This is a series of posts describing experiences of a Katrina relief worker (me), during a week long stay in St. Bernard's parish. I will post one each week for 5 or 6 weeks. I will try to include links to pictures as well.
How this came to be: Last year our church sent a missions team to El Salvador for the second time. They were tasked with finishing a church in a mountain village that they started 3 years ago. One team member, Jim, went from Cleveland airport to Houston without any problems, but at Houston they told him his passport was in too poor condition to allow him back into the country if he left...so, he remained in Houston while the rest of the team flew on to El Salvador. Jim was left to get his own way home and while on layover at a few airports he kept seeing teams of people with matching T-shirts. Curious, he asked one team member where they were from, and where they were going. They told him, they were from so and so church in Anytown USA, and were heading to New Orleans for hurricane relief. Rite then the Lord placed it in Jim's heart to do the same. He actually wanted to see if they would take him with them since he already had the time off work and was looking forward to laboring for Christ!
The making of a team: So he came home and let this churn in his head for several months and started making phone calls. He looked into different organizations that were sending volunteers and decided on Convoy of Hope. He talked to our pastor and asked the church for volunteers. He got 13 people in 3 weeks. Short notice for people who plan vacations in August! That is what brings us to day one. Oh, by the way, the El Salvador team finished the church and were all blessed very much!
In three weeks we managed to put together a rag-tag group of people for this trip. We knew we would be doing hard labor. The plan was to gut out a house one day, and the next hang drywall in a house that had been gutted earlier. God had different plans. We only had one guy that really knew how to hang drywall, Jim, a carpenter by trade. He even put on a clinic to teach the team.
Our team consisted of a carpenter, laborer, nurse, pastor and his wife, pastors two college age sons, and one girlfriend (also a student), a counselor, grandmother, a recent widow, stay at home mom, and a bus driver. Not the ideal team you'd put together to do hard labor in 96+ heat and humidity while having to wear protective unbreathable suits, gloves and dust masks. 96 was the coolest day we had all week!
The kickoff: Our pastor rented two large cargo vans for the trip. We all fit comfortably and come Saturday morning, we were off for Cullman Alabama. In around 10 hours or so we reached Cullman and got a few hotel rooms. Come morning we all got dressed up real nice like in our missions T-shirts and headed off to a church our pastor had contacted earlier in the week. We had a great service, and met some really fine people there. It was a blessing for sure. Thank you Pastor Roger Pierce and Good Hope A/G of Cullman!
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/xNighx/pics/group20church20sign.jpg
The damage: We started seeing real damage from Katrina around 70 miles from the coast! Many trees down, and a roof or two in need of repair. 70 miles inland! Wow! As we got closer, of course the damage got worse. When we went over the Interstate 10 causeway it became apparent that something really horrifying happened here. The causeway itself was damaged and driving over it was a heart pounding experience. But when we reached the other side, our van fell silent for a moment as we tried to process what we were seeing. The devastation was amazing. You would have thought a post-apocalyptic movie was being filmed here. There was no one around as far as you could see. Entire apartment complexes empty and gutted. Shopping malls and warehouses all empty and just rotting where they stood. Only the skeletons of these buildings gave any hint that people had lived here once. They stood in rows and columns like headstones in a graveyard. We passed an amusement park where once kids must have laughed and carried on having a great day with their families. Today, the coasters were silent, no cotton candy, no children's smiles, no laugher, no indication that rebuilding was going on.
The silence in the van was only broken by sounds of astonishment as we looked at all the destruction.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/xNighx/pics/truck20on20bk.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/xNighx/pics/destruction.jpg
Revelation: I thought for a moment how 9-11 was planed by men, and it paralyzed and then harmonized our entire nation. How it set into motion a series of events that to this day shakes peoples lives. Then I thought how it only destroyed 4 or 5 buildings. (not to make light of that horrible day, just perspective) How it only damaged a block or two in one city. Then I thought how much more powerful this storm was. Thousands, and thousands of times more powerful. Destroying entire cities and damaging several states, not just city blocks. Then I thought about how it looked in the weather maps as it approached landfall. It was huge! Did the nuclear bomb tested in the desert look like that from weather satellites? Not even close. Did Hiroshima, and Nagasaki appear so incredibly large from space? No. Katrina, a natural weather phenomenon, was larger than anything man could create. Suddenly the Lord said, "Nigh, I'm bigger than Katrina." And a series of pictures ran through my head, each one larger than the first....the state, and then the USA, then the globe, and then the Milky-way, and on and on. Each picture held the title. "I'm still bigger." God is so incredibly awesome that I can't even imagine. My mind can't grasp how big He is. What I can understand is that I can't understand, and that's what God was telling me. At the same time He was personally speaking to me at that very moment and that just blew me away! He's so huge, and I'm so small. It's like the universe and all that is happening throughout takes the time to stop and talk to little ol' me! But this is even bigger than that! Wow! Thank you Lord!
We ate dinner at a 5 star restaurant on Bourbon Street. The food was great, but the atmosphere outside was sickening. It was hard to get the images of that street out of my head long enough to eat. I never need to go there again. Blah! We pulled into our home away from home around 10:30 or so. It was a private school in St. Bernard's Parish, that had been damaged and was being rebuilt. We stayed in a building away from the main school, that was attached to the gym. The ladies downstairs in bunk beds, and guys upstairs in cots. It was air conditioned at least and we slept relatively comfortably. We were met there by Bill who had been down to the effected area 12 other times. He knew where to go and how to get things done. He would prove to be a real blessing throughout the week.
Well, tomorrow begins the hard stuff. As we settled in for the night I prayed a little longer than before...a little more compassionate for my fellow man, and a little more thankful for what I've been given.
