re-entry

The day after we returned from Covington, standing in the Great Hall ... in the middle of a beautiful space and a loving and welcoming congregation, Myrta said, It feels weird to be here. Like I shouldn't be. It's not real here. I nodded and smiled, and had to agree.

Space shuttle missions have taught us the word "re-entry," that period on the return leg of the mission where things have to line up just right in the atmosphere and the technology or everything gets knocked out of whack ... sometimes, as we've seen with unspeakably tragic consequences.

Same in returning from mission trips, we've learned. There's a bit of 'burning up on re-entry' (clearly not the same painful extent - I dare not take the analogy that far). But while your body is tired from the good work of the great week, your heart and mind are still with the people you met, and the people you saw, and the things you experienced. It's a surreal return adventure, and sometimes it takes a bit for everything to line up, in your soul, like it should.

Then again, maybe that IS how it 'should' be. I think it's that re-entry that keeps it fresh for those who go, and makes us long to return ... and take others with us. There is more ... plenty more ... to be done. I hope you'll join us.

May 12 - 19: Lake Charles
July 21 - 28: CYF (high school youth), New Orleans
September 15 - 22: McComb MS
November 10 - 17: Algiers/New Orleans

(Coming soon! The Covington/Chalmette photo album to be added to the menu at the right. The mystery Gulfport album has been floating around too, but should link from the menu as well!)

like I said

Ronnie and I were talking about his neighborhood, his few streets tucked away in Chalmette, Louisiana. There are probably 25 houses on his block and the next. He says EIGHT of his neighbors have returned. "I think that everyone who's coming back, IS back."

If you see a trailer, there's a family in/working on that house. Many are close. Few are done. Most are still. just. sitting there. That's kind of hard to fathom, isn't it?

But, it sounds like they're right on track with what population surveys are suggesting.

Hard to believe...

... that getting 2 (mudding and sanding) of 3 (plus painting) parts of the week's intended task accomplished is still labeled "really great work". (Our project leader IS a rather generous soul!)
We started the week excited to clip through the mudding and sanding of drywall in the 2br/2bath house. By week's end (we start home this (Friday 3/9) afternoon), the fact that we've mudded and sanded every bit of drywall (1600 sqft of house) within an inch of its life means that the walls are totally dead set and ready for the next group to roll up its rollers and paint. (And I'm here to tell you ... those walls? Are smoooooooooth.)


... that two people you met on Sunday afternoon could, by Friday afternoon, be two people you just hate not to take home with you.
Of course, Rich and Dona DO live in Indy, so technically ... Two members of Speedway Christian Church, who have each made multiple trips to assist here in the coast region, literally could not be more wonderful if they tried.
> Rich, brave soul that he is, spent the entire week with this 'women's mission trip' gang from Geist ... having decided on Thursday last that he would leave on Saturday morning at oh-dark-whatever with Dona ... so that she didn't drive on her own, and so that he could put in another week's giving to Ronnie and Janet, special and wonderful folks that they are.
> Dona, it must be said, is all the good things you hear about and want in the people you meet, wrapped up in a teeny little package. Turning 77 just this Tuesday (it was birthdays-a-plenty this week!), six-months widowed and yet determined not let any bit of her fire go out, Dona is on her third trip to be part of Louisiana's recovery. With an eye for perfection like none other, Ronnie and Janet's home has been in good hands these many weeks. And Dona will be back to check on them when Speedway sends another group in a few weeks.


... that a church of 50 members would be home to hundreds over dozens of weeks.
Since the storm, 18 months ago, Grace Disciples of Christ in Covington LA (directly north of New Orleans, on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain) has been a mission station. As the Shards Ministry (more to come) attests, amid brokenness, even the very brokenness of Christ, we find our oneness. Tending first to its members and faith community connections, then opening its doors, its showers, its kitchen, its halls and floors and sanctuary and very heart to hundreds of complete strangers, since Day One.

In jeeps and vans and cars and RVs, they descend upon Grace, these groups ... and yet, safe to say that moreover, grace descends upon them. All churches should be so open, so welcoming, so love-one-another.

Grace -- both the church and the concept -- also makes it hard to believe ...

