What a week. I just returned from Pearlington, Mississippi with 10 other volunteers who worked with me on rebuilding a home for some Hurricane Katrina victims. My broker invited me to go with their group & as God allowed it, things fell into place & I went! At first I was like- Katrina? That junk was forever ago, aren't they finished up over there? But the answer is absolutely not. I saw devastation still, almost 3 years later. People need homes & help.
The trip itself was pretty long- with the stops & lunch, etc. I was on the bus around 11-12 hours. Yay. We stayed at the PDA (Presbyterian Disaster Assistance) camp in "pods" & used port-a-johns all week- double yay. The 1st night I got there I went in one & saw a GIANT black spider...let's just say I didn't go back in that one all week. I ran to get my camera to take a pic of it to show my mom (she's totally arachnaphobic). I had the door propped open & my camera aimed in the potty & one of the camp workers walked up talkin bout "Um, Can I help you?" Ha! I was like- "Nope, just taking a picture of a spider." Embarrassing. He thought I was totally nuts trying to take a picture of the stank john.
The bugs were crazy awful (mosquitos, no see ums, grasshoppers, roaches, beetles, lovebugs having orgies all over the place, etc.) & the heat was unbelievable, but it was all worth it for the work we got done & the appreciation of the homeowners. Izzy & Mary were the names of the couple we helped. They had both lost spouses of 50 plus years & had been married to each other for 8yrs. I seriously adore them. They were so so thankful & precious.
This week I learned how to use a drill, cut dry wall, spackle (mud), sand, etc. Dude, I was so proud of myself. Kat & I also drove 30 minutes to the nearest Lowes & picked up some knockout roses for Mary as a surprise. She had been talking to us about how excited she was about planting a garden again & how that's what she was going to plant one day, so we did it for her. They looked beautiful.
Pearlington was consumed under 20 feet of water & I heard the most amazing stories from some of the survivors. Izzy & Mary got out of town to stay with friends away from the storm thankfully, but when they came back their house was inside out & upside down. There was a box of kleenex on top of a fan blade (I thought that was crazy), the fridge was in a different room along with most of the other furniture, there were holes in the walls & trees missing from the yard, etc. It took forever for someone to finally agree to help them gut their house & just now they're finally getting help with the rebuilding process.
One of their neighbors weathered the storm in an oak tree. Another couple we met held onto each other on top of their roof with the water up to their shins. The woman was physically shaking when she was talking about it...3 years later. Some young girls were on a roof & a boat came by to pick them up & they had to scoot dead bodies out of the way to have a place to sit. There were bodies in the tops of trees & even up until a few months ago they've been finding other corpses in woods, etc. One man we heard about got a bunch of people in a boat & before he could get in himself, was swept away & killed- but he saved all of those lives- awesome.
The story that gave me chills was this: A group from PDA went to an address to help out in a home after the storm & the couple came to the door, looking surprised to see them. They welcomed the group in & later, the husband came up to the group leader & asked "How in the world did you know we needed help?" and the group leader responded that they were scheduled in with PDA & their address was on the sheet, etc. The husband looked at the sheet & the group was actually at the wrong address- there had been a typo. The man told them that his wife & him had planned to committ suicide if no one came to help them by the end of that very week. HOLY CRAP. God is supernatural.
Not to sound selfish, but I feel like I was even more blessed being there this week than the homeowners getting the help! I was overwhelmed with compassion & love & thankfulness for my blessings as well as amazement at these people's strength through adversity. Another group from PA that was there with us worked on a woman's home & at the end of the week asked if they could pray for her. She said OK & they did & at the end the woman asked if she could add something. Apparently she had never really prayed before & it wasn't the most eloquent prayer, but how cool was it that through all of this she was able to have hope & faith & talk to the God of the universe for the first time? Incredible.
Mississippi & Louisiana are still looking for volunteers to come help. Let me know if you're interested or if you have a group that would want to go & I can get you information. The last thing I'll say is that our gang did get to travel 45 mins. to New Orleans one night & boy was it fun. We saw Fats Domino's house & drove around the Lower Ninth & the French Quarter. We ate at the best restauarant ever (Red Fish Grill) & I tried a bite of alligator for the 1st time. Ahhhh. Crazy. All of the seafood was to die for. Then we rocked it down Bourbon Street. I love love love all of the live music bars everywhere. I earned everyone in our group a bead necklace....siiiiike, but I did go up in the Voo Doo shops looking for a priestess to chat with. I would have loved to talk to her about what she believes & stuff. I never found one though. Next time. Anyway, great trip. Tough & uncomfortable, but so very rewarding. We may go back in late Sept. You're welcome to come with us!
IZZY & MARY:
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