Where I Saw Jesus

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED URGENTLY: 29 August deadline looming for homeowners

2006-07-19T20:11:00.000-07:00

The St. Bernard and Orleans Parish governments have announced that homeowners have until 29 August to gut and secure their homes or be faced with fines and possibles liens or confiscation. The need for volunteers is now more pressing than ever. If you have been thinking about returning to work with us at Hilltop Rescue, now is the time! Please spread the word.

IMMEDIATE NEED: $2,800 to ship donated drinking water

2006-07-19T20:09:00.000-07:00

A generous donor has offered to give Hilltop an entire tractor-trailer load of drinking water at no charge if we can cover the cost of transportation. If you or your group would like to help cover the $2,800 shipping cost, please contact Gary Watts at gwatts@hilltoprescue.org

Tammany Oaks Report

2006-07-17T10:09:00.000-07:00

It's Friday night, July 14, 2006, at the Tammany Oaks Church of Christ. Another long day of work has ended. We've just had a wonderful time of praise that was inspiring and uplifting. Tony Miller from the Georgetown Church of Christ near Austin, Texas spoke to us from James Chapter Two, and reminded us that our faith is "completed" or "made perfect" in our work. The work being done in the devastated areas of New Orleans should help us to see people as Jesus sees them - each one a beautiful, immortal soul of infinite worth. Afterwards, I had a great spiritual conversation with Mike Avery, the Youth Minister from the Memorial Church of Christ in Houston. He reminded me that the Lord provides for us a time and a place for rest and restoration.

The numbers tonight are down a bit since the group from Memphis left this morning. The young people here are showing a mind-boggling amount of energy, considering how hard they have been working this week. Footballs, soccer balls and beach balls are being kicked and thrown all over the building. Others are washing clothes and preparing lunches for tomorrow. Despite all the action, at least one sensible adult has already fallen asleep. Shannon Cooper, the Youth Minister from the Central Church of Christ in Little Rock, Arkansas, is telling us to expect lots of similar activity from the three other Youth Groups from Little Rock who will be arriving next week.

It reminded me that this is the way things have been in this building since early September, 2005. Groups coming, groups going. Work being done, lives being touched, hope being re-kindled. God's name being lifted up in prayer and praise. Old friends re-uniting, new friendships being established. God's word being opened up before us in ways we have never before considered. Everything being done in the name of and to the glory of God.

And so, another typical day comes to an end at Tammany Oaks Church of Christ. I would like to extend my humble and heartfelt thanks to all the volunteers who have worked through Tammany Oaks, Hilltop and Carrollton. You have given your time, your money, your sweat, in some cases your blood, your many tears, and your many prayers to the people of the New Orleans area. I believe these priceless gifts could be the start of a great spiritual re-awakening in Southeastern Louisiana.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Ambrose Ramsey
Shepherd, Tammany Oaks Church of Christ

Columbus Team 15 Update

2006-07-06T05:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry about not giving much in the way of updates. We have been very busy and doing lots of hard work. The first day we spent in a private school Lynn Oaks, grades Pre-K through 8, the only Christian school in the area. They have been wanting to get schools opened up. Without the schools it makes it hard for people to come back with their children.

Day 2 - was spent finishing a house that another group had started. There was one bedroom and bathroom that had not been de-mucked. It was 3-5 inches of dried muck, hard to break up. We had a young man with us that has been here since May, Rod. He was like a plow going through the house. He didn't wear a mask or goggles, not even gloves. We worked very hard and we managed to finish the house. We didn't get to meet the homeowners but we signed a Bible and left it for them. Afterward, Rod took us on a "little tour" through the southern part of the 9th ward, where the Levy broke. The devastation is unbelievable, including the numbers on some of the homes that were left, indicating the amount of bodies found.

Day 3 - we got a house in New Orleans. The home owner worked in the evidence dept with the N.O. Police Dept. Her father built the home and she had lived there all her life. Her father had passed away some time ago and her mother back in 1990. She rode out the storms (Katrina and Rita) at Police HQ. She had family members that ended up living in the attic of house during Katrina. This is a very close knit community. Her father had built many of the homes, and she had family members, Uncles, Aunts, Cousins, living on nearly every street. She described how the trees were bending during Katrina, like blades of grass in the wind. She was unable to return to her house for over a month due to the situations and all the water. "Who knew it would ever have been that bad." We stripped her entire house, walls, flooring tile, sinks, cupboards, doors. She said the water had risen to over 6 ft in the house. Mold growing everywhere. One of our crew found a shoe box full of pictures in the attic. She was ecstatic. They were the only pictures found with any of her family members in them. We even found some documents of recognition from the city of N.O. presented to her father for some work he had done for the community. She was very appreciative of all the work we were doing.

Someone had mentioned to the group that I made good sausage gravy. Thanks Becky!! :-) So I got up at 5:00 AM this morning to make gravy (for 100 people, I've never made such a large pot of gravy before in my life!), and we actually had REAL fried eggs this morning too. Two other guys in our group volunteered to flip eggs. A great breakfast, everything was homemade (except for the biscuits). Then someone mentioned that their husband made great chili (also from our group). All homemade meals today. Another group here made peach cobbler for desert to go with the chili tonight. I think someone may have gotten a picture or 2 of 3 guys making breakfast before we even had coffee! I bet that was some sight!

We have pictures of all the work we've been doing, but no card reader yet to get them uploaded. Will try and get them out to you as soon as I can.

--mark

Praise for the volunteers

2006-07-03T18:08:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to take a few minutes before our crews that we have out get back in and it gets rowdy again. I want to thank all of the groups and individuals that have supported this ministry over the past ten months.

It has truly been an amazing time in my life that I will never forget. I have a very large extended and even a large close family now. I think about time every day that we have had since this all began. There have been good and bad ones but we have all gotten through them to handle the task at hand.

I really want to thank the groups that were here the week of June 24-30. We had nearly 300 people here. During this week Tim Hines had to be in Honduras, Janet was attending the NACC conference, and Corky was getting prepped for his trip home. This left Lana, Chrissy, and me. the groups that were here this week stepped up and took care of themselves and didn’t hardly call me at all during the day (which is a miracle for my phone not to ring all day) these groups paid close attention to what was asked and got it done. Thank you all for realizing what we needed that week.

As I said earlier it has been ten months since the storm and yes I am getting tired, but seeing people come back time and time again and hearing the stories and meeting new groups gives me the energy to carry on in this. Not to mention that God is giving me energy I never had before. I just encourage all future groups to listen and pay attention to the guys and gals that have been here before. They have learned from trial and error and are just trying to make it easier on you.

I hope everyone has a happy and safe fourth and I hope to see you all soon!

Brendan

Thanks from Ms Ella

2006-06-13T05:17:00.000-07:00

Just had to drop you a line and let you know how nice the ceilings look. They did a wonderful job. I didn't get to meet them in person, just on the phone. I had a awful cold which wound me in the hospital with pneumonia. Brian got to meet them and said they were very nice. Got home today and so glad to see how great things are looking. And gee just think it only took nine months. I'm making a joke but in actuality some people still haven't even started. I feel so sorry for so many people that are still having to live in trailers and even worse cars. Let's pray this never happens again. We have been helped by so many very nice people such as yourself. I know you realize we do appreciate everything y'all have done, but I don't think you understand just how much it means to know a total stranger has taken the time to give us their friendship. There's not a doubt in my mind God has sent you to us.

God Bless each and every one of you.
With warmest regards and sincere appreciation,
Ella Smith and Brian Barringer

Editor's Note: 3 weeks after Katrina, Ella returned home from Dallas to find her house in Slidell had been flooded 3 feet deep. She walked right back out and a Marine put his hand on her shoulder and asked what he could do to help. She and Brian had an hour or so to get what they wanted to keep from the house and the crew of Marines gutted it for her.

We met her at the Home Depot with a Penske truck, helped get all the things she needed and started putting her house back together in January. A few other volunteers through Hilltop have worked on it since then, but this week the Shiffbauer family from Columbus Ohio finished the last step, painting the ceiling on the day the air conditioning was first up and running. Ella and Brian are now home.

There are a lot of pictures of her house before and during our work linked from this blog entry and you can find more stories from team 7 at the archive of the blog from the week we were there in January.

Hilltop Needs List Summer 2006

2006-06-10T17:53:00.000-07:00

As this is being posted the first tropical depression of 2006 is starting our second season as it is expected to land on the gulf coast of Florida as Tropical Storm Alberto. Hilltop has needs for the current operation in New Orleans as well as preparing for the next one.

Lots of water: On a normal day we go through 1000 bottles
Gatorade
Drink mixes for meals: teas, Gatorade, fruit drinks, lemonade…
Snacks: granola bars, chips, cookies, candy…
Fresh fruit and vegetables: best if brought with groups coming to work
First aid supplies: band aids, Neosporin, gauze, tape, ace wraps, meds...
Bread: white and wheat
Heavy mops: cotton head

These are things that hilltop rescue needs on hand to be able to respond to the next disaster.

Chain saws-Husquarvana or Stihl preferably.....I know it sounds like I’m being picky but these are the only ones that hold up.
Sledge hammers
Hammers
Wonder bars: 18-24 inch
Wrecking bars
Scoop shovels
Heavy garden rakes
Brooms: small and large
Generators
Kitchen utensils for our new kitchen trailer: contact hilltop for progress on that need
Utility trailers: 12-14 ft enclosed---I know this is a big request but you never know!
Tarps: 20x30 or bigger

Thats all for now. Thank you to everyone for their continued support and prayers for us here at hilltop.

"git er done"
Brendan Hendrix

Columbus Team 14 First Day Report

2006-06-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

Wow what a day. I literally got up at 3:15 and am just now sitting down for the first time at 9:15 other than eating dinner and the devo. And yet I am fine and ready for the morrow.

The team went out bright eyed and bushy tailed today with hopes of tackling great things. The team of 25 stayed together for their first day and will split up tomorrow. They returned around 3:30 dirty and tired with stories of all the gross things they saw and did.

Cleaning up mud and throwing peoples personal possessions in a trash pile. It seems that no matter who we are or where we come from that is the single thing that always stands out, the throwing out of things that were once near and dear to us.

Imagine if you will if God had said “go give away all you have and I will bring you peace....... Would we not debate argue or negotiate with God? Yet this disaster strikes and makes them all as filthy rags and here we are helping people to the curb with all their worldly possessions.

Tomorrow holds much promise. The kids from WSHS did such a great job today that the neighbor to the house they did came in and asked Hilltop for them to come do hers. I doubt that will happen but she was so impressed with how hard they worked, the quality of the work, and their attitudes that she followed them back here. Great job to the kids who are hear working so hard.

Well I need some sleep up at 3 again to cook. Good night and may God bless each of you.

Brad Hayes
Servants Unite

Columbus Team 14 Starts Work

2006-06-08T07:01:00.000-07:00

Well the trip was long but we made it in one day. 15 hours of driving and let me be the first to salute the Westerville South kids on making their trips count and making them quick. It really helped to make the trip go faster and we were coming into New Orleans across Lake Ponchatrain just as the sun was beginning to set. It was quite a contrast to enjoy the beauty of the bright orange and red sun across the water when only a few feet away were still piles of garbage wreckage and distruction.

I have not been down since October but much is still the same as you come into the city. It appears that many of the major areas, the highways, tourist areas etc have had extensive work but as you come into St Bernard Parish there is still an awe of the massive destruction that occurred.

The group at Hilltop was over 200 last night when we arrived with 99 leaving today and over 100 more due in today. Just finished breakfast and clean up in time for the crew to prepare for their first day in the field. I will do my best to keep you all updated but have to tell you the pace hasn't slowed here if anything it has quickened.

Brad Hayes
Servants Unite

Columbus Team 14 Leaves for Chalmette

2006-06-07T03:43:00.000-07:00

A team of 27 from Westerville South IB led by Brad Hayes left at 5:40 this morning from South's parking lot. There was an unbelievable amount of energy from this crew for that early in the morning.

If you look close you'll see a couple familiar faces. Ross from Spring Road Church of Christ youth group is on his 3rd trip! Also Whitney Hayes is making a return run. Very inspiring!

They'll be driving straight through to Chalmette today, working through Tuesday, and returning home on Wednesday. Please pray for their safety, success, and thank God for the ministry oppurtunities this work provides. And keep watching the blog this week for Brad's updates.

John McGuire
Servants Unite!

Thank You

2006-06-07T03:24:00.000-07:00

Dear Hilltop Rescue & Relief,

"Great is thy faithfulness." I am writing this letter to express my gratitude and appreciation for your love of Christ and mankind. The individuals and the young college students you sent to my home were a joy divine. I have never seen young people work so diligently with such joy and harmony. When I speak of your ministry with other people, and the great work you are doing, my cup flows over with appreciation.

My daughter Elizabeth and I often think of all of you and want you to know the impression you have left on our hearts by sharing God's greatest commandment "Love Thy Neighbor as Thy Self." We commend you for spreading the goods news of the scripture, and all the great work you are doing helping families to start putting their lives back together after such devastation as Katrina.

May God bless and keep you in His divine love and care, if ever we can be of assistance to you do not hesitate to contact us.

God Bless,

Augustine Bridges

Elizabeth Bridges

Church of The Woods Trip Record

2006-06-04T19:16:00.000-07:00

The following booklet of our church's mission trip during Easter of 2006 contains numerous stories and examples of how we saw Jesus. We are from Lake of the Woods Church in Locust Grove (Orange County) Virginia. Please feel free to distribute this as widely as desired. Our team of 21 people were deeply affected by our experience in Chalmette working through Hilltop Rescue Mission. We are planning another trip down there around the Thanksgiving time frame. Thanks to all those who volunteer and give so much in obedience and love of our fellow man and our Lord.

Download the PDF here.

John Giannico
Forester
NREA Branch - Forestry Section
3250 Catlin Ave
Marine Corps Base Quantico VA 22134

Let Us Give Thanks

2006-06-04T19:10:00.000-07:00

Let Us Give Thanks

A Reflection after our Post-Katrina Mission Trip
by David Blackistone
Lake of the Woods Church in Virginia

"My lawn is in terrible shape this spring with weeds and brown patches everywhere."
"Today I watched a Bobcat frontloader tear up my front yard as it pushed a mountain of trash into the street."

"I can't find my keys anywhere!"
"FEMA placed a trailer on my property three weeks ago, but still has not given me the keys to unlock the door."

"Do we only have one kind of ice cream?"
"Tonight we're having some donated canned peaches for dessert."

"The laundry basket is already full again."
The washing machine was sitting on top of the dryer at a 45-degree angle and one corner poked a hole into the kitchen.

"I didn't get the stuffed animal I wanted for Easter!"
The girl's doll lay in the mud, gray and water-logged.

"The CVS here is half the size of the one where we used to live."
Beside the destroyed CVS store sat a trailer with a sign on the side that read, "CVS Pharmacy."

"My house is a wreck! I hate to go home and face it."
"My house is a wreck. I can't go home."

Let us give thanks.

Current Pics from New Orleans

2006-06-01T18:14:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of spending the weekend of May 20-21 with the Hilltop leadership in Chalmette. Plans are in progress and solidifying for setting up the next relief operation in the next disaster area. Hilltop will be scouting and opening a basecamp when the times comes and organizations like ours in Columbus, Ohio, Servants Unite, will be sending in volunteers.

You can see all my best pics from that trip here

More groups like ours are needed to provide resources for the next relief operation as well as continuing our work in New Orleans. If you've organized a team to work with Hilltop, you'll be getting a letter from me soon describing how a permanent disaster relief operation like Servants Unite can be built and contribute to the effort. We want to help you do that in anyway possible. If you're interested without further prompting, email whereisawjesus@gmail.com. We'll include you in future communications on the subject and get you lots of contact information to ask questions.

A new pressure has surfaced that demands increased volunteer support of the effort in New Orleans. The St. Bernard Parish government, where we do most of our work, has given homeowners a date of August 29 to be started cleaning out their houses. The "or else" hasn't been announced yet, but there are hundreds of work orders not fulfilled waiting for us at the school and Tammany Oaks. If you can put together a summer mission trip the host organizations are very eager to get as much work done before the end of August to help homeowners meet that deadline.

I have some numbers and metrics to report on the Hilltop effort. From January through April, that effort spent $81,000 feeding and organizing volunteers; aproximately 1600 of them. The cost of $50 per volunteer per week is reflected in their new request for a donation of $10 per day per volunteer to help cover expenses. Outside fundraising would help eleviate the need for this expense, but preperations for the next disaster take capital too.

That is a good investment. That $81,000 allowed the volunteers to clean out over 400 houses! That's around $200 per house. More donations are needed and can be made on their web site, www.hilltoprescue.org. With $100,000 left, the end of August would be the end of the effort without more capital flowing in. If any of you can organize more fundraising to help cover all the costs this can remain the cost free mission trip it has been for most of us the past 8 months.

Please, post your pictures and stories to this blog. An average of 150 or so volunteers are working at these organization's efforts each week and I post any stories I get back from the field. That has been only a handful the last two months. This is an important part of our mission. We can't all take off as often as we wish to spend time serving, but by sharing our stories we can inspire others to through this blog and emailed newsletters from the organizations. Please do you part and contribute yours.

John McGuire
Where I Saw Jesus Blog Editor
President, Servants Unite

Point of View - John Giannico

2006-05-22T19:33:00.000-07:00

This is a poem I wrote after returning from our church's mission trip on Easter week, 2006. We worked in Chalmette, stayed at the Rowley Camp run by Hilltop Rescue. Our group from Lake of the Woods Church in Orange County VA was deeply impacted. We all wrote things, and made a booklet out of it, as well as two audio/video slide shows. This is but one of the ways in which our group expressed how they saw Jesus.

