Reports from Abilene

Dillon, July 1:

We have walked a total of 10 or more miles this week. I also served and chatted with a lot of homeless people. They all were cooler than I thought. I did not know, but someone told me I fit in very well so I am glad! The week is going by slowly, we are all tired & sore from our long walks. I will never forget Mission Trip.

Andrew, July 2:

Today we went to poor people's homes and asked if they had prayer requests. We got a lot of people needing prayer. I thought something weird is that a poor person had a tricked out race car. Next we passed out food to the homeless and poor. It was really nice and they were happy.

Emily, July 1:

We went on a three-mile walk this morning. My legs truthfully hurt. But I forgot my advil at home. I wish I hadn't. After our walk we ate lunch which was chicken and vegi tostitos. Oh yeah, we had to serve lunch too. I kinda like this mission trip. Later we rode to a neighborhood, well some of us did. The rest of them got to stay here. They sorted clothes. What was sad today was a lady laying on her bed and asked us if we had a t-shirt, blanket, and medicine for her stomach ache. We didn't have any but we said we could bring back some. She was so happy!

Renee, July 1:

Today we actually started serving the community. We started out by serving lunch and cