Patty Potter says:

Today our crew mostly finished Mary Johnson’s house. Just need to grout some ceramic tile. We did lots of painting, carpentry and tile work. As we worked at Mary’s, we realized she had been the victim of bad contractor work–not volunteer–but people she had paid. We had great conversation with Mary. She cooked us a wonderful lunch today, including sweet potato-pecan pie: um! good! We have the recipe!

Once again blessings abound on the Gulf Coast. Working on Miss Ruby’s and Mary’s homes has been so rewarding and huge blessings for us. Although in conversation with them, they can’t thank us enough. Mary has fondly nicknamed Jim “Pops”, which I’m sure is going to stick with him for a while. We are having a great time here, but miss family and friends. The week has flown by so quickly, always so much to do. The progress from last year to this is unbelievable. It’s hard to believe we will be saying goodbye to some of our dear friends in D’Iberville.

This Mission Team has been so blessed by all of you who have helped make our trips possible. Thank you!

  

 

Antoinette Cockroft says:

The day dawned cloudy with the threat of storms later in the day. The “A Team” (named by the homeowner Harry Pelous) was met on the job site by Harry. He had the tools lined up and was as ready to work as we were. We were siding his house. We hoped to get the majority of it done if the weather cooperated. The saw began to zing. The nail guns started to pop. Before the end of the day, the clouds started to thicken and thunder was heard in the distance. We finished the siding before the rain started. Harry said he had prayed for one more hour of dry weather to finish the job and God heard him. We heard him, too, in the joyous laughter and grateful thanks from Harry.

We enjoyed dinner with Barbara Parker last night at the Cafe New Orleans a few blocks from here. Barbara will accompany some of our group on a lunchtime tour of Biloxi tomorrow. She’s a great tour guide, able to point out what happened where, what’s changed and what hasn’t.  After dinner several of our party posed with the Cafe New Orleans mascot.

      

 Patty Brady says,

 It is well known that the power of God is working in all the volunteers in D’Iberville, Mississippi, and throughout the Gulf Coast region. But I had a personal experience with it today. Many Katrina volunteers are very knowledgeable when it comes to electrical work, plumbing, carpentry and/or painting, but I am NOT one of them. My husband and I kiddingly call ourselves the king and queen of contract labor. Nonetheless, I found myself on the roof of a house with Jamie Rimmel leaning over the side to paint some trim that we could not reach from our ladders on the ground. Jamie was scurrying over the roof and was quite comfortable with the work. I, on the other hand, was not. At one point as I was leaning over the roof peak to paint the eaves, I asked myself, “How am I doing this?” It then occurred to me that I wasn’t, but that God was giving me the strength to do what needed done. As it says in Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Clearly God was giving me the strength to overcome my fears in order to get the job done. God is working through all the volunteers in order to help this area recover from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina. He helps each of us so that we have the stamina and ability to do what is asked of us while we’re here. And of course, He continues to be with the residents of the Gulf Coast–like Barbara Parker, Alvin, Belinda and Miss Ruby–and thousands more, giving them the strength and courage to continue in spite of great loss and hardship. God blesses us all.  

Follow-up from Lisa: God surely rewards our faithfulness. No one forced Patty up on that roof; on the contrary, when the crew was asked if someone would do that job, Patty volunteered. Her willingness and her commitment to do what needs to be done opened her up to new possibilities, allowing God’s Spirit to enter in and work through her. The same is true of all volunteers who step out on faith. It’s wonderful to see the transformation of D’Iberville, but even more wonderful to see the transformation in the lives of the volunteers. As Paul often said of his friends in the church, I thank God every day for you and for your work.

       

Today has been a very long day for all of us.   No pictures—-sorry!   Our days begin at 7 AM for breakfast and we are kept very busy through devotions in the evening.  Tonight we had the opportunity to take our adopted Cross Roads member from D’Iberville (Barbara Parker), out to dinner. She then invited us back to her home for food and fun following.  More about our visit with Barbara tomorrow.  