Point of View
John Giannico on the New Orleans Mission Trip – Easter 2006

There is a thing called point of view
That colors what we see
Though it is right in front of you
Is it reality?

From mine it seemed a mass of junk
All huddled in big piles
A busted vase, a moldy trunk
The trash went on for miles

Of packrat lives and useless stuff
Calling to be burned
Old textbooks and some inane fluff
Of lives upside turned

From his it’s now a time of war
That just has to be fought
Unlike any that came before
Like nothing ever taught

The fishing pole, the catcher’s mitt
Now rights-of-passage tombs
There’s no more time to rest, to sit
Not while the enemy looms

To her the walls came crashing down
Her fortress crumbling flakes
Broken dolls and a wedding gown
Her treasures lay in waste

Oh watery grave of mud and silt
Dead blossoms you create
Everything that we have built
This storm has changed our fate

From them it’s just a numbers game
File drawer compassion
Pinpoint probes, assigning blame
Well-documented inaction

Authority is theirs to give
Setting the bottom line
Safety nets leaking like a sieve
But “everything will be fine”

On High the view is broader still
As heavenly turmoil brews
The dark one just can’t get his fill
But in the end he’ll lose

The white dove makes the final move
In this celestial scope
He promises we cannot lose
As long as we have hope

Rebuild your towns up on the rock
Don’t build them on the sands
On mortal men place not your stock
But in the Master’s hands

His point of view is crystal clear
Not murky with debris
Of pain nor death, have no fear
He’ll calm the rising sea

Yes build your town with holy bricks
Set them one by one
Build it around the crucifix
In the glowing light of the Son

I will be back, I hope it’s soon
With a different point of view
Then I’ll sing a familiar tune
With him, her, them and You

Big League Need

2006-05-22T18:29:00.000-07:00

Hurricane Katrina hit St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana on August 29, 2005 and she not only destroyed the homes, but she dampened the dreams of our 12 year old boys. These boys, the St. Bernard, Louisiana Stingrays, are a group of extraordinary kids. Every year since the age seven, they’ve traveled to numerous places around the state and country to compete in tournaments and end their season at a World Series tournament. 2006 was going to be a special year - a year that they’ve been looking forward to since the team was formed. The Stingrays accepted an invitation to the Cooperstown Dreamspark in Cooperstown, New York. This is where 80 teams from around the country (and sometimes other countries) compete for the Cooperstown Dreamspark World Series Championship. Hurricane Katrina has diminished that dream for now, but our prayers continue.

Our team competes in the USSSA league and various other leagues at the highest level of competition. What was so unique about the Stingrays was that most of the team lived within a five mile radius of each other before the storm. This is uncommon in today's world of competitive youth baseball. The boys have composed an impressive record since they have been playing ball having won numerous local, regional and state tournament championships. Last year the Stingrays qualified for the Elite 24 World Series in Orlando, Florida as one of the top 24 teams in the country in their age group. St. Bernard Parish was a small parish with a population of approximately 65,000 people. They compete against teams from much larger populated areas such as New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, etc. in the State of Louisiana as well as teams from all over the United States in Regional and National tournaments.

They have proved themselves winners and are looking forward to one more season, especially since they’ve all been so horribly affected by Hurricane Katrina. While many of us are still in shock since the hurricane, baseball and friendships remain a binding force. Just days after the storm, with cell phone services hit and miss, the boys began calling each other and the coaches. What about baseball? What about the Stingrays? What about Cooperstown? The boys were and still are searching for some sense of normalcy and baseball will be a major part of the rebuilding process for them and their families.

We are now scattered throughout southeast Louisiana. However, we were fortunate and thank God everyday that everyone got out alive and still posses that St. Bernard, Louisiana Stingray spirit. Each team member lost all of their physical possessions in the storm, but things can be replaced. Because of people like yourselves, people who care, we will survive, rebuild and our dreams will be dreams once again.

Thanks for your interest, but most of all thanks for caring.

In Christ,
Ronnie Alonzo
Coach
St. Bernard, Louisiana Stingrays

You can donate to the team through the Hilltop Paypal account
Note in comments that your donation is for the baseball team.

Donate NOW

Or mail checks payable to Hilltop Rescue for the team to:
Hilltop Rescue
717 East Grand Avenue
El Segundo, CA 90245

The Flooding of New Orleans

2006-05-14T19:08:00.000-07:00

There's a really kewl article in the Times Picayune today that all of us who have been cleaning up the mess will find interesting. Eight months after Katrina, there is a relatively accurate timeline of what happened where and when to cause the unprecedented destruction. This details how over 6 hours the whole protective system of levies failed and allowed the flooding.

Personally, I read through this remembering where I was and what I was thinking that day, praying for all the people I didn't know and wishing I could do something to make a difference. In the face of such massive power, there is little we can do. In the face of the destruction and ruined lives, though, we have found we can make a difference. With enough time and effort we have been healing and will continue to heal the damage to people's lives, faith, and property.

Now, 8 months later, knowing these people, and the places we've all seen in person and recognizing the places in the article, I can appreciate the power of the Body of
Christ when we all work together. By working here we are not only inspiring the storm victims, but each other to "be all we can be" in the army of the Kingdom of God.

As we are within weeks of the next hurricane system, planning is in progress for the next response, the next disaster, the next afflicted neighborhood that needs our help. Prayerfully consider your part.

Have you done all you feel compelled to do? Can you organize others to respond the next time? Have you educated your family, friends, coworkers, and fellow church members on the job remaining in New Orleans? Do you have the ability to fund the continuation of this effort or the next one? Is the Holy Spirit tugging at your heart to stay engaged in this ministry?

Listen to His guidance and make His work your priority.

Lets Get Cookin!

2006-05-11T05:56:00.000-07:00

Summer mission trips are sizing up to equal or rival the weeks of Spring Break! Volunteers are booking from all over the country to head to the bayou to clean out houses and help rebuild storm victim's lives. Your help is needed for the forseeable future.

Your help is also needed to care for the mass of volunteers. Karen, the faithful cook at Hilltop in Chalmette needs kitchen help to feed them all. If you are planning a trip with a group, or are interested in making a special trip down to feed volunteers, please let Brendan know by email or on his cell at 985-517-1581.

Update from Tammany Oaks

2006-05-04T10:19:00.000-07:00

We are not scheduling volunteers the week of June 3 - 10 as we are hosting a HUGE JINO (Jesus In New Orleans) conference. There will be 400 - 500 here for that - mostly high school and college age individuals. They will be spending nights in the gyms of two of our high schools.

We have been enjoying a slow April and beginning of May after the rush in March. We have had at least one group here constantly, but different than 200. We have a group of 16 here this week from Lancaster, PA. We pick up next week with 20 coming from Auburn Univ. and 51 coming from Univ. of Connecticut. Both of these groups were here over spring break and wanted to return. The summer calendar is filling up. We are already at capacity June 16 - 22 and June 28 - July 2.

John Goodman, from Indiana who has been with us two months, returns home on the 12th. We have a mature 21 year old, Kair Cogswell from Ohio, who has come in and trained to take John's position of lining up jobs, being our on site person for volunteers. She has lots of energy and personality. We are enjoying her. We also have hired an outreach minister, Bret Wells, who is at this time living on site and working with Kair and Tod, our minister. He has been handling devos and helping with orientation of volunteers.

We continue to get many calls from families in the community needing houses gutted. So still lots of work to be done.

Renee Ramsey

Columbus Team 13 Thursday Update

2006-04-21T11:11:00.000-07:00

So do you think we can stand up and tell the church what we saw, the stories we heard and how we were blessed?

Today we went to the east end of Chalmette. The houses there are really nice. Most are single story homes. A lot of elderly people. The gentleman we met was Harold (71). He lived in his house with his wife and mother. He was a square dance caller and they held square dances out back in a big gazebo. He had left the house during the storm. But those in the neighborhood who didn't leave ended up drowning. Several of Harold's friends died as a result of the flooding or from the trauma afterwards. Since he wasn't at the house at the time of the storm Harold couldn't say how long it took to flood the house. But his house was flooded into the attic. Everything they owned was lost. The water did not recede for two weeks. He had flood insurance but the insurance only paid $75,000 for his home and all its contents. He had no mortgage and now he is displaced to Covington Mississippi. Harold was such a sweet man; he brought us extra water and snacks.

When we got to the house it was a mess. All the furniture, clothing, dishes, linens, etc were still in the house. Everything was submerged in water for two weeks. There was about six inches of muck (mixture of mud, wet plaster board from the ceiling and insulation, along with anything else that floated around the in house). The kitchen still had water in it and the lower cabinets. A fridge had fallen and did not allow the water to drain. The stench was awful. We looked at it and didn't think we could get it done. But we spread out through the house and began shoveling, pulling curtains down and moving furniture out. After a lot of sweat and hard work we able to get all of the muck out of the house, removed the carpet and then pulled down just about all of the plaster board, as well as gut out the kitchen.

Even though the work is hard, we are dead tired at the end of the day and smell worse than we ever smelled in our life, this is probably the best thing I have ever done. It is so rewarding and such a blessing to me to be able to help someone who I have never met. And, to see the joy and hope on the homeowners face when we have finished. Harold was so gratefully, words could not express the way he felt.

For the last couple of months we have been talking about going out and serving others. About being more Christ. But there is nothing that will bring you closer to the Lord and to humble yourself to clean out someone else’s mess. The reality of how much material things mean NOTHING. The question we need to ask is who have I served today.

I will write again tomorrow.

God Bless.

Barbara

Bringing it Home...

2006-04-21T06:06:00.000-07:00

I try to think if the crisis were in Gahanna [Columbus, Ohio], if this was OUR church hosting teams every week, week after week, month after month- going FAR out of our way to help in such a huge effort, could we do it - could we lay aside our pretty building & our busy schedules & the "way things are supposed to be" and DO IT?? I like to think we would.

When we had the ice storm a few Christmases back, we were ILL-PREPARED but non-the-less opened our building on Christmas day for people to cook and hang out and enjoy our heat :) But 7 months and they are still opening their hearts to all these strangers- that's the Body of Christ for you.

They have humbled me with their kindness and I will certainly return the favor when someone needs ME to go out of MY way! Very cool to be a part of all this even from my perch in Ohio!

Cindy B. Schmidt
Director of Missions & Outreach
New Life Church
3690 Stygler Rd
Gahanna, OH 43230
(614) 475-8500
www.enewlife.com

Columbus Team 13 Wednesday Update

2006-04-19T09:57:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Lakeview, just northwest of downtown New Orleans. We met Sue (71) and Ray (80), and their son Ray Jr. Ray had built his house himself, and let me tell you it was a solid well built house. Their house withstood the hurricane with no problem. They barely heard the wind as the storm passed by. They heard on the radio that the storm had passed and they relaxed in their family room.

Then they noticed about two feet of black water outside the sliding door. The water shattered the sliding door and about five foot of water came rushing in. They scrambled to get their pets, two dogs, two cats and birds. The water came in so fast that it knocked over the refrigerator and the furniture was floating about. They tried to get to the second floor and Sue got trapped at the bottom of the stairs. Ray Jr. had to pull her up out of the water. They sat upstairs and watched as the water kept rising. It came within inches of the ceiling on the first floor. They were camped out in the upper level and on the roof of their home. They cut a hole in the floor of the second level above the kitchen to try and get some food. The only thing they brought up was canned dog food and tuna (no can opener). They had water which they had bought in anticipation of the storm. They cut a hole in the roof and sat up on the roof. While waiting to be rescued the house next door had been washed off its pilings and was floating and bouncing into their house. They heard houses exploding.

For 3 days and 3 nights they watched as helicopters and boats passed them by. They were told they needed to leave their pets behind, but they couldn’t do that. Then finally someone came with a boat and rescued them. But that is not the end of their story.

They were first brought to the bridge (which was dry) because of their pets. They had to leave the birds behind. From there they went to the Coast Guard station. Ray Jr. was an avid gun lover and had saved one of his guns and brought it with them. As a result all three of them were forced to lie on the floor as they were searched. Sue said they treated them like criminal. From there they went to a Catholic Church somewhere. The church had no electric or water. They slept on the pews, but the animals had to stay outside. From there they were transferred somewhere else. Then they were brought to Austin, TX, after which they were transferred to where they are now at what Sue calls the wagon train camp.

Sue said the water level did not recede for over 4 weeks. During that time their home had been looted by thieves in boats and on jet skis. Everything was in a shambles when they were allowed to return.

We were able to remove what was left and gut out the first floor of their house. Sue and Ray were so full of joy that we were there doing work that they could not. Sue talked to me for long periods at a time. She needed to tell her story and have someone just to listen. I was able to pray with Sue, give her hugs and let her know how she had blessed me. Here is this 71 year old woman who went through this traumatic and most horrific experience of her life. In the end her home and material things are gone, but she and her family are alive. Sue was a special woman, an awesome woman. And she thanks Jesus for bringing her through this.

I can’t even imagine how I would react if something so horrible like this happened to me. Sue was a blessing to me. An inspiration. I thank God for this opportunity to serve Him. To be able to show love and compassion to another human being. And all I did was give my time and my muscles. It cost me nothing to give hope to Sue and her family. That’s what the people here need it hope for a new beginning. Thank you Sue and Thank you Lord.

God Bless!

Barbara

Columbus Team 13 Tuesday Update

2006-04-18T13:40:00.000-07:00

Well we made it through our first day. Boy am I getting old! The first house we went to today wasn't too bad. The owner Eric was there. In his neighborhood which is on the same side of the levee as the French Quarter had only about 5 or 6 feet of water. His house is up about three feet off the ground so the water damage was only to about our knees. The thing is we still needed to gut the house because everything was still in it and there was so much mold. We were done there about 2pm. Eric was a retired gentlemen who suffers from cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure. He is out at Austin, TX where the city has put him up for 18 months at no charge. He came back to Louisiana since he knew that we were coming to work on his house.

Then we came back to headquarters and got our next assignment. This house was in Chalmette just east of the 9th ward where all the houses were under water. It was a two story duplex and the water had gone about 3 or 4 feet into the second level. The drywall was still wet. One side of the duplex has been started and I worked on that side, however the other side of the duplex had not been started. When they moved the fridge there was still water in it. What a foul smell. We were only at the duplex about 2 1/2 hours but made a lot of progress. We will be headed back that way tomorrow.

I have to tell you again, you would not believe the devastation. It’s like a war zone. There are no words to explain what we have seen. We need to pray for these people. In these neighborhoods we see maybe 5 or 10 FEMA trailers in a neighborhood of 100+. How depressing it must be. My heart goes out to the people down here. The debris along the streets makes it surreal. As we gut out these houses everything gets piled along the street waiting for FEMA to come and clean it up

I will write again tomorrow.

God Bless!

Barbara

Urgent Need for Water!

2006-04-17T11:48:00.000-07:00

As temperatures are climbing this week to a balmy 93 and the humidity is higher still Hilltop Chalmette is in need of water and Gatoraid to quench the thirst of melting yankees :-) We're doing pretty well with keeping a steady stream of voluntees going in to work now, but need to support them with some hydration.

Can you Help? Email Brendan at brendan_hendrix@yahoo.com

Look in the next couple of days for an updated needs list. Hilltop will begin handing out food and supplies on weekends in Chalmette and is preparing for the next disaster area by looking for chainsaws, mobile freezers, and other tools.

Columbus Team 12 in Chalmette

2006-04-12T07:41:00.000-07:00

It has been soo hard to get online here UGHHHHH! But I have I have a chance now so I am going for it!

We arrived here on Sunday after noon, after spending the night in Nashville. There had been 20 folks killed by tornados the on Saturday. We did see some damage and, some pretty severe damage.

As we arrived here in New Orleans, it appears that many things have not changed. Within 15 miles of us, only a Walgreens is open...and almost bare.....The Home Depot is operating out of the garden center...and it is open as well....There are a couple of tatoo/bars open....but we have not been to those.

On this trip we are working in a city called Chalmette. It is the famous St Bernard Parrish area that we have heard so much about. Our headquarters is the Hilltop Rescue Relief Mission, based out of California. It is in an elementary school that sits in the middle of an area that had about 8 feet of water. The school has been gutted and cleaned. The have allowed the mission to operate out of it to serve the St Bernard Parrish. There is devistation all around us. There is a trailer city right in front of the school...some with folks in it,,,and some that are ready for teachers and responders when/if they come back.

On Monday, we were assigned two houses to de-muck..they were across the street from each other. the water had been to the ceiling and both houses had stuff in them. One of them was full of belongings and the other was not as bad. Both of them had to have everything taken out, then the carpet, the walls and the ceilings. One of the rooms was a babies room. Our teens were moved by the toys and clothing that had been left behind. There was 6 inches of mud in that room. Another room had the same amount of mud, and lots of family pictures and heirlooms that had been destroyed.

Our job was to take everything to the curb...and I mean everything. Carpet, belongings, drywall, glass, appliances, dishes, furniture, everthing out on the street. We had to rip the drywall out. It was all moldy and stained with water, mud and oil. The piles at the street were high and into the neighbors yards. Of course, there was no one at all living in this neighborhood. One of the homeowners, did have a FEMA trailor in their drive and were living in it.

The stories were very sad. The people had very little hope and were very happy to see us. Many folks stop at the work sites and let us know how happy they are that we are there to help them.

One man stopped by in a dump truck. His name was Dale, and he had lived in this area all of his life. His four kids grew up, married and all lived with in ten miles of each other. He shared that now, they were scattered all over...the daughter, a single mother, was transferred to Texas, the boys were in Oklahoma, Baton Rouge and Atlanta. He was very sad that they were all so far apart. He was very distraught that at the age of 62, he and his wife would have to start all over again. Every thing, in their home was lost. His daughter had taken pictures with her when she evacuated. No one else had any....He was teary as he shared that.

