We’ll, We got the stories, but it makes the update a little more disjointed… topics change paragraph to paragraph. Enjoy --- Your GZ Katrina Mission Team ---
Dylan Stockbridge…. Nora Gene is our homeowner and she has a granddaughter who comes over a lot during the summer. We are doing a roof for her. God showed me how to be more thankful for what I have, the small things that you don’t look at all the time. The images down here really just showed me how fortunate I am. Such as just how the people down here are really showing hospitality to us even when they don’t have much and it makes me ask how I treat others at home.
Tom Green… Working with Loyd and Norma Gene… Shelby is the granddaughter… Loyd recently had a heart issue so he doesn’t get around too well. Norm is having heath problems too, but she won’t show it. She is like the best part of everyone’s grandmother rolled into one. If it weren’t for the pictures of the damage, you wouldn’t be able to tell that there was a flood in their house…. They’ve done so much to get it back together. The house flooded up to the attic so they hid in the attic, so they put swimmies (round flotation devices worn on the arms of toddlers) on Shelby… and Shelby, in the middle of the storm looked over and said, “Mommy, it’s its like a giant swimming pool, inside the house.” Danno if they are Christians, but the house is so positive it’s amazing… work may not be progressing great, but God is doing amazing things, teaching me (I’m shy) that talking with the homeowner, when I’m struggling to say something to them, that many times I don’t need to say something… that sometimes it’s just best to listen. And eve ner at camp here at camp, just listening to in depth conversations from people and I’m learning a lot.
Melissa Kelly…. Jim is the guy at our site… it’s his grandmom’s house… It’s just studs and a roof right now… we’re doing insulation and putting in 2x4’s in the bottom of the stud bays to give him nailers for his baseboard trim. God is just moving in our relationships with one another in our team. On the tour, Sarah Abel, saw total devotional, and Sarah pointed out a few flowers that had just bloomed in the midst of devastation and stuff.
Bobby Calloway… Our homeowner, Brenda is in and out of the house. She lost a close family member in the disaster and took in all 6 of his kids and some of them have special needs. She made lunch for us today and shared with us all this stuff. She’s been to Belgium and all over the northern states and moved to MS 8-12 years ago. Our job site is just flowing together and we’re all working together and showing up when someone else needs help. I hear stuff on the news and I never saw it as real, but getting here and seeing it first hand makes it tangible and real to me… before it was just a story on the TV… but it blows you away when you are here in the midst of it… and I’m looking at all the other events like September 11th which united our nation kinda led to so many people now being willing to come down and do stuff down here to help here. I just know that God is totally here in everything that we are doing. Even in something like running a jack hammer, God is in control.
Blyth… Brenda has a 40 y.o son with Cerebral Palsy and they are living in a double wide… they evacuated 3 hours north to her father’s house… when they came back, the water was 6” from the ceiling and things were just floating like vegetables and she thought it was almost funny to see her fruit and groceries just floating around the house. We are repairing her bathroom, putting in the tub in on bath and a shower in the other bath and she’s so thankful. She is so open but just hasn’t found a way to express what it means to her that we are there. We painted today and we could see a bug that got in under the spackle or the paint and you can still see the bug, but whenever I see it I’ll know it was volunteers and not a professional sleaze trying to rip me off. I’m a very impatient person. I just sat there and I tried to get the nails out of this wood to make it safe and the nails were being stubborn so I prayed for patience and calmed down and breathed and then thye just started getting really easy to get out. And the same happened with Kristina. God was there though out our who house to lighten the spirit… Yesterday was frustrating getting started, but today was light and fun and God was so there… She is crazy about this van that she has. It doesn’t have A/C… but she has to get her son up into it… She found it and picked it up and it didn’t cost much, not needing many repairs and it just worked out and she is so grateful to have things… and she just heard something to tell her to go look at the this van in this junk yard. It got her through both Camile and Katrina and it’s just a little thing that excits her so much.
