During the week on April 28th The Early Show on CBS will be doing a daily update each morning for the segment "Tradgedy to Triumph". Check out their website here for the latest photos, videos and discussion or tune in all this week to "The Early Show" to watch the segments.

The team safely made it home yesterday between our two worship services. The drive home went a bit quicker than their drive to Kansas, thanks to the lack of snow! Continue to keep the team in prayer as they adjust back into a normal routine of work etc. Also continue praying for the people of Kansas that they have helped. Pray that this team would have a long lasting impact on the people of Greensburg.

Today we split into 5 work teams. Darrel, Denise, Mary, Jolene and Kristen went to the Paul Unruh house to prep for installation of radiant floor heat. Abe and Josh Bender went to the same house (farm) to work on fence repair. Their farm was completely destroyed during the tornado.

Chris, Brian Huber, Ken, Brian Hess, Andrea and Heather went to the Brown House. Chris continued working on the hvac while the others prepped, painted and backfilled around the house. Heather and Andrea worked on their 'skid loader skills'.

For some reason electricians don't carry cameras. Mahlon (MDS rep) and Josh V went to the Guyette house to do electrical work. Charlie, John and Mike went to the Newell house to perform wiring in the basement. After dinner the crew went to the local high school to play some 2 hand touch.

Contunue to keep this team in your prayers as they begin to wrap up the work week. Continue to pray for the safety of the team on the job sites. Pray also that as they have already made relationships with the people of Greensburg that those people will have a lasting impact from this team who left the comfort of home, family, and friends to help rebuild a town devestated by this tornado. We can praise God for giving them safety and health so far and that the team was even able to minister in this way. Praise God for all of the work that this team is accomplishing at so many different peoples homes!

The team has already completed another day of work. It is difficult to believe that it is already day 3! Today the weather in Greensburg reached a high of 71 degrees.

Not a lot of changes in the work locations - Abe and Jolene joined John, Andrea and Mary at the Kansas house (the house around the corner from where we are living). The first picture depicts the local 'lawlessness' - a trained golden retriever that steals work gloves. The work at the Kansas house included installing the window frame for the egress window in the basement, Jolene painting in the house, Abe working on the front porch, Mahlon (our super-supervisor) - he's 78 and still hard at it! Mike and Ken showed up late in the afternoon to help remove the forms on the garage - for a short time, Mike was 'big-man' on site. One of the families on site (Roger and Buffi Bashore) have 2 kids. In the afternoon, Buffi, Abe and Jolene went to a local farm to install fencing. Abe took Buffi's kids (Courtney and Nathan) for a ride on the tractor. I think the kids will miss us - there's been a lot of fun going on in the afternoon (football and wiffleball).

Well day 2 started very similar to day 1. The job sites were the same but there were some small changes in the teams. The Kansas house team was John, Daryl, Andrea and Mary. The St Johns roof team was Ken, Josh, Brian Hess, Brian Huber, Mike, Abe, Jolene and Heather. The Brown house was Chris, Denise and Kristen in the AM. Daryl joined them in the afternoon. The girls performed sanding and painting at the Kansas house while Daryl and John used a cut saw to open up a big hole in the basement for a new egress.

John tells me that today's weather brought temperatures to around 70 degrees. He tells me that's why all of the team members working on the roof job have tans!

The HVAC team continued work at the Brown House. Chris was impressed by the work Kristen and Denise performed especially Denise's skill with cutting, threading and installing black pipe.

The team also sent a couple of "fun photos". John said that the team is enjoying the meals and they have had fantastic weather. Tonight the team played wiffle ball after after dinner.

Continue to keep this team in your prayers as they continue to accomplish work in the town of Greensburg. Pray for energy and good nights rest as they prepare for the day tomorrow.

Today the group started their first day of work. They were split into four work teams. John kept us up to date with who is in each team and a brief idea of what they are working on. You can look at the photos (by clicking on the photos button) and see a few photos from each teams site except for team 4 because neither of them had a camera.

Team 1 consists of Ken, Josh B, Brian Hess, Brian Huber, Michael, Abe and Jolene and they are working on "St. John's Roof Job".

Team 2 consists of John, Andrea, Mary and Heather and they are working on drywall in a home.

Team 3 included Chris, Daryl, Denise and Kristen. This team worked on the "Brown House" and was working on HVAC related projects.

Team 4 is Charlie and Josh and they worked on electrical projects at the "Wedei House."

Remember to keep the team in prayer as they interact with the people of Kansas and continue to work on rebuilding these homes. Pray for safety as they work on these various projects whether it be on a roof or wiring up electrical panels. Keep posted to the blog for more updates and photos throughout the week!

The team has safely arrived in Kansas. They arrived on site around 7:00 tonight and have settled into the bunkhouses. John says that they are looking forward to working tomorrow. The entire team will be divided into three smaller teams for work tomorrow.

Be sure to keep checking the blog each night. John Wingenfield will send an update via email that will be posted on the blog. I (Jeremy Denlinger) will post the information and pictures as soon as possible. Remember to keep the team in your prayers tomorrow as they head out to the work site. According to my research it will be sunny tomorrow and about 60 degrees.

The team gathered today at Pequea church, along with many family and friends. Everyone's luggage was divided into two vans that will make the trip to Kansas. Everyone who was there gathered in the church's welcome center for prayer. Brian Hess, the team leader, announced that due to heavy snow in Ohio, the team will be taking a bit of a detour in order to hopefully travel through areas where the snow is ending early this afternoon. Unfortunately for the team, this means a longer ride but hopefully this will prove to be a safer route. After this short announcement, everyone gathered around the team for a prayer send off. Shortly there after the rain really started to come down!

Pray for the team today as they travel for about 23-25 hours straight through from PA. Pray for the teams of drivers that will be driving through rainy and snowy conditions. Pray also for the team as they arrive in Greensburg. The team is planning on beginning work on Monday. Keep posted to this blog for daily updates and photos from Kansas. Subscribe to the RSS feed (upper right hand corner of this page) to ensure that you receive the most recent update!

Pequea Church is partnering with MDS (Mennonite Disaster Service) and sending a team of 16 people help in the tornado ravaged town of Greensburg, Kansas. This small town was hit directly by an F5 tornado on Friday May 4, 2007. The tornado wiped out over 95% of homes and ten people died as a result of the tornadoes. The tornado was estimated by the National Weather Service to be 1.7 miles in width and traveled nearly 22 miles with winds reaching over 200 miles per hour. Within hours, teams form MDS were in the area doing cleanup. This team will head to Kansas to continue to rebuild this community.

The group will leave Pequea Church at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday March 8th from the back parking lot. Anyone who is able to participate can join the team for prayer prior to their departure. Be in prayer for the team now as they prepare to go. Pray for health and safety for the team prior to this trip. Pray also for the town of Greensburg in advance of this teams arrival there. You will be able to check this blog throughout the week for updates and pictures! Subscribe to the RSS feed in the upper right hand corner, or just keep checking this page for the most recent entry.