We finished up, and returned to the compound for dinner and a devotional. It was very good.

On Tuesday we got up at 6:30 am, had breakfast and a devo and headed to our assignment. It was a 8 room home, that had had water to the ceiling and once again, everything was destroyed. The couple that owned the home were there and worked with us. The man several times would sit down and cry as different items were removed from his home. The wife loved on the teens and adults who were helping. She and he were so greatful for everthing we did. The had recently done some remodling on the home you could tell that they were devastated by the storm and and the destruction of their posessions. They were greatful for their lives, and today, for the teens and adults who came to rescue them from this mess. We were joined today by a cool group from California. 4 teens and 4 adults. They were a welcomed addition to our team. We divided up the house and went to work. It was not long before there wa! s a pile out front, 10 feet wide, 75 feet long. I am not sure that I have ever seen teens (or adults for that matter) work soooo hard in such horrible conditions. The mud smelled. The mold was up the walls to the ceiling, it stunk. There was a refridgerator that really was, well...it is impossible to describe. Clothing, cookware, christmas decorations, crafts and more were all taken to the curb. Sadly, the wife watched most of it go out and would occasionally pull something back to save. She would stop a teen and tell them a story about an article or craft, and then watch as it was tossed on the pile.

I was so proud of our teens as they worked sooo hard to be of service to this couple. Destruction of walls, carpet, and more they did without a complaint. Girls were (guys too) pushing wheel barrows full of stuff, laden with mold, oil and mud out to the curb. Several of these student have so impressed me with their attitudes, love and hard, hard work. It has been a priveldge to serve with them. One in particular has had a very positive attitude. He has worked and served and talked with every one in such a Christ like manner that, it has been a blessing to me to witness his actions.

We invited the couple back here for lunch and dinner and they so enjoyed being with us. He and she both hugged each and every person on our team after we prayed before we left the house. We just dont know how much we were an encouragement to them this day. I know part of a burden was lifted from their hearts. I know that Christ was clearly shown to them this day. I also know that the couple had a lasting impact on our team..several were in tears as we left and as they spoke of the day.

Thank you for keeping us in your prayers. We have a couple days left to go. I am excited to see what God has in store for us!

love

robin

Tornado damage tonight team 12 overnight stop for tomorrow...

2006-04-07T21:51:00.000-07:00

Irony of ironies, we chose to continue with the plan of sending this Servants Unite spring break team to Louisiana because some of the teen's parents were concerned about sending them into the new disaster zone in Dyer County Tennessee. Tonight there was major storm damage around Nashville including a tornado touchdown in Hendersonville, the suburb where our team is scheduled to stay tomorrow night, though towns east and west of Hendersonville sustained the most damage. [CNN Story]

I just spoke with Mark Bryson who is our contact at Hendersonville Church of Christ. He just came from the church where the Red Cross has set up a shelter in the Gym. Many homes have been destroyed all around Nashville and at least 11 are reported to have died in the storm.

Please be in prayer for this area and the families grieving tonight.

Mark says our team is still welcome to stay overnight that there is no problem getting into the church and there is plenty of room for them in the Gym. As this is fresh news our plans are not yet changed, but it is inevitable that some adjustments will be required. I will check back with Mark at Hendersonville in the morning and be able to get more information out then. I expect we will send our team to Nashville as scheduled, but leave them there to help meet the immediated needs of these new storm victims.

The Hendersonville church has hosted most of our teams on their way home from Katrina Relief trips and many other groups. They volunteer weekly and contribute heavily to the Nashville based Churches of Christ Disaster Relief who has sent so many truckloads of food, water, supplies, and now appliances and furniture.

I believe we need to rise to the opportunity God has given us here to help them in their area's time of need.

I expect there will be an immediate need for volunteers to help in the area. Groups may start organizing to head into this area. I will post contact information for hosting churches as even Hendersonville is not yet officially ready to take on more than we are already sending.

There is also an immediate need for water in neighboring towns where all electric and utilities are out. Groups may collect water in their area anticipating instructions on where to ship it.

Teams will need a few tools:
Chainsaws with Gas, Oil, extra chains (4 adult use only)
Wheelbarrows
Handtools - hammer, prybar, gloves
Safety Equipment - safety glasses, work boots

Again please be in prayer about this new calamity and also for our team and leadership and for wise decision making while following the path God has laid out before us.

____________________________________________
Mark 12:30-31, Mathew 9:36-38, Romans 12:4-8

John McGuire
www.ServantsUnite.org
614-523-3996 home
614-404-8610 cel

Tornado Relief - Dyer County Tennessee

2006-04-05T19:48:00.000-07:00

This area was badly damaged in Sunday night's storms. News reports last night talked about over 1000 houses destroyed. I spoke with Nathan Lewis on a connection made by Mark Elrod at Harding. Nathan is a minister at West Dyersburg Church of Christ in Dyersburg, Tennessee. As of this afternoon, most roads are open and safety issues resolved, but there is a solid need for volunteers for a few weeks.

The church will be hosting volunteer crews and covering food much like Tammany Oaks and other groups have been doing in Louisiana. If you are interested in volunteering you can contact Elder Rick Crawford at the church 731-285-0477 or Nathan on his cell phone 731-589-1498.

There are no material needs at this time with one exception. A small town across the river in Missouri, Caruthersville, was nearly wiped out. There is no power or drinking water.

If you would like to donate water or funds to help storm victims in the short term, please contact Rick or Nathan.

More will follow. Want to be on the notify list for disaster relief opportunities? Send a note to whereisawjesus@gmail.com

Tornado Relief - This is not a test

2006-04-03T18:47:00.000-07:00

OK Gang. Here's where this network of volunteers we are building comes in handy. As you've seen there was massive storm damage last night in Tennessee and Arkansas. Please write back if you have one of the following:

Contact information for a church or group who needs volunteers to help clean up or provide immediate aid.
Volunteers who can help meet that need.

Please send your responses to whereisawjesus@gmail.com. All will be posted and we can use the collective responses to coordinate aid as needed.

Servants Unite has 16 volunteers heading south from Columbus on Saturday who may be able to redirect into an area who needs initial relief. Maybe other groups have that ability as well. Emails should contain enough information to allow us to properly prepare a team to work in the area effected.

Tony Pierce Pics from Last Week

2006-03-25T13:34:00.000-08:00

Ashleigh Givens

2006-03-25T06:39:00.000-08:00

We had a fantastic service trip to Louisiana last weekend! It certainly wasn’t your typical Spring Break on the coast: We spent 2 full days mucking out houses in St. Bernard parish (just across the bridge from New Orleans proper). Our group consisted of 17 adults and 29 teens, and we divided into 3 work crews with each one going to a different house.

It was amazing to see these volunteers dive into the daunting task of clearing out these houses that had not been touched since the hurricane. If you’ve ever moved to a new house, you know how long it takes to pack up all your clothes, pictures, keepsakes, and personal items, plus furniture, appliances, linens, pots and pans…Just imagine moving out all that stuff in just 2 days, and then ripping out all the sheetrock, insulation, carpet, and tile! You now have a picture of what our work included.

There were two special components that made this trip unforgettable. First, the joy of getting to know these brave survivors was a true gift. They all have very different stories and plans for the future, but they share a common loss and strength. Although we could never imagine the extent of pain and loss these homeowners must feel, working alongside them for a couple of days allowed us to share their burden for a while. Hopefully, our concern and love helped to lighten their load. There were a lot of hugs, prayers, “thank you’s,” and tears as we left those work sites and our new friends.

Secondly, the teens and adults were able to work together in a way that we don’t usually experience. This was not a case of adults supervising and teens following orders; all of these eager volunteers chipped in where necessary. There was no job too important or too menial for any person to do. It was so much fun to see new relationships formed, special talents appreciated, and the resulting joy. What a beautiful picture of God’s church doing God’s work!

A special word of appreciation goes to our brothers and sisters at the Tammany Oaks congregation in Mandeville, LA. We simply could not put into words the huge responsibility they have accepted. The hurricane hit just a couple of weeks after their new building had been completed; in the past six months, they have been “home base” for countless volunteer groups, housing and feeding them week in and week out. They have served as a distribution center for food, water, clothing, and furniture. They have been a clearinghouse for relief requests, inspecting homes and lining up crews to do the work. Their spirit of service, generosity, and hospitality is an inspiration! They are the embodiment of God’s presence in that hard-hit area. Please pray for this church family as they continue to love their community.

Again, our youth ministry is so grateful for this church who loves and empowers their teens. When we arrived at Tammany Oaks, we saw a Harding professor who had come down with some college students. He said, “How many people did you bring?” We replied “46,” and he exclaimed, “Y’all are crazy!!!” We had to laugh at how crazy we must look with our 5 van caravan cruising down the interstate with all our junk in tow. It made us appreciate that Southwest is a place where God-sized dreams are seen as exciting and attainable through God’s power.

Ashleigh Givens
Youth Ministry Team
Southwest church of Christ
Jonesboro, Arkansas

Grant McDaniel

2006-03-25T06:34:00.000-08:00

I saw Jesus when we entered the Tammany Oaks building at 1:30 AM Friday morning March 17th and our air mattresses were all laid out for our team of 46. I saw Jesus when Anna was the first to minister to our homeowner. I saw Jesus when Tony, the neighbor across the street, offered the use of hand tools that we desperately needed and then offered the use of their flushable toilet, could it be true. I saw Jesus when John put Morgan on his shoulders to pull nails near the ceiling. I saw Jesus when Jacob and John carried the “stinky” stuff out of the bathtub while everyone else was on break. I saw Jesus when Mary across the street made our team a pot of coffee to knock the chill out of the air. I saw Jesus as 15 volunteers worked seamlessly and without complaint for two days. And, I especially saw Jesus when Mr. Voss, our homeowner, hugged each one and said, “God Bless you”. And finally, I saw Jesus when we sang for two hours with our sister group from Tennessee after a great meal at Tammany Oaks.

Grant McDaniel
Jonesboro, Arkansas
Southwest church of Christ

Surviving Katrina

2006-03-25T06:30:00.000-08:00

Bill Niess from Columbus sent this link to me. time.com/katrina. It's a pictoral essay with the stories of the people in the pictures done mostly right after the storm. Good reminder of who we're helping and how much progress we have made.

Pics from Last week

2006-03-23T18:40:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally got Bill (Columbus) and Meghan's (Buffalo) pictures up from last week's trip to Louisiana. You can find them here:
Bill
Meghan

Jennifer Levanduski, Buffalo NY

2006-03-22T11:38:00.000-08:00

Having been back into the swing of things for a few days in cold and snowy Buffalo, I wanted to collect my thoughts and send you something regarding our recent trip to warm, sunny LA.

First, leaving Chalmette on Friday, I felt selfish because what I was taking away from Louisiana was about 10,000 times greater than the work I had done while I was there. Never before have I had an experience so spiritually moving. It was obvious that the Holy Spirit was pouring out of each of the 400 volunteers who stayed in the school with us that week and for that, to have been part of that, gave me a blessing greater than I can even describe.

Next, it is awe inspiring to hear the stories of the people who lived there. While demucking our first house, we met the daughter, JoAnn, of the homeowner who is one of the most interesting, engaging, and courageous people I've ever met. Her story of driving north through Louisiana with her mother, daughter, and menagerie of pets wowed each of us. That night, JoAnn, along with her mother, daughter, and neighbor, joined us for worship at the school and a nice chat after that. The next day, as we worked on another house, JoAnn and her mother pulled up, told us they had been driving around looking for us, and unloaded a cooler full of cold drinks and snacks! That they would be so gracious and giving absolutely floored each of us. Their gratitude for our being there was overwhelming especially given that I feel like we should have done more for them.

Another homeowner we met, Janie, was a paramedic and her tales of heroics through the storm were also awe inspiring, as was her gratitude and cheerfulness, especially given that she had not yet received her FEMA trailer.

Another blessing I received was that my life was a musical for the week! I have always wanted my life to be a musical. The group sang worship songs all week; we would be working in a house, everybody doing different tasks and someone would begin a song...and everyone would join in! This bursting forth of song also happened in the vans, playing cards, and even in the showers. This spirit of constant praise and worship inspired each of us and grounded us in the fact that we truly were doing the Lord's work.

One other thing that struck me was the unwavering dedication and phenomenal leadership of Brendan, Brad, Tim, and Laura. They expected nothing but the best from us all and exhibited a spirit of selflessness in everything they did.

One last note is that it was clear that the Lord was with us all week. The weather reports before we left indicated that it would be 80-85 and humid all week. I was concerned that, as Yankees, we would melt working in that heat! However, the weather was gorgeous, blue skies and breezes all week. Additionally, despite many nails through boots, scrapes on a daily basis, sunburns, and a hammer head that fell off, everyone made it through the week safely and there is no doubt that was purely by the grace of God.

I could go on forever (and I kind of have...) but I hope this helps with your account of UB's experience. I have found it difficult describing the experience (both here and to folks in Buffalo); it truly was the greatest thing I've ever had the privilege of being a part of.

Additionally, as president of my student government here at UB (the Graduate Management Association, the student government of the MBA program), we have one last charity event coming up and I've convinced the other members of my e-board to donate the proceeds to Hilltop Rescue.

Thank you,
Jennifer

Jennifer Levanduski
President - Graduate Management Association
University at Buffalo School of Management
MBA, Class of 2006
http://wings.buffalo.edu/mgtclubs/GMA

2006-03-20T17:17:00.000-08:00

Thought this was interesting. 270 articles on spring break hurricane relief work! Amazing turnout from college kids and quite a bit of press coverage to boot.

With 400 more expected at the school in Chalmette and 150 at Tammany Oaks this should be another awsome week!

If you were volunteering recently, please send your stories and pics to whereisawjesus@gmail.com.

Mark Elrod on Harding Work

2006-03-20T08:28:00.000-08:00

I’ve found that one of the frustrating things about middle-age is that I can still do a lot of things I used to do when I was 21 (like push wheelbarrows up mountains of garbage and lift refrigerators over my head) but it now takes me three times as long to recover from them. That’s one way of saying that I could use another Spring Break to recover from the Spring Break I just finished.

The work that I was involved in near Mandeville, Louisiana last week was one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I feel selfish when I say that because I know that the work was for the benefit of the people who live there whose lives were turned upside down by Katrina. I told my co-workers on Friday night that another one of the unfortunate results of middle-age is the feeling that nothing you’ve done so far in life has really changed anything for the better. As the poet and philosopher Bruce Springsteen once suggested, life is a steady, uphill battle against cynicism.

This is the same feeling I had when I got back from Bay St. Louis, Mississippi last year. I know in the big picture, our work didn’t amount to much but I’m certain that even if our team didn’t change Louisiana very much, we changed the lives of the people whose homes we worked on and we changed ourselves a little. When we finished demucking and gutting Sonny and Thelma’s house in Chalmette, I stepped back and looked down Decomine St. and saw ten blocks of houses that seemed to be in even worse shape than the one you just spent three days working on. In that context, it’s easy to see your labors as just another bucket of water over Niagara Falls.

I got an e-mail from Thelma last night thanking us again for the work we did on her home in Chalmette. She wrote,

I miss you all and I hope you arrived home safely. Thank you for your final farewell to me and Mr. Sonny. I stopped by the house Thursday evening after work and as I turned the corner I saw the American flag proudly flying on top of the debris. All I could hear as I was crying was 17 voices saying, "Remember Ms. Thelma, In God We Trust.” You will never know how much you restored my faith in God and finally brought peace of mind to me and Mr. Sonny. Thank you for everything you did for us but most of all for giving your faith and love of God to us.

Nobody knows when the Gulf will recover from Katrina, if ever. But I like to think that we helped at least four families start the process of returning to a normal life. You never know what people are looking for but I hope we helped a few people find it.

I thank the Lord that I had the time and resources to make this trip. I thank Him that I had co-workers that never complained about the work we had to do and who embraced the families we worked for despite the fact that they were strangers to us. And I thank Him that I work in a place that is full of people who search every day for people to give that cup of water to. They inspire me and lift me up more than I deserve at times.

Take that, cynicism.

Before I forget to say it, I love my Mandeville co-workers. I'll just go ahead and say that I think they are AWESOME: Kris Davidson, Lisa Dunyon, Jacob Edwards, Jonathan Edwards, Jonathan Edwards (yeah, there were two of ‘em), Sara Foster, Myriah Gilbert, J.J. Hendrix, Kristin Kellett, Scott Taylor, Nakeia Monte, Jennifer O’Neil, Karen O’Neil, Jenny Sego, Chris Simpson, and Jaren Stempfer.

Mark Elrod (elrod@harding.edu)
Associate Professor of Political Science
Harding University
Searcy, Arkansas 72149
Homepage: www.harding.edu/elrod
Weblog: markaelrod.blogspot.com

[Editor's Note: Mark has more equally well written postings of each day during his week in Louisiana on his blog address above.]

Additional numbers from this week

2006-03-17T10:48:00.000-08:00

As of thursday....thats 4 days since we started at rowley school.....the volunteers have completed 60 homes.....started on 10 others.....planted trees and unloaded a tractor trailer full of furniture for carrolton ave church of christ.

Brendan

Sarah's Update from Hilltop

2006-03-17T05:03:00.000-08:00

Hello to all. Wow. Was just reading the website, and it's amazing all the work being done! I am a volunteer with Hilltop Rescue, and am finishing out the week in Slidell, La. God has been really showing himself to us in some incredible ways. From the homeowners all the way to the volunteers here, every day is filled with hope, love, miracles, new friendships, and great faith.

