03/26/2006—The Adventure Begins

Its begun. No turning back now. Bay St. Louis, Mississippi here we come.

Our group of about 25 Downers Grove area Campus Lifers and volunteers are on the road and with twelve hours and 650 miles behind us since our departure and once again we have daylight to guide our way.

Walkie-Talkies and Taco Bell seem to be the most telling ways to explain the journey so far; coffee, mafia, and riddles a close second.

Tired but excited, we're all looking forward to our week-long service project in this Katrina ravaged community. We will be performing cleanup and construction projects and will be staying at a local church which has been transformed into an operations center and dormitory.

More updates, photos, videos, and journals to follow - so be sure to check back in!

03/26/2006—Settled In

Here at last. We rolled into Bay St. Louis this afternoon after a relaxed morning spent playing ultimate frisbee and taking in the sun at a Mississippi welcome center (we made it to the area around 10:00am, but couldn't check into the Chuch/Dormatory until 1:00) The extra time turned out to be a good thing to help us unwind from the long time spent in the vans.

Upon arriving to the Church, instructions were given, rooms assigned, and everyone set up camp: Girls on the top floor, guys on the bottom. With a roof over our heads and hot running water, what else could we need?

After getting settled in we loaded up the vans again to take a small tour of the Bay St. Louis. to witness first had the desctruction and devistation Katrina had on this town as well has how things have progressed in the 7 months that have followed.

We returned to base and shared a hot meal together before we gathered once more to spend some time in games (or "competitions" as they're being refered to this trip). To finish out the day, a youth pastor from the church talked with us about his and his community's experience living through Katrina and the aftermath.

Lights out at 9:30 - we need the sleep.

03/27/2006—Hard at Work

6:00 seemed to come early this morning as everybody crawled out of bed to assemble for breakfast. An hour later everyone collected into work groups and were given assignments for the day: some to paint, others to grout, and yet others were to repair roofs.

The seven groups departed; each to find a unique experience. There were numerous opportunities to serve households of this community – opportunities to interact with and work along side of the individuals who have been through so much over the past 7 month.

03/28/2006—Work Day Two

With stiff muscles but high spirits the groups departed for another work day. Now equipped with more experience and gained confidence, the students went right to work and much progress was made reparing roofs, painting, installing fixtures, and hanging drywall.

The day also offered the opportunity to serve the community in unexpected ways as students and volunteers were able to get to know the residence a bit more, and see and hear first hand what the needs of the community were. Often times those needs were not just those on the laundry list of items that they initially set out to do. For example, one group of our girls saw the need to wash a homeowner's dogs and took it upon themselves to do so.

In a community that has experienced so much and worked so hard to rebuild their lives, they are appreciative of the help that these groups are bringing and the students are experiencing what it really means to serve others.

03/29/2006—Meeting Needs

It feels so right, so absolutely natural to help human beings, especially those you’ve never met. In my everyday life, I think 99 out of every 100 minutes are spent thinking about or responding to my own needs in some way shape or form. The reality of that hadn’t hit me until now. The irony in it all is that I’ve focused more of my attention on the needs of others over the past few days than any other time in my life and the result is this: I feel that I resemble the man God created me to be in this context more than any other time in my life. I feel like God is teaching me that by serving others with all my effort in his name, HE will meet all my needs more deeply and more perfectly than I could possibly do on my own.

The students I am working along side are proving to be amazing young men. Kids often feel “under rated”. As for these guys, I agree, they are. I would rather tackle a seemingly impossible challenge with this bunch than most any group of people I’ve worked with in my life. It seems like we are learning the same lessons at the same time and God is in the process of changing the way we look at life and people and HIM…together.

As encouraged as I am in terms of my new perspective, the fact still remains that my eyes have seen more pain in the past 72 hours than in all the days of my life until now. I can’t get over how very wrong my perception of this place really was. I assumed we would be coming down here to help some people “finish cleaning up” the mess the storm left. Instead we are here offering a thread of hope to a community of people that have been paralyzed by pain and loss and destruction for the past eight months. The emotion I keep feeling is guilt. I know Katrina wasn’t my fault but never the less, the honest truth remains that I have spent very little time thinking about or praying for these people since the storm. I will no longer make that mistake because this place and these people have made a permanent impression on my heart.
--John Pack

03/30/2006—Work Day Four

Excerpts from Jacqui's and Alex's journals for today:
"Everyone here may have lost something or someone, but many have still come back to restore their house. We are working on a house on Gulfside Street that was affected by Katrina, big time. The woman whose house we are working was there the day Katrina hit. She said that they rode out the storm in a canoe stuck in a wall in the house. The water rose about five feet in their house, but across the street, their neighbors were forced to go on the roof.

Today, everyone on the street, except one, has come back to go on with their lives or restore their houses. So far, this trip has really affected me. Helping other people is what I love to do so I do. The first day we worked on our house, the woman that lives in it went to see it. I loved when she smiled after seeing what we had done because it made me feel like I had accomplished something. I had touched her life and changed it, as well as my group and other groups had. The next day she brought her neighbor over to see everything. She smiled, her neighbor smiled, we smiled." - Jacqui

"...this man Robert is another example of peace in chaos. This unshaven, short, 73 year old man makes my day everytime I see him for one reason, him smiling. Ever since we have gotten here I have not seen him with anything else but a smile. He talks to us about everything and I feel so bad for him. We are working on his daughters house and he is just so happy for it all. He has had horrible times in his life and this smile hides it all...Just the people here drive me crazy with how nice they can be." - Alex

03/31/2006—Trip Comes to a Close

This trip has been a great experience. I've seen so much and have met so many amazing people. The day before we left to return home I started to think about what I would want to tell people from home. I guess I would want everyone to know that the people affected by hurricane Katrina are still struggling to put their lives back together. I was shocked to see that fallen trees, plies of debris and abandoned homes still covered much of the land. Many of the residents who have chosen to stay and rebuild find themselves living in FEMA trailers.

I was fortunate enough to meet a local named Georgette, and hear from her about how the storm had affected her family. Georgette was one of the lucky ones. She had purchased flood insurance and was able to start rebuilding, but like so many of the other residents, she couldn't put all of her time and energy into her house. She worked a full time job and had two grandchildren to look after. By herself, she couldn't make any significant progress.

In three days, the eight students in my group were able to bring Georgette one step closer to moving back into her house. We installed a washer and dryer so she could save the $11 normally spent each week on laundry. She was thrilled to see the cabinets we had installed, the doors we painted, and the toilet we hooked up. It's funny how important the little things really are to us. I think that's the lesson I learned this past week. Georgette's love for the Lord and her family are what help her through each day. Her house was destroyed and her possessions were swept away, yet she looks ahead to a better day. And as I sit here listening to "Somewhere over the Rainbow" by one of my favorite Hawaiian singers, I too long for the day when "our troubles melt like lemon drops." I know that day will come, but I do know I need to make the best of my time now. Going on this trip was a huge blessing to me. The idea was to show people in need the love of Christ through service. But in return, we all received an adjustment to the way we see things and what we value in our lives.

I'm so proud of all of our students for choosing to serve others over themselves this spring break. I know from listening to their stories that they found true joy in being the hands and feet of Jesus. When asked what they would rather do next year-relax on the beach in Florida or do another work trip, all of the students were in agreement: Mississippi or bust.
--Tracy Wierda