We got back to Houma on Tuesday from our time in FL where we attended the SECC Pastor’s Conference and then had Mary Jo’s dad’s memorial service. 

At the conference we got to catch up with some friends and hear what all The LORD is doing around the globe with different churches, ministries, and people and the teaching was titled "Standing Strong In Jesus" taught from the book of 1 Thessalonians and was great!  Here’s the link to the teachings should you want to listen to them, and it won’t be a waste of your time, especially if you’re serve The LORD in any way so that should be all of you who are reading this!

The memorial service went well even though it was hard to say our final good-byes on this earth.  Mary Jo did a great job giving tribute to her dad and I was able to share some as well.  If you’re interested in watching any of it, click the name of the part or whole that you wish to view, Mary Jo, Curt, whole service.

We got right back at it once we got unpacked.  I was able to visit all the homes we’re serving at and talk with the contractor, Martin, who’s also helping them as we continue to move as quickly as we can to get folks back in their homes.  We also took care of a small electrical issue on a home that wasn’t one of ours, but we’re always glad to help do what we can, when we can!

The part of the property where we’re living lost electricity due to a lizard nest and Paul being a master electrician was able to trouble shoot it and get it back up and running!  His wife, Gina, was also able to visit with him for a week while we were gone, and they got to spend some quality time together!

We got our van back from the shop.  The fuel pump was bad and had to be replaced.  We also had the oil changed and tires rotated.  The motor wasn’t sounding right and Troy, our mechanic, didn’t want to let it go until he tracked it down.  Something to do with a sparkplug wire, but he fixed it, and all seems well.  I had also purchased new shocks for the van to replace myself, but just too busy so they installed them for us.  All in all, wasn’t bad for $700!

Thankfully our V10 made it back without issues because on Thursday we started hearing noises from the front brakes.  Turns out that the calipers that were replaced 2 years ago went bad.  I had a lifetime warranty on the calipers, but it didn’t cover new rotors and pads!  Also had a brake light out and one of my windshield washer sprayers broke!  I was able to do the work myself for a little over $400!  But it did take me out of the field for about a day.

We’re finally getting a few friends coming to help us!  Mike, aka-Twinkle Toes-who has served with us many times over the past few years, will be arriving this week to serve with us for 2 ½ weeks!  It’s always a blessing to hang with him!

Coming up in a couple of weeks a group from Calvary Frontlines will be joining us.  We served with them in Arkansas/Oklahoma a couple years ago and have remained good friends since then!  We’re looking forward to serving with them as well!

Here's an update on the homes we’re serving at:

• Ms Pat—Some of her family has decided to step up and help finish the work that needs done on her home.  This is great and what we wish many family members did the same to help their families who are going through difficult times like this!  We were told that they will take over everything and hire contractors, etc. for all that needs done so we will no longer be needed.  All in all, we spent 100’s of volunteer hours at her home.  We tarped her roof, cleared about a dozen or so trees to the road, cleaned out a lot of damaged and older items to the curb, and broke our backs (ha-ha) doing the tear out!  Martin and I also spent countless hours behind the scenes trying to get pictures and documentation together for the insurance company to get her the monies due her.  All the insurance paperwork was completed and turned in by Martin, and the insurance company told him that they should have a better settlement this coming week.  We were blessed to get to know Ms Pat in spite of the storm!  We wish her well and I’m sure we’ll still see her around while we’re here!

• Donna & Keith.  Kitchen cabinets and bath vanity will be delivered this week and we’ll start installing them.  Trim is almost done, flooring is done, doors installed, and appliances have been delivered!  While I was gone, Paul trimmed out most of the electrical and we should finish that up this week as well.  We’re getting close on the inside and then we’ll take care of the outside.  We’re still waiting for some insurance stuff to get settled to do all that needs done, but it’s not keeping us from moving forward.

• Ms Bonnie-Moving forward here as well.  Floors should start soon and we’re making some changes to the walls in the hallway and kitchen.  We’re hoping to get started on the walls and work on the outside as soon as we finish the kitchen cabinets at Martinez.  Bonnie still needs to be careful and works to hard with all her cancer issues and now she is going to have hand surgery soon and will be down for a while after that.  Please keep her needs in your prayers!

• Ms Marilyn-The insurance company came up with another $14k for her home and we’re still hoping for about another $5k which they told Martin we should know this week.  The original amount was only $16k so this is great news!  The outside of her home still needs some work and now with more funds we’re hoping to get going on that soon.  You may remember that she has a $10k deductible, so that’s 1/3 of her damages.  We’re still hoping to get as much done as we without her having to come up with the deductible.  She lives on SS and has some medical issues, including a pacemaker which she just had to have replaced.  I also helped her with her new insurance policy to get her deductible down to about $3k going forward.  So much, so many don’t understand about insurance!

• Ms Linda-We had quite a fiasco with her roofing company who I told her was not a decent company to work with.  They tried charging her $10,000 for stuff that they didn’t do.  I went round and round with them and they finally agreed that she didn’t owe them the extra money!  Still waiting to meet with the guys doing the outside of her home and may have to find someone else to do the work if it doesn’t happen soon.  Would really like to get her finished and she’s close!

• Ms Cynthia-The insurance company finally proposed another amount.  Her original settlement was only for $17k and they upped it to $50k!  If you haven’t figured it out yet, insurance companies are not a good neighbor and are not on your side!  There’s still a couple more things they need to cover, but work on the inside of her home finally started last week!  Believe it or not, she needs a new front door.  It is a double door, and they are saying it will be almost 2 months to be delivered, so pray this would change as it will hold us up!  She also has a deductible over $9k and as you may remember became a widow a few days after Ida hit.

• Ms Cindy-She received a small amount of money from FEMA to help with the repairs.  CAM, the Mennonite group we love and serve alongside often, has replaced her roof and has hung all the sheetrock and wall board.  We rewired her entire home and Paul trimmed out enough of it so that Cindy could move back in!  One of Cindy’s relatives helped her insulate the walls.  She’s moving along fine, but still more to do!

• Shane and Deserey-This will more than likely be our biggest project now that we’re no longer serving at Ms Pats.  We’re still waiting on the insurance company to do something.  An appraiser is scheduled to come out this week, but he was supposed to be here 2 weeks ago.  Everything is at a standstill.

• Brad and his father-See them often and I doubt we’ll be doing anything to help them as he has it under control and believes he’s got enough insurance money so this will be the last update on them unless something changes.

• Living Word Mission House-this is a new add.  Right next to where we stay is a small home that the church uses to house missionaries who come to the area.  Among a lot of other damages, this home had its roof torn off.  The roof has been replaced and it’s been mostly remediated.  We told them we’d do what we could to help get it back together in between things.

Folks still contact us to see if we can help them and unfortunately, we can’t take on anything else.  Please keep this area in your prayers.  Many are still without electricity, some are still living in tents, and a lot of them are living in RV’s that FEMA provided for temporary housing.  They set up a FEMA camp that we can see from where we live.  I’m told there are over 500 RV’s there!  Living Word is ministering to them and providing food twice a month.

Sorry, we’re really bad at getting pictures lately so none attached!

If you’re interested in growing in The LORD as you selflessly serve others alongside of Calvary Relief, please let us know!  For more info on joining us, click here.

If you’re interested in helping with any of the expenses with Calvary Relief, please click here.

If there’s ever anything you need prayer about or just need to talk to someone, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us and let us know!

Love y’all and LORD Bless,

Curt & Mary Jo