We've had 40-80 volunteers come through here for the past few weeks due to spring break, and it's been great! We've been doing 3-4 houses a day, working hard and bringing hope to so many who have lost everything. I can only say, through experience, the Lord is truly at work down here. From the incredible amount of work we get done each day, (some days I swear, the Lord must be sending out wheelbarrows himself, for all the work we got done in such a short amount of time!!!) to the very homeowners who change OUR lives with their kindness, spirit, faith and determination.

The relationships made here with the fellow volunteers is nothing short of amazing. We all come here to work hard, bring hope, and share what we can, and in doing this, the Lord has blessed every one of us with valuable friendships, spiritual renewal, and continued support.

One lesson learned recently that really stands out in my mind is, de-mucking is the easy part. Anyone can grab a hammer, shovel or crowbar, knock down a few walls, and drag out some really heavy, stinky, wet furniture. But, not everyone can open their hearts, be still, and listen to these victims, hear their stories, and share their thoughts and emotions. Some days it feels like I spend more time with the homeowners, reassuring, talking, and explaining, than actually physically working. And, that’s ok. Because, it's part of the healing, helping, de-mucking process, for them. That was a hard lesson to learn, to be still, listen, and let God speak through you.

So many amazing, wonderful, great things are going on down here, words can't even explain. I know one thing, only through the Lord himself is this whole effort possible. Thank you to all the "behind the scenes" guys and gals, who put so much heart, effort, and faith into making this whole organization work. Through countless hours of lost sleep, much stress, probably some hair loss in there, your efforts do not go unnoticed, if it wasn't for your faith in the Lord and sheer determination, none of us would be here.

So, thank you.

Sarah Chiarini

Wednesday update from Brendan from the School

2006-03-16T17:38:00.000-08:00

Here's pics of the finished showers. They were completed by Toby McCall and crew from the Silent Angels in Atlanta, Ga. The boys worked over twenty four hours on the last night to get them up and running in time. Tobys brother Tommy got us up and running with power. Thank you guys.....you just dont know how you helped us get this up in time!

Second is our kitchen that is being built to feed you guys. Should be up by end of the week.

Next is a classroom that you will sleep in.

The chair picture is our commons area.

The last pic is our group from University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and a group from Colorado planted these trees that were donated by the Arbor Foundation.

Thanks!
Brendan

Brenden's Update for Tuesday

2006-03-14T19:35:00.000-08:00

Brendan called in an update a little bit ago. Pictures are promised. Will keep an eye open for them and post them as soon as I get them. The descriptions (like Bill's below) sound like the amazing week one would expect when hundreds of college students heed God's call to serve over their spring break.

There were 13 crews out from the school in Chalmette today on 20 jobs. The were all finishing early and asking for more work! Brendan said he was at each job site at least once, some several times. Others planted 200 of 1000 Cyprus and Oak trees donated to the parish by the "Arbor foundation".

The parish has OKed the reconstruction of the Chalmette Church of Christ so tomorrow they'll be putting up drywall there.

A rare compliment from Mr. GitRDone... Brendan says, "tell em all I'm proud of em". High praise folks. And same back at ya buddy. That man's been mostly awake and barely sleeping the last two weeks getting everything in order and taking care of all those volunteers. Haven't had any more updates from the other groups, but I'm sure they are experiencing more of the same.

Karen's handling feeding time. The Southern Baptists feeding program next door is supplying three meals a day presently, but they just got a kitchen trailer finished for Karen to use at the school.

Next week's volunteer load at the school is back down to a little more than 200. Still a great continuation of a massive spring break showing.

More news from the area today. FEMA agreed to pay for companies to raise the houses in the flood zones or put them up on stilts. The presentation by a company who does the work says they charge $85,000 to raise a slab home and $35,000 to put a frame house up on stilts. For those of us who've worked with some of these home owners, that's great news that they'll be able to save their homes.

Columbus Team 10 in the field, Tuesday

2006-03-14T08:16:00.000-08:00

Just talked with Bill Niess down in Chalmette with the University of Buffalo students. He was out of breath, but you wouldn't believe the excitement in his voice! They have over 400 people at the school and are hitting it hard this morning. There are crews working 5 houses at the same time on the street he is on. They had an upright freezer to remove walked three doors down and came up with a dolly. "Thank you Jesus!" Bill said.

Now I really am jealous I'm not there.

More from them later. He doesn't have network connectivity so will be dictating a report to me on the homeowner they worked for/with yesterday. Pictures may be in short supply, but we'll see what we can do.

WhereISawJesus

2006-03-13T19:16:00.000-08:00

I saw Jesus in our home owner. She had lost her home and her material memoir. She came by the first day we worked on our house and told us that we were her angels and that she never expected anyone to do that for her. The second day we were at her house she came by with her family. They brought Jambalaya and 4 gallons of sweet tea. Oh and she also brought French bread that she had already cut and buttered. It amazed me that after all that she had gone through, she still wanted to give. It made me realized how spoiled and selfish I am.

--Leslie

Spring Break Crowd packing in

2006-03-12T17:20:00.000-08:00

I've heard from both Renee at Tammany Oaks and Brendan in Chalmette this afternoon and am amazed at the people showing up to serve this week. All these kids and people with them who are taking off spring break to clean out moldering houses, plant trees, and reflect Christ's light is incredibly inspirational!

Renee reports 153 volunteers Saturday night, 174 total expected by tonight and 211 total Monday.

Seems the last week of March will be up again. I'm still waiting on some exact numbers from some groups. Our groups this week are from Cookeville, TN; Oklahoma City, OK; Searcy, AR; Durant, OK; Canadian, TX; Stillwater, OK; Paragould, AR; Austin, TX; Longview, TX; Baytown, TX; Chandler, OK; Jonesboro, AR. Last week the majority
here were from Connecticut.
--Renee

Brendan called from the school this afternoon with an update. He has pics he'll be forwarding. Hopefully we'll have them up tomorrow. He counted around 300 volunteers Saturday night staying at the school and expects another hundred to come in today. Showers, bathrooms, and other facilities are all up and running. Everyone has a bed with room to spare for the expected arrivals. Many spent today seeing the damage and the French Quarter. Tomorrow they have the usual demucking and trees to plant.

The Parish has three foot trees that have been donated and is planting them in an open lot till they have a safe place to grow up. That'll be kewl to go back and see in 30 years when we visit the rebuilt city.

Keep checking in for updates and send in your stories from the field.

One more request. Many of us are starting up new relief organizations as a result of our Katrina work. I want to help support information sharing and encouragement of the construction of these organizations around the country. If you are building an organization or have considered it, send me a note at john@servantsunite.org.

Nicole and Melanie from Nashville

2006-03-12T17:19:00.000-08:00

What a miraculous wonder to experience the presence of God in the very personal lives of people. Melanie Turner and I returned for our 7th and 6th trips respectively this past weekend. We had loaded up the van with items donated by members of the Pegram Church of Christ, friends in Nashville and third graders at Nashville Christian school. Our plan was to mentor and fellowship with a family contacted on a previous visit and then serve in whatever way God might lead us.

We had developed a pattern of driving through neighborhoods where people would be working on demucking or gutting homes and offering sandwiches, snacks and beverages to those we met. Saturday we set out with the Wake family from Mandeville and headed toward Mississippi where they have relatives. We were humbled by the extent of the damage still so evident in the rural coastal areas. We started in Pearlington, worked our way through Waveland to Bay St. Louis.

We were encouraged to see that some FEMA trailers have finally arrived. However, there are still many people living in tents without heat or running water. In Bay St. Louis we met a delightful elderly man who has lived in Bay St Louis for his entire life. We were blessed by the opportunity to reunite him with a childhood friend that happened to be visiting her damaged home.

God sent us to Main Street just in time to meet a sweet family feeling very burdened by the circumstances they find themselves in. One a retired law enforcement officer and the mother, a now-unemployed respiratory therapist struggle with the realization that all they have are each other and the few items in their FEMA trailer. We provided them with food, pots and pans, and hope. We were so touched to be able to pray with them as we wept together there on Main Street.

Sunday after services we treated the Wake family to lunch and helped an elderly gentleman working on his car in the restaurant parking lot. His smile was precious as he accepted some ham and cheese sandwiches, hat, gloves and snacks.

We joined up with volunteers from the church building and headed to Chalmette in St. Bernard Parrish. There we distributed blankets, food boxes and Bible materials to those living in FEMA trailers. We made fresh sandwiches for anyone who was hungry. There are still no stores open in Chalmette. Fresh fruit and sandwiches can mean so much when your neighborhood still looks and smells like a war zone.

As dusk approached, and the curfew neared, we entered a fenced FEMA trailer park and offered our items to the families living there. We met a teacher who is among the 7,500 educators who have lost jobs and pay due to closed schools. A gentleman warned us to watch for poisonous snakes because he killed several demucking his home last week. God led us to a gentleman who needed medical care and Melanie, a nurse, was able to treat his breathing difficulty and offer medical advice and assistance.

We never know who we will serve or where we will go. But it has become increasingly apparent that God will lead you to whoever needs his love. All we have to do is go! Come share in the wonder of God's work. You'll never be the same.

Crunch Time in the Big Easy

2006-03-11T17:31:00.000-08:00

Just talked with Brendan in Chalmette who's been skipping sleep to get ready for all the volunteers arriving today. The school building/volunteer center is up and running and he's busy stashing each group away in their area.

The New Facility in Chalmette

2006-03-09T04:06:00.000-08:00

Wondering where this new facility is that the Hilltop and Carrollton Avenue groups have procured for all the spring break volunteers?

Here's the map.

It's C F Rowley School
49 Madison Avenue
Chalmette, Louisiana 70043

To find it from where you are, you can use the link above, click the "To here" link on the address bubble, plug in your address, and click Get Directions. Whew, 931 miles from Westerville, Ohio..... Small world isn't it? How far is it from you?

Found a pic of the place from right after the storm as well at this link.

New Facility in Chalmette

2006-03-07T05:37:00.000-08:00

Here are a few of the pics from the school in chalmette. God is awesome boys! (sent to Tim and I)

brendan

Another Spring Break Update

2006-03-06T18:24:00.000-08:00

WOW! God is good ...All the time! All the time........

You won't believe the numbers of volunteers that have turned out for Spring Break. Next week is the biggest week by far that have turned out to do relief work for Hurricane Katrina and Rita. Wish I could go down. All of you who are going will have an awesome experience with that kind of force. Like Toby Mac sings, "Love is in the house and the house is packed!"

To accommodate all those people more Tammany Oaks church members are stepping up to help with food, housing, and showers.

I just got off the phone with Brendan working with the Hilltop and Carollton Avenue groups. Over the weekend and today, they have procured a school building, bunks, food, tools, gotten water and electric up, are building in showers, and have restrooms up and running. ONLY GOD GitsRDone like that Brendan told me. This thing keeps amazing me.

Renee at Tammany Oaks gave me a few more names today to go with people you'll meet:

Rhonda McMullen takes and organizes all of our work orders and appliance applications.
Ashley Mathis is working hard making followup phone calls and anything we request for her to do.
John Goodman (a volunteer from Indiana will be with us until mid May). He has taken on the job as our on-site-guy to "host" the volunteers, do volunteer orientation, hand out and coordinate daily volunteer jobs.

Any loyal readers who are going down, be sure to send us back pictures and stories for this blog. While you are there, you're the eyes, ears, and hearts that represent all the volunteers who've been working on this project. May God continue to bless this harvest and all the workers. Amen!

Louisiana Spring Break

2006-03-05T17:25:00.000-08:00

Come on down, the work is fine! As you all know, there will be a need for help to clean up after messy Katrina and Rita for months to come. Volunteers have been in short supply in February…the calm before the storm. Hundreds of people a week are helping to fill that need over spring break. Many of the volunteers coming are new and there are quite a few of us making a repeat trip or working back in our hometowns to send down new workers for His field.

If you’ve been down before and are heading back, you’ll see a lot has changed. Ten percent of the residents of Chalmette have moved home in FEMA trailers to rebuild their neighborhoods which were totally deserted when I was there the end of September. People are moving back into houses in Slidell that were cleared out after the storm and have been rebuilt over the last month or so. See previous postings about Ella’s house for details on that.

The Tammany Oaks Church building in Mandeville is much more the church/dorm mix than it was the warehouse for the first 2 months after the storm. The church is also near completion on the new volunteer center and warehouse in Hammond also featured in previous postings.

Carrollton Avenue Church down in New Orleans that the Columbus team cleaned out the first of October is now being rebuilt to house volunteers for Project Nehemiah.

Hilltop Rescue, still in Slidell is working to move down closer to the demucking work in St. Bernard Parish. Work is underway on a quick retrofit of a school building to house spring break volunteers.

You’ll also see some new faces and find some familiar ones in unexpected places. More members of the Tammany Oaks congregation have taken on roles managing volunteers and relief work through their facilities. Renee Ramsey is handling the complicated job of scheduling all us through there and Bruce Cox is working too get donated relief supplies, appliances, furniture, and mattresses to the people who need them.

Tim Hines is helping lead the Hilltop Rescue crew with Janet Hines’ passion for people keeping her in the heart of the effort. Brendan Hendrix is working with both Corkey at Hilltop and Fred Franke at Project Nehemiah to organize volunteers, keep us housed, get us to the work, and GitRDone. They’ve all been working hard to get housing facilities ready for us.

The Chalmette Church of Christ building our crew worked on in January is nearly ready to house some volunteers. Construction and build out of additional facilities are ongoing to expand the effort that God continues to grace through the struggles with more of us volunteers.

Those committed to volunteer in the spring break turnout is an amazing show of Christ in this area. You are all so amazing and the people of the area that you are helping are so grateful for your effort. So many of us have been stopped on the street or approached at a Po Boy stand by someone thanking us for coming and yet, for most of us, we come on His mission for His glory. What a testimony you make to those who just come out of their own good will and the hurting residents of the New Orleans area who you give hope to.

The work is fine! Come on down! And while you’re there, take a few minutes to let us all know what you’re doing, who you’re working for, and what their story is. Let us know where YOU saw Jesus.

Looking forward I'm finding a lot of interest in summer mission trips from people around Ohio. If you can't do spring break and want to keep contributing to this effort there are thousands of GitRDone requests to work in several forms from different places. Put a group together and come shine the light of Christ in the darkness.

Sarah's Experience

2006-02-26T18:24:00.000-08:00

This is Sarah from RI. I would like to share with you some of my experiences while working in New Orleans, and where I saw Jesus. Following are some excerpts from a blog site I recently started, to keep my friends and family informed. Hopefully, this will give some insight into what the Lord is doing in La...

"...Lately, throughout the past year especially, I felt as if I was going through the motions in life. Sure, great family, great support system, my whole life ahead of me, church every once in a while, when it seemed convenient. And yet, I still felt something was missing. My days were busy, nothing tragic, but I wasn't REALLY happy. Something was missing, and deep in my heart, I knew what it was, I was missing God. Now, I sure as heck tried pushing that feeling away, replacing it with worldly things, tryin' to outrun God. Well, as I know now, ya can't outrun the Lord. Man, you can try, but it just ain't happenin! Sadly, it took me 23 yrs, a $350 plane ticket to New Orleans, La. and an amazing, dedicated group of Christians, blessed by the Lord, to give up running, and give it to God. That was the best money I've ever spent.

I felt I needed a change, a break, a challenge. So, I jumped online, found this Christian organization taking volunteers to help rebuild New Orleans, prayed about it endlessly, and 3 days later I was on a plane to La. going to meet a group of people who I knew nothing about...wondering half the time "what the heck have I done now??" Well, the Lord never gave up on me, from the minute I met the "volunteer coordinator" Brendan Hendrix, I knew this was where the Lord wanted me. (we hadn't even been in the car for five minutes yet. Talk about the Lord working fast!!)

The next two weeks flew by. During these two weeks, I met many amazing people, from the evacuees, victims, and refugees, all the way to the volunteers I was blessed enough to be working with. I felt new, changed, peaceful....and happy. Yes, I finally felt content and happy. Mind you, our days were spent volunteering our time, efforts and hearts in many ways.

We "de-mucked" houses, this includes gutting homes by removing ALL furniture, appliances, doors, washers, dryers, clothing, any and all items that were not tied down. Then, all the drywall, ceilings, and in many cases, floors, were removed. Where there once was a home, filled with love, memories, occupants, and items, was now a gutted out, mold infested frame. This had to be done, so the homeowners could rebuild, if they chose to. There were days where we handed out groceries, personal items, food, cleaning supplies, and smiles. These days were not as physically demanding, but just as important and rewarding to these residents trying to rebuild their lives. We even packed and unpacked countless numbers of boxes containing supplies all the way from baby diapers, to adult diapers! Each and every day brought something new, and every job we did, made a huge difference, no matter how big or small it may have seemed.

Within my own heart, I felt a change. I let down these "huge walls" I made, to protect myself, to be "tough" to be the "I can do anything" girl. I let myself feel. Over those two weeks, I know I smiled more and gave more hugs than I have in the past five years! It really made a humbling impact on my life, made ya see what really matters is not all the worldly possessions, gossip, and hooplah that everyone makes such a priority. What really matters is number one, the Lord.

I finally realized what I had been missing, and why I was so unhappy. How could anyone be happy when all you have is worldly possessions that come and go, are no guarantee, and usually only fulfill your need for a limited time. I realized, my focus was on me, not where it should have been, on the Lord. Once I finally let go of "ME, ME, ME" I was changed. "Let go, and Let God." This is my daily reminder, and prayer. Lord knows I need it, because a lot of times, I still want to put up my walls, take everything on myself, and think I’m safe hiding away, doing it my way..."