Today the home of Ruby Bradford was completed.  The highlight of the day for the crew was being able to speak with Ruby who is visiting with her daughter in California.   Our other crew began the home siding project after a morning and early afternoon of frustration as they waited for materials to arrive.   Starting today members of our group will be writing articles.

The following is by Carol Start:

Our group attended worship on Sunday at a little Presbyterian church in Covington, Louisiana. During the sermon the preacher reminded us that Emmanuel was “God is with us”, and I certainly feel his presence here. On Monday, a group of nine of us were assigned the task of painting the outside of a home. Before painting the carport, we needed to sweep out the accumulated leaves and dirt. We found a broom, but no dust pan. However, while looking for them, I found an old piece of rusted metal 2 ft x 4 ft and improvised. Later that day I was trying to paint th eporch eaves, but all of the ladders were being used. I found a chair, but the ground was soft and the chair sank every time I stood on it. I grabbed my “dust pan” and by putting it under my chair was able to finish my task. That afternoon I was helping to paint the porch railing, but one section was blocked by a rose bush. After several scratches I once again used my “dust pan”/”chair support” as a screen to hold back the thorns so I could paint pain free. So three times that day I was aided by something that most people would have thrown away. But that’s how it is down here. Ed and Irene (the camp organizers) don’t have the luxury of quitting because they don’t have the “proper” materials. They have had to improvise every day for 2.5 years to keep getting things done. And they use something over and over again until it can’t be used any more. I believe those of our members who lived through the depression can remember what that was like. All of us have to keep looking for the small miracles in our lives and always remember that “God is with us”.  We’ll put a picture of Carol with her “dust pan”  up on the blog tomorrow!

Monday was such a Monday! It was the usual scramble trying to match work teams to jobs, find ladders and tools, locate the job sites, only to find out that job was already finished and going back to get another assignment – the good and bad news is that so much progress has been made in D’Iberville that it can be difficult finding enough work for 110 people to do. Yup, that’s how many of us are in camp, mostly college students.

               

Cross Roads was split in two today. Jim Potter had a harem of women at Ruby Bradford’s home scraping, applying primer and painting the outside: front porch, carport, walls above the brick, and so on. Ruby is 91 years old, and used to run the Kessler Air Force Base (she was the administrative assistant to a series of commanders). She’s also currently visiting a daughter in California, so although we won’t get to meet her, we’re pleased that she’ll come home to a sparkling house. That team hopes to finish tomorrow.

              

 Mike, Gary C & Zach finished a porch today for a family who’ve had to cope with the premature birth of a child who nearly didn’t survive.

      

Gary L spent his day as gofer: yes, a couple of trips to Lowes in there, but mostly going to a dozen or so homes attempting to contact owners to see if they were ready for work crews yet. Some folks are STILL waiting for insurance money, some just don’t have the money to buy the building supplies they need, or save up for months at a time until they can get what they need for the next step in their rebuilding process. Remember, it’s been 2 1/2 years since Katrina. Lisa got pulled from the painting job to spend the afternoon in the kitchen helping fix dinner, and helping Irene clean up afterward with help from Gary L & Carol.

After dinner, all the guys except Gary L went off to watch the bowl game, and some of the women trekked to WalMart. We’re looking forward to having dinner with Barbara Parker tomorrow evening. (Cross Roads Community team dry-walled Barbara’s house on our first trip.) We also hope to meet up with some Leechburg Lutherans who are working this week in Ocean Springs, just east of D’Iberville.

 

The 14th member of our team arrives about 10 PM tomorrow – Karen Lyon. Please pray for smooth travel for Karen.

The things we’ll do to save money! Yesterday (Saturday) we flew from Pittsburgh to Dallas and from Dallas to New Orleans, and believe me, that’s the long way around! On the first (small) plane, poor Zach Start had to sit with his head tilted to one side.

