Service Trip 2011 7/28

Gator Hunting

Youth Director Emily Nelson Dixon always makes sure service trippers take in the local culture. 

This year was gator hunting.

After a day‘s work, youth teams headed south for a sunset cruise on the Louisiana bayou.

Covering heads with protective headphones, the group cruised along s-shaped canals on airboats loud enough to wake the dead.

Guides wound teens and their leaders through narrow forests of live oak trees, dangling moss, cattail communes, pastel blossoms and one-legged herons. 

But the gators shined.

Our guide stopped in a quiet bend, then produced a wiggly reptile.

He pulled a 15-inch yearling from a cooler to screams of delighted passengers. Hand under neck, another near belly, he passed the gator around for those who dared to hold.  Another guide roped his boat to ours, tossed marshmallows overboard inviting a two-footer to the airboat’s edge. With a sudden hand-lunge, he snatched the varmint for show.

More screams by a startled crew. 

The 20-inch alligator wiggled, and then relaxed into the guide’s hand.  Courageous teens took turns handing the wild thing and the last one tossed him back. 

Our guide fired up the boat for a final stop.  He located a five-foot gator that he and another guide named Elvis. Guide Gerry tossed marshmallows into the water saying alligators are attracted to white. Elvis swam closer. 

            The guide reached for his neck, then under his belly almost capturing him. Elvis resisted and rolled away. Marshmallow by marshmallow, the guide brought him back. Each time, the same thing. The guide settled on petting Elvis like a beloved dog.

“I love my job, but that’s as close as I’m going to get without getting hurt,” he said. 

Restoring Legaux

Robin and Karen Legaux were out of town in Atlanta as Katrina brewed. 

They moved their daughter, a recent graduate from the university, to a new apartment. Their relatives said to stay there. Don’t even think about coming home now.

Karen listened to reports about a hurricane ramping up near the gulf. It made her nervous to leave the house vacated. She worried about vandals, and then there were her folks. 

Would they be alright she wondered.

Karen and Robin weighed their options and made a decision. 

“We moved her in and we stayed, too,” she said.

It would be two months before the Legaux’s set eyes on their house, a year before they moved back and six until Robin, a do-it-your-self homeowner would accept the help of volunteers Karen said.

“He wants to do it himself,” she said. “We’ve been buying supplies piece by piece.”

Karen said this is a banner week for the couple, though, as Rolling Hills and several churches accelerated restoration in the couple’s home.

“It’s very big and moving very fast,” she said. 

Earlier in the week another group put up dry wall. Midweek Rolling Hills laid tar paper, backer board and tiles to nearly complete their kitchen floor. Karen said it has been tough for her to live in a house that is constantly under construction. She works full time then returns home at the end of the day to a make-shift kitchen, dining room, make-shift everything. She has tried to be patient.

“I shouldn’t have to live like this,” she said. “It’s the human side of me.”

The Legaux’s said they are extremely grateful for the work of the Rolling Hills youth. Robin, who loves to swing a hammer, said he enjoyed working alongside the teens, showing them tricks of the trade.  Both were amazed at the teen’s abilities to handle the tools.

“It’s a very deep blessing to have a group of volunteers from their school break that come down to help,” he said. “I started building my home by myself.”

Between bypass surgery, an infection and losing his job, Robin said he now welcomes the help.

“God is good,” Robin said. “He sent me the people to help me put my house back together.”

He said with the rapid progress the youth team made this week he can see his way to full restoration. “They’re so excited to do, and picking up so quickly on what to do,” he said. “It’s a blessing on my part and their part. With the knowledge I have and the knowledge they have we are helping each other a lot.”

Erin Penner, 14, worked at the Legaux home today.

“It’s awesome,” she said. “It’s great to know you’re helping so many people and it’s real fun to do it. You would never do these things normally.”

Bennett Weaver, 14, grouted and laid tile. He plans to take his new skills home.

“To help people less fortunate than me,” he said. “I would love to do that.”

Group Six gives a gift

Group Six donated a birdhouse to the Legaux family this morning. 

The teens felt moved to gift the birdhouse to Karen and Robin Legaux after helping restore their kitchen.  Each small group built a birdhouse this week, representing the importance of building a strong spiritual foundation. 

Liz Gray, 16, Group Six member, said they discussed several options on what to do with the birdhouse. They eventually decided that Karen and Robin deserved it the most.

“We were so inspired by them and their story,” Liz said. “We wanted them to be able to remember us.”