I will continue to send more stories and updates as the days go on. I am also going to try to send some pics with this email (LOL, no guarantee...) sent to me from Spencer, one of the volunteers from Texas (I believe). Also, a volunteer by the name of Amy, from Calif. has started a blog site about her experience, thoughts, and emotions. Amy will be continuing to volunteer for a few months at Hilltop. I'll leave you with Amy's blogsite, and mine as well, and hopefully people will begin to see the "miracles in New Orleans." Thank you for all your time, patience, dedication and faith in this amazing movement. We'll get the good word out, one way or another!!

Love in the Lord,

Sarah
Sarah's blog

pics-

This flag we found in the house, buried under the couch. It’s new home is now in the front yard.

One of the homes we de-mucked, with "our flag"

LUNCH!! Sarah, on the left, and Mandy from D.C. on the right

A days work...done! This group was 2 families from Texas, minus Sarah and Mandy

The "Hilltop Crew" Amy is on the left, with the "farmer jeans" on. The black woman was the owner of the house.

0830 AM. This is what is left, and where we start our day.

Ray and Janet, an amazing couple from Colorado, who stayed 3 wks! ...and outworked most of the crews! A true blessing, and incredible couple.

Our home!! A view of some of the land we stayed on...and yes...I’m on the phone with mom!

Our work. and what is left of their homes.

Postings to This Blog

2006-02-23T14:54:00.000-08:00

Let me support "Lil Rhody"'s comment on the last posting. This blog is built on the contributions of those working in the effort. The flow of volunteers has been much slower, other than a record number of volunteers the week after Christmas, than it was when many of us where there after the storm. It's always been true that very few volunteers who come down, send postings to the blog.

This reporting mechanism is mostly what you make it. ANYTHING that is submitted and remotely contributes to this effort gets posted. I can get our teams from Columbus to send updates when we have them down there, but I don't know who the rest of you are to make individual requests. You have to submit your thoughts voluntarily.

We all know how great the need for volunteers in this effort still is and will continue to be for the forseeable future. With the general lack of media coverage, this is the primary communications channel we have to keep the word out on progress and need alike. When you go down to volunteer, be a reporter. Keep us all posted.

As far as the CNN article, I posted the link because I thought it was exactly the personal, account we want to see here. I thought the video portion showed the personal feeling of the producer. I also thought it worth pointing out that the big wigs had ran such an out of character story; a behavior worth encouraging.

You can expect very soon that I'll have pictures and descriptions available of all the accomidations being made available for the massive spring break weeks which begin next week. If you are planning a trip during the next two months that will be something you want to watch for. I also expect that more volunteers will bring us more news to the blog.

So please don't be disuaded by the lulls. You have it within your power to publish your thoughts, pictures, and experiences. All you need is email.

Habitat work by CNN Producer

2006-02-16T17:14:00.000-08:00

John Helton has a nice piece on CNN.com tonight about his volunteer work covering the Habitat effort at home and in Lafitte and Houma Louisiana here. There's also 9 minutes of video if you have the bandwidth.

I took the time to thank them for the coverage on their comments page. This is behavior we want to encourage :-)

Gardner Ministry: Gloria - A Katrina story

2006-02-14T12:12:00.000-08:00

These folks used to run a mission on an Indian reservation in Arizona where groups from my old church in Huntington, WV go almost yearly. That's how I came by their blog entries for their time in Louisiana last month.

Gardner Ministry: Gloria - A Katrina story

Gardner Ministry: Katrina Mission Trip

If you've blogged your experience, get me a link and I'll reference it from here for the rest of our community.

Fresh Updates from New Orleans

2006-02-13T14:38:00.000-08:00

(Editor's Note: Things changed faster than I could keep up, note that Hilltop will be working primarily with Carrollton Avenue, home of project Nehemiah)

Four guys at Tammany Oaks this week got a lot of work done and got us a lot of fresh reporting on the groups working on disaster relief. Mark and Mark (Morris and Kindberg) from Columbus Ohio, Kevin from Alaska, and Dan from Maddison WI spent the week on construction in the new warehouse. Footings were poured and supporting beams were installed to handle the load of the dorm construction. They also installed additional joists and flooring on the platform above the 2nd floor.

While there the Columbus crew (no pun on our pro soccer team :-) got to tour some of the other relief groups operating and spinning up in the overall effort. Here's what Mark sent me back earlier in the week with some of the pictures he brought back. It's great to hear how the relief operation is growing, expanding, and moving to the next level.

A.M. worship was a little different than usual. They set aside time for the four shepherds to lead an informative session on what's happening with the disaster relief effort. Here's what we were told:
1. A 5-person board has been set up here at Tammany Oaks to oversee their relief work. They have a tentative plan to hire a secretary and another minister to handle follow-ups with their contacts.
2. They are in the process of setting up a separate 501-C corporation as a division of Tammany Oaks Church of Christ.
3. They made a point of telling the congregation that the relief efforts are being funded by specific disaster relief donations, not by the congregation's funds. They have collected +/- $500K in cash donations over and above donated supplies. +/-$300K has been spent or earmarked ($75K set aside for repairs to the building), and +/-$200K is in a bank account.
4. They are planning to develop a kitchen for the relief efforts to replace the makeshift facilities they have now.
5. They are receiving funding now from White's Ferry Road Church of Christ in West Monroe, La., as are the folks in Slidell (Hilltop).
6. They expressed a need to get the disaster relief efforts organized with the new warehouse distribution center in order to allow other ministries, which have been suffering, to use the building also.
7. The unfinished portion of the second floor will be developed into dorms once the three pairs of exterior stairs are installed to allow adequate emergency egress, per building codes. The stairs are fabricated, are in the galvanizing process, and are expected to be operational by mid-March.

We visited the hilltop group in Slidell briefly. As you know they’re planning to move down to Carollton Avenue Church of Christ.
We went down to Chalmette, saw the Church of Christ building there (much damage, but in the repair process), and visited the National Assoc. of Christian Churches disaster relief operations in the Walmart parking lot.
They have a large tent for distribution (pic #30), and another tent up as a "free store" and worship service area.

We visited a location everyone here refers to as the "hippie kitchen" down and across the street. That was interesting! They're a very different sort of people with a very "hippie" lifestyle and liberal political views, but they are doing a great job feeding very needy people and the folks here have made a good impression on them through their donations of excess items here that were badly needed there.

Next we drove through the 9th Ward. There are no words to write here that would do it justice (pic #61). I know you've seen it firsthand. To refer to it as something that resembles a "war zone", as I have stated in the past, just doesn't begin to do it justice. What are they ever going to do with this place? I don't think anyone has an answer to that right now, and so everyone is in limbo and either speechless, or complaining about nothing being done. It's really sad.

I had hoped to get to talk to Fred Franke when we visited Operation Nehemiah at Carollton Avenue Church of Christ, but he was out when we were there. We did get a chance to walk all around and see the progress (pic #71).
They are going to ship some of the supplies they've received up to the warehouse in order to free up their space for the restoration work and improvements. They seem to have their act together very well.
Mark Morris

Carrollton Avenue hopes to have their volunteer facilities available in two weeks.

I've also been hearing through Habitat for Humanity and other friends about the new FEMA built camp in Chalmette. That's being managed by the St. Bernard Parish Government. From reports, that consists of heated and air conditioned tents with cots and electrical outlets for volunteers. Food is catered, tools are provided, and transportation to and from work sites in St. Bernard Parish is also available. We're hoping to have a video tour available soon.

John McGuire

Davis Park Community Response Team

2006-02-08T23:16:00.000-08:00

I read your blog everyday to find out news concerning the Katrina Relief Work. Our Church has a response team that traveled to Slidell, LA and worked out of the Hilltop Site from Oct 1 to 17. We are interested in all types of relief work. Our team has about 30 active members. Many of the team also work with the Red Cross Disaster Assistant Team for our county. We look forward to going where God leads us in the future. Our blog is dpcomunityresponse.blogspot.com
Buddy Gray

Slow on News

2006-02-08T19:45:00.000-08:00

I know it's been a couple of weeks since there's been a posting here, but I'm sure there are many people who look here for happenings in the disaster relief effort we've been supporting in Louisiana. I'm one of you, a volunteer who's spent time in Louisiana helping out people who really need it. I've been maintaining this blog remotely from Columbus Ohio relying on postings from all of you as you cycle in and out of the disaster zone to keep the news flowing.

I don't know if you've realized this or not, but we've formed a community that spans the North American continent. This blog and an email list are a network that binds over 1500 volunteers together who've worked through Tammany Oaks Church in Mandeville. We are part of an even larger effort of faith and servanthood who has been supporting the people of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas in their recovery from these hurricanes.

You all are where I've seen Jesus.

Many are starting new disaster relief groups like the one we are building here in Central Ohio, Servants Unite.

Reorganizations and consolidations are happening in the groups we have been supporting in the gulf coast as well. We all know that when you get 5 Christians in a room together you are likely to get as many as 6 different opinions on a matter :-) It's amazed me that through months of work together in the gulf coast God has blessed and guided the effort so beautifully. Obviously this hasn't been a tightly run operation by human standards but we all have had experiences where He has gotten the right thing in the right place at the right time that we never would have planned that way. And best of all, Christians of all persuasions have worked side by side with each other and non-Christians to do this work we have all been called to with an unbelievable lack of strife. Nothing like a common cause is there?

I'd love for you who read this blog to do two things. First of all, as Satan starts to shoot fiery arrows into those devoted to this most glorious of efforts of faith, remember Ephesians 6:12

For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.

And verse 18

Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere.

Please follow Paul's request and especially ask that or Lord lift up those who have made disaster relief a full time job and ask for protection from those flaming shafts. This is spiritual warfare we've been fighting down there folks. It doesn't just look like a war zone. It is the site of an intense battle that we must keep fighting.

My second request is for you to keep encouraging each other. Send us your battle stories and where you saw Jesus for the blog or just let us know who you are, how you are organizing, and what your plans are to support Louisiana and the next area that needs us. Email here to share your info and I'll compile a list of contacts to share with all who wish to participate.

Until we meet again, may God bless you in your service. You are mighty. In Him, we are strong.
____________________________________________
Mark 12:30-31, Mathew 9:36-38, Romans 12:4-8

John McGuire
www.ServantsUnite.org
614-523-3996 home
614-404-8610 cel

A Thank You Note from Brian and Ella

2006-01-28T17:18:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to say hi and let you know how much Brian and I appreciate every thing you and the guys did.

Any time you are in our area stop by and have a po boy with us.

By chance do you have the names and addresses of the other guys. I would love to drop them a line.

The walls are coming along just fine. They have been sanded, primed, and textured. Hopefully paint will applied tomorrow.

Again, thank you so very much. You have no idea what it ment to us to have y'all help us so much. The laughs ment as much as the work you did.

Thanks A Million,
Ella and Brian

Everyone involved in this effort has helped make this happen, but special thanks from me to the Columbus/Hunting/DC guys who spent most of our January week in Louisiana drywalling Ella and Brian's house so they can get back home. This and a roof job are the first reconstruction that has been done through Tammany Oaks. With the completion of this job we've turned a corner from cleanup to reconstruction. It makes me very happy to know we have helped complete the cycle for one family to get them back home.

Lets fill out those spring break trips and GitRDone some more!

John McGuire

Columbus Team 7 Wrap Up

2006-01-25T06:28:00.000-08:00

Team 7 has returned from Louisiana! The bulk of the team returned to Spring Road Church of Christ in Westerville at 11:00 Saturday night 13 hours and 4 rest stops after leaving Mandeville. This, no kidding, has been an amazing group of people. I've grown so close to them over the past week that I'm already feeling withdrawl. Thank you to all who supported our run and continue to work to build this organization.

I have pictures from 4 of the participants including mine. You can see and download all of them at the following links:
John McGuire's Pics
Bill Niess' Pics
Kyle Schneider Pics
Sue Hayes Pics

Thanks for a great week guys!

John McGuire
Servants Unite!

Columbus Team's Friday Work

2006-01-22T12:12:00.000-08:00

Oh, today was interesting. I have a new respect for demuckers. To think people come here (Sharon ;-) with the sole interest in cleaning out stinky, moldy, damp, disgusting houses filled with bugs, mud, frogs, cats, and other strange stuff. All the time I’ve spent here, I managed to avoid this task till today.
I can’t say how many times I nearly barfed. Full freezers that have been flooded and had no electricity for 4 months have a special kind of odor when they pop open. If you’ve been here, you have an idea.

We hit the house today with 17 people. The plan had been to split up and half the group would do a house a few blocks away, but that one fell through over legal decisions. That turned out to be part of His plan as it took all of us all day to clear out the house we did.

We removed all furniture and possessions from the house which were quickly grabbed up and dumped by the end loader working the neighborhood today.

This kept us from building another Mt. Kevin (that man flinches at nothing), but there really wasn’t room for all the stuff we pulled out if most of it hadn’t been taken away immediately.

We met Mr. Vincent Culotta who had lived on the street since his birth over 70 years ago. All his family lived on Culotta street which was first settled by his father when the Chalmette sugar cane plantations were broken up and sold. The street ends at the oil refinery on St. Bernard Avenue.
He and his wife Cybel have been collecting plants to decorate the front of their FEMA trailer in front of their house they paid to have gutted and have been treating for mold.

Fortunately for our crew they had cleaned up the bathroom and gotten it functional.

When we broke for lunch 6 of us walked the 5 blocks back to Paris Avenue to get a PoBoy at a trailer set up on the corner. Ray Gramilian came over to out table to see what we were doing and thank us for volunteering to come down to help them out. He says God is blessing his family so much in this tragedy.

This guy who’s lost two houses feels blessed that we came down, that he has a place to live (the condo of his son who just moved away), and that his best friend and neighbor who weathered the storm in their attic survived. They called him on their cell phone to tell him they could only see the point at the top of his roof. He says they told him they couldn’t have chopped their way through the roof to escape because of the coyotes and wild hogs that had perched there for high ground in the flooding.

He had such a positive attitude through the tears of telling that story. We were walking back to the house and one of the guys said, “well guess we don’t need more motivation than that!”

Our Dayton contingent headed for home today so we are all praying for their safe travels.

They drywall guys finished Miss Ella’s house today. Praises! She was so thrilled with their acceptance of Brian, her son, with his disabilities. He’s been helping them the last two days at her house. Kyle said they couldn’t have gotten the job done without him.

After a little plumbing and electrical work plus a coat of paint, they can move back into their house!

I got to talk with Janet Hines here tonight who put this whole program together. You all should know this woman. She is so energetic and so passionate about serving in this mission you can’t help but catch the bug.

As much as I have the bug, and the guys have gotten it working here this week, though we’re all ready to see our families again. We’re gassed, mostly packed, and heading out at 7:00 central tomorrow morning.

I’m amazed at how this works though. Several of this team’s members have talked about this person or that person who they’re going to ask to come down. That’s how this has to work. We have jobs and only so much time to take off to do this ministry, but we can continue to spread this movement to our church members and friends to keep help flowing in here.

Love to all our families! We’ll see you late tomorrow night!

John McGuire
Servants Unite!

Columbus Team's Thursday Work

2006-01-19T22:15:00.000-08:00

There is no shortage of work down here folks. No kidding. This emptying the bathtub a drop at a time business takes a lot of work and a lot of people willing to be servants in this work. This team we have down here this week is incredible. Not just the Ohio people in my group, but everyone else here as well. This sounds trite and disingenuous because it is overused, but I am truly so impressed with these people.

Most of the Servants Unite group worked in Chalmette today rebuilding the Chalmette Church of Christ and demucking a church member's home. Thanks to the Delaware crew who cleaned out the church the week after Christmas it is actually under reconstruction. Framing is nearly complete in the auditorium for new classrooms. Walls have been put up and we spend the day finishing the framing and wrapping the auditorium portion of their building with tar paper to keep the weather out. Eventually, they plan to brick up the auditorium, tear out the rest of the building and rebuild it new.
It's inspiring to get to build some and not just finish the destruction. This church had been under water for weeks. The bricks were ripped out of the walls from the wave of water that breached the industrial canal levy where the barge landed in the lower 9th ward neighborhood. (see the reference and pics below)
Elder Charles Whitley who lives across the river in a neighborhood that was not flooded has been working diligently with the other elders to get the church rebuilt and get support for relief in their area in St. Bernard Parish. He reports that they have accounted for all of their 85 members, but one family, but that they believed them to be living in California with family.
One senior couple in their congregation was in their house during the storm. Spent several days under a highway overpass, several more in a school, a couple months in a shelter, and are now living on a cruise ship, which is much better.
25 people from the congregation met Sunday in the "Blue Room" in the front of the building where the studs were walled in with tarps.

The muckrakers left the church shortly after we arrived to work on a church member's house that they said was the worst they had seen. That's experience talking. Debris and mud was chest deep in some places. It took a heavily supplemented crew to complete the house by the end of the day. We'll miss that South Dayton Church of Christ crew who are heading home tomorrow.

Ella's house was back under reconstruction again today. Four of the New Life guys, Phil from Huntington, WV and Anthony from the DC area went back and put up almost all the rest of the drywall with one coat of spackling. They'll be going back to finish up tomorrow.

We have a group of kids here tonight from Branson Missouri. They are amazing. For devotional I asked them to do a skit they have put together. It's a mimed bit to a song about sharing the gospel with someone met on an airplane. They are REALLY good. Very inspiring to see kids who don't like the image some have of them and wish to be the next Christian leaders. They're a kewl bunch.

I wanted to tell you about them because they really made a disturbing day more inspiring than discouraging.