... that everyone we know hasn't already put a date on their calendar, dug out their work gloves, and packed a bag.
What
ARE
you
waiting
for?

two days in

Since you have to hear from me all the time, I thought you might enjoy hearing from someone ELSE for a change!

All five of the fanTAStic women who've joined me this week are first-time mission trippers. It is always interesting to see something through new eyes ...

We have been helping a family living in Chalmette to rebuild their home. We are to the finishing of the walls, and painting this week. It is exciting to be this close to getting a family back into their home.

It is most enjoyable to me to have time to chat with Janet and Ronnie (the homeowners) and hear all their personal stories. They have been fixing us lunch each day and it is some traditional down home southern cooking (red beans and rice, dirty rice).

The neighborhood is still in devastating condition, with few businesses open and the neighborhood is primarily empty gutted homes. An example of how things in this town are hard to understand: Today phone books were delivered to abandoned and demolished homes. Then Janet mentions there is no phone service since Katrina ... and won’t be till June!

Tomorrow we have a day of work and some extra fellowship time that includes a tour of other areas and also going to the French Quarter.

This has been an enjoyable experience. It is challenging at times, but I feel that I will be changed by this adventure!
Brianna


Wow. What an experience. I couldn’t even imagine when I got here what I would see. I have never seen such destruction in someone’s life.

Ronnie and Janet are such wonderful people and have such positive attitudes. I have spent much of the time that I am sanding drywall thinking about the situations that this community has been through ... and the dreams they have sleeping in a FEMA trailer with empty, abandoned houses all around and no noise or neighbors.

I stop sanding and think to myself I am not strong enough to deal with this kind of loss, But I have learned, I will never think of material things the same. The most important things in life aren’t things.
Aftan

Couldn't be more proud of a group of women ... or more sore, from work, and from laughter. My favorite combination.

Selah!

"Selah!" The word is used in wisdom literature, particularly the Psalms, to remind the reader (aloud or silent) to pause, breathe, allow the spirit of God to move within the words and the heart, drawing the two together, doing the work that only God can.

And so this week, six women have gathered - carrying with them the prayers of Selah! Ministries for Women at Geist Christian Church, and of the entire congregation.

It is a remarkable gift of ministry that THIS is the kind of thing I get to do ... bring five women who, with one mother-daughter exception, didn't really previously know each other and witness the creation of something wonderful. Relationships. Faithfulness. Community. Power. Spirit. Justice. Service.

Another snowy Saturday morning saw the group into the SUVs and out onto the highway.

(L to R: Jacquie Berry, Aftan Cox, Sarah Walker, Brianna Oliver, Courtney Richards, Myrta McQueen) (Special thanks to Pam Trapp for: being Trip Info Woman ... bringing us Cookies For The Road ... and taking the picture!) (Diane, get well soon!)

Making good time (and they said it couldn't be done!), we overnighted in Grenada, MS and drove the rest of the way (today) into Covington, Louisiana, with plenty of time to get settled in, lay in supplies, and begin to hear the stories we will live into this week. The more-than-appropriately named Grace Disciples of Christ Church is our place for rest, renewal and lodging at the end of the day.

We will work this week in {edited 3/6/07:} Chalmette, in the area known as "the infamous St. Bernard's Parish, or Da Parish", as my friend Matt pointed out! (Thanks, M!) (Covington/Mandeville, where we're staying, is in St. Tammany. Duly noted!) We are joined by Rich and Donna, two members of Speedway Christian Church, and led by George and Dixie Smith, from Carmel Christian Church. Each of these four adds IMMEASURABLY to the spirit and power of the week. You will hear more of them as we go.

For now ... for now?

Just know that every time you write a check or hand me money and say "We can't go but we want to help" ... every time you let me know that you're praying for me and for this group while we travel ... every time you think of us while we're away and wonder how things are going ... every word of support you offer to the spouses and children who are at home with part of the family away consumed in this work ... we know.

We feel it. We sense it and breathe it deeply into our week. We use that energy and that blessing that is YOU ... it fuels our work, and inspires our laughter, and nurtures our sense of purpose and mission and direction and witness.

You are each part of this, as much as we who sand and paint and carry. And we are each SO. VERY. GRATEFUL.