                                                                                                     

Gary Lyon won a long argument with the staff at Alamo car rental (“But that’s what it says in our contract, which I have right here!”). Although we missed the kick-off, we arrived at our motel in Covington, Louisiana in time to watch the rest of the Steelers game, for what it was worth.

Sunday morning we doubled the attendance at the Covington Presbyterian Church contemporary service at 9 a.m., and were warmly welcomed by the pastor and members. Built in 1848, and enlarged much later, the sanctuary had a modernistic stained-glass window in the chancel, created by the son of a member. Due to certain technical difficulties involving cameras and cables, we may have to wait to put a photo of it on the blog after we get home. We were also fascinated by the humongous tree out front, with the longest branches we’ve ever seen held up by a series of poles and braces.

Sunday was an extraordinary day to be in New Orleans, as the Ohio State (red & white) & Louisiana State (purple & yellow) fans had descended en masse for tomorrow night’s BSC Bowl game, all proudly wearing their team colors from head to toe. THOUSANDS of them. Besides ordinary tee shirts, we saw wigs, furry boots, beads, tiger ears, pennants and flags, socks, pants, you name it! Gary Lyon caught a string of gold beads thrown from a white limosine. In spite of the throngs, we managed to eat shrimp & catfish, enjoyed a walking tour of the French quarter (Royal Street full of art galleries, Bourban Street full of bars & music, etc.), had beignets at Cafe du Monde, and watched the paddleboat Natchez pull into the Mississippi.

       

We arrived in D’Iberville in time to lug our stuff to the tents and get in line for dinner. It was leftovers night, with 2 kinds of soup, beans, cabbage (with meat or vegetarian), carrots & potatos, chicken, sweet potatoes, cooked apples, “twice-baked-potato-salad”, bread & rolls, and a huge assortment of desserts. You never go hungry here. There are 110 people in camp this week, who arrived last week or Friday or today. 45 or so from Lend A Hand (Carlisle Presbytery), including students from Elizabethtown College, about 20 from Sheridan, Wyoming, 3 from North Carolina, and so on. There hasn’t been such a crowd in a while, so Irene (McIntosh) is working out a shower schedule! 

ATTENTION KISKI GROUP: During devotions, Gary and Lisa were excited to hear that one of the teams is working on Marie Ralph’s house, putting in windows & doors (Ron’s crew roofed it). They said that FEMA recently told Marie they’re taking her trailer back in March. She responded that her house may not be finished by then, so FEMA told her they’d relocate her. She told FEMA that not only would she not go, but she’d live in a tent under the house if she had to until it’s finished!!! (Her house is up on stilts.) We plan to take photos this week so you Kiski folk can see the progress of the homes you worked on.

Looks like we’ll start our work week by tearing off a porch roof (then putting up a new one) on one house and painting the exterior of another house. We’ll keep you posted, of course.

We thank God for travel mercies, the “spending money” some of our friends back home slipped into our palms that paid for our parking in New Orleans today, for meeting old friends from Synod School & previous trips to D’Iberville, and for your prayerful support.

We are about 24 hours from departure.  Several people have stopped by the church with additional donations for the trip this morning.  Everyone who has called in has been telling us to be safe.  We are so very blessed to have church members and friends praying for us even before we leave.

Up front we want to thank Kiskiminetas Presbytery for their donations($’s, encouragment, insurance info & direction, computer skills) to help make this trip a success.  Presbytery Council, Diaconal Ministries, and all the Presbytery staff are thanked in advance of our trip.  We hope and pray that all of our friends from Kiski Presbytery that went to D’Iberville in the fall will follow our trip and remember their ’second home.’ 

Gulf Coast Mission Team members  include:  Patty and Jim Potter, Mike and Tammy Dunnivan, Gary and Antoinette Cockroft, Patty Brady, Jamie Rimmel, Carol Start, Zach Start, Jessica Meyer, Karen Lyon, and Gary & Lisa Lyon.

On January 5 -12 a team of 14 people will be going for a weeklong disaster assistance team trip.

Follow their trip here on this blog! Leave comments to encourage them on their way.