Since this is my second time here, I thought I'd seen everything and the shock was over. Unfortunately, I still hadn't seen the worst till today and it brings men to tears. Charles, the elder at the church where we worked today, took us down Perez Drive into the Lower 9th Ward where the levy broke in the Industrial canal inundating that neighborhood instantly and sending a wave down Perez drive that was still so powerful several miles away at the church. The first three blocks from the levy or so were completely wiped away, washed into neighboring streets.

This link leads to the pictures I took there today. The break in the levy isn't any wider than the length of the barge sitting on the school bus, but when it broke it was like when you push down on the side of an inflatable swimming pool; a sudden surge of water that wiped foundations clean and spread debris and whole houses miles away. One house near another levy break was dropped in the middle of a different street...It was a brick house....and the cement slab is still attached to the bottom of the house...in the middle of the wrong street. The power of the forces at work in this disaster is unfathomable.

I felt guilty touring "ground zero" with my camera snapping pictures and asking Charles lots of questions. This place where so many people died and lost everything they had and held dear isn't a tourist attraction. We see crass reporters on the TV all the time and I don't want to be one of those or sensationalize such an incredible tragedy. Those of us who have been here, though, are obligated to show, tell, and share what we know with those of you who read this so that you can get an inkling of the deapth and breadth of this as well as the personal nature of this disaster for each effected person who we speak to and do work for.

Brendan hung devo on me tonight which I kinda passed off to the kids with their skit, but the lesson of today, overall, is like Nehemia's experience restoring Jerusalem. This is a daunting task, but I'm happy to report progress is being made. People are starting to get their lives back and there is a positive tone that was only despair when I was here 3 months ago.

We can do so much for the people hurt by this disaster. We have been able to touch thousands of lives and been Christ to all those people. They tell us how grateful we are to come help and we can't know what it means to them. I suspect they are right. I keep reiterating, I wouldn't do any of this for a living, but this labor of love is a light yoke and working in the Kingdom of Christ is an amazing experience.

He Reigns!

John McGuire
Servants Unite!

Columbus Team Wednesday Report

2006-01-18T22:11:00.000-08:00

The New Life gang from Columbus got to clean out the family's house who has joined their congregation since relocating. This is the crew in front of the house while they were working on it.

This is what the flooded house looked like when the crew arrived.

To clean out the house, everything has to be removed down to the studs. Steve Mohr is working on the wall in this picture.

When they're done the studs are all exposed to be treated for the mold growing on them. In this house, the ceiling was crumbling from the moisture even though it hadn't flooded that high and it had to be removed too.

The "McGyver squad" then used their tyvec suits to tarp the roof of the neighbor's house. She has a FEMA trailer, but electric isn't restored to many of the houses in St. Bernard Parish. The guys got a work order in for her house to be tarped with the real thing and cleaned out.

That's a large stack by the way. The GitRDone board is now a pile as thick as 2 reems of paper by Brendan's desk. There is so much more to do than we are getting done and Gary from South Dayton voiced the same thing all of us who've come here have. "I don't want to go home when there's all this work to do. I wish I could stay here and do this full time." Amen brother and bless your servant's heart.

I worked in the new relief center today since the New Life guys who had been there had other obligations. Mike and Matt from Boston have risen as foremen of that job and are great guys to work with.
Along with Brian and Bill Neis, we spent the day cutting holes in the floor to poor deeper cement footings to support the weight of the volunteer quarters. Bill's hitting it with the jackhammer we rented. This place is a playground for guys who like tools!
Talk about kewl tools. This diamond Concrete Saw cuts rocks and throws fireworks off as a byproduct. Nifty gadget this one. Brian's weilding it here.

The South Dayton group lost Kevin who's been on their team all week demucking as he was showing his fellow churchmates the ropes. A new volunteer named Mandy and two others from New York (Westchester) joined them to clean out another house.

Plans for tomorrow is for the drywall guys plus two new Marines who showed up tonight to finish Miss Ella's drywall so Mike and Matt can do their finish carpentry thing on Friday. Most of the rest of the volunteers are working on a church in Calmette. We may also be cleaning the house of one of my fellow Chase employees.

We love you all and miss you. We're having a very good, very productive week here. Please pray for our continued strength and health as well as those here we are working to help out of the darkness. I see and feel it lifting. Becky, the church secretary, told me today that the Newsboys song Shine is the theme song of this recovery effort and as I roll the lyrics around in my head, they do fit really well. "Let them see good works in men! Let them glorify the Lord.... Shine"

Until tomorrow

John McGuire
Servants Unite!

Columbus Team 7 Monday Report

2006-01-17T22:23:00.000-08:00

With our Ohio group from Servants Unite in Louisiana, I'm posting all our exploits to this Tammany Oaks blog as well to keep all informed of the situation in Louisiana.

Every day we are here we are busier. We had teams on 4 projects today. Continuations of the three from Monday and a new one.
The Dayton crew plus Tom and Sue from Spring Road finished demucking the house they started yesterday. This shows the house from the outside and you can see the water line just at the tops of the windows.

This picture shows all the colors of mold growing in the house and the stuff jumbled around.

The crew removed all the stuff from the house and started tearing down the drywall.

When they were done, you can still see a lot of mold growing on the studs, but the soggy material is all out so the house can dry out. They also found a lot of insect damage from the house being damp for so long.

This picture shows Kevin topping off "Kevin's Mountain".

When they finished the first house today they moved on to another one where the homeowner had torn out a lot of the drywall himself and finished it up. They're living in a FEMA trailer in the driveway.
This is the whole crew except for Tom, who must have taken the picture.

Tim, Stevie, Enver, Gary Schubert, and I dropped off the drywall team to work at Joy Fellowship, a church in Slidell that is pushing a renewed effort to provide hot meals, food boxes, and all the rest of the stuff Tammany Oaks was distributing directly after the storm. Tammany Oaks has become a hub of volunteer labor and supplies that feeds into other churches like Joy. The building used to be a catfish restaurant, was very rustic, and quite kewl!
Though Joy closed for the day due to the heavy rain, the McMillen wives and some ladies from California working through a church in Covington (across the highway from Mandeville) packed up more food boxes than there was room to store.
The guys loaded in a fresh semi load and a half of goods while other California based helpers sorted gloves, coats, and other cold weather items to fill 200 orders the church has taken for assistance.

Only 10 have been filled, but after the complete reorganization of their inventory we did today they'll be able to get those out. None too soon, by the time we left today (I in shorts and a T-Shirt) the temperature had dropped into the 40s.

We had to wait on a last truck due at 6:00 so the guys (with talent) jammed on the great instruments and sound system the church had in place.

The drywall crew working on Miss Ella's house made massive progress, though we still don't have enough drywall.

They are taking tomorrow away from that job to demuck the home of a new church member who relocated to Columbus and will finish the drywall on Thursday.

The warehouse construction crew was hard at it again today building additional supporting columns and cutting holes in the cement for new footers to support the growing volunteer residence. I'm going on that job tomorrow so I'll get some up to date pictures.

Good night for now. We miss you all, but we're basking in the glory of working in God's kingdom for this week. This is an incredible team He's put together I can't get enough of any of the people on this trip and find it amazing how well we work together, how jocular everyone is with each other, and what amazing, loving people these volunteers are. You who have loved ones on this trip should be very proud of them and their commitment to work here. They are amazing.

John McGuire
Servants Unite!

Bypass Church in Vicksburg

2006-01-17T20:07:00.000-08:00

A group of 17 from the Bypass Church of Christ in Vicksburg, Mississippi had the privilege of being the "hands and feet of Jesus" for a few days in the New Orleans area. We thought we could imagine what it is like but immediately found out that we didn't have a clue how bad it was.

Several things stand out in our minds as being lasting memories for us - The heartwarming feeling all of us had Saturday morning when we set up a distribution center of food, clothes, blankets, etc. at the Riveria School in Metarie and watched as people came and went away with much needed items - A lady from Honduras that couldn't speak English but showed such appreciation for the beds we took her. She lived in Kenner.

We met a man in Kenner that was trying to tear out sheetrock by himself in his spare time. When we left his house all of the sheetrock and the kitchen cabinets were gone, the floor was swept and the nails were gone from the studs. His family was overwhelmed that we were there to help.

Monday morning our group took a Penske truck loaded with blankets, heaters, food, personal hygiene items and water to the Chalmette area. This was truly eye-opening events for all of us. When we told one lady that we had all of this to "give" to her, she started sobbing. She could not believe we were there to help her. Our group spent a lot of time loading and unloading mattresses and box springs. We found "unused" muscles that we have not used in a long time. We are sore and tired but would not take a million dollars for being a part of the effort that is going on at the Tammany Oaks Church in Mandeville.

Thank God for the people there that are unselfishly showing God's love to the people in that area. Pictures will show some of our efforts.

Nellie Caldwell for the Bypass Church of Christ volunteers

Columbus Team 7 Monday Report

2006-01-16T22:15:00.000-08:00

Since the Columbus group, of which this editor is a member, is the only large group this week I'm posting the material I put on servantsunite.blogspot.com to keep you all up to date on the activities in Louisiana. I'll also try to get a post from the singles and doubles who are here this week as the week goes by.

Everybody had a good full day today. Some joined the Dayton contingent demucking houses in Chalmette. They report it is still a ghost town. Street after Street of unattended houses that have been flooded up to the roof. They built “Kevin’s Mountain” (pic to follow) on the narrow front yard of the one they were clearing today next to the resident’s FEMA trailer. Named so because Kevin was in charge of carting wheelbarrows of soggy, moldy stuff out onto the pile. He built up high using improvised ramps (doors) to keep from overstepping the property.

We had a crew of 10 working for “Miss Ella” and her son Brian. She stayed with friends in Dallas for the Hurricane and couldn’t come home to Slidell till three weeks after the storm. She walked into her house and went immediately back out again under her carport crying. A marine put his hand on her shoulder and asked what she needed them to do. He gave her an hour or so to go through the house that had flooded 3ft deep to get what she wanted to keep and then his men stripped the place of everything under the 4ft drywall seam.
We got the pleasure of meeting her at Home Depot with a Penske to haul her drywall, insulation, base cabinets, and other supplies home to start rebuilding. Home Depot… you don’t want to have to go there… three trips…
Overall someone was there or en-route all day where it takes 2hrs minimum to get things like drywall and shingles. Hopefully by tomorrow, with help from our new friend Anthony Ongyod from Annapolis Maryland there will be drywall up and a first coat of mud on the walls (the good kind ;-)

I also wanted to share some pictures with you of Ella’s neighborhood. The initial piles of debris that were as tall as the houses have been removed there, though Brendan tells me that isn’t the case closer to the lake. Many people on her street have trailers plumbed into their house systems to live in while they rebuild and PODs sitting in the driveway for storage.

Tim from New Life, who’s always up early was at the back in the “kitchen” frying sausage for our breakfast for Karen, the full time cook. Since she just returned yesterday after a few weeks sick, she had a lot of reorganizing to do and Tim stayed with her the whole day helping to take care of that need. Tim’s the man!

The rest of the volunteers worked at the new warehouse today building the new volunteer accommodations into the end of the warehouse. They are enhancing the supporting structure of the dorm section and hoping to put up some drywall there this week. Two of the guys in the picture are Mike and Matt from Boston (really true accent these two!)

This effort really needs a couple of skilled guys to spend a week or two down here. There are three electrical panels to be built out and certified. Three zones of HVAC that need installed, and a lot of plumbing work to do in the kitchen and bath areas of the new relief center. Spread the word around to anyone you know and anyone they know that meeting this need is becoming a critical factor in the effectiveness that this great group of people here can put forth.

So I started this at lights out and was out to get a power cord 15 minutes later and I found evidence we have resolved that intolerance issue that created the snoring and non-snoring sections ;-) The entire crew must be asleep and happily sawing logs from the sound of it.

God bless you all for our support and Lord please bless those we are serving in your name. Amen.

John McGuire
Servants Unite!

Sunday's Work at Tammany Oaks

2006-01-15T21:33:00.000-08:00

This is Breeze from Kilgore Texas, one of 4 large groups at the church tonight. She spent the day shoveling mud and drywall out of a house in Chalmette, but you wouldn’t know to see her.

There is also the youth group from Hixson Church of Christ in Chattanooga, a youth group from 61 North Bypass Church of Christ in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and 23 from Servants Unite in Ohio who just arrived today and are staying for the week (this blog editor’s group, and it’s good to be back!) There are also various people from Boston, Maryland, Minnesota, and other places.

There are mostly kids in the groups here this weekend and they all came back tired, dirty, and looking hard worked. They’re headed home tomorrow.

Karen’s also back running our kitchen! Praises for her renewed health and return. I finally got to meet Brendan who came here after my first trip. For those of you who, like me, have been wondering who this guy is who’s handling the volunteers here I managed a picture.

Consider this verse, please, anyone reading this blog (Mathew 9:36-38)

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

There are no groups scheduled for February presently. All of you who’ve been here can relate to verse 36. You can relate to verse 37 as well. One of the Ohio guys led devo tonight and compared this job to emptying a bathtub one drop at a time. The command in this verse is twofold. We must testify to what we have seen here praying to the Lord of the harvest to send more workers. We must also continue to respond, inspire others to respond, and keep supporting all the efforts down here in the gulf coast area. We must continue in our primary mission here, showing the people here that the people in the outside world care and wish to help them. Let them know they are not alone.

Warehouse Workers Needed

2006-01-15T15:38:00.000-08:00

OK supporters, the warehouse is nearly ready to use, in fact it is being used while construction completes. We need three things badly this week.

Certified Electriction to sign of on the electrical work
HVAC to complete installation
Plumber to finish installation

When these tasks are done the warehouse will be in operation to support the work here.
Please call Brendan if you can help out down here this week or next at 985-517-1581.

Keep it Up!

2006-01-13T20:40:00.000-08:00

Dear Tammany Oaks Relief Work staff:
I was privileged to be there in early October to help you with some of the work. I think of you often and thank God for your efforts and pray for your continuing strength for the remaining work. You are special people! I follow events on the blog and I'm happy to see the progress you are making. You have accomplished so much. The stack of 'Git R Duns' must be enormous by now.

God bless each of you!
Connie Sheridan
Columbus, Ohio

Thanks to the Tammany Crew

2006-01-13T07:46:00.000-08:00

Hello to my brothers and sisters in Christ
The servants at Tammany Oaks,

"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." I Cor. 15:58

I'm sure as time passes and people who were not Katrina and Rita's paths focus on other things, you have struggled with discouragement. I wanted to remind you that when I was there with you in September, I saw God working in so many ways. He moved in people's lives and He reminded me that He is real. The situation was urgent and it was in this time of trial that God's hand was more visible to me. The trip to Mandeville was important to me. You and others affected by the hurricanes are still in my thoughts and prayers.

Your service and sacrifice is part of God's work and His will. It became very clear to me that the things God was doing there are so much bigger than any one person. That was an important lesson for me.

Keep the faith and draw strength from God. May we be an encouragement to you as you serve so many in need of God's love. Your service and sacrifice is God's love in action.

In Him,

Kevin Chivington
Columbus, Ohio

Katrina Builders

2006-01-10T16:02:00.000-08:00

Reported by Lesley Dale, WRCB TV Chattanooga

"There was piles of trash, vacant cars under bridges, it was just a disaster," said Tanner Smith. It was a disaster unlike anything this group of volunteers from Red Bank's Church of Christ has ever seen. "The pictures that I took, when I look at them it doesn't tell the story," said Keith Smith. "It's incredible, just the devastation as far as you can see in some neighborhoods, until you see it for yourself, you can't get a good grasp," said Teresa Horton.

Seeing the damage first hand inspired them to reach out to others and get their hands dirty...they rebuilt houses near Lake Pontchartrain. "I thought in my mind, I wouldn't know where to begin," said Jeff Reese. They brought Christmas presents for kids who wouldn't have otherwise had them. They say the most rewarding part is seeing the children, the looks on their faces, the gifts, as they opened them.

They hope rebuilding will help set the foundation for a better life for the people down south. "I feel good about doing something, I don't feel like it was enough, I full intend to go back," said Keith Smith.

Newark Church of Christ Pictures

2006-01-07T11:07:00.000-08:00

My name is Matt Wilson and I am the youth minister at the Newark Church of Christ in Newark, DE. We had a group there this past week and still have a group there working at Tammany Oaks.

Thank you so much for a great week! I and the rest of the group have been truly blessed by our experience in the Gulf Coast. We will be back to help more (as some of our group is still there).

Wanted to let you know that we have some pictures posted and more will be on the way at: http://community.webshots.com/album/536088090lrsVCS. Feel free to use any you wish. We will add more as people continue to come back from the trip.

Thanks again and see you again soon.

Matt Wilson
http://matthewjameswilson.blogspot.com/

Crowder Road Church Cleanup

2006-01-04T18:14:00.000-08:00

This is the Crowder Road Church of Christ building in 2003:

This is what it looked like when our team arrived to cleanup:

Gregory Hamilton, the church elder, surveys the results:

Thanks to all the volunteers

2006-01-01T20:08:00.000-08:00

I wanted to take a few minutes and share my thanks and some thoughts as this past year has ended and we are optimistically looking forward to what God has in store for us in the coming 2006.

To all of our friends who we have not yet met - those who have loaded trucks on their end, offered up their prayers to God on our behalf, made sacrifices to send Christmas presents and sent precious notes of encouragement - may the Lord bless you and keep you. If you only knew that we wish we had time to thank each of you individually - you are an important part of what goes on here in the heart of the work. Because of you there doing what you do so passionately, we are able to be the hands and feet of Jesus to our hurting community here in Louisiana and Mississippi. Without you - we would not be able to do what we do so well. We recognize that and acknowledge you as a major part of our team.

