End of the week

It is the end of the week.

Our work these five days is done.

Years of work remains for those that stay and live in New Orleans.

It is now time to go home to our families and the work we have in and out of the home.

This week, this 7th mission trip to New Orleans for LCR, has again taught us a lesson:

"It is times like these that you learn to live again

It is times like these that you give and give again

It is times like these that you learn to love again

It is times like these time and time again."**

Every trip we learn and realize something new. Our work, our time, our decision to be here together has changed our perspective, has changed us. We have been shown that the way we were living needs to change, how we give needs to change, how we love each other has changed and that, again, we have answered God's commandment to love our neighbor as God loves us. I expect that the 8th trip to be no different.

So long from Slidell, LA and Peace Lutheran Church.

Love,

Jason, Ken, Dave, Chris, Dave, Mark, Jerry, Jack, Matt, Larry and Jerry

** "Time Like These" by the Foo Fighters

Ribbon Cutting

Today we were able to experience a "ribbon cutting", which is a ceremony officially completing a project that turns over a house to the recipients. Today was also Veterans Day and the Secretary of Energy did some "mudding" and was able to see the ribbon cutting. He spoke along with others about the work that is occurring in New Orleans. One of those asked to speak was the home owner. I apologize for not remembering her name but she stated that she liked to sing and invited us all to sing the following:

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!


What hit me in this song is the following: "America! America! God shed his grace on thee and crown thy good with brotherhood".

I have been working with the same family all week and have had the chance to get to know and love them. I am not going to get a chance to see their ribbon cutting which should occur in the next month and a half but I could imagine it with today's festivities. So much happiness and love and joy between everyone that one family is resurrected, all manifested in one song.

Today we had all of th St. Bernard Project staff and volunteers, the Secretary of Energy, United Way representatives, the home owners and veterans volunteering with St. Bernard Project and from the area celebrating the resurrection of a new home and family.

We are America; we are God blessed; we are a brotherhood; Today I saw God's work manifested in a single house, made real by a song. Tomorrow it will occur again by me picking up the paster, bucket, and mud and continuing that work which I am called. Whether we are working in Gods master plan for New Orleans or in Cincinnati or Youngstown or abroad; we are all God's children, one brotherhood, doing our best from sae to shining sea.

light and darkness

Tonight we gathered for worship with Pastor Barb of Peace Lutheran. We followed the Evening Vespers service with Communion service included. The evening service in the "cranberry" book spoke to the Light and the Darkness.

A couple blog posts ago, I spoke to the light and the darkness. How, we coming to New Orleans and working, doing what we can, are bringing the light back to New Orleans. Last night we talk about how much work remains and that we won't get a chance to see the end product. If you think about God as the master foreman, we each are doing the step in his master project plan to restore full light and resurrection to New Orleans. Sometimes, I feel like all the work I do is a single stroke of a paint brush to restore the picture of creation of this city and surrounding community.

Here is Jason stapling wire. Jason has been on electric work all week. Jason can actually say he has brought light to the houses he has touched.

Morning of the third day, some of us are off for new work assignments, others to finish what they started.

Fellowship last night was great! Seafood and beer at Camilla's:

from the bottom left: Mark, Larry, Dave,

Ken, Matt, Jason, Jerry, Jerry, Chris, Dave Jack

What is love

Many on mission trips we are told to keep an eye out for Jesus in those we are helping, the needy. I have found Jesus in those I work for, the long term volunteers, representing Jesus with a compassionate heart that can't turn away from helping those in need. Today I saw someone looking at me and my friends as Jesus. The couple we are working for are so thankful we are there and working that they made us lunch. We say in the end that we get out of the work more than they will but it may be a draw. Although weighing a warm turkey sandwich against pork chops, hamburgers, sausage, all of which was barbequed, is not fair. The four of us were so happy for the homemade lunch; the couple and their son were so happy for us being there working; love was all around.

Neighbor

"You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

11 men set out this morning to follow the commandments as outlined by Jesus (Matthew 22:38-39)

Mud Boys

Jerry, Jerry, Ken: aka the Mud Boys.

The spirit has given everyone specific gifts, to some the ability to speak in tongues, to some healing the sick and to some mudding !?

Sunday November 7th. 8:00pm CDT.

All 11 of us have arrived and settling into the Peace Lutheran Mission Center, our home for the next week. Below you can see our accommodations. Heavy sleepers needed, nice echo for the snorers.

The great news is that all of the driving was uneventful and boring. 12 hours in the car has made us all antsy and ready to work. The time change and time zone shift has also got us a bit of schedule and anticipating a very early morning.

For me, I am always reminded of John 1:4-5, "through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." Over 5 years ago, a great darkness washed over this region of America. Tomorrow I get a chance to use my hands, my back and hopefully my wits to help bring a little more light to New Orleans.

Raising Spirits

In reflecting on the past week I recall the Club 52 verse from the Saturday we left for Slidell.

