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We are organizing district-wide mission projects for the Shreveport district and want to include every church in the district. Below are some pictures from our recent work days. Contact us to get your church get involved!

Just a reminder we are working in Plain Dealing every third Saturday. We meet at Plain Dealing UMC at 9 am for coffee and snacks and then send our teams out. If you have any questions or need any additional information call Tom Dungan at 949-3612 or 564-8644.

Here it is the third Saturday in May already and we will again meet at Plain Dealing UMC at 9 am for our monthly district mission zone work day, We have a front porch painting project on Gray Circle that is a adult work team need and a ceiling that needs mud and tape to finish up our April efforts at the Williams home. Please give me a call if you planning to join us so we will have a head count for materials and lunch. Thanks for the great response and the hard work this spring give me a call to plan summer work day teams Tom Dungan District VIM coordinator 949-3612 or 564-8644.

PLAIN DEALING MISSION ZONE

Two sisters, Patsy Schmutz of Kansas City, Missouri, and LaMarylis Cotten of Greensburg, Louisiana, brought mission teams (some 15 total) from their respective churches to work in Plain Dealing, Louisiana. The average age of the volunteers was in the sixties. This, however, did not prevent them from accomplishing major work during the four and one-half days they were in Plain Dealing.

One house needed scraping and painting. Another needed a roof repaired over the back bedroom A third house needed renovations in a bathroom to make it possible for a woman of 98 to comfortably take a bath - especially in cold weather when the wind blew through wall board that had curled up around the tub. Number four needed minor painting done to cover repairs recently done by the Shreveport District VIM team on the soffit and fascia boards above a deteriorating carport. Two other projects requiring tearing out and replacing ceiling tile in one home and building a ramp at the other were "if we can get to it" jobs.

God has a wonderful way of providing what you need. Included in the teams of eager and willing workers were two sisters (professional house painters by trade and Baptists who heard about the VIM project and wanted to help) and a Social Security supervisor who took a carpentry course in plumbing to prepare for the week. What the others lacked in skill was made up with determination to learn and to work.

The old home needing painting was, to put it politely, an eyesore. Painting it was, as one of the team put it, "Like putting lipstick on a pig." The tin roof needed nailing down and painting itself. Replacing the wallboard around the bath would be like putting a patch of "new cloth" on an old garment. Re-roofing the flat roof over the back bedroom would be patching something that would see the same problem return. Painting a few feet of soffit and fascia board would make the rest of the carport and house front look tacky,

"Going the second mile" became the rule for the combined teams. The old house needing paint was scraped and painted in two and one-half days. The team felt something needed to be done to the roof. After negotiations with a local tree-trimming company, a truck with a cherry-picker was lined up and the roof painted. The flat roof became a gabled roof. In addition, the painting crew came along and painted the house. The few feet of soffit and fascia painting saw the entire front and carport painted. The replacing of the wall board became tearing out the wall board (1 x 6 old pine) and putting in insulation, sealing the window above the tub, and restoring the original pine wall board. Bright new wall board around the entire bath room was installed, fixtures re-plumbed, and hung. New hand rails were installed.

The team did much more than "what was required," they did what was needed. Over and above each team members $100.00 contribution for supplies, the team paid for the coast of the cherry-picker truck, a commercial spray painter, and the paint for the roof.

The team leaders, one a local church program director and the other a pastor in the Louisiana Annual Conference who needed to get together and do something together; four elderly widows, two Afro-American and two white, whose dwellings were made more comfortable with added protection from the elements; and three teams from Kansas City, Greensburg, and Plain Dealing, all of whom made new friends and grew exponentially in their faith.




	The previous pictures are the work of the VIM Team on October 1 - 5, 2007 in Plain Dealing.

Our first mission zone project October 7, 2006 Mr. Henry Williams , 76 years old, 412 South Perrin. Plain Dealing.	May 12, 2007 Six men joined the men of Sibley UMC to help them build their first ramp in Sibley. The Sibley UMC ladies provided lunch at the work site.

May 5, 2007 Mrs. Jessie Parry blind had two outside doors that could not be locked both doors frames were repaired and one door knob and lock was replaced.	Mrs. Mary Clay 75 years old suffered a stroke and needed porch repair and a ramp built on her house at 176 DeMoss Hill Plain Dealing. Kickoff day May 5, 2007 North Highlands Ramp Buddies and District helpers.

Mrs. Jessie Parry 578 DeMoss Hill had old roof damage that caused water damage to the fascia and sofet over her carport. The roof had been repaired but not the over hang	Mrs. Ruby Gay June 16, 2007 added hand rails to her ramp and worked on her front screen door. A group from Mansfield UMC had rebuilt her porch roof.

July 21,2007 Plain Dealing District Mission team project phase on front porch of Mary Katherine Daigle's home. Our crew removed the roof and beams that had rotted and were collapsing. Before & After.