To all of our volunteers who are able to come and "get dirty" - I hope that you leave here knowing how much you mean to us. Many of you have returned over and over again - how awesome is that????? You have become more than just a face or someone we feed and put to work each day - you have become part of our family here that has grown far beyond anything that we could have ever imagined on September 3 - the first time a few of us gathered together at the church and committed to being a beacon of hope in our devastated community. We had no idea what God had in store for us that day. It will never cease to amaze me or overwhelm me or humble me as I look back at how He has chosen us to be His servants on the ground and in the trenches. He has chosen us - and you are a part of that.

I remember so many of you - of the times that I have shared tears of despair, tears of joy, tears of hope and tears of fear turning back into hope as I saw God in the midst of all that was going on around me. I guess I cried a lot in those early months. That's a joke - I cried many times a day - one day someone asked me what I was crying about now and I started laughing and said, "I'm crying for the trees". Just so much wasn't there?

I remember the hugs and the prayers we prayed together - the many ways you all encouraged me personally. I remember the people from our community that came through our doors. I remember the times I would look out and see you praying with the people as you helped them load their cars with supplies they needed so desperately to survive in those early days. I remember how you listened to their stories over and over again and could still offer them a smile and the hope that there would be a way that we could help them in their struggle to provide for their families.

Hope - you have been bearers of hope to everyone you came in contact with. God bless you for that. God bless you for being His hands and feet - I say that a lot - but it is true. God has changed the face of what it means to serve to each of us. He has taught us how to have the courage and the guts to go into a home and demuck it after it has been sitting there for four months now. Just this week teams were still hauling refrigerators out of homes. I heard horror stories. Yuk. I'll spare you the details.

We have had over 150 volunteers this week between Christmas and New Year's. Many of you gave up that week of being with family and making all those Christmas returns and came here to be back with us. Thanks - again.

It was an awesome week.

As I look to the future of this relief effort, it is with great excitement and incredible anticipation. When I wake up each morning, I can hardly wait to see how God uses this effort to His glory. I hear the stories - I see the tears as God moves our hearts to a higher road - one where we serve Him more passionately - where we see Him in places and ways that we never have before. I wonder - what does He have in store for us??? He is raising us strong - to a level we haven't ever been before. That's o.k. I'm not scared - are you???

We are getting ready to move to our new warehouse near Hammond. That should be by mid January. Many thanks to Bruce for making that happen. We will remain doing what we do so well - receiving, warehousing and distribution of goods to areas of need. Many thanks too, to so many of you who have donated your time to helping to get it ready. Again, without your dedication to this work, it would not be what it is today.

We are going to continue working with Carrollton Avenue Church of Christ in New Orleans. Many of you have worked closely with Fred and Operation Nehemiah there. We are going to work with Hilltop in Slidell as well as we share the heart of this work with them. Tim Hines will be working with us as well to maintain a strong, faith based organization focused on and dedicated to developing strong servants as our volunteers go out each day into our communities.

It is going to be an awesome year. Please keep this work in your constant prayers. Please know that we invite you to continue to be a part of this work. God has great plans for this area. It is true that the harvest is great and the workers are few. We need you. We thank you.

We love you.
Janet and the team of Tammany Oaks

Columbus Team's Friday Work

2005-12-31T09:22:00.000-08:00

Today was a unique day. We spent the day with a family in New Orleans East just east of the 9th ward gutting houses on a cul-de-sac. The family lost literally everything and they had already gutted their house and were coordinating the clean up efforts for all of their neighbors.

While we were gutting their houses one of the ladies came home and began going through her belongings on the front lawn. She says you don't know how trivial everything is until your entire life is in a pile in your front yard.
A quick story today that was so cool. This lady wanted to find a comforter that was from St. Croix that meant a lot to her. She looked for a little while and gave up. Ross and Justin found out that she was looking for something, the dove right in and started looking through this smelly pile of trash.

Ross kept picking things out and showing them to the lady and she would reply, "No honey, it's a comforter." a few minutes later, Ross emerges and asks, "What's a comforter"! And to add to it all, it was an ecru comforter, and a few seconds later, Justin emerges on the other side of the pile and asks, "What color is ecru."

It was a funny situation, but with a very deep meaning behind it. Too many times, we feel we need to have all the facts and information and then decide if we want to help. These two guys saw a need and literally dove right in. We NEED to have that attitude all of the time, not just in a time of crisis. Thank you for your prayers and pray for a safe trip home tomorrow and Sunday.

Love 'Em Like Jesus,
Troy Blair, Youth Minister
Northland Church of Christ
www.ncocfamily.org
tblair@ncocfamily.org

Got Bobcat?

2005-12-30T10:39:00.000-08:00

Tammany Oaks is looking for a donated Bobcat to supplement the disaster recovery effort and for use in future relief work. Two days left for an end of year tax deduction... Anyone able to help with this should call Brendan Hendricks at the church 985-626-8360.

This busy week's activity

2005-12-29T08:07:00.000-08:00

Groups are at Tammany Oaks from all over the United States this week. Jesus' people are making a big showing in the New Orleans area. Daily updates are available from the Columbus Ohio group at the blog http://servantsunite.blogspot.com with pictures. Yours can be posted here as well for your fellow volunteers and those interested in our effort to read.
Send us your stories and activity in this relief effort. What have you done in New Orleans and what are you doing in your home community to help support this effort further? If you have organized a team who has volunteered in the area, check in with us. Let us know your interest in further work in New Orleans and planning for other disasters.

The job is decidedly not over. Your stories inspire others to continue to support recovery from the hurricanes. Your participation and reporting in this forum are essential to building that effort up and continuing to serve.

Please send thoughts, inquiries, and other correspondence to whereisawjesus@gmail.com.

Praise for a Big Week of Relief Work

2005-12-27T07:36:00.000-08:00

Tammany Oaks is expecting approximately 140 volunteers this week! That's God in action people! Many are overflow from the Hilltop Relief Mission. 17 are coming from Columbus, Ohio; 20 from Littleton Colorado; and 35 from Newark New Jersey.

Lord please bless these volunteers. Keep them safe in their travels. Help them to see you and be Christ, your own light, in the darkness that seems so tanacious and slow to lift in the lives of those they are helping. Please bless the people who have been hurt by this tragedy and use those we send to lift them up and lighten their burden. In Jesus name we pray. Amen!

Emergency Need!! -- Electric Heaters

2005-12-23T14:48:00.000-08:00

Most houses in the hurricane zone have gas heaters. The flooding has contaminated the gas lines and they are unusable. As unbelievable as this sounds to many who have come from the North to help this fall, the overnight temperature has dipped below freezing twice this week. Electric heaters are urgently needed and can be shipped to

Tammany Oaks Church of Christ
3700 Hwy 59
Mandeville, LA 70471
985-626-8360

Thank you note

2005-12-21T18:10:00.000-08:00

Hurricane Katrina and Rita has devastated our homes, jobs, and lives. We have been blessed with many things but most of all God has sent angels to come among us, as he has sent you three. With the goodness of our hearts we took 12 people into shelters and feed them. We went out of our way to clothe many who had nothing left but their life. We feel that God has cleansed the area and chose who is left to stay here and spread love, kindness, and God's word. With no ability to stay in our home, we await a FEMA trailer. We thank you for your generosity and only hope that you will touch many more hearts. Thank you for being our angels and finding my son who has really had a rough time since this devastation. You have touched his heart and mine. It's been a stressful time for me, but I have faith. We'll make it.

D.W. of Mandeville, LA.

Where I saw jesus

2005-12-20T18:57:00.000-08:00

Our plans are exactly that sometimes, OUR PLANS. Ephesians 3:20 tells us that we should praise God because he is powerful and HIS plans are much more than we can ask or imagine. Well, this is exactly what happened today.

I was with 2 other women today, Melanie and Nicole from Pegram, Tennessee, who had plans to find an animal shelter in New Orleans in order to deliver blankets, Christmas toys, cleaning supplies etc. We left Tammany Oaks Church and headed to Sonic to get drinks before heading to New Orleans. Sonic ended up being closed, so we drove across the street to a Shell gas station. When we came back out to the van, Nicole noticed a boy sitting outside in front of the gas station with his bike parked beside him as he ate boiled peanuts. She wondered what his story was, so we put together a bag of candy and an electronic game and walked over to him. When I offered it to him, he was very shocked and said, "You mean I can take this home to my family?" We began asking how many were in his family and if they were affected by the storm. He explained that their trailer was falling apart and they had 12 people living with them. We asked if we could see his home and offer gifts to the others that were at his home. He said his mom would be very upset if he rode with a stranger, but he would allow us to follow him while he rode his bike.

We followed him approx. 1/2 mile to his house. His mother came out to meet us and was in shock that her son had met some ladies at the gas station that wanted to give them gifts. She explained that she did not particularly want her 13 year old son to go out to the gas station alone on that Saturday morning, but she said he talked her into it, promising that he would come straight home.

As we talked to the boy's mother, we found that she had been housing some of her own family members along with some others who had lost their homes secondary to the storm. She told us she was not even suppose to be living in her home because the water had rushed under the trailer and the foundation of her home was cracking. She said they were supposed to get their FEMA trailer before Christmas. They had a small camper they were trying to stay in, but it was tarped from a roof leak and it had mold in it.The three of us left them, promising to return later with some gifts for everyone. My husband had some money that was to be used for anyone in need, so we took some of that money and bought gifts. We also gathered gifts from the church including a Christmas tree and a hot meal and returned to their home to make the delivery.

This day was planned from God before we even put any thought into it. We set out to find an animal shelter and never even made it 5 miles from the church building because the Lord had a much better plan for our day. I know this family was blessed by our meeting because the Lord is good. We were also blessed by meeting a little boy with such a huge heart of faith and hope. I believe that God allowed this boy to trust us so that HE could use the three of us to touch this family's life.

Gary Robbins and Crew

2005-12-18T05:43:00.000-08:00

During Centerville’s second visit December 10-17 it was hard not see Jesus all the time.
1. Saw him on the highway down and especially the return trip back when we were exhausted and he kept us safe.
2. Saw him in all the Disaster Staff that continue to work tiredly everyday to help people even though they are weary and obviously under severe stress.
3. Saw him with 10 Ohio State Agricultural students and their advisor Terry who helped us move a Carrollton Avenue member Roddrick's belongings from his home so he could have peace of mind that this part of his life journey in NO was over and he could take his belongings finally back to Atlanta and his wife and 2 toddlers who hopefully will never remember this ordeal.
4. He was sitting on the river walk downtown hungry, dirty and needing love and a Po Boy we had just bought for our lunch. But we just gave him it and went on.
5. We saw him in Don and his caring wife who have been there since the storm hit as insurance adjusters from Arkansas who still cared enough to work on the new buildings plumbing and make the best spaghetti lunch for us when they really needed to pack to travel home to Arkansas so they could organize more volunteers to come help.
6. We saw him at the emergency animal clinic in New Orleans when we took 5 pallets of pet food and the volunteers there all scrambled out to help unload it like a five year old trying to catch Santa before he goes back up the chimney.
7. We saw him at the emergency vet clinic where people cared for dogs and cats where they treated them with love and compassion as they treated there broken bones and broken trust in man and nature.
8. We saw him in the smiles and excitement of 150 well-mannered children who were receiving a Christmas toy of minimal value but you would have thought it was the most precious thing in the world. Even though we were 14 gifts short and had to promise we would come back the next day with more gifts and we did.
9. He was with me as one of my newfound brothers gave me encouragement when I was depressed thinking we weren’t accomplishing as much as I hoped to this trip and wasn't sure we would find the money or find more people willing to come in the future.
10. I was surprised to find him waiting for me at my Real Estate office at home when I went to pick up my mail for the week and he was waiting there to tell me I had a whole group of new volunteers who couldn't wait to hear about how soon I could take there church group to help through one of my coworkers who is dealing with financial issues as a single Mom.
Really after 51 years of life I think I finally believe and accept he is everywhere if I would just accept the thought that he is in charge and not me. God and his Son are truly love!

Gary Robbins
Centerville (Ohio) Church of Christ

Mission Powerpoint

2005-12-15T19:45:00.000-08:00

This Powerpoint slideshow outlines the Tammany Oaks Relief effort

The First Wedding at Tammany Oaks new building...

2005-12-15T10:44:00.000-08:00

Brett White of the disaster relief staff from Georgia and Alicia Shrewsbury, full time volunteer from Hurricane West Virginia were married Monday evening, December 5.

Congratulations you goofy kids!

Progress Report

2005-12-14T05:09:00.000-08:00

Progress report on the relief work Tammany Oaks Church of Christ
Sunday, December 11, 2005 by Brett White

Special Presentation - Today at Assembly Ted Jackson, a shepherd at TOCC, also Pulitzer-Prize winning photographer showed a frame by frame presentation of his journey from the evacuation from Katrina, rescue operations, lootings, fires, deaths, floods, and cleanup operations.

Herald of Truth - On Thursday December 8, church leaders from around the area met with Steve Ridgell of the Herald of Truth Ministry out of Abilene, Texas. He presented us with the exciting offer of a radio spot broadcast on local radio stations, bringing a short message of hope and invitation to learn more about Jesus. Listeners will be encouraged to call an 800 number or contact their local Church of Christ. Those attending enthusiastically embraced the idea. But we need to gear up because the "fields are white for harvest and workers are few." (B. Gilbert)

Prayer Campaign - Next Wednesday, we plan to start a designated forty days of prayer for all the people we have met and contacted through the relief work. Of course we have always been interested in meeting spiritual needs in addition to the physical needs, so we are praying the Lord to provide a way.

BIG MOVE - The "warehouse" (i.e. sanctuary) here at Tammany Oaks Church of Christ is about to be largely evacuated of all the relief supplies. The youth group is having an all-niter at the church and they are going to be using the facility. This is preparing the disaster relief team to get moved into the new warehouse in Robert, LA (down the road from Mandeville) by the end of the month. The facility is shaping up pretty nicely with lots of skilled labor volunteers coming to help get it ready to move into.

Marriage - Alicia Shrewsbury and I got married at the TOCC Church building Monday December 5, with staff and volunteers in attendance. The bride and groom were adorned in their yellow volunteer shirts and blue jeans. The ceremony was conducted by Justice Wallace Porter. We enjoyed our honeymoon this week at undisclosed locations in LA (lower Alabama). We met and married here at the Disaster Relief Ministry. She's from Hurricane, West Virginia (no lie).

I was a little late in sending this out…I fell ill to a bug, but I'm getting better all the time…

God bless,

Brett.

Pictures from Thanksgiving...

2005-12-12T18:47:00.000-08:00

...in Lafitte, Louisiana. All the volunteers and staff packed up grills and food and cooked for 1600 people the day before Thanksgiving.

From Don and Kathy McMillon (Dec. 6)

2005-12-08T13:19:00.000-08:00

We have returned to the great white north and it was -8 last night with a wind chill of -30, so we are warmly remembering the disaster relief team we left behind.

We saw Jesus each and every day in the lives of the people we worked with. We lived among those who are based in Mandeville for 2 1/2 months. Many of them gladly work 10 or more hours a day. Many have families they bring to the church while they work. Some have worked for others even though their own homes were damaged.

These people work so hard for one reason - they serve a risen Savior. They are His hands and feet. Just as Moses needed his arms held up by others in the wilderness, these people also need their arms held up by others......Janet, Tim, Becky, Rhonda, Brendan, Bruce, Tracey, Stephanie, Karen, Lana, Jessica, Stacey, Jonathan, Patrick, the church members, Tod and of course the newlyweds Brett and Alicia.
Our hearts are still with you all as are our prayers. We are so proud of you and so thankful that you are willing to do what you do for those who are suffering. Don wants the team to know that he still thinks about the refrigerated trailer, tarping the books outside the building, etc. while he is sleeping. (Poor Baby)

Mandeville Pictures

2005-12-03T15:25:00.000-08:00

Editor's note: Pictures don't come to the blog via email postings. Also, the sender's address is unknown when mailing postings to the blog directly. Please include your name and contact information when submitting blog postings and send pics to whereisawjesus@gmail.com.

Update Newsletter

2005-12-03T15:01:00.000-08:00

Editor's Note: This newsletter was emailed Friday, December 2. If you did not receive a copy, please send an email to whereisawjesus@gmail.com with your name, address, and whether you have been a volunteer at Tammany Oaks.

Thank you for your time of volunteering at Tammany Oaks Church of Christ with the Disaster Relief Ministry that was borne in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Thank you for your continual prayers and encouragement. If this is the first time we have been in touch, then I want to remind you that we’re still seeing Jesus in the greater New Orleans area. We have all been changed by this and we will not forget what we all share together.

I want us to stay connected and remind you that you are a “great cloud of witnesses,” the Body of Christ to over 5000 souls through your prayers, through the food you handed out feeding both hurricane survivors and volunteer servants, and you’ve been Jesus through your sweaty labor. Some of the body of Christ has handled a chainsaw, a crowbar, or a Bobcat. And in the name of Jesus you may have nailed a tarp down onto a damaged roof. You may have shoveled mud, taped up a foul refrigerator, pressure washed, piled the garbage high, followed up on the people you helped, smiled at a child, listened to a story, or even cried with someone—ALL IN GOD’S GLORY!

To keep connected, I want to point you to some resources that we have available to us:

These are Jesus stories: whereisawjesus.blogspot.com

Please add your story or pictures by clicking this link: katrina_update.post@blogger.com

Here is the latest news items from ground zero

Press Coverage
It’s good when the media expose news that will remind people about the efforts here and what God is doing. We met Bobby Ross from the Christian Chronicle who already has excellent coverage up on the website. These were pictures taken earlier this week.

