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Monday pm, Jan. 1, 2007
Happy New Year! Our group of 12 college students and five non-college-student-adults gathered yesterday at 6:30am to begin the process of packing and heading out on this Gulfport, Mississippi, mission trip. (Special thanks to Susan Klockow for assisting us in the multi-faceted ordeal of packing and for the good snacks!) Actually, we didn't all gather, because we picked up two friends in St. Louis and one in Memphis on the way.
Wednesday am, Jan. 3, 2007 Yep, that's all I got written on New Years and I'll pick up from there as we have an hour to spare this morning - I'll get to why in a bit.
So, we left Columbia in great shape and time. The rental van that Jimmy had picked up for us in St. Louis had a little shimmy and shake to it, so we stopped off to trade it in for another 12 passenger that has less of a unique feel to it. Big vans are never rattle or shake free, but our two have been good to us so far on this trip… I won't say that out loud for fear that we'll have a repeat of last trip's nightmare return with the rental. (The extra day and a half in Jackson, Mississippi, came flashing back to us as we drove through on Sunday.)
Our drive progressed well and we arrived at New Orleans parked and ready to experience New Years Eve in the city at 9:00pm. Our group of 17 stayed in clusters of coed fours and had a safe and entertaining evening. The city had festivities planned at Jackson Square which included a rockin' band, a ball drop and amazing fireworks. It was as crowded as you might expect, but everyone was safe and sound together as we took it all in. We met back at the vans at 1:00am to head to First Christian, Gulfport where we unloaded and crashed for the night.
First Christian is a mission cite for "Disciples Disaster Response" and has been since it was repaired after the storm. The good people of this church (average attendance of around 25 on Sunday mornings) allowed their church to be fit with three great showers and a variety of class rooms that we are allowed to inhabit through the weeks. The kitchen is great for groups of 20 and the fellowship hall area is just right for us all to eat around four pushed-together tables. The church also transformed two rooms into storage that has great shelving for well organized tools. The funding has been good for the acquisition of additional tools as needed, but we've only needed to pick up one extra thing as their compilation is impressive already. The sanctuary has been completed in the last month and it gorgeous. They have beautiful, thick carpet, white walls and ceiling, refinished pews and a remade chancel area. This is a wonderful church building and although we have only met the minister, Nick, and his wife, the people here must be great as well to have this facility for groups like ours.
Monday morning we got ourselves around, organized our personal things and the group's things a bit better and began by cleaning up the two lots to the east of the church. We piled debris next to the curb for the city to pick up and even got rid of all of the dead weeds in the parking lot. To make sure that they don't have more weeds pop up any time soon, three ladies sprayed all the cracks as well. The next lot is just an empty lot that had debris and stuff growing up everywhere. There are still trees down in many places as well. Our group not only cleaned it up, but weed-eated it as well. They sawed off low hanging branches and were overall very conscientious of what would help the morale of the area with our efforts.
After that work, we all hopped into the church van and went to see the bridge that went from Biloxi to Ocean Springs before the storm. This summer the bridge was all folded in and crazy looking, but they have started rebuilding right next to where the old bridge had been. Progress is cool to see.
We also went by John's house that we helped with this summer. We were in awe of the work that has continued as John and his mother have continued working full time and everything else… it was inspiring. Their house is the best on the block, for sure.
The sun was setting on our way home and we tried to stop on the beach to see it. Heck if the sun doesn't go down very quickly here though and we basically watched it from the moving van and then got out on the beach to remember where the sun had been. It is always neat for a bunch of mid-westerners to be on the beach though - sunset or not.
The group enjoyed Anna Catherine's good casserole that she lovingly sent along with us for supper along with some additional soft tacos. Jimmy and Eric were our main chefs on Monday night because Amy Kay, Craig and Tim went to look at a roofing job that our group was suppose to have started working on.
All we knew was that the roof was on a trailer and we had a few sets of directions that we were trying to follow to get ourselves to the site. Unfortunately, it was dark and the roads were akin to that of the Ozarks… but we made it after a few redirecting calls to the home owner along the way. The roof was in desperate need of attention. It had fallen in on them the day before in a bedroom. There was a big leak in another area that we were told about as we climbed up to assess the situation. Craig and Tim figured out what supplies would be needed which was a big job because over half of the roof was "soft" - like I was worried that we would fall in if we didn't stay on the center beam which seemed to be solid in most places. Supplies were going to be donated by a friend of the home owner which was wonderful news because the shingles that she had were of three different varieties that she had picked up from here and there apparently. They would have done the job, but I think having fresh supplies that are all the same will be better in a number of ways.
We were pleasantly greeted by Tom and his daughter Monique on Monday evening. Unfortunately, Monique had a cold and couldn't stay to work with us (she lives in New Orleans), but Tom was ready to hop right into the group's dynamics. We went into the evening's Vespers led by Jessi in the sanctuary where unity was uplifted. We have a musical group down here and I look forward to future evenings of Vespers as the nights continue on.
Tuesday morning we woke up, had breakfast and half of the group went to work on a dry walling project while the other half picked up the lot a block to the west of the church. Two of our members went to the Harrison County Volunteer Center and checked in on work orders that had been filed throughout the last half of the year. They did a lot of calling and were involved in the base work of the recovery operation. Perhaps one of them will write for us, because their story really needs to be shared through their own voice. If they have time, they may share something of their day(s) with us through the last part of our week.
The dry walling group patched some cracks and seemed to have enjoyed playing with the puppy that rules the home. They had the expert leadership of Ashley who is a professional painter and just happens to be a part of our group - nice! They needed to let the mud dry, so the group came back to the church and continued on with the cleaning of the lot. They went back to try to finish up the mudding work, but it still wasn't dry, so this morning Craig and Tom ran back over to finish up. They said it would only take fifteen or so minutes.
The group who began in the lot got a returned call from John who invited us over to help prime the newly sided exterior of the house. Yippee! It was fun to continue the work there and he and his mother Bonnie were so lovely to be with. When we pulled up, one person in our group said that we would never get the house all primed before the sun went down (we pulled up at 1:20pm), but we actually knocked it out in two and a half hours! We had eight from our group and John primed as well. We didn't have an extension ladder, so we couldn't quite get the peak done, but John said he would borrow his church's ladder this morning and finish it off. We pulled out hoping to be back today to paint and just leaving it up to the forecast. Rain has been looming.
Last night we enjoyed a family styled supper of roast, mashed potatoes and green beans with "church windows" by Kathleen for dessert and we had a special guest in our midst. Nick, the minister of this church, came to join us and shared with our group much of his storm story and how this congregation and town are adjusting to life after a natural disaster. It was an educational time for us and we are thankful that Nick makes visiting with groups a part of his ministry.
After cleaning up supper, we had a great time of reflective sharing about our day. It was good to hear from one another about what stood out for each of us through our happenings. After our all group chat, a rousing game of spoons ensued with the reigning champion, Alisha, prevailing once again. There were only two injuries throughout the competition and everyone is able to work through them today - so all is well. ;) Night time came and our heads hit our pillows. It was a good day.
I need to organize myself for some serious trash pick up and will resume our journal at the next available time. Thanks for thinking of us and checking in! We hope you like the pictures. Peace be with you all at home - our love is with you as we have the opportunity to work here.
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From the voices of Kelly, Elizabeth and Alisha:
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