Katrina Mission Team - Day 4
Thursday - March 19, 2009
We started the day with devotions right after breakfast. As some of you may know, Pastor Mark’s father passed away last Saturday night (while we were driving down here). He made the decision with his family to continue on with the mission trip and we were blessed to have him this whole week. But, he needs to leave on Friday morning so that he can be with the family over the weekend for the memorial services. The team wanted to dedicate a prayer shawl to him before he left, so we took the opportunity to do it this morning during devotions. We each said a prayer for Mark while holding the shawl; it was an emotional experience for many of us. We’ll send him off to New Hampshire tomorrow with our love and prayers for him and his family.
We then got on the road to our crew sites. Skip’s crew (they call themselves the Latrine Queens) have been working at the Covenant UMC all week. They put sheet rock and flooring in the small bathroom they were assigned to do. They also put in the plumbing, sink, vanity, and lighting. They made some friends with the team from Kansas that was also working at the Covenant. Their crew will finish their assignment tomorrow and join the rest of us later today for the tour of the lower 9th ward.
Ken’s crew joined Bill’s crew at Cliff’s and their crews were able to accomplish a lot with mudding and taping sheet rock, texturing the walls, building railings and the car port. It was a long and productive day. They also had a little excitement right across the street. Police cars were suddenly everywhere. The policemen even interviewed members of our team to see if they saw or heard anything pertaining to a shooting in the area. It turns out that a teenaged boy accidentally shot himself in the hand.
John’s crew finished their project today. They primed and painted the entire house and it came out beautifully. John thanked his crew for being such a great team. The crew thanked John for being a patient teacher and leader. We will now be able to help out at Bill’s site tomorrow, so now most of the team will be able to help at Cliff’s. Before the crew left they visited the neighbor, Bitty, one last time. She calls herself the neighborhood watchdog. She cares about her neighbors and is so happy for Wayne and Shay that they had our help. Bitty is recovering from throat cancer and so doesn’t get out much as she still tires easily. She has a beautiful heart and a very strong faith in God which has gotten her through the challenges from Katrina and her throat cancer. She told us several times how she has a very blessed life. She gave us two gifts to remember her by (not that we would ever forget her). One of the items was a blown glass figurine of a heart and doves that was made locally. The other was a beaded American flag. She was such a blessing to us on this project as we looked forward to seeing her big smile and listening to her stories every day.
We finished our day with a dinner at the Bolian’s house in Slidell with Charles and Donna and some of their neighbors. They hosted a delicious dinner with jambalaya and Pasta Delacroix with crawfish. There was a lot of finger food as well, including Louisiana meat pies. While eating, we learned about the family’s experience with Katrina. The Bolians live in New Hampshire for part of the year and the rest in Slidell. They had a whole wall dedicated to pictures of the damage that Katrina had inflicted upon their property. The damage occurred when a wall of water from Lake Ponchartrane flowed over the town and then receded within about six hours. The water reached nearly to their ceilings. They have worked hard with lots of help over the past few years to get the house back to its current condition and it looks beautiful. Their son, RJ, has been working hard with Skip’s crew this week and he’s been a lot of fun to have around. It was a great evening and we thank the Bolians for hosting us and sharing their experiences with us.
Well, it’s hard to believe that tomorrow is our last work day. It has gone so fast! We will all meet at Cliff’s house and work for about half the day and then do some touring on our last night.
Have a good night and God bless!
Dinner at the Bolian’s House:
