Home for a While
Not only have I returned home, I planned to have one of my wisdom teeth pulled this morning at 9:30am, so I am recovering from the tooth pull this morning.
New Orleans is a mess. I remember when the hurricane happened and desired to go down to the area and help however needed, so when the opportunity arose with the Texas State BSM to go on a Mission Trip I was all in. I attended the meeting and after hearing about what the trip would entail, I decided not to take any cameras, but hope to get pictures from some of the other people who went (upon receive I will post some pictures). We left San Marcos at 6:45am on Monday, January 2 and returned on Friday the 6th. It was a day of travel there and back, so we had three days of work in the city. On Tuesday we got our assignment from First Baptist New Orleans and tackled our first house. These houses were we working on were damaged by the flooding due to the levee damage. According to the "Disaster Pastor", the First Baptist New Orleans pastor coordinating disaster relief, these homes were under about 10-12 feet of water for almost a month. Inside the sheet rock was soaked and almost everything was covered in black mold. The plan was to tear out all the sheet rock from top to bottom allowing the studs to dry and eventually be bleached in an effort to save the existing structure. We completed this first house in one day. On Wednesday and Thursday we spent our time at a lady named Sarah's house. Similar to the last house, but this time we were able to meet the home owner. After cleaning up lots of tree damage, moving a car, and many potted plants the home owner arrived and expressed the desire to search her house for things she wanted to keep. Respecting her wishes, the Disaster Pastor, Travis, took our group on a tour of many of the damaged areas. We saw the West End near the lake, the 17th Street levee, which was being repaired, and many, many, houses just torn apart by the sheer force of the water rushing in from the broken levees. We returned to Sarah's house to learn that she only wanted a few things done to her house, but later in the afternoon choose to have us do the entire house. Sarah was very thankful for our willingness to come a serve and shared her story with us. It was a great blessing to me to go and serve in New Orleans and thank you to everyone who lifted us up in your prayers.
NYC tales and Sarah's story will be posted later, I am going to rest a bit. More to come, tune in later.
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