(no subject)
WOW!!! What a week it was, its hard to put it all in to words and justice won't be given but will try and do my best of at least a summary.
Left on Saturday the 22 with a senior high youth group tp Lake Charles, Louisiana on a mission trip for Hurricane Rita repair. It's an area that has kind of been forgotten as all the attention goes to New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina.
Started as a stranger as I didn't really know any of the youth but you spend a week together including an 18 hour car ride, you get to know each other pretty well. And they are a great group, had lots of fun and laughs as well as some very serious moments together.
The first night we stayed at a church in Birmingham, Alabama which was about the halfway point and reached our final destination the next day.
I'd never driven a van before, and was a little nervous, especially with the responibility of the kids but managed without any difficulty. We had two vans and 4 drivers so we split it up and wasn't bad. Though it would pour down rain every time I drove which became a joke.
We stayed at a church, which hosts youth groups every week and is organized by YWAM (Youth With A Mission) Our week there was 8 groups and a total of about 110 people which was smaller than usual. Their were groups from Colorado, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania...all over the country. The men all stayed in one room and the women in another, had mattresses on the floor in square groups of for. At first sight was afraid the setting would make for a very long week but it wasn't bad and was lots of fun.
Were served breakfast, lunch and dinner which was all tasted good. And got a few tastes pf Louisiana cooking with gumbo and jumbalaya. On work days items were provided to us to pack our lunches. Which was very nice.
One not so good part about the living conditions is the showers. We had two options...bucket shower, where we got two buckets of water and a cup, in a stall equipped with curtains we could wash up....or the community shower where with others you stood on a tarp in your swimsuit and were sprayed with a hose. I stuck with the bucket shower because it was private and I didn't have a swimsuit.
As for the work, wasn't as much as expected but we still were able to acclompish some things and feel atleast a little progress was made. After almost a year the area is still devasted. Don't know how the people survive it. Where houses used to stand is now nothing, but debris across the property. Are spots where there are steps into a home, only nothing else is there. You see picturtes and images on tv, but seeing it in person hits you in a much stronger way.
One day we went to Holly Beach, a once vibrant area is now vacant. Can't describe the feeling of loss it brings. Debris and skeletons of fish still are scattered across the sand. There are still signs of any recovery to that area.
Our first job was at a railroad museam which is like the center point of the little town of de Quincey. We carried down boxes which were stored upstairs and then painted and spackled two of the rooms. The people were ever so gracious and thankful, even fixed us lunch. The mayor of the town came with the newspaper to take our picture.
Also helped to restore a trailer which belongs to a mentally hadicapped older couple.
And cleaned up and cut the yards of a few other peoples residence, whose houses are in shambles and now live in trailers.
And we also cleaned up a Senior Citizen Center which is being prepared to open.
The people were so gracious its overwhelming, so thankful for any help given to them. And any hope offered is so rewarding when you see how they are forced to live and the strength they must have to endure.
We were supposed to offer them some help, but in return they gave us so much more and an understanding that will never be forgotten.
As for the work
Left on Saturday the 22 with a senior high youth group tp Lake Charles, Louisiana on a mission trip for Hurricane Rita repair. It's an area that has kind of been forgotten as all the attention goes to New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina.
Started as a stranger as I didn't really know any of the youth but you spend a week together including an 18 hour car ride, you get to know each other pretty well. And they are a great group, had lots of fun and laughs as well as some very serious moments together.
The first night we stayed at a church in Birmingham, Alabama which was about the halfway point and reached our final destination the next day.
I'd never driven a van before, and was a little nervous, especially with the responibility of the kids but managed without any difficulty. We had two vans and 4 drivers so we split it up and wasn't bad. Though it would pour down rain every time I drove which became a joke.
We stayed at a church, which hosts youth groups every week and is organized by YWAM (Youth With A Mission) Our week there was 8 groups and a total of about 110 people which was smaller than usual. Their were groups from Colorado, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania...all over the country. The men all stayed in one room and the women in another, had mattresses on the floor in square groups of for. At first sight was afraid the setting would make for a very long week but it wasn't bad and was lots of fun.
Were served breakfast, lunch and dinner which was all tasted good. And got a few tastes pf Louisiana cooking with gumbo and jumbalaya. On work days items were provided to us to pack our lunches. Which was very nice.
One not so good part about the living conditions is the showers. We had two options...bucket shower, where we got two buckets of water and a cup, in a stall equipped with curtains we could wash up....or the community shower where with others you stood on a tarp in your swimsuit and were sprayed with a hose. I stuck with the bucket shower because it was private and I didn't have a swimsuit.
As for the work, wasn't as much as expected but we still were able to acclompish some things and feel atleast a little progress was made. After almost a year the area is still devasted. Don't know how the people survive it. Where houses used to stand is now nothing, but debris across the property. Are spots where there are steps into a home, only nothing else is there. You see picturtes and images on tv, but seeing it in person hits you in a much stronger way.
One day we went to Holly Beach, a once vibrant area is now vacant. Can't describe the feeling of loss it brings. Debris and skeletons of fish still are scattered across the sand. There are still signs of any recovery to that area.
Our first job was at a railroad museam which is like the center point of the little town of de Quincey. We carried down boxes which were stored upstairs and then painted and spackled two of the rooms. The people were ever so gracious and thankful, even fixed us lunch. The mayor of the town came with the newspaper to take our picture.
Also helped to restore a trailer which belongs to a mentally hadicapped older couple.
And cleaned up and cut the yards of a few other peoples residence, whose houses are in shambles and now live in trailers.
And we also cleaned up a Senior Citizen Center which is being prepared to open.
The people were so gracious its overwhelming, so thankful for any help given to them. And any hope offered is so rewarding when you see how they are forced to live and the strength they must have to endure.
We were supposed to offer them some help, but in return they gave us so much more and an understanding that will never be forgotten.
As for the work