Megan… Trish is the niece of the homeowner… and she was there during the hurricane and sitting in her house and it was like a big river coming towards her house. The house across the street was lower than hers and it flooded, and then it came up into hers, so they kept moving up the street from house to house to higher and higher ground and pretty soon, all but two houses were flooded. Her house got 5 feet of water so we’re working on replacing things ruined by water damaged. Trish is now 5 months pregnant, and her boyfriend dumped her after he found out, but she is still so strong and confident even after everything. She works at a casino and is starting work again soon and she’s excited to see her life getting back on track. I’ve always been a little selfish being the baby in the family, and now my sister is going to Mexico to work in an orphanage, and my brother left…and it’s affecting me, and God’s been pointing me to Philippians 2 which talks about a Christ like attitude… and then it was in my devotional today and God is really just pointing me to look at my personal life, how I treat others, and to see about making some changes.
Sarah - thanks that’s it all about you and what you are doing in this town. You can put a roof on a house without us, spackle without, restore this town without us. thank you for that blessing of being invited to be used by you.
Tara – thank you for the opportunity to be here. And even thought we don’t’ know everything, what’s next, whether it will work out, we do know that you are in control, and that you know the outcome, and that you see the end result. Thank you for that celebration that will happen in the end. We pray that you set things right here lord. (They are already planning to e-mail all the volunteers when they finish the last house, on the last street, inviting all of the volunteers back down for a weekend celebration of the completion of their city’s recovery from Katrina.)
It’s your kindness lord that fills our hearts. You are holy God. You are exalted above all. I thank you that when I feel alone, that you love me, that you watch over me, that you are my father, that you want to watch me grow up and that you accept me when others don’t. You are not what I think you are. I love you daddy. Thank you for the bread, for the milk, for the raining down of your mercy and grace. Open us to you. Thank you that you are hope to the hopeless, father to the fatherless, and the light in the darkness. God you are good. Yeah. You are the only good… there is nothing good in this world, but we can stand firm because of your goodness, and we will praise you forever and ever because of that. Wake us up in the morning and send us out to do what is needed in spite of what our flesh, or our bodies might want or how we feel. You are my king.I really got to talk to my homeowner today and it was really good because she just seems to have so much faith and hope that things will get better. We went outside to work, and she came out to work with us, and she just has such a bright outlook. I was riding with Tracey today and we saw a house that look completed and it had a sign out front… “The house that faith built… Hebrews 11:1” and I thought that was pretty cool.When we went to the restaurant on Sunday night before we did anything, it amazed me how many of the town locals came up to thanked us for being here and showing our love to this town. They have so much faith and hope in Christ, and every volunteer who comes down represents a tangible form of that, and they came up to us and tapped us on the shoulder and asked where we were from and thanked us.I don’t have a lot of faith in other people and I tend to look at people and jump to conclusions and these past days, God has placed in my heart that people can surprise you. My pre-judgments are usually right, but this week, I’ve been totally wrong. The grandson of the lady whose house we are working for was talking to us and yesterday he said he cut grass for a living, but then today he was so articulate and smart and he has two B.A.’s and he used to teach school, and I’d chalked him up to a guy who cuts grass. It’s been cool to see God smack me and tell me I need to stop putting him and others in a box.Yesterday we got to the job site and there wasn’t much to do, so we spent a lot of time just coming up with a game plan, but today in the midst of all the work today, she made lunch for us. And it reminded me that these people have nothing, but they so want to share it… and we, who relatively speaking have everything, but are so often, so reluctant to let anything go or give things away. I came on this trip and it was a big decision and I’m still just saying this is a rough road ahead with my life and I don’t know where I’m going and I’m either in the valley or walking through it, and being on my jobsite and in the middle of the day, I fell asleep during lunch and my crew woke me up and I walked outside after lunch… and she’d had 3 feet of water in the house, and in her front yard she had this little metal windmill, and I said either