Last week in the wee hours of Monday morning, a fearless crew heads out, one from Clewiston (Trish) drove her church (1st United Methodist of Clewiston) van to Cape Coral's Grace United Methodist and met the others, Patti, Keith, Dan, Jim, PT, Nancy, Caren, and Becky. Their mission, to drive 14 hours to St. Bernard Parrish, New Orleans to work with Samaritan's Purse in assisting residents in gutting their homes, due to mandates from the city. Meanwhile, Beth was flying in from Long Island to join us. All of us heard the call of Samaritan's purse and went to one of their outposts designed to help New Orleans residents gut their homes before the deadline, as the insurance companies and others have left them hopeless. Click on the link above to see pictures of our trip!
Samaritan's Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. Since 1970, Samaritan's Purse has helped meet needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God's love through His Son, Jesus Christ. The organization serves the Church worldwide to promote the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. "When disasters strike, we want to be able to respond immediately with practical help and the hope of Jesus Christ. By working with volunteers, Samaritan's Purse can bring relief quickly to those who are suffering--wherever they may be. Volunteers should be committed Christians who want to provide compassionate, competent service in the Name of Christ." That's why we went and why we were there!
A mismatched
group of Christians from Florida (and one from New York) gather together, most of them strangers to work together to make the world just a little better for some suffering people in New Orleans, and for each other. Some took a week's vacation from work, others took a week from their families in their time between jobs to give sweat, muscle and the love of Christ to the people of New Orleans. For the first two days we worked on Debra's house, a single Mom of 3, with 5 grandkids. She is currently living in Jonesboro, GA as she cannot live in the house here which we gutted and sprayed in two days. Right next door lived her parents, we were going to do their house next, but they were not quite ready for the heartache of having their home gutted. Note the gal in normal clothing, Patti. She is the one who got us all together. She was our organizer on divine appointment. Patti is the spiritual motivator who was called away early to minister to others in need. God bless her enthusiasm and keen insight!
Meet the Crew! Our fearless leader, Keith. He was a great leader, managed to keep us all in line and motivated (not an easy task). He diligently earned the title of Sir Delegator and Ice Cream Connoisseur.
He is the one with the red shirt peeping out from the flattering protective suit! In the middle, that's our devotional leader, Becky. But she also proved to be a great dancer, caretaker to local kids, New Orleans residents, and fellow volunteers. She always had something cheery to say no matter how tired we were. The laid back gal, Beth, she was our Long Island comic relief, she knew none of us, but her sister-in-law, who abandoned her with us strangers (and trust me we were strange!), but she fit in just right and always knew exactly what we were talking about! Her accent although was not the only thing that gave us comic relief! Her New Yorker attitude was wrapped up in a bundle of enthusiasm and a non stop steady work pace. Despite being in Florida, she remained a dedicated Mom over the phone to her family back in Long Island. We all agreed to make her a honorary Floridian!
Caren is our Harley girl! Without her we would have been lost, she remembered to bring everything. For any of us who forgot to bring anything, she had it for us. She was the surrogate Mom to our group. She also proved to be great with a zydeco tie, who knew she could play? She also proved to be the dancing queen (great moves). In the middle you see Nancy, she was the calm waters. She was steady and kept bringing us all back to The Word. She was mission minded and kept her eye on God. She also gave us a gentle nudge if any of us strayed! Next is PT Barnum, not only a relative of the circus, but our police protection as well. He acted as our bulldozer that never stopped. He got us home in record time, driving just under the radar (we won't mention the high speeds that cracked the windshield!). He was our heights guy, loving it way up on the high
ladders. Despite all that masculinity he showed off his feminine side with his pink sheets. True to his profession, he helped us keep the peace when our differences flared and tolerance fell.
Here is the girls bedroom, on the other side of that blue tarp wall sleep the boys, good thing no one snored, yeah right! After a nice relaxing sleep we head off to the next home. This was the home of Donald and Wilma. They are both teachers, currently living in Jackson, Mississippi, waiting for the day they can return to their home.
Here you see Trish "the destroyer" getting out all the aggression while taking out cabinets, counters and appliances! Asking all the nosy questions, getting all to open up and bond, and helping us all get along. She is a social worker to the end!
The girls put on their most flattering outfits and prepared to attack our second day at our second home which seemed overwhelming at first due to its size and the attic full of memories.
Donald and Wilma join us at the mess hall for dinner after we finished gutting their home. Dinner was always followed with prayer and worship for He who brought us all together! God is good!
Dan and Jim looking back during only a moment of the long van hours. Jim in the front brought our group brutal honesty, st
rength, and a loving heart and true concern about his neighbor. He kept us from getting too big a head and helped remind us the simplicity of Jesus's message to love one another. Dan helped bring comic relief, provided dance lessons, killed giant roaches and braved the attic (clearing it and tearing out the ceiling and insulation) of house number two. He was also our tour guide and does a mean version of Captain and Tennile's Muscrat Love!
