Day 3 - Sunday, July 6, 2008
Thunder and lightening greeted us early (it was still dark). A bit of rain followed – but only a bit. Some of us ventured down the street to the First Missionary Baptist Church for Sunday School and worship. Rev. Rawls was away today – so there was a young guest preacher. Brother Tony taught the Sunday School lesson, as he has each time we’ve been here. There were about 15 members of the church, and about 50 volunteers – people like us who are here for the week. We were very graciously welcomed. We announced that Tom Summers had just celebrated the 20th Anniversary of his ordination to Ministry of Word and Sacrament – and everyone there celebrated with us. It was a nice moment.
The historic church building had to be torn down due to damage from Katrina. They’re now building a new church. It’s framed and enclosed. It’s beautiful. Little by little this congregation rebuilds. Melody Evans arrived safe and sound. On the way to the airport, Heidi and Robin saw a waterspout on the lake – something Heidi had not seen in her lifetime of driving along Lake Ponchartrain. (A waterspout is a small tornado on the water.) We’re now a full force of 18 volunteers. 
This afternoon we went back to our work sites. The damaged floor at Izzy and Mary’s is now up and the crew is planning how to reinstall new floor. Getting that first piece in is the hardest – connecting it to the floor that remains. Then, hopefully, it will be smooth sailing.
The drywall crew at Matt’s house kept at it: mudding and sanding. More drywall (greenboard, actually) will be installed in the bathrooms, and more mudding and sanding (some of us wonder if it will ever end!) – all tomorrow. 
There may be other sites for us to take on – Henry will tell us in the morning.
There is good energy among the group. We’re working hard, making a bit of progress on our job sites. When seen in comparison to the need – many, many homes still need to be built, some businesses are slow in returning, the economy downturn is felt here, too – our efforts seem small. But Matt shared that he almost couldn’t come to the house in recent weeks because progress was slow, funds were scarce and the red tape of the grant process often seems unfair. But today he smiled because he knows he will finally be able to paint.
As our PDA shirts say…out of chaos - hope.
July 6th, 2008 in
Pearlington
Looking good Sarah! I see you have developed some muscle from using that nail gun…