St James Missions
St James Missions
Hello St. James and the world!
Wow. Its hard to imagine it but we have already been here two whole days! This blog comes really late and we as a team apologize. As it is, we have hardly had a moment that hasn't been filled with things to do. We met at DIA on Saturaday at 8:45 in the morning and headed out on our Ted Airbus. The flight went just fine and everything in the LA airport went smoothly and we were off in three mini-vans in the blink of an eye. For the remainder of the day we bonded as a team... or well a couple of teams... that is as volleybal players. Those of us with enough energy faced eachother on the wonderful sand pit in the back yard. Afterwards, it was a quick team meeting and off to the city to explore and eat.
The next day, Sunday, we joined our brothers and sisters in Christ at Canal St. Presbyterian Church. The P astor, Mike gave a wonderful sermon and worship was excelent. One interesting thing that we noticed was instead of a sharing time, Canal St. Presbyterian had a lot of prayer time where the congregation aid their prayers out loud and any prayer requests were, in themselves, a prayer that everyone prayed for on the spot. It really struck some of our team members when the pastor bowed before the alter of God to pray. It was very powerful and moving. At one point in the service there was a thuderstorm above us. During one of the praise/prayer times, a member of the band was totally throwing up praise to God when he paused and at that second a quake of thunder echoed through the church. It totally showed the awesome power of God and His wonderous timing, because, it was perfect timing.
The rest of the day, was spent in the touring of the city. As much as the destruction is and was, progress is seen everyday. The weeds have taken over where it was once dead. On one hand it shows the hope of new life for New Orleans, that the city and its people will survive with resilliancy. On the other hand, the weeds are choking the houses and the trees and sometimes covering the debris. This shows the need for even more progress and the need for more volunteers and resources. The choking makes us and the people of New Orleans think of the need for a plan, a way to get out of the mess and chaos that surrounds us everyday. Sunday at lunch, one of our team, Buzz, had ordered a huge double decker 2 lb. burger (maybe I exagerate a little). He said after eating, "I feel like I might go into hibernation now." We could all tell why!
Today was our first real day here. We awakened early to Phylis, saying loudly, "Get up its almost 6:30!" A time difference of an hour would make that 5:30 in Colorado. We got up made luch and then we were on the road again. We got to Canal St. Pres. met Louise, got our tools, were debriefed, then the most important thing, we prayed. With God with us we went over to Lanita and Garland's three story house. In the house, what we would call the first story, they called the basement and so on up. The condition of the house was remarkable. Dont get me wrong, it was a horrible mess with lots of mold inside the walls. However the water had only reached up to about a foot and a half above the floor on the first floor. The basement was in the same condition as most of the homes in New Orleans; dark, damp, dusty, completly askewed and rotting. As we worked through the day, removing the debris and rubble, the remnents of life before the flood, we began to see hope. Once the windows were opened and a light, cooling breeze was alowed throughout the rooms, for what was probably the first time in a year, the air became lighter, and easier to breath.
If the family was just Lanita and Garland, you ask, why did they have such a huge house. Lanita and Garland housed tenants there in their home. Tenants that were more family than rent paying people. The couple met in the place they both work, a hospital for the mentally challenged. With big hearts, the couple cared for their patients even when they were relocateded out of the city during the storm. Both of them are surfers and were extremely hospitable during our time with them. They made sure to hug us all, it might have been because their hearts were so full of love for us, but Im positive, part of it was the overwhelming feeling of gratitude and disbelief that 16 strangers came to help them get on with their lives. Im not sure what it is about the pure physical work that we do while we are down here, but it makes us more open to love. We find that as we get out, and suffer for the sake of others and serve with all that we can muster, the love that God puts into our hearts moves us closer together.
Hello St. James and the world!
Wow. Its hard to imagine it but we have already been here two whole days! This blog comes really late and we as a team apologize. As it is, we have hardly had a moment that hasn't been filled with things to do. We met at DIA on Saturaday at 8:45 in the morning and headed out on our Ted Airbus. The flight went just fine and everything in the LA airport went smoothly and we were off in three mini-vans in the blink of an eye. For the remainder of the day we bonded as a team... or well a couple of teams... that is as volleybal players. Those of us with enough energy faced eachother on the wonderful sand pit in the back yard. Afterwards, it was a quick team meeting and off to the city to explore and eat.
The next day, Sunday, we joined our brothers and sisters in Christ at Canal St. Presbyterian Church. The P astor, Mike gave a wonderful sermon and worship was excelent. One interesting thing that we noticed was instead of a sharing time, Canal St. Presbyterian had a lot of prayer time where the congregation aid their prayers out loud and any prayer requests were, in themselves, a prayer that everyone prayed for on the spot. It really struck some of our team members when the pastor bowed before the alter of God to pray. It was very powerful and moving. At one point in the service there was a thuderstorm above us. During one of the praise/prayer times, a member of the band was totally throwing up praise to God when he paused and at that second a quake of thunder echoed through the church. It totally showed the awesome power of God and His wonderous timing, because, it was perfect timing.
The rest of the day, was spent in the touring of the city. As much as the destruction is and was, progress is seen everyday. The weeds have taken over where it was once dead. On one hand it shows the hope of new life for New Orleans, that the city and its people will survive with resilliancy. On the other hand, the weeds are choking the houses and the trees and sometimes covering the debris. This shows the need for even more progress and the need for more volunteers and resources. The choking makes us and the people of New Orleans think of the need for a plan, a way to get out of the mess and chaos that surrounds us everyday. Sunday at lunch, one of our team, Buzz, had ordered a huge double decker 2 lb. burger (maybe I exagerate a little). He said after eating, "I feel like I might go into hibernation now." We could all tell why!
Today was our first real day here. We awakened early to Phylis, saying loudly, "Get up its almost 6:30!" A time difference of an hour would make that 5:30 in Colorado. We got up made luch and then we were on the road again. We got to Canal St. Pres. met Louise, got our tools, were debriefed, then the most important thing, we prayed. With God with us we went over to Lanita and Garland's three story house. In the house, what we would call the first story, they called the basement and so on up. The condition of the house was remarkable. Dont get me wrong, it was a horrible mess with lots of mold inside the walls. However the water had only reached up to about a foot and a half above the floor on the first floor. The basement was in the same condition as most of the homes in New Orleans; dark, damp, dusty, completly askewed and rotting. As we worked through the day, removing the debris and rubble, the remnents of life before the flood, we began to see hope. Once the windows were opened and a light, cooling breeze was alowed throughout the rooms, for what was probably the first time in a year, the air became lighter, and easier to breath.
If the family was just Lanita and Garland, you ask, why did they have such a huge house. Lanita and Garland housed tenants there in their home. Tenants that were more family than rent paying people. The couple met in the place they both work, a hospital for the mentally challenged. With big hearts, the couple cared for their patients even when they were relocateded out of the city during the storm. Both of them are surfers and were extremely hospitable during our time with them. They made sure to hug us all, it might have been because their hearts were so full of love for us, but Im positive, part of it was the overwhelming feeling of gratitude and disbelief that 16 strangers came to help them get on with their lives. Im not sure what it is about the pure physical work that we do while we are down here, but it makes us more open to love. We find that as we get out, and suffer for the sake of others and serve with all that we can muster, the love that God puts into our hearts moves us closer together.
posted by Phylis Ritscher at 6:27 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home