It seems to be an everlasting project in cleaning this city. Your initial feeling coming down here gives you a wonder if it will ever be normal again. The emotional and mental stress is so great that God’s light is the only way of seeing through the tragedy. God’s will is the only thing that will ever rebuild this city and let it truly shine above all cities. When the day does come for the completion, though, all people will know and remember above all else, that the Church of Christ rebuilt this town. All will know that Christ’s love never fades.

                                                                                                Wheelman

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Normally a writer, I just haven’t felt the urge to journal this week. And although that’s a little odd, I haven’t put much thought into why. Perhaps it’s because I’ve spent more time playing Nurse or Mom or Enforcer on this trip! Cleaning minor cuts and scrapes, doing wash for eighteen people, sending kids off to bed, and demanding that people clean up their own messes sometimes strips me of the energy to just have fun!

But I wanted to take a second to talk about how proud I am of the “first timers” this week. More than half of the team is under seventeen and yet they handle the most difficult work and emotions with both maturity and ease. Gutting two houses in two days proved they had spunk. But mudding out the house today, going through possessions, and comforting emotional homeowners showed they are here serving Christ and are bent on showing God’s love.

And don’t think they don’t have fun too! Last night’s round of Mafia turned into a two-hour event and you have to stand in line to play Super Mario Brothers! … Ok, I’ll admit it… the kids have to stand in line because Mike Bill and I won’t stop playing!

Anyway, I’m off to play some more Nintendo and then sneak off to have dinner with Melvina & Ray. I got to bring the early team home today at 2pm, but I’m out hanging kitchen cabinets with Don & Sami tonight.

Please keep praying for the team! It’s so so hot here and it’s hard to work through the afternoon without breaking often and working slow. We really want to finish the house we started tomorrow so we can have some sense of closure!

Trish

We finished our second house today.  Again the possessions of the owner had already been removed.  It makes it so much easier to work on when their things are gone.  As we were riding back to the house to today, it struck me that the pictures I’ve taken do no justice to what the city really looks like.  I mean you can get a vague idea of what things are like, but you need to picture block after block, street after street of the same thing.  It all begins to look the same.  I find myself having to make a conscious effort to not become calloused to it all.  You have to make yourself sensitive to the situations you are surrounded by.  As we were on the expressway I looked down and the roofs are still covered with blue FEMA tarps and you think, there is 90,000 miles hit or miss that look like this. It covers the coast of 3 states and all we see is a small sampling of it.  It looks like a 3^rd world country in some areas.  It’s hard to believe that this is United States.  Enough harping. 

The team is amazing.  We work quite well together and have started finding our thing that we are good at.  After taking down the walls in the house, I spent most of my day sitting on the floor taking up carpet tack, (I don’t think that’s the right name but that’s what I keep calling it).  I’m also starting to develop the hammer claw, the name we have affectionately given to the condition of having your hand stuck in the claw position from holding a hammer.  Tonight we are going to a citywide prayer service.

SOLI DEO GLORIA

Heather

Today was much easier than yesterday. I think that once we all have realized what we’re good at, we can all work at our own pace and get things done faster. Yesterday, we gutted an entire house from about 9-2. Today, we gutted a BIGGER house from 8-12!!! I’ve also found my true calling – removing nails. I had never realized how AMAZING a crowbar was! You can remove nails like ten different ways with that one tool. (Dad, start nailing in nails to wood so I can do more when I get home! haha)

Tonight we’re going to a service because it’s the one year anniversary of Katrina. It’s hard to believe that it’s been A YEAR and there are still probably more than thousands of houses that still need to be done. Thinking back of all of the things I’ve done this year, it’s hard to believe that so little has been done to help the victims.

But I remember John Rinehimer (spelling?) at Delanco talking about how God sometimes allows “storms” to invade our lives to show non-believers how Christians deal with things. What happened to New Orleans is a perfect example of how God works. Literally there was a storm, and although it seems like something catastrophic, it really does show Christ’s love through the teams coming in and helping rebuild. Yesterday I was talking to a woman and she told me that if it weren’t for “Christians”, nothing would have been done. So, even though something horrible occurred, it makes me feel better to think that we, as the body of Christ, are impacting lives for the better!

Now I’m off to play YAHTZEE!! with my crew. Have a nice day!!!

~ Linnea =)

You never know what you’ll find in the house that Katrina broke!!  Today we entered our second house – ready to ROCK.  What we found was a devastated home that was littered with HUMAN WASTE.  Yup, real live Poopy!!!  There were piles in almost every room – and the bathroom was overflowing with it… literally!  The flies were the only thing flourishing.  Don Hulmes was able to take care of most of the problem (but almost vomited in his brand new respirator).  The bathroom had to be sealed and none of the team was allowed to enter.  We have all surmised that random clean-up crews had been using the house as the neighborhood restroom.  This was, for me, an up-close and personal look what can happen in extreme situations.  No water, no electricity, no people, no community EQUALS desperate people who have no basic necessities  - not even a place to go to the bathroom. 

