Thursday, April 19, 2007
What a trip!
To see first-hand what has occurred to this side of the world is both jaw-dropping and exasperating. So many lives have been turned upside down, and in Waveland, MS, a lovely beachside community continues to deal with devastation and turmoil, completely uprooting familes and businesses in unimaginable ways. The pictures on the blog give some insight into what we see with our eyes, but those pictures can't truly share what we emotionally feel in our hearts. The words that we write may be powerful and moving; yet, these same words still can't capture everything that fills our minds. In a way, it makes absolutely no sense. Oh, sure, we can look at this as a natural disaster and what happens in the aftermath; nevertheless, why are we witnessing the continuation of 20+ months worth of horrific after-effect? And they predict it to continue for up to another 10 years!
The faith within this community is utterly amazing and those who remain are steadfast in their belief that God is greater than Katrina and that Waveland will return better than ever. It will be known more than for its moniker of being just "Ground Zero". When folks recognize us in the local stores to shop for supplies, food and the like, the expressions of love, appreciation and kindness come from their eyes, hands, faces,.... They are tremendously grateful for our presence. We, in turn, are extremely grateful to be here.
Personally, I am honored to be "leading" this team from the LA District. Every member of the team is a phenomenal person and there aren't enough adjectives to describe my absolute love for each of them. What a joyful blessing! And to those at Hollywood UMC and who have contributed to the fund-raising efforts to send 11 of us from the church to participate in this mission outreach and rebuild effort, I thank you profusely from the bottom of my heart. You have enabled us to be a part of something wonderfully good and to touch lives and be simulatenously touched even greater.
As my birthday approaches, I look at this week as a gift -- one of the largest and best gifts that I have ever received, and I have each of the HUMC'ers to thank for this experience. Through you, we are examples to Waveland and the surrounding communities that they will not be forgotten -- no matter what. They know it, and you should as well.
The faith within this community is utterly amazing and those who remain are steadfast in their belief that God is greater than Katrina and that Waveland will return better than ever. It will be known more than for its moniker of being just "Ground Zero". When folks recognize us in the local stores to shop for supplies, food and the like, the expressions of love, appreciation and kindness come from their eyes, hands, faces,.... They are tremendously grateful for our presence. We, in turn, are extremely grateful to be here.
Personally, I am honored to be "leading" this team from the LA District. Every member of the team is a phenomenal person and there aren't enough adjectives to describe my absolute love for each of them. What a joyful blessing! And to those at Hollywood UMC and who have contributed to the fund-raising efforts to send 11 of us from the church to participate in this mission outreach and rebuild effort, I thank you profusely from the bottom of my heart. You have enabled us to be a part of something wonderfully good and to touch lives and be simulatenously touched even greater.
As my birthday approaches, I look at this week as a gift -- one of the largest and best gifts that I have ever received, and I have each of the HUMC'ers to thank for this experience. Through you, we are examples to Waveland and the surrounding communities that they will not be forgotten -- no matter what. They know it, and you should as well.
Losses & Gains
So our time here is quickly coming to an end. Hard to believe. For me, it’s even more strange, since a week ago I didn’t even know that I’d be coming here. I was a last minute fill-in for a lady who wasn’t able to come, and so here I am!
Tonight we heard from some folks in our group talk about why they decided to do this, including a few people who were here once before and decided to come back. There were various reasons, but for a lot of people it started with a sense of duty and service, of faith in action. And by all accounts, we have been blessed to be of much service to the families who will soon be moving into the four houses we’ve been working on this week. But it didn’t take long after arriving here for me to discover that I was in for a big surprise. Because service and duty don’t begin to describe the feeling you get when you have the privilege to do something this tangible, meaningful and absolutely necessary for complete strangers. It’s almost wrong to call them strangers, since they hug you when you first meet them and they feed you and treat you like family. I’ve also gained a sense of community with the people I’ve traveled here with, and with the teams who preceded us, and with all of the relief workers from all of the other denominations, ministries and organizations who’ve been here to help.
Tonight we heard from some folks in our group talk about why they decided to do this, including a few people who were here once before and decided to come back. There were various reasons, but for a lot of people it started with a sense of duty and service, of faith in action. And by all accounts, we have been blessed to be of much service to the families who will soon be moving into the four houses we’ve been working on this week. But it didn’t take long after arriving here for me to discover that I was in for a big surprise. Because service and duty don’t begin to describe the feeling you get when you have the privilege to do something this tangible, meaningful and absolutely necessary for complete strangers. It’s almost wrong to call them strangers, since they hug you when you first meet them and they feed you and treat you like family. I’ve also gained a sense of community with the people I’ve traveled here with, and with the teams who preceded us, and with all of the relief workers from all of the other denominations, ministries and organizations who’ve been here to help.
Here are some statistics: Hancock county, where we are staying and working, had a population of about 43,000 people living in 16,897 homes. During Katrina, 11,000 houses in Hancock county alone were completely destroyed. Another 3600 homes were severely damaged. Officials estimate that it will take 9-11 years to rebuild this area. But in the 20 months since this disaster, over 60 million dollars have been raised through the Methodist (UMCOR) relief organization, and over 40,000 Methodists have come to Mississippi, Alabama & Louisiana, for a total of over one million man hours. And that’s just the Methodists. We’ve had close contact with Amish, Presbyterian, Baptist and other groups who have been doing the same kinds of work. It’s encouraging for me to see that kind of effort. I can’t imagine what it would be like for the people who live here. I can only guess that the area would have never recovered otherwise.So we have one more workday remaining. Until next time. Because I realize I have lost absolutely nothing by coming here. I have not sacrificed anything. But I have gained a whole lot.
PS: If you’re following “The Framers” work on Miss Dena’s house, check out the daily timeline on our Flickr page, which is linked here at the left.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)