Our First Day In Mississippi

Yesterday was a very busy day - so busy that I didn't even have a chance to add to our blog! I finally got a minute at the church's computer this morning, so I can get in another update!

After two days in the car, we were ready to get out and work hard! First Baptist Church has been heavily involved in helping cleaning up and rebuild their town since the very beginning. All of the jobs that we worked on and will be working on are simply people in Ocean Springs or neighboring towns who call asking for help. They need assistance with all kinds of things - tree removal, cleaning out houses (some haven't been touched since the storm), sheetrocking, painting, debris removal in yards, etc.

We split up in the morning and Jill, Katie & Taylor went with some of volunteers from Woodbury Lutheran to start sheetrocking a house, while the rest of us went on a yard job. The yard job turned out to be already done (which happens occasionally if a homeowner is on several lists for help and a different church or volunteer group gets out there first) so we all joined the sheetrocking crew at the house they were working on. The homeowners who we were working with were Linda and Herb. Linda's dauther owns the house and Herb (Linda's brother) owns the house right next door. Linda and her daughter have temporarily relocated to Atlanta since the hurricane, but she came back for a couple of weeks to work on making her daughter's home liveable again. Linda's own home is in Slidell, Louisiana, which is just outside of New Orleans, and she suffered severe damage there as well. From what I understand, neither her nor her daughter have insurance to cover the damage, so she was extremely grateful for the help we gave her.

Linda's dauther's house is about 2 blocks off the Gulf, and the houses in this neighborhood were all flooded. Many of the houses were completely wiped away all the way down to the foundation. The outside of this home withstood the storm, besides a hole being blown out in one wall and the porch supports being blown away. The inside, however, had to be completed gutted and pretty much everything was lost. Another team had helped clean out the inside (which is what "mudding out" is) and so the home is now in the process of being rebuild. The old sheetrock was torn out to about 5 feet high (which is where the water came up to in the flooding), so our team broke into two with half helping inside with sheetrocking, taping, and mudding and the other half helping clear large amounts of debris from the yard. I worked on the yard crew and it was amazing what we found - old pictures, lamps, clothes, pieces of roofing, bathroom tiles, large branches, bricks, children's toys, and so much more littered all over the lawn. We threw it all in huge piles on the curb and from what I understand members of the National Guard come through occasionally with big trucks to clear it all out.

After our work day was over, we hurried back to the church to prepare for our evening Celebration Service. We were in charge of planning and leading most of the service - Noah played his guitar, Leah, Alamanda & Annie sang along with him, Rebecca, Liz & Andrea read Scriptures and lead a short prayer time, and Jon prepared the food for the reception! It was a great time of worship and fellowship and we were able to visit with the other volunteers, church members, and people in the community who the church has been helping. It was amazing how many people the church has helped and I talked to many people who were so grateful for the volunteers and the good work the church is doing to help people rebuild.

After all of this, we ended our day with devotions and prayer right on the beach, which is only 6 blocks from the church we are staying at. A group of boys were setting off fireworks right over our heads, which was fun, but also a little scary! All in all, it was a great first day of service, worship, and fellowship!

(posted by Rebecca at 11:55 am on 12/31/05)

WE'VE ARRIVED SAFELY!

I am happy to say that I am writing this update from a small library across the street from First Baptist Church in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. I am feeling quite at home already, as I now have my own Ocean Springs library card (the only way they would let me use the computers)!

Our team of 12 arrived safely about 6 pm after spending approximately 23 hours packed tightly into a 15 passenger van with our luggage either stowed under our seats or crammed into the two car toppers we managed to strap on top! All went well with the drive and we were only slowed down yesterday with a little rain (and lots of bathroom breaks). We arrived in Cape Girardeau, Missouri last night about 11 pm and stayed in the St. Andrew Lutheran church's Activity Center, complete with a basketball court, rec room (with foosball, ping-pong and air hockey) and big screen t.v!

Right now we are getting ready to find something to eat and then will be headed back to First Baptist Church, where we just unloaded all of our luggage and will be using as our home base for the next 5 days. We are sharing the space with the group from Woodbury Lutheran Church and another group from Pennsylvania (as far as I can tell in the midst of all the activity there are about 40-50 of us total). Our team has a busy schedule already tonight - after supper we have an orientation meeting and then will be meeting with another group from Minnesota and a group from Pennsylvania to plan a Celebration Service for tomorrow night. We are inviting all the families that the church has been able to help so far and we will be pretty involved in the worship side of things, it sounds like.

As far as work goes for tomorrow, the plan is to "mud out" our first house - more details to follow tomorrow on what that means! Thanks so much for keeping up on what we are doing by checking this blog - and please continue to keep us in your prayers as we finish out a busy night of meetings tonight and begin our first day of work tomorrow!

(posted by Rebecca at 6:53 pm on 12/29/05)

Hurricane Katrina Relief Trip

December 28, 2005 - January 5, 2006

CSF is very excited to be sending 12 people to help with hurricane relief work over Christmas break in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. We are partnering with Woodbury Lutheran Church here in MN, and will stay at and work with First Baptist Church in Ocean Springs cleaning out houses, serving meals, and just helping in any way possible.

If you are interested in supporting our trip, there are a couple of ways you can be involved. First of all, you can pray for us - for safe travel, for team unity, for our students ability to pull together money for gas and van rental, for a positive impact and experience in Mississippi, and for our acts of service to clearly show the love of Christ to those affected and hurting right now. Secondly, you can contribute financially. If you are interested in helping in this way, please email Rebecca at heyrebecca@csf.net. Finally, you can take part in our bedding drive. CSF is in the process of collecting NEW blankets, sheets, pillows, pillowcases, and towels for adults and children in Ocean Springs. These items can be dropped off in the front porch of the CSF Center (1337 Cleveland Ave. N, St. Paul) any day of the week between 9 am and 5 pm.

Thanks so much to those who are going and thanks also to those who are supporting us! Please continue checking this blog, especially once we leave on our trip as we will be doing our best to update it daily so that you can get a taste of what we are experiencing as we journey south and do our part in helping rebuild communities and lives.