Jenni Reeve, Andrew Jiles, Natalie Blacksher, Sherry Crumbliss,
Linda Stegner, Ronnie Hatfield, Jane Obert, and Ivan Obert

Saturday 6/21:

Some Pre-Mission pictures.  One is our home-away-from-home for the week.  We took the tour.  It is air conditioned but no frills.  Have to go to an adjacent building for showers.  The others are of places where homes USED to be.  The one with the posts.... those posts were the footings for the homes.  They build a lot of homes on these footings above ground to avoid problems with flooding.  We have spoken to MANY people who simply lost EVERYTHING.  There is still much, much devastation and a lot of the infrastructure is just beginning to be repaired.  The beach front road at Waveland and Bay St. Louis is one lane paved and one lane gravel.  Lots of "for sale" signs. 

More later, 
Love in Christ, Jane O.

Sunday 6/22:

Greetings from Camp Gulfside! We arrived late this afternoon after a safe and uneventful trip. There are three groups here at Camp Gulfside - a large group from Wilksboro, NC, a small group from Maryland, and us. Tonight we had our orientation meeting to learn about the operations of this camp as well as some of our jobs for this week. Tomorrow we will be working at a house in Bay St. Louis. It is an existing house that was stripped and will be like new when finished. We'll be finishing hook-ups for the washer, dryer, and oven and moving a cold air return, plus other small jobs involved in finishing the project.

At dinnner tonight we visited with our waitress who has lived in this area for about 15 years. She and her family lost everything in "THE STORM", as they refer to Katrina here in Mississippi. It has taken all of their finances, but they have rebuilt their home and found new employment after their former places of business were destroyed. Wherever we go we see the devastation and the people are so appreciative of the volunteers who come to help rebuild their lives. So far there have been over 30,000 who have come to the United Methodist Disaster Response centers, from as far away as California and Alaska. We were reminded tonight that our mission this week is to show the love of Christ to those we help as we work at our tasks.

In mission and ministry,
Linda Stegner, on behalf of the entire mission team

Monday 6/23:

We completed our first work day doing finishing work at the Todd house. The Todds experienced surge water up to 1 foot from their ceiling. They managed to swim out their door and climbed on top of their roof to ride out the storm. They were later rescued by a relative. As you can see by the pictures, we painted, cleaned windows, installed the washer and dryer, put finished trim in the kitchen, and scrubbed a bathtub that was brown to sparkling white. The larger home in the picture is the home where we worked and the smaller home is a MEMA home which is temporary cottage housing provided by the state for 9 months. Mema homes are seen more often now than FEMA trailers.

One of the sad things we were told about is the fact that the grant money which has been funding all the recovery effort is dried-up. Up to this point building materials have been funded by grants through Samaritan's Purse, The Salvation Army, and The Red Cross. We (Methodists) are down to three work camps on the Gulf Coast. Nevertheless, teams continue to arrive to do the work to help get folks back into their homes. Much work remains to be done. Please be in prayer for funding and the continued recovery for the folks still dealing with trauma from The Storm.

In mission and ministry,
Sherry Crumbliss on behalf of The Mission Team

Tuesday 6/24:

Greetings from the Mississippi Gulf Coast,

We awoke to another beautiful morning at Gulfside Assembly (one of the three Mississippi United Methodist volunteer centers operating in this area). After another great breakfast prepared by our volunteer cooks, we went back to Mrs. Todd's house, located about 15 miles away. We took more supplies with us from Gulfside, of course, we had to make our stop at Lowe's to get supplies that weren't availble from the vounteer site. We spent the day painting all the baseboard trim and also painted several doors. We also installed the stove, microwave/range hood, refrigerator, and hot water heater. By mid-afternoon, we were thoroughly hot, tired and thirsty (the eight members of our mission team drained a five gallon cooler of ice water). However, we finished all the work that volunteers could do on the house. After a heating/air-conditioning specialist comes and finishes the installation - the house will be ready for Mrs. Todd and family to move back in (after 3 years without their own house)!!!!

On the way back to Gulfside Assembly, the mission team made a very difficult decision - we went to McDonalds and got some some cold and wet treats (ice cream, soda, etc.). We deserved a break today - don't you think?

While at McDonald's we asked a man and woman from a nearby table to take a picture of our mission team. We had a great conversation with them about their experiences after the hurricane. They told us that they lived in a house on 14 foot piers and didn't think that it would be affected by Hurricane Katrina, but evacuated to their son's house in Alabama, anyway. When they returned, they found that their entire house had been covered by water (about 30 feet) and that they lost all their possessions, including their vehicles. Later, they found out that their hurricane insurance wouldn't cover the losses. It was considered loss due to a tidal wave - not a hurricane. Unfortunately - that is representative of thousands of families in this area.

We're in this area to help those who can't help themselves - senior citizens, single parents, disabled, and low income. Everywhere we drive - we see more and more and hear more stories. So much more help is needed. Who else will come and help?

In mission and ministry,
Ivan Obert - on behalf of the Byers Avenue United Methodist Church Mississippi Mission Team

Wednesday 6/25:

Greetings again from Ole Miss,

Not much to tell about today. We were sent to another job site(house) to install doors and floor trim, and found out that there was much more to be done. Ivan and Andrew went after supplies and was a couple of hours getting what we need so when we go back tomorrow we will be able to get some work done. The home owner lives in a FEMA travel trailer on the property while waiting for the house to be finished (it's been nearly 3 years in the process so far). We did manage to get the doors hung and some floor trim installed. After we finish the trim work around the doors and entry ways installed, we will finish the floor trim and anything else we can do for him. The girls got bored at one point and went down and helped him unload his trailer full of metal sheeting. Needless to say, we all enjoyed another day doing anything we can do to help out. I am going to sign off now, again Thank you all for your prayers and support.

In mission and ministry,
Ronnie and Byers Avenue Mission Team

Thursday 6/26:

Hey Y'all,

Greetings from Mississippi!  It was another beautiful morning at the beach as the morning sun reflected off the calm, glassy ocean surface. Soooo relaxing, but not for long, for there is much work to do.   After a quick stop at Lowe's ( I love Lowe"s) for a few needed supplies, we hit the jobsite running.  There were so many things to do and so little time.  At times I felt like we were like a bunch of ants running all over the place, everybody with a job, a task, a mission.  There were times we had 3 saws and an air compressor and nail gun going at the same time. ( I got to use the nail gun!!!  I love power tools!)  Idle hands were not present at the jobsite today, and tonight my feet hurt!  But as we shut down for the day, about 5:00 p.m. we could look around us with a great sense of accomplishment and remember what the house looked like when we arrived yesterday and see the transformation it is going through to become a home. 

It is amazing to me that these people have been living life for almost 3 years now in "limbo"  in the temporary housing/trailers and they just go about life like this is normal.  I don't know that I would have that resilence to stay and find that "new normal" life. 

We (the girls) took a drive this evening to take some pictures tonight and the sense of devastation is just overwhelming.  Lot after lot of nothing-ness where people, families, and businesses lost everything.....It's just unbelieveable, even as you see it in person and touch and feel it, it's just surreal.  There is so much work left to be done.  It seems those with the financial resources are building "at will"  and those without are being left behind, far behind.  The Gulfside Camp is expecting to be here rebuilding through 2010.  That is just 2 more years!  I can't imagine that everyone can be moved into adequate housing by that time, only by God's grace and the willingness of groups to come and help one home owner at a time can this happen.  I pray that the steady stream of volunteers will continue and that Byers Avenue UMC can be a part of that stream.

In Mission and Ministry,
Natalie Blacksher

Friday 6/27:

It was hard to believe as we climbed out of bed this morning that this was our last day in Waveland.  We spent a very busy morning and early afternoon getting as much done at Mr. Wacker's home as we possibly could.  At one point he brought over some slats to use as straight edges for painting.  We told him that we would probably not get to paint as we had to leave for home today.  He said, "The good teams always have to go.  You've made a 'seen' difference."  His voice was full of appreciation and renewed hope. We worked through lunch and when the time came that we HAD to stop working it truly was hard to leave.  Join us in prayer for Mr. Wacker that God will provide the next good team soon. 

One week of work from 8 willing bodies seems so little in comparison to the need we've seen here.  We have been like the little boy who was walking along the beach throwing starfish back into the ocean.  When he was told there were too many he can't save them all, he said that's true but I can make a difference to this one.  We have made a difference to Mrs. Todd who will soon be able to move back into her home that her husband first built years ago.  And we've made a difference to Mr. Wacker not only in the work on his home, but through caring and conversations. 

We've started the long trek home stopping for the night at Jackson, Mississippi.  Our bodies are tired and yes a bit stiff, but our spirits are high as we think of next steps. Seeing you at church on Sunday.

In ministry and mission,
Jenni on behalf of the team

 

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