Reentry into Motown.
Triple hazelnut nonfat latte. Clean streets. Children laughing. No more smells of rotting decay in the air. Parking lots without FEMA trailers. Absence of Red Cross ERV sirens. Normal life.
I woke up at 5 a.m. this morning, the same time I've woken up every day for the last 10 days. Ready to work; ready for an assignment to a work crew. As I lay in bed, I prayed for our team. For safety, for God to be honored. But no work detail for me. Only thing on my agenda today was resting and playing with my girls.
As I think about all of the physical, emotional, and human loss that I've seen, I count my blessings. My infinite blessings...
Looking forward to seeing all of the team again soon.
Glen
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Winding Down
Tuesday--the last day for five of us (Bob and Helen, Art, Pam, and me).
Pam and Helen helped at Camp
Art and Bob went out with a mucking crew. Afterward, Tina said, “It was the worst yet.”
“Even worse than yesterday?”
“Yes! Rose and I were nearly gagging at the smell all day.”
Rick Kelly and I were assigned to deliver new appliances to hurricane survivors—refrigerators, washers, dryers, and kitchen stoves. We were the muscle for one of the elders from the local congregation. After we made the final delivery, he insisted on taking us to lunch. We both told him that we were cheap dates—no need to spend much money on us. He took us to his favorite seafood restaurant, where we chowed down on a po’ boy and a bowl of red gumbo, respectively. Yummy!
In the morning, we plan to break camp as soon as we can see what we’re doing, then hit the highway after breakfast. The plan is to arrive sometime Saturday.
Don’t stop praying for us,
Jack
Pam and Helen helped at Camp
Art and Bob went out with a mucking crew. Afterward, Tina said, “It was the worst yet.”
“Even worse than yesterday?”
“Yes! Rose and I were nearly gagging at the smell all day.”
Rick Kelly and I were assigned to deliver new appliances to hurricane survivors—refrigerators, washers, dryers, and kitchen stoves. We were the muscle for one of the elders from the local congregation. After we made the final delivery, he insisted on taking us to lunch. We both told him that we were cheap dates—no need to spend much money on us. He took us to his favorite seafood restaurant, where we chowed down on a po’ boy and a bowl of red gumbo, respectively. Yummy!
In the morning, we plan to break camp as soon as we can see what we’re doing, then hit the highway after breakfast. The plan is to arrive sometime Saturday.
Don’t stop praying for us,
Jack
Ken's House and other thoughts. . .
Many on the crew went to Ken's house yesterday. This house had nearly 8 feet of flood water. Flood water brings lots of things with it, straw and mud are the worst culprit. The first task was to bust down the garage door, no remote control(no electricity)the door was taken out in pieces. Behind the door was an incredible amount of mud, around 18 inches of it. The crew attacked it and the sheetrock in the house, then came in from the jobsite at 3:30. Our crew can work!
Brenda Smith is a great servant. She has taken a shed full of stuff and turned into a workable warehouse full of food and cleaning supplies. Jim, her husband has been working maintenance around the "outpost". Monte and Sharon Corley from Manteca are out mucking on a different crew, Monte was promoted to crew leader today.
Rick Kelley arrived at the airport yesterday after delays in Denver. We retrieved him from the airport on the second attempt late last night. Today he is with Jack Hairston delivering new refrigerators to people in the community.
Yesterday on the airport run I turned off into the streets just east of the Superdome. Litter still remains on the highpoints in the road where people sought refuge from the flood waters. In the 50 block area that I drove around it was very eerie. It was a complete ghost town. We only saw one family looking at their home. One family in an area with thousands of homes. Cars scattered like Monoply pieces all over the place. At one convience store a person was obtaining supplies! The other spooky part, all the homes have search marks. A circle with an x inside it. The information in the circle tells of casualties, date and what group did the search. The height of the mark on the house shows the level of the water when the rescuers were there.
More random thoughts to come later. . . Keep us in your prayers.
Buddy
I am counting down the days till I get home.
Brenda Smith is a great servant. She has taken a shed full of stuff and turned into a workable warehouse full of food and cleaning supplies. Jim, her husband has been working maintenance around the "outpost". Monte and Sharon Corley from Manteca are out mucking on a different crew, Monte was promoted to crew leader today.
Rick Kelley arrived at the airport yesterday after delays in Denver. We retrieved him from the airport on the second attempt late last night. Today he is with Jack Hairston delivering new refrigerators to people in the community.
Yesterday on the airport run I turned off into the streets just east of the Superdome. Litter still remains on the highpoints in the road where people sought refuge from the flood waters. In the 50 block area that I drove around it was very eerie. It was a complete ghost town. We only saw one family looking at their home. One family in an area with thousands of homes. Cars scattered like Monoply pieces all over the place. At one convience store a person was obtaining supplies! The other spooky part, all the homes have search marks. A circle with an x inside it. The information in the circle tells of casualties, date and what group did the search. The height of the mark on the house shows the level of the water when the rescuers were there.
More random thoughts to come later. . . Keep us in your prayers.
Buddy
I am counting down the days till I get home.
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