"In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' " Act 20:35.

No truer words express our week. Each day as we drove home we were covered in dirt, sweat, sawdust, or insulation. Our muscles cried out in protest, our bodies yearned for rest, yet in our hearts we knew we had done a good thing. That feeling of accomplishment would carry us through the next morning to be motivated to do it again.

We helped to build houses, we helped to organize for those there for the long haul but more than any of this I believe we helped to build spirits. After four years much of the US and the world look at New Orleans believing the effects of Katrina are long gone. I've seen first hand that it is not. I heard that 60% of the residents have returned but certainly not 60% of the damage has been repaired. The houses, buildings, trees, and property that suffered due to water and wind are barely a portion of the loss. Companies who provided income suffered damages and simply left. This means their employees not only have no home or damaged homes but no income to make repairs or even put food on the table. Children whose friends were displaced and no school to attend either drop out or must travel to the few schools available. The teen suicide rate has more than doubled since Katrina. These are the broken spirits and utter dispair the people of New Orleans have lived in for four years.

We first met those at Catholic Charities who operate Operation Helping Hands - one of 14 such centers around New Orleans. They operate out of the former St. Raymond Elementary School. School classrooms now function as a paint room, a garden shed, a wood shop, or storage areas. The church sanctuary no longer houses pews or hymnals. Those have been replaced with stacks of plumbing supplies, pre-hung doors, pallets of tile or flooring. The stain glass windows high above still allow the red, blue, and yellow light to shine on those below and the crucifix still hangs with the image of Jesus looking with approving eyes on all those who enter.

They have changed from demolition and cleaning to construction and work with various volunteer groups week after week to build homes for those displaced near St Raymond. They spend countless hours trying to get as many people placed as they can. Our job was simple, make what they do easier. We cleaned, sorted, took inventory, and even discarded broken or unusable material. Hopefully our efforts will allow them to continue their work more efficiently without spending time looking for what they need to continue construction.

Tuesday through Friday was spent working with East St. Tammany Habitat for Humanity. Each morning we stood in morning circle listening to "Miss Debbie" share stories of success, stories of hope, and stories of how far they are from their goal. With 87 homes under their belt, they feel they've barely scratch the surface of the need. We worked with AmeriCorps volunteers who would organize, teach, and keep us on task. We met people like Ralph and Rich who already had their Habitat home and continued to help others attain the same dream. We met Kiwana as we worked on the home that was to be hers. She showed up each day to talk to us, thank us, work on her house but mostly to watch her dreams come true. We also met Brigett and Gigi, two hopeful homeowners working on their hours to be able to select their home.

From the workers at Catholic Charities, those at Habitat, Ralph, Kiwana, Gigi, or the countless cars that drove by as we worked to honk and wave, our presence sparked new hope in them to know they are not alone. Helped them to know others in the country care. Helped them believe they will see things get better.

As I prepared to leave on Saturday, I read the Club 52 reading for that day and I came to realize God had used me for his will. Yes I had provided physical signs of progress during my week but more importantly I think I was able to share not only hope that things will improve but shared God's love so they can believe.

"And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe." 1Thess 2:13

Jerry Kern

Enablers

en·able:

1 a: to provide with the means or opportunity b: to make possible, practical, or easy

So, it took me a few days to figure out how to put into words what I was seeing and experiencing while working in Louisiana. From Monday to Friday I worked alongside a great group of people that helped me to see that being an enabler is not always a bad thing. That is what we did this week...from Catholic Charities to Habitat for Humanity we worked, so that others would have the opportunity to pass it on down the line.

First we worked to make the job easier for the other volunteers at Catholic Charities. By bringing a little order to their chaos, hopefully we have made it possible for them to focus even more on helping those who need an extra hand.

Helping to get Kiwana's house to the next phase of construction, we brought her just a little closer to her dream of having a safe home for herself and her family. By coming back to Slidell from Atlanta and wanting to raise her family there, she was committing her time to improving her community. Kiwana's commitment to her family and the girls she teaches on her dance team is strong and she will be a link that strengthens those she touches.

Working together we also made it possible for each of us to experience new skills and meet new challenges. As a team we supported and challenged each other to do the best we could and accept the different talents and personalities as valuable to the cohesiveness of the whole.

Everyday we were "enablers". Everyday I saw God at work in our midst - strengthening us to meet the call He had put before us.

Gina

Day 5

Farewell Slidell

This week has been an amazing experience for me. When the hurricane hit four years ago I was just a few months pregnant with our first child. After the blessing and start of our family, life became crazy and it was hard to make time for others; other than my newly growing family. Two years later we added a second child to our brood. As life went on, I kept hearing of these mission trips our church was coordinating down in Slidell to help with the rebuilding effort in Louisiana. I repeatedly thought to myself, "That would be such a great experience to assist in those efforts." But schedules, jobs and "life" kept getting in the way.

