A Visit to Franklin, Louisiana

We arrived at UMCOR Sager-Brown in Baldwin, Louisiana, Sunday evening. 

We checked in and got our name tags and room keys.  We would be staying in Zook Hall.  Zook Hall is a one story long building at the back of the UMCOR Sager-Brown campus. 

It has a large women's bathroom, two smaller bathrooms and a very small toilet bathroom.  It has a living room right inside the front door.  It also has a laundry room in it with two side-by-side washer and dryers.  It also has several tables along the walls for folding laundry.  Also, the laundry rag and towels were also folded in this room for us to pick up as needed and use.  There were laundry basket style hampers in the bathrooms for used towels and rags to be dropped in and then they would be washed, dryed and returned to the stack of clean ones in the laundry room. 

I stayed in Room # 27 with Carole Hahn.  They put the names on the doors of the people staying in the room and the state they are from.  Usually people from same state or group are in same room. 

Here is what our room looked like.  There were 3 beds in it.  One is to the left of this picture.  The window looks out over the bayou.  The building's air conditioning unit was also outside our room so wasn't really that quiet. 

There were two hanging closets in the picture above and two dresser drawer units. 

The resident who stays in the room is advised to leave a note for the resident who will be

occupying the room next. 

Sunday night, before our mandatory orientation meeting, we drove to the nearby town of Franklin, Louisiana.  Sunday was one of the evenings that they don't provide a meal, but we went to the town of Franklin to eat dinner.  On arriving in the town, Pastor Debbie wanted me to take a picture or two of this cemetery above.  Since they bury people differently in Louisiana than we do here in Arkansas. 

The town of Franklin has these light posts in the medians.  They remind me of the light posts

that we have here in Hot Springs in the downtown area. 

Franklin had a lot of these plantation style homes similar to the one pictured above. 

There are a lot of really old live oak trees there.  Also pecan trees too. 

Baldwin or Bust!

I am sure you have all heard the saying before.  Well, I'm headed to UMCOR for a week of service.  We will be preparing a lot of flood buckets and health kits I'm told.  This will be my first time to go. 

We will be having breakfast at 7 a.m. and working in the depot from about 8 a.m. - 12:00 noon.  then we have lunch, then we will go back to the depot and work from 1 - 3:00 PM. 

Meals are provided except for on the way down and way back and Wednesday. 

We also are planning to go to Avery Island while we are there.  I think the plan is to tour the tobasco plant.  I am told there are gift shops both on Avery Island and at UMCOR.  That will be Wednesday.  Thursday evening is chapel night.  There are 3 preachers that will be there, two of them being Rev. Loyd and Rev. Debbie Perry. 

While I'm away, my parents will be keeping my dog, Holly for me in the evenings and nights. 

Holly had arrived at my parents place in above photo. 

Dad playing with Holly.

Holly settling in at my parent's place for the day. 

Lastly, Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there.  I hope you all have a wonderful mother's day with your children and for those whose mothers or children are up in heaven, may you feel their presence close to you on this special day. I celebrated Mother's Day earlier in the week with my mother and got her a bead for her Pandora bracelet.  Below is a picture of my mom with her gift from my sister. 

We traveled on Highway 7 through Arkadelphia.  We crossed over Lake DeGray. 
The picnic area right by the highway is pictured above. 
With all the rain we have had lately the lake is really up. 

This is Cross Lake above that we crossed over into Louisiana. 

There are LOTS of corn fields in the northern part of Louisiana as far as the eye can see.
Some of them have oil wells in them. 

Finally we arrived in Baldwin, Louisiana at our destination, UMCOR Sager-Brown.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers out there, including mine.  I love you very much!

What is Church?

Today we were asked to take a piece of paper and write down our answers to "What is church?"  Such a simple question, I'm sure many of you are probably thinking right?  So immediately I, as well as many others began to write out our list with our answer to "what is church?"

Now, what if I told you that you could only use 3 words to describe your answer to the question, "What is Church?"  Well, that was what we were asked to do today in Sunday School.  To answer in our own words and opinions "What is Church?" in just three words. 

When asked to do that, your answers may become a bit more selective or a bit more descriptive. 

Some of the answers that were given were a structure, a safehaven, a home,  a place of worship, a place of fellowship, just to name a few. 

From all the answers that were given. perhaps the best definition might be "the church is a structure which serves as a place of worship and fellowship, as well as a saehaven all the while providing acceptance, charity, generosity, love and a sense of belonging to it's members and visitors alike."

