Final Thoughts

Well, it took me awhile to get to this blog again, but we did make it back safely from Mississippi about a week ago! I think it's going to take a long time to process everything we saw, but at our team meeting the night before we arrived home, we did come up with a couple of things that we want everyone reading this blog to know about our trip.

First of all, we were shocked and amazed by the amount of work that is left to rebuild the towns affected by Katrina. In some areas, it looked as if the storm had just hit yesterday, and yet we were told that even in those areas much work had already been done. We all agreed that sending money is great, but for a lot of these tasks, people are required. This trip moved us all in regards to the importance of being the hands and feet of Christ. We hope you will learn from our stories, catch our passion, and go to help yourself!

Secondly, our day at the Distribution Center in Ocean Springs showed us that there are many families who are still without the basic necessities. If you can't give your time, please do consider sending some blankets, towels, sheets, pillows, or whatever else the Distribution Center is requesting. I can arrange to have these items sent down on a continual basis (at least through the end of this summer) with Woodbury Lutheran Church so please email me at heyrebecca@csf.net if you want to help in this way.

Finally, we were excited to see how one positive thing that has come out of this tradegy is that it has really served to bring people together. We watched those neighbors that remained in the areas we worked in come together to share tools, ideas and skills. We volunteered with people from several different states and from Canada to clean and repair several homes. We worked with a Lutheran Church, a Baptist Church, and several other churches in Ocean Springs to co-ordinate relief efforts. We spent time serving with and helping people of all different ages, races, economic statuses and religious backgrounds. It was fun to see barriers that might normally have been in place crumble because people were focused on the urgent needs at hand. This experience reminded me once again of the truth found in Romans 8:28 that somehow God is capable of bringing good out of even the greatest tradegies.

We hope you have enjoyed this blog and benefit from hearing about our experiences. We are in the process of looking into planning another CSF Katrina trip soon, so please email me at heyrebecca@csf.net if you are interested. You can also check out some pictures of our trip by clicking the photo link on the right side of this page and read a Pioneer Press article about some of the work being done during our first trip by clicking the Pioner Press link. Furthermore, we would be happy to come and share about our trip with any churches or groups who would like more details. We are committed to doing whatever it takes to get more people interested and concerned about our brothers and sisters in Mississippi!

(Posted by Rebeccat at 3:01 pm on 1/11/06)