Day Five

Written by Duane Thieme:
Unlike the Gulf Coast Trip of last year, this trip was unusual for me. This camp had moved to a new location and was using many temporary facilities. Instead of going out into the neighborhood and doing clean outs, tear outs or rebuilding family homes, I stayed back at camp and completed some of the many projects needed to transform the camp with permanent facilities. I believe this work is what God had chosen for me. I know the Gulf coast is going to require many years of volunteer labor to clean-up and restore this area. This camp is going to be home for a week to many volunteers over the next several years as they perform their service to our God helping the people of the Gulf coast rebuild their homes and lives. I feel with the projects I worked on in camp I am participating in the Gulf coast rebuilding project because the campers (God’s chosen workers) have a better place to rest from a hard day’s work, share the stories of the day, and share the stories of their own life.

Written by Charlene Ebel:
I am so glad that I came on this trip. This will be an experience I will never forget. It is one thing to hear about Katrina on the news, to get pictures through emails of the devastation, but to actually be here, to see it, to smell it, to touch it, to hear the stories, has been an emotional journey for me. Yesterday we moved a man named Dennis (former NASA employee) out of his former home and into another home. We had to go through his storage shed of what was left of his belongings and gently ask him what he wanted to keep and what was to go out to the curb. This was incredibly difficult for me to endure (and I wasn’t even related to him!). It was just a lot for me to take in all at once. Every item had a story to tell . . . “This was our first dinning room light fixture…uh, let’s save it, no, pitch that I guess” – statements like that really tugged at my heart. He said he had been through four hurricanes and this was the second time where he had lost everything in the storm. What looked like a bunch of junk to me (moldy, dirty, water damaged stuff) was basically what he had left that was tangible in his life. Precious memories attached to the items, gifts, and their first Christmas star for the tree - all gone. It was just really difficult for me to keep it together. This has really put things into perspective for me as I go about my daily life and being even more grateful for where I am at in this life and being content with what I have. We all have come down here to be a blessing to others and in return we have been blessed richly. To God be the Glory! 2 John 12