Today, Pastor George preached on the story of
the Woman at the Well.  

Jesus and the Woman at the Well
Photo by: Gary Chapman / Getty Images



John 4:1-40.

Woman at the Well 

Traveling from Jerusalem in the south to Galilee in the north, Jesus and his disciples took the quickest route, through Samaria. Tired and thirsty, Jesus sat by Jacob's Well, while his disciples went to the village of Sychar, about a half mile away, to buy food. It was about noon, the hottest part of the day, and a Samaritan woman came to the well at this inconvenient time, to draw water.


In his encounter with the woman at the well, Jesus broke three Jewish customs: first, he spoke to a woman; second, she was a Samaritan woman, a group the Jews traditionally despised; and third, he asked her to get him a drink of water, which would have made him ceremonially unclean from using her cup or jar. This shocked the woman at the well.


Then Jesus told the woman he could give her “living water” so that she would never thirst again. Jesus used the words living water to refer to eternal life, the gift that would satisfy her soul's desire only available through him. At first, the Samaritan woman did not fully understand Jesus' meaning.


Although they had never met before, Jesus revealed that he knew she had had five husbands and was now living with a man who was not her husband. Jesus now had her attention!


As they talked about their two views on worship, the woman voiced her faith that the Messiah was coming. Jesus answered, "I who speak to you am he." (John 4:26)


As the woman began to grasp the reality of her encounter with Jesus, the disciples returned. They were equally shocked to find him speaking to a woman. Leaving behind her water jar, the woman returned to town, inviting the people to "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did." (John 4:29)

Excited by what the woman told them, the Samaritans came from Sychar and begged Jesus to stay with them.


So Jesus stayed two days, teaching the Samaritan people about the Kingdom of God.  When he left, the people told the woman, "... we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world." (John 4:42)


Points of Interest from the Story of the Woman at the Well:


• The Samaritans were a mixed race people, who had intermarried with the Assyrians centuries before. They were hated by the Jews because of this cultural mixing, and because they had their own version of the Bible and their own temple on Mount Gerizim.


• The woman at the well came to draw water at the hottest part of the day, instead of the usual morning or evening times, because she was shunned and rejected by the other women of the area for her immorality. Jesus knew her history but still accepted her and ministered to her.


• By reaching out to the Samaritans, Jesus showed that his mission was to the entire earth, not just the Jews. In the book of Acts, after Jesus' ascension into heaven, his apostles carried on his work in Samaria and to the Gentile world.


• Ironically, while the High Priest and Sanhedrin rejected Jesus as the Messiah, the outcast Samaritans recognized him and accepted him for who he truly was: the Savior of the world.

Our human tendency is to judge others because of stereotypes, customs or prejudices. Jesus treats people as individuals, accepting them with love and compassion.  What a wonderful thought to end with.   



Good Day Sunshine

Okay so Friday was yet another snow day.  After going into work, we hadn't stayed there long and everyone went home.  My dad drove me home in my car then drove home in it.  Mom cleaned out my car too while they had it.  They would have done outside too but I had to get my dog to the vet to get her annual vaccinations and vet wasn't opened too much longer.  They are awesome like that. 

After that, I went to their place for a little while, then drove home for a while when mom went out shopping.  Later, we went and had Mexican at On the Border and then went mom and dad's place for dessert and a movie. 

We settled in and I began to open my presents.  My mom made lemon pie.  My favorite!  Thanks Mom!  I <3 you!

After presents and pie, we settled down to watch the new movie, Secretariat.  Definitely two thumbs up. 

Thankfully, the sun came out this morning and was out all day today melting the snow away.  Hello sunshine. 

Hooray for a Snow Day

Snow is something that we here in Arkansas don't see a lot of very often. 

It is also very rare that we see this much snow here in Central Arkansas.  

People react in 1 of 2 ways when we hear snow is predicted. 

We either run to the nearest Wal-Mart, Kroger or other grocery store for bread, milk, eggs and any other foods that we may find to be comfort food or that we enjoy or we put off going to the store until the last minute.  I would fit into the first type.  I knew there was a chance of bad weather, either snow or sleet this weekend, so I went to Kroger and purchased some groceries, including the milk and eggs among other groceries and came home. 

Sunday afternoon, as we were at Pizza Hut eating lunch with friends from church,

a few snow flurries began to fall.  Upon finishing lunch, everyone headed home, but some headed to the grocery store to grab a few necessary items as the snow flurries were beginning to stick. 

Here are just a few pictures from our snowy Sunday and Monday.