Today marks a year…  Some of the people of New Orleans are looking toward the future, some are still in the past…

                                                                         Kathy

Monday, August 28, 2006-

Here's the house we gutted today--

Today was so great…in just one day we gutted an entire house. Yes, it was hard but all of our work paid off. We took down doorframes, dry wall and ripped up tiles from the kitchen and the bathrooms. I was so amazed at how we all worked together as a team and how much sweat and hard work we gave up. Hopefully tomorrow we can get into another house and start our handy work… well at least some work.  - Kristin

It’s crazy how you think you know what to expect down here, but you really have no idea. Yesterday we visited the 17^th street canal and the 9^th ward (where the levees broke). I had NO IDEA just how bad the conditions still are. From going through about two houses at the canal, it upset me to see all of the personal belongings just scattered everywhere. But, I didn’t even see the worst of it until I went to the ward. All of the land that was less than 5 acres from the water was just barren, and Sue told us that there used to be houses there. I was blown away just thinking about how people’s homes were just washed away. So, after being kind of, we stopped at the French quarter to do a little shopping, which made me feel better (hypocritical, I know).

Today was our first day of real work. I’m pretty sure that it was the hardest work I’ve ever done. We were gutting out a house, which involves knocking out practically everything! After working about five hours, I was so hot and tired that Heather said I was going into shock. But I’m fine now, and I’m really glad that I worked today. I feel so awesome just looking back at how I physically strained myself for the sake of others. Oh, and I’m pretty sure the highlight of my day is when we were at lunch. Julio kept seeing vans and screaming, “LOOK! THE ICE CREAM MAN!” Then, all of a sudden, we heard real ice cream truck music. So, Julio took it upon himself to run down the street and find the ice cream man. Next thing we knew, he was riding in the front seat of the ice cream truck with his head out of the window smiling ear to ear. It was pretty much the funniest thing EVER! hahahaha

So basically, it’s really great down here. Besides the lack of sleep and excess in sweat, I’m having an AMAZING time and am happy that I decided to give up my last week of summer to come here. Mom, Dad, Nicole, and Jamie – I love you and miss you! Call me if you want to talk!

“God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” – Hebrews 6:10

~ Linnea =)

I don’t even know where to begin to explain the disaster that has devastated and caused so much damage to the people of New Orleans, both internally and externally. Today we successfully completed gutting one house,but as day two is winding down I feel overwhelmed and as though we’ve hardly made any progress at all. uh I’ll type more later =] xoxo tara

Today I saw Jesus in Kristin and Alayna they both worked their hearts out and they didn’t complain once. I hope that I can be more like them on the job site. Today was our first day of work too and I hope that we can keep up the good work as a team.   

                                                        Sami H.

I continue to be surprised by the progress in some areas and the lack of progress in others. You’ll ride through one area and think, “Oh wow the city is doing so well,” and the next area you are taken aback by the fact that there’s still a car up on top of a shed in someone’s backyard a year later.  I switch back and forth between feelings of being encouraged and being down about the situations we encounter.  This trip has been more mentally draining than last time. I don’t know if it’s changed because I’ve made a connection with the people down here.  The devastation we saw particularly in Lower 9^th Ward blew me away.  Linnea described it pretty well.  The water washed everything away.  There were a couple of concrete stair steps leading to nothing.  Particularly in the Lower 9^th Ward you could feel the oppression that lay over the area.  The heaviness is indescribable as you drive through the nearly demolished area.

Today we started working and it was hard.  The heat is oppressive and with a dust mask on it’s challenging to breath at times.  Everyone worked hard and everyone had some part of his or her shirt soaked with sweat.  Pretty gross I know, but a testament to the work we did. 

Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary and you can feel the emotion in the people.  Yesterday in church Pastor Mike Hogg spoke of the fact that we need to hold each up as a Christian community and the impact that faith-based volunteer groups has made on the city.  We are hoping to make it to one of the anniversary ceremonies tomorrow.  Keep praying for us as we work and for the city of New Orleans as it rebuilds.

SOLI DEO GLORIA

Heather

The team is assembled and ready to get up early tomorrow to work! The driving team spent today at Canal Street Church, taking a tour, and eating lunch at New Orleans Hamburger. The flying team arrived safely around 9:30pm after a little bit of delay on the runway.

We'll be starting work at 7am on one of two houses set for gutting this week. More tomorrow!

 Trish