As time went on these mission trips kept organizing and I began to wonder why these groups kept going back. There can't possibly be that much to do in Louisiana?!? This week, that question was answered with a very resonate and emotional, "YES THERE IS!"


The devastation that I witnessed this week, still leaves me speechless. As Zach and I prepared to leave our children for 7 days for the first time in their young lives and our young parenthood, I cried over our departure and the thought of them not being with us, being thrown off schedule, and spoiled by grandparents while we are away. I am grateful for these problems to have and worries I fretted over. The worries that I had as a parent were legitimate, but nothing compared to the mothers who worried about their children's next meal, where they would live, sleep, bathe, etc. after the devastation of losing everything in the aftermath of Katrina.

This week I saw some of those faces from that terrible day in August 2005. They lost everything, or mostly everything they owned. A few momentos rescued here and there; wedding photos saved by a daughter who just happened to be planning a 50th wedding anniversary gift for her parents; a rocking chair that her parents used to rock their babies to sleep; china. Materialistic as they may be, that is all they have of the 50 years they spent together. They were ever so grateful for our work to help rebuild this city and thanked us for returning so many times.

I am sad to leave Slidell tomorrow. Sad that I cannot do more. Sad that I cannot finish nailing shingles to finish a roof that will keep a family dry. Sad to say goodbye to my crew and our leader, Xavier. Thank you for being so patient as we all learned and tried new things, and as we worked together to show Christ's love to the world and the city of Slidell.

I am also happy to leave Slidell a different person. This experience has changed me and I am even more grateful and compassionate for the people of New Orleans and their spirit. Thank you Gabriel for giving me this experience. I think of you everyday. I wish you were here, but I know you had a purpose...hope.

"Whoever receives this little child in My name, receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent me. For He who is least among you all will be great." Luke 9:48

Deanne Maus

The Perfect Ending...

As we worked this week, I noticed that everyone who drove past the site blew their horns or waved at us. Sometimes they would see and recognize our site leaders, but when it was only us volunteers they would still do it, and I just didn't understand why. As we began to clean up today for the last time I saw the mailman driving down the street. As I prepared to cross the street he slid the door back while driving past, looked me in my eyes and said "God Bless You." At that moment it became crystal clear that the people were essentially greeting us as a means of thanking us for taking part in rebuilding their community.

This week I saw so many good things and met so many good people. I thank God for his grace and mercy that has allowed us to successfully take part in helping His people. I will never forget the love and inspiration that I saw this week, the sheer determination to get the job done and done right. In my mind this trip was truly in alignment with what I believe the definition of Christianity is (following the teachings and manifesting the qualities of the spirit of Jesus Christ). Through our words, through our actions and through our prayers for this city and its people we manifested the qualities of Jesus Christ. To God be the Glory...

"...the blessing of the Lord be upon you: we bless you in the name of the Lord. (Psalm 129:8)

Blessing to all,

Kyle J. Moore

The below Devotion was written by and given by Matt Wehrman at the Habitat for Humanity morning circle Friday morning.

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This devotion is inspired by the work and experiences we had this week. For some of us this is our first mission trip, for others their fourth or fifth. I based it upon a piece particular piece of scripture from the book of John chapter 1 verse 5: "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it." John 1:5

The darkness has many forms.

The darkness came in the form of Katrina, as we have learned this week with more clarity from the Habitat stories and devotions at morning circle, speaking with Pastor Barb at Peace Lutheran, and others we met along the way.

The darkness easily sets in from the worry of not knowing where the next paycheck, meal, or shelter will be come tomorrow.

The darkness is the depression that can snaps ones energy, that can make one withdraw and live internally separated from society.

The darkness can work on each of us, be it from a storm, lack of or inadequate employment, poverty, or illness.

14 of us came to Slidell from Cincinnati and Detroit. Some of us not knowing what to expect. Before leaving most of us participated in a service to send us on our way. Our Pastor, encouraged us to find Christ as we work. I personally thought that I may find Christ in those who's houses I would be working on but I did not get a chance to really engage anybody being stuck on a porch with the same task for 3 days.

I did find Christ in those I was working under. On Monday it was Bethany at Catholic Charities, a long-term volunteer there who is volunteering for 3 months. I saw Christ smile Monday in every long-term volunteer that came to view the shelves we built to give them more room to work. I saw Christ in Drew, Jacob, Xavier our Ameri-corp guides this week at Habitat, we are only here 4 days and worked do what we could to advance the projects; They will continue to receive new volunteers and work those projects to completion. I saw Christ in the others at Habitat who continue to fight for Slidell, overseeing the volunteers, leading morning circle, working each day at a site to ensure the projects are completed with quality and care.

This week, I experienced the light and love continuing to break through darkness. With every pound of the hammer the darkness was pushed aside, with every J-channel hung more light appeared, with new skills learned and the shout of "I just learned how to use a circular saw" light broke through the darkness, fears were conquered letting in light where darkness will never shine again. Friendships were straightened that will guard against the tide of darkness.

Day 4