Weekly report for New Iberia

Part of being in MDS is that one forms many friendships, but at the end of the week or month or two, one needs to say good-bye. The long-term staff will be leaving on the weekend. We pray for safe travels to all the volunteers as they head home and to those that may run into some weather conditions that have been forecasted as not very good. It was a wonderful week with 12 volunteers that came from Diller Mennonite, Pennsylvania; four young men from Mifflintown, Pennsylvania; George and Mae Stoltzfus from Pennsylvania and Dianne and Doug Roeder from Ontario. Much was accomplished not only on the homes, but also at the MDS site in order to shut it down. This site will now be occupied by an RV group to finish up the three new builds. The homeowners are getting very excited to move in. This is what was accomplished this week.

Mr. Frank’s house: Kitchen cabinets are in place. Painting is completed except for the bathroom. All doors are hung.

Ms. Woogie’s house:  Kitchen cabinets are installed. Window casing completed. Bedroom doors hung, completely painted except for the bathroom.

Ms. Elouise’s house: Kitchen cabinets installed and sink cut in. Painting all completed. Window trim almost completed. Doors hung.

On Wednesday, March 25 the New Iberia MDS team received a visit from a local dignitary, Mr. Neil. Neil’s position in the community is the Director of Planning for Franklin and also the Building Inspector. Neil and his wife enjoyed a hearty dinner with our group and after dinner Neil shared some of his life with us. Neil has lived in the New Iberia area since 1957. College football was the reason he relocated to this area. After college, Neil worked in the oil industry. Neil spent the next five years working the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Neil then spent numerous years working in community service and then the oil business called him back. Neil’s college education was in building and construction and that is still his passion today. Neil then shared a few stories of how he and his community reacted to hurricane Andrew. Neil rallied the local sugar cane farmers and their equipment to help in the clean up efforts. His stories of the disaster and the community working as a team were very heartwarming. 

Neil shared with the group the devastation of Hurricane Ike and appreciation of MDS’s response to the community. Responding, rebuilding and restoring the community and lives of the people here are a true blessing received from the Lord both to the community and MDS teams that have served in New Iberia 

Neil stated numerous times through out the evening how appreciative he and the community of Franklin is to MDS.

The story of Mr. Neil’s story was written by Steven Blessing, Diller Mennonite, Pennsylvania.

Goodbye from all the long-term staff in New Iberia.