Goodnight, and God bless,
Nigh
How this came to be: Last year our church sent a missions team to El Salvador for the second time. They were tasked with finishing a church in a mountain village that they started 3 years ago. One team member, Jim, went from Cleveland airport to Houston without any problems, but at Houston they told him his passport was in too poor condition to allow him back into the country if he left...so, he remained in Houston while the rest of the team flew on to El Salvador. Jim was left to get his own way home and while on layover at a few airports he kept seeing teams of people with matching T-shirts. Curious, he asked one team member where they were from, and where they were going. They told him, they were from so and so church in Anytown USA, and were heading to New Orleans for hurricane relief. Rite then the Lord placed it in Jim's heart to do the same. He actually wanted to see if they would take him with them since he already had the time off work and was looking forward to laboring for Christ!
The making of a team: So he came home and let this churn in his head for several months and started making phone calls. He looked into different organizations that were sending volunteers and decided on Convoy of Hope. He talked to our pastor and asked the church for volunteers. He got 13 people in 3 weeks. Short notice for people who plan vacations in August! That is what brings us to day one. Oh, by the way, the El Salvador team finished the church and were all blessed very much!
In three weeks we managed to put together a rag-tag group of people for this trip. We knew we would be doing hard labor. The plan was to gut out a house one day, and the next hang drywall in a house that had been gutted earlier. God had different plans. We only had one guy that really knew how to hang drywall, Jim, a carpenter by trade. He even put on a clinic to teach the team.
Our team consisted of a carpenter, laborer, nurse, pastor and his wife, pastors two college age sons, and one girlfriend (also a student), a counselor, grandmother, a recent widow, stay at home mom, and a bus driver. Not the ideal team you'd put together to do hard labor in 96+ heat and humidity while having to wear protective unbreathable suits, gloves and dust masks. 96 was the coolest day we had all week!
The kickoff: Our pastor rented two large cargo vans for the trip. We all fit comfortably and come Saturday morning, we were off for Cullman Alabama. In around 10 hours or so we reached Cullman and got a few hotel rooms. Come morning we all got dressed up real nice like in our missions T-shirts and headed off to a church our pastor had contacted earlier in the week. We had a great service, and met some really fine people there. It was a blessing for sure. Thank you Pastor Roger Pierce and Good Hope A/G of Cullman!
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/xNighx/pics/group20church20sign.jpg
The damage: We started seeing real damage from Katrina around 70 miles from the coast! Many trees down, and a roof or two in need of repair. 70 miles inland! Wow! As we got closer, of course the damage got worse. When we went over the Interstate 10 causeway it became apparent that something really horrifying happened here. The causeway itself was damaged and driving over it was a heart pounding experience. But when we reached the other side, our van fell silent for a moment as we tried to process what we were seeing. The devastation was amazing. You would have thought a post-apocalyptic movie was being filmed here. There was no one around as far as you could see. Entire apartment complexes empty and gutted. Shopping malls and warehouses all empty and just rotting where they stood. Only the skeletons of these buildings gave any hint that people had lived here once. They stood in rows and columns like headstones in a graveyard. We passed an amusement park where once kids must have laughed and carried on having a great day with their families. Today, the coasters were silent, no cotton candy, no children's smiles, no laugher, no indication that rebuilding was going on.
The silence in the van was only broken by sounds of astonishment as we looked at all the destruction.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/xNighx/pics/truck20on20bk.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/xNighx/pics/destruction.jpg
Revelation: I thought for a moment how 9-11 was planed by men, and it paralyzed and then harmonized our entire nation. How it set into motion a series of events that to this day shakes peoples lives. Then I thought how it only destroyed 4 or 5 buildings. (not to make light of that horrible day, just perspective) How it only damaged a block or two in one city. Then I thought how much more powerful this storm was. Thousands, and thousands of times more powerful. Destroying entire cities and damaging several states, not just city blocks. Then I thought about how it looked in the weather maps as it approached landfall. It was huge! Did the nuclear bomb tested in the desert look like that from weather satellites? Not even close. Did Hiroshima, and Nagasaki appear so incredibly large from space? No. Katrina, a natural weather phenomenon, was larger than anything man could create. Suddenly the Lord said, "Nigh, I'm bigger than Katrina." And a series of pictures ran through my head, each one larger than the first....the state, and then the USA, then the globe, and then the Milky-way, and on and on. Each picture held the title. "I'm still bigger." God is so incredibly awesome that I can't even imagine. My mind can't grasp how big He is. What I can understand is that I can't understand, and that's what God was telling me. At the same time He was personally speaking to me at that very moment and that just blew me away! He's so huge, and I'm so small. It's like the universe and all that is happening throughout takes the time to stop and talk to little ol' me! But this is even bigger than that! Wow! Thank you Lord!
We ate dinner at a 5 star restaurant on Bourbon Street. The food was great, but the atmosphere outside was sickening. It was hard to get the images of that street out of my head long enough to eat. I never need to go there again. Blah! We pulled into our home away from home around 10:30 or so. It was a private school in St. Bernard's Parish, that had been damaged and was being rebuilt. We stayed in a building away from the main school, that was attached to the gym. The ladies downstairs in bunk beds, and guys upstairs in cots. It was air conditioned at least and we slept relatively comfortably. We were met there by Bill who had been down to the effected area 12 other times. He knew where to go and how to get things done. He would prove to be a real blessing throughout the week.
Well, tomorrow begins the hard stuff. As we settled in for the night I prayed a little longer than before...a little more compassionate for my fellow man, and a little more thankful for what I've been given.
Goodnight, and God bless,
Nigh
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