A television crew from WSET ABC channel 13 Lynchburg, Virginia followed a furniture shipment from Gleaning for the World Concorde, VA down to our warehouse, and into a survivor’s home. They spent more than a day filming the operation here and interviewing servants.

And concerning the article Nick wrote, we already have had a phone call from a team from Branson MO booking a trip for January.

Also, Check out the coverage in Time magazine.

Progress on Building
The original PowerPoint presentation aimed for starting work on Dec 1 and having occupation by the end of the month, but it’s starting to look a lot like occupation by Dec 15. We still need plumbers, a mason, a master electrician, and carpenters. The sooner the better! We are really looking forward to this growth move.

Expanding Capacity
Many of the churches of Christ relief groups were invited this week to Camp New Orleans in Algiers, a tent city run by Deployed. Usually a housing unit for emergency workers, currently housing contractors, home inspectors, and soon to be housing FEMA workers getting kicked out of their hotel rooms. We were given staying rights here. Carrolton Avenue and Hilltop are planning to use this facility a lot—it’s a good set up and close to the work. We could use this for overflow, virtually freeing up our capacity to basically however many people will come and be willing to stay off campus.

Appliances
Many of the appliances sent down by Churches of Christ Disaster Relief out of Nashville are being given to good homes. I’ve been very blessed to be able to visit homes for the screening process that usually ends up turning into precious moments of encouragement and prayer.

Prayers
If you are interested in praying for some of the people who have been helped in the relief effort specifically by name, I will send you a list so that you can include them in your daily prayers.

2 You From Me 4 Him
The Christmas toys have already started coming in from all over to distribute for the kids who lost their toys during the storms. Call the church or email Jessica

Greatest Needs
Our greatest need of all time is more volunteers. If you can schedule to come down, you will always be put to work.

Booking Calendar: click here
Booking a Group: send Brett an email

If you have ever organized or led a group, please tell me so we can begin organizing our nationwide community of relief volunteers.

Also, if your church has blogs, links, or websites dedicated to the relief work, please send them to me as well.

God bless you,

Brett.

Every Day

2005-12-01T19:23:00.000-08:00

I honestly wasn't looking for Jesus himself that day. I didn't realize it was Him until shortly afterwards.....

I saw the face of Jesus today. His name is Russ. His fingernails are long and dirty; his blondish hair is in masses of tangles created by months, possibly years of no baths. He was friendly enough, nothing out of the ordinary. His demeanor was quiet and lowly. He pushed a cart full of suitcases. I had encountered him before, but I don't think he remembered me; that didn't matter. I knew God put him back in my life at that exact moment for his purposes.

His eyes were averted when we encountered one another. I think he was probably wondering why I was even talking to him. I told him I was only in the area for a short time and I prayed that if God wanted me to see him again, that I would. I gave him what I had because I told the Lord I would. I asked him if he talked to Jesus any; I prayed with him before I left. As I drove away, I thanked God for the encounter and told Him that I longed to see his face. I wanted to see him and touch him; I wanted him to be tangible.

I then realized that I had just seen Jesus. In human form, Jesus presented Himself to me in Russ and I didn't even see it!” I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." These are Jesus' words in Matthew 25:35-36.

In the lyrics of Brave Saint Saturn:

Yesterday while walking,
Beneath an overpass,
I saw the figure of Jesus,
Standing barefoot on broken glass.
His beard was graying,
The smell of urine filled the air,
Asking if I had some change,
Anything that I could spare....

Jesus is constantly revealing Himself to us, when we are looking and when we are not, when we are working in disaster relief and when we are doing our everyday jobs.
The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' Mat 25:40

Progress Report on the Relief work Tammany Oaks Church of Christ

2005-11-26T07:04:00.001-08:00

My buddy and brother Nick Diamantides was published in the Word Net Daily, an article on the work here. Click here for a link to it.

Thanksgiving
The staff and entire volunteer regiment served 1600 meals in Lafitte on Wednesday. We have about 40 Volunteers here for Thanksgiving holidays. The local staff from the church fed all of us in a scrumptious meal! It was wonderful.

Starfish report
Every week that goes by, a few more git-r-dun's are taken off the big stack. But there are always more to put in their place. We have sent some crews into Chalmette which is one starfish out of many. Trucks are still rolling, supplies are still being sent to the greatest places of need.

On new building
Volunteers from Indiana and Maryland (and other places) did a Thanksgiving Day "sweep" of the new place, organized and stacked all the building materials, did a lot of cleaning, and some electricians knocked out a portion of the wiring. One step closer to moving in.

NEEDS
For the new building project, we still need to schedule:

Plumber - setting kitchen and bathroom plumbing, showers, sinks
Electricians - fixtures, main panel, lighting
HVAC - Air units and ductwork
Carpenters - framing, finishing, decking
Mason - office section of building (on front)
Miscellaneous - Drop ceiling installation, sheetrock, flooring, security system

If you are interested in helping with the new building, please keep in close contact about the progress. We can always use you for "anything that's needed" but if you come down here for a specific trade skill, we want you to do what you came for and don't want it to be DONE when you get here. This PowerPoint has details and pictures.

Brett White
Volunteer Coordinator

Thanksgiving on the Bayou Continued

2005-11-25T18:19:00.000-08:00

Brett has posted a couple of new articles about thanksgiving in this mission on his blog. Here's the links: http://brettwhite.blogspot.com/

Nicole Arnold

2005-11-24T21:57:00.000-08:00

After having driven through New Orleans on
Thanksgiving day, watching for God to show us who to
serve, I felt these thoughts were appropriate.

Thanksgiving

with thanks
we gave
what we had
not silver or gold
but bread and water
He said, "I am the Bread of Life."
it's His life we're thankful for
His death we celebrate; appreciate
we went in His name
walking by faith
we saw His power displayed
led not to still waters
but to fields white unto harvest
what bountiful need
thankful for opportunities to share His love
we come
we go
we offer what we have,
we listen for His call
thankful for all
we've come to know
as we grow together in Him

Thanksgiving 2005

Thanksgiving on the Bayou

2005-11-23T09:17:00.000-08:00

Where are you having Thanksgiving dinner? The entire staff and all the volunteers from Tammany Oaks are in Lafitte, Louisiana today with their grills set up cooking chicken and fixins for the people down there. Pictures to come (Brett promises :-)

Lets all be sure to lift these folks up in our prayers the next few days. All these workers have given so much and all the people they are serving have been so devastated. Pray for more workers and even more of the light of Christ to shine on this area.

Alicia Shrewsbury Thursday 11-17

2005-11-19T21:28:00.000-08:00

I think it is amazing how God is working through these Hurricanes to bring glory to Himself! While out scouting two nights ago, Brett White and I, Alicia Shrewsbury, went to homes to see if people still needed assistance and to let them know we care about them. We walked into 3 different homes that night. On a "normal" day, under "normal" circumstances, complete strangers would not just invite us into their homes, but people see our shirts and know that we are friends.

One home in particular touched me that night. The husband was very hesitant to open the door because he thought we were contractors or insurance adjusters. Once we told him we were with Tammany Oaks Church, he invited us in and immediately began showing us the damage their home suffered. They had 8 trees on their home when they came back just two days after the storm. They have some structural damage and they had to gut several walls, but they were able to stay at their home. They described how cold it has been getting at night because of the wall and the roof damage.

The wife is so overwhelmed by everything that she cried several times while we were there. One of her many concerns is the fact that her boys are sleeping on an air mattress and the couch because they lost all of their bedroom furniture. We were able to minister to this family by listening, praying, and by bringing them to the church building to give them beds for their boys. I can't describe the joy expressed when Brett told them we had beds for them. I know this family was blessed by our visit because of God working through us, and I know it was a blessing to my soul!

An unplanned meeting happened when we were looking for this family's house. We had turned down the wrong street, and 2 ladies came up to our window and asked if they could help us find something. When they saw our Tammany Oaks shirts, they both began explaining how we had cleaned out homes of their families in New Orleans; they were so excited to be able to thank us, though we probably weren't specifically the ones who helped their families. They were then able to tell us what street to turn down for the house we were looking for. Even meetings like this I attribute to God's divine appointment book.

Another time Jesus was evident to me was through a phone call I answered here at the building. I was hesitant to answer the phone because I was afraid someone would have questions that I could not answer, but no one was around but me. As soon as I said hello, the woman on the other end began thanking me and this church for the supplies we delivered to the Elementary school she principles. She was so uplifting and praising God with every other breath. She told me how poor the area is and explained what a great need was met through the delivery. We prayed over the phone before ending; she was the encouragement I needed that day to continue on, despite how tired and demanding all of this can be.

In a building?

2005-11-16T19:29:00.000-08:00

The PowerPoint tells a remarkable story at how God continues to work in this Hurricane relief effort in extravagant ways. This project needs the attention of some professional trades people to GitRDone and approved for use.

Please pass this link on to anyone you know who may be able to help or know someone who may.

For those who are on a dial-up or otherwise on slow access. A half finished church building near the Tammany Oaks building is being purchased for use as dorms, a warehouse, volunteer feeding, offices, and (praise Jesus) indoor showers!

Professionals are absolutely required as soon as possible after December 1 to complete fitting out this building to be inspected and put into service as it is sorely needed in the effort.

Where I saw Jesus

2005-11-16T08:52:00.000-08:00

Friday, Nov 11th and Saturday Nov 13th , the following stories were shared at chapel services:

True Servant
As a work group was cleaning a woman’s home that had been flooded, she began to serve them. He states she served them as much or even more than their service to her.

Blessing One Another
An adult shared how he was affected by the teen group of volunteers that arrived here. He says he was blessed by their eagerness to serve immediately after their long drive here.

Children Are a Blessing
A volunteer says he was touched by a four year-old boy who was here with his mother, who is in charge of shipping and receiving. He admired how this little boy was so eager to help drive the fork- lift and box up things in the warehouse without complaining. We can learn much about the Kingdom of God from these little ones.

It Is Better To Give Than To Receive
While passing out food boxes at a school, a volunteer explains there was no problem trying to emotionally link with these people. He says those who were receiving the food easily opened up to those who were serving them, allowing open doors for spiritual conversations.

Volunteers
By volunteering, we are able to share in the joy of helping the Hurricane victims, unlike businesses like FEMA or the Red Cross, who are helping in a lot of cases because it is their job. We are in a unique place by giving of our time, not to receive, but simply to give.

Giving In Her Time of Need
A lady from Metarie whose home was flooded, was telling some of our volunteers how she had come in contact with some insurance adjusters who had lost their homes to the hurricane. She said she had already invited them to her home for Thanksgiving dinner; she was not so blinded by her own needs to miss the needs of those around her.

Unique Impact
A Hurricane victim told a volunteer that she had never seen her church help others like we are. She said she was considering changing her religion because this impacted her so.

The End Result
A volunteer noticed how his crew unloaded their truck by focusing on the end result of getting everything off. They didn’t focus on how they passed the boxes or in which order they got them off, they simply focused on the task at hand. He compared how our Christian walk should also be focused on our end result of following Jesus Christ every day of our lives. We should not become distracted when others may do things a little differently than us; if we are all focused on the same goal, we can accomplish much through the Lord’s power!

Refocusing
A hurricane victim began helping our volunteers on Saturday as they passed out food boxes. She explained that she was able to keep her mind off of her losses by helping others.

Grace not works
A Hurricane victim was telling the volunteers helping her that they were going to get to Heaven because of what they were doing for her. One of the volunteers used this as an opportunity to explain grace. He encouraged her to read the gospel of John and said that we could not ever do enough or be good enough to get to heaven.

Simplify
A thought that many volunteers have had is to simplify their lives. Many have been reminded that our physical possessions are just that, physical possessions. It seems sometimes the more we have, the more these possessions become our focus.

Intervention
Last night, the Lord had a plan for a boy named Alex. Another volunteer and I were in the church office. We were about to leave, but some lost files on the computer kept us in the office. A knock on the door made us both look; the door was opened by Alex. He said he needed a ride to his family, who were about an hour and a half away. As he began telling us his story, he revealed that he had an addiction to drugs and that his mother had dropped him off on the interstate because of an argument. He found his way into this building and down the hall to the office. We prayed with him and fed him.

A short while later, the office phone rang and it was his mother. She had tried calling several other times and finally decided to press 3 for the disaster relief line here at the building. I’m not sure why she called this church, but again, God’s hand was in this. If I had decided not to skip dinner, there probably would not have been anyone in the office to answer when she called. Alex fell asleep shortly after he ate, and he is still sleeping here at the building. I don’t know what God’s plan is, but I know it is Good!

Rely upon God’s faithfulness, not on my ability to believe.

Where I've seen Jesus

2005-11-16T08:14:00.000-08:00

I saw Jesus in my 7 yr old son who came on my third trip to help deliver backpacks. He was so thrilled to be given the opportunity to help others. He was able to see how even the simple task of making cardboard boxes was important to being able to help fill needs. His servant heart galvanized my belief that anyone can serve if they will.

I'm reminded of a gentleman I saw on my 2nd trip who served mightily in spite of having previously suffered a stroke that impaired his use of one side. He sat for hours and cut apart cardboard boxes for recycling. Never complaining, always willing to help, this man showed me the servant heart of the savior.

I saw Jesus in an asthmatic woman who wore a mask to mow the church lawn when no one else rose to the task The humility of Jesus is seen in those who come without sensing themselves above any job. I thank God for the opportunities I've had to witness Jesus in action through those who've volunteered and supported this effort.

Nicole Arnold-- Storm Past

2005-11-15T16:03:00.000-08:00

Storm past
Sun rose
land dried
mold grew
food stank
flies came
trash piled up
tv crews left
other news appeared
FEMA left
we came home
to see
and stare
and weep
What now?
Where to start?
Who will help?
memories pile up
in sodden heaps
on littered sidewalks
life's tokens pass out your door
-- unsalvagable
sanity slips through grime covered fingers
depression settles on your drooping shoulders
What now?
What's left?
Who will help?
You came--
you held my hand and prayed with me
you shared your lunch and moved a tree
you tore down walls of mold and fences of fear fell too
I knew that you were here to help offer hope.
As moldy drywall came down-- walls of doubt fell too
You came and did what others wouldn't
You came and did when family couldn't
Why you?
Why me?
What now?
What do I keep beyond this day?
When storm debris is cleared away?
Somehow I know that though you go
a part of Him is here to stay

Nicole Arnold 11-5-05

Where John and David Carden Saw Jesus

2005-11-11T05:30:00.000-08:00

John and Dave Carden have made two trips two work and took the time to organize their pictures with comments at the following address.

http://home.comcast.net/~jwcarden/Katrina/

Where I saw Jesus Wednesday

2005-11-09T23:13:00.000-08:00

Tonight at devotional, the following stories were shared about seeing Jesus today:

Paul from Kokomo, In. says he saw Jesus in the faces of the children at the elementary school where we delivered supplies. He relates how Jesus looks at children and says he believes that children are the closest people on earth to the likeness of Jesus.

Dean from Kokomo, In. says he saw Jesus in a fellow volunteer, Mike from Nebraska. He talks about Mike's willingness to work hard for others whether he wants to or not; he knows it is an ability he has been blessed with and he is willing to use it to serve God.

Lynn from Greentown, In. talks about a lady across the street from where they were tarping a roof today. He says she came over multiple times to ask them if they needed water, food, etc. He said she was worried about them falling and she insisted on holding the ladder as they climbed up. She said that the other homes on the street had more damage than this home, and she was worried her neighbor's would not get the assistance they needed. Lynn says he saw Jesus through her caring spirit and heart.

Alicia from Huntington, West Virginia speaks of the looks on the teacher's faces as supplies were unloaded at their school today. They said this was the best delivery they had received and that the children and the school were definitely in need. Alicia says she feels the Lord used the volunteers to make a simple delivery that will touch other's lives in a tremendous way.

Claudia from Huntington, West Virginia describes how God brought her to Tammany Oaks Church of Christ through a fellow church member, Mary. She says she decided not to even think about it but to commit to coming as soon as Mary told her about the trip less than a week prior to departure, despite not knowing Mary very well. She describes how she feels God planned to bring them together in a new friendship through their volunteer time at Tammany Oaks.

Current Needs List

2005-11-08T18:20:00.000-08:00

Volunteers
NEW toys (see specifications below)
Baby items
Personal Hygiene packages and products
Cleaning supplies
NO BLEACH
Lysol
Pinesol
Windex
Febreeze
etc.
Sheets - twin, full, double
Towels and washcloths
And we can always use non-perishable foods

Tammany Oaks is building a Christmas giving program called 2 you from me 4 Him to benefit the many dislocated children and families in the region. Boxes are to be packed with unwrapped items such as those listed below. Items may be packed in boxes with the box top and bottom wrapped separately so the gift can be viewed by Tammany Oaks staff. Please tape information label to the front of the box describing the sex and age it is for. Boxes should be sent to Tammany Oaks Church of Christ where they will be distributed to school children on the Gulf Coast who have been affected by the hurricane. When sending multiple boxes please group and pack them according to the sex and age of the child. All boxes must be en route to Tammany Oaks by December 9th.

3700 Hwy. 59
Mandeville, LA 70471

Possible Items for Girls 1-12
Small Toys
Dolls
Art Supplies
Bubbles
Hairbows
Stickers
Hard Candy
Gum
Toothbrush
Christmas Ornament

Possible Items for Boys 1-12
Small Toys
Balls
Art Supplies
Bubbles
Socks
Stickers
Hard Candy
Gum
Toothbrush
Christmas Ornament

Possible Items for Girls 12-18
Gift Cards
Fingernail Polish
Hard Candy
Gum
Toothbrush
Christmas Ornament

Possible Items for Boys 12-18
Gift Cards
Hard Candy
Gum
Toothbrush