it’s new, or it made it through the storm, so I asked her about it later… and she said “it’s funny… It’s a dinky little windmill and it’s still made it through the storm and through the valley God keeps you strong” and it touched me when she said that. God shows up in the still small voice, the little breeze… and it’s the little things for me this week… a straight nail yesterday, and a windmill today.Sign in sanctuary at the church we worshiped at… the numbers changed since Sunday’s service… to tonight when we had worship there… last week’s attendance 35… this week’s attendance 96. Last week’s offering $300 and some…. This week $618.65We had our lunch date with our homeowner today and she told us how her family held hands and got through the hurricane together. But then, not long later how his husband died in his sleep and she woke up and then didn’t know what to do and it really upset her…. But now, there are just times when she sees him… like he “walked into her hospital room and kissed her.” And she “saw him” and praised god for that, and now her kids see him too from time to time and she’s so thankful for God giving her those moments. She remembers every crew that’s been to her house and what city and state they came from. She told us about how another crew who was there hanging drywall, and he was trying to cut in for a box in the ceiling and he got drywall dust all over him… didn’t have a ladder… and then he wanted to get clean, but his crew wanted a picture, but she felt bad, and he wouldn’t work with her, so she dragged him into her camper trailer, and put his head under the sink faucet and washed him off. She is just so neat.We’re working on a roof and we made great progress today, and I’m almost disappointed because the sooner we get done, the sooner we move to a different house. The roof is really giving her disabled husband a lot of hope and it’s doing wonders for his health as he has something to look forward to. And I didn’t think this was a worthwhile roof to focus on at the beginning, but now it’s becoming apparent to me while we’re on this site.The mayor stopped by our site today. Along with a reporter from www.wlox.com television who is working on a story for the 1 year anniversary which will air sometime in late august. I overheard the homeowner talking with them, and how great it is that they are getting the word out about all the volunteers who are here. (wlox also interview a few other of our sites as well)Our homeowner had photos of the damage to their house, and it’s just studs and you can’t really tell which is the top and which is the bottom of the photo, its so bad. It’s amazing how far some houses has come, and it encouraging me to keep working on these houses and the ones that haven’t even really gotted started yet.We went in one house and the entire first floor was destroyed, but the entire second floor was fine and it great shape, and it was such a blessing… in fact the homeowner said the storm is a blessing, in that it’s giving so many people the opportunity to share Christ with the people here in D’Iberville.One family is selling everything they have because last night’s storm collapsed their roof and caused a lot of damage in their home, so they are trying to raise money to repair their roof. The think that impacted most was that we went on a tour with my homeowner… who lived here… and she started telling us about house after house, and store after store that used to be here and used to be there, and what it was like before Aug 29th. It was so amazing and just really blew me away how much had changed.Our homeowner is very optimistic about the storm damage, but when I asked her if she wrote her story for the book that people are putting together in the area, she said no, just because she didn’t feel ready… she still had a lot of pain in the midst of her optimism for the future. (Several Residents here wrote their stories from the night Katrina hit and put it together in a book that can be bought at www.GivingBackToVictims.com – purchasing the books helps those who contributed to it afford repairs on their homes. There are a ton of disaster photos on the site as well.)I believe in the Goodness of God and through this storm, he wants to show his goodness and his kindness to his people. And you are volunteers are part of God’s goodness and God’s kindness in the midst of the disaster. That God loves them. Pray that if some part of this disaster has caused these homeowners to turn their backs on God, that God would open their hearts to see Christ’s love and goodness and kindness and mercy in us and through us this week.I got to use the jack hammer today and it felt like I was on one of those old vibrating belt weight lose machines. It was fun.-----------------------------------So you read all that, and I think you get the idea that we’re having fun, that God is moving, that we’re making a difference, and that God is impacting us. The weather cooperated today… high of only 94 on the outdoor thermometer we found and no rain. More details and stories to come… keep praying…
