us. Thank you to each one that came down here to do the foundations. The people are so glad to see the houses going up in their neighborhood. Looking foward to the framing crews to get here.

Jan 13th

2011-01-13T18:16:00.000-08:00

Today started out a little slow because of the cold weather. We were only able to pour concrete on house #3 and poured the trenches on the other 2 homes which will help us out on Friday when we have to finish them. Everyone is anxious to go back home. Tonight our plumber made Jambalaya for us. He brought 2 large foil pans to us. We didn't come close to eating it all but it was very delicious.

Jan 12th

2011-01-12T16:59:00.000-08:00

Today we got the rough plumbing done on house #5. We have our pre-pour inspection for house # 3&4 which we are planning on pouring tomorrow. JJ Robertson left today and Jim Miller and Blaine Miller are leaving Thur. morning. We told them we are praying their flights are cancelled due to all the snow so they can stay longer. It was a blessing to have them here to run the trac hoe and bobcat. This was JJ's first expierience like this and he said he would like to do it again. The temperature is going down to 25 degrees tonight but hopefully will warm up quickly so we can pour concrete.

Jan 11th

2011-01-11T19:33:00.000-08:00

We started out the day wanting to pour concrete on the 3rd house but were told that because it was going to get so cold tonight that we could not pour. After much discussion we decided to pour number 3 & 4 houses on Thursday when the tempertures will not get so cold in the evening. The New Iberia building code requires the temperature to be 40 degree's and rising in order to pour concrete. The last house is well under way and we will finish it on Friday. We stripped the forms on the first home and Blaine graded around the house. Tomorrow we will strip the forms on the 2nd house and do the grading.

Jan. 10th

2011-01-10T19:32:00.000-08:00

Today it was quite cold .We were told that nobody pours concrete here when it is this cold. We were the only job the concrete company and pump truck had today. Blaine made the cooks cry today because he said all they had to do was cook for us and then couldn't do that right. We are feeling better about finishing this week after today. It was supposed to rain almost 2 inches yesterday and as we watched the radar there was a hole over New Iberia. We prayed that the rain would pass over and we only had minimal rain. Each job goes smoother as we get a system going. To see more pictures click the link at the top right of this page where it says pictures.

Jan 8th

2011-01-08T16:40:00.000-08:00

Today we poured concrete on the first house. It was a beautiful day for pouring concrete. Monday we hope to be able to pour our next house. We are ready for rough plumbing on the 3rd house on Monday. Pray that the weather will stay good for pouring concrete. Tonight we went out to eat at Bon Creole. It is nothing fancy to say the least but their food is incredible. Everyone wants to go back and eat there again. John Diller left this morning and Tyler Miller is arriving this evening.

Jan 6th

2011-01-06T19:48:00.000-08:00

Today was a very good day. We got the rough plumbing inspection on our first home and hope to get another one inspected on Friday. After plumbing inspection we have to get the ground treated for termites and then we cover the ground with plastic and wire mesh to get our inspection before we pour concrete. We are planning to pour the first 2 houses on Tuesday. Glen Coblentz arrived today with 2 of his workers, Eric Wehrlin and Josh (Opie) Taylor. JJ Robinson also arrived today. Tonight we went to the S.M.H.A.( Southern Mutual Help Association) office for an introduction about what they do. They are the organization that is supplying the land and the materials for the homes. There seems to be a lot of interest in the homes being built. Our wonderful cooking crew made grilled catfish for dinner tonight and it was delicious. They sure are feeding us good down here.

Jan 5th

2011-01-05T18:49:00.000-08:00

Blaine Miller and Jim Miller arrived last night after a long delay in the Atlanta airport. I think we got to bed around 2 AM this morning.Today we finally got started digging the foundations. It rained a lot during the night so it was quite muddy when Blaine started taking the grass off the site. Right after most of the grass was stripped off we had a hard downpour but then it was very nice the rest of the day. It was about 70 degree's today.

Jan 3 & 4

2011-01-04T16:02:00.000-08:00

Monday we went to the jobsites and staked the buildings out. When we got to one site we found the temporary electric pole installed where the driveway was. The meter was not installed yet so we yanked the pole out and moved it out of the way. While we were eating lunch they came out and installed the meter. Tuesday started out a little slow but we were able to get some materials sent out to one job site and had work for most of the day.. We also put the grill together before lunch while waiting for the materials Blaine Miller and Jim Miller are coming in this evening so we will begin digging the footers on Wed. morning. Our cooks (Harold & Nancy Beachy and Paul & Ruth Miller) have been feeding us very good. Sunday evening the church that is hosting us cooked a very nice meal for us. Tonight (Tue.) the church is again providing the meal.

Time to Start

2010-12-31T14:05:00.000-08:00

Four churches from Hartville, Oh will beginning construction of Five house in New Iberia La. These churches are Maple Grove Mennonite, Hartville Mennonite, Bethany Mennonite and Cornerstone Mennonite. The first group will start the foundations on Monday January 3, 2011. The plan is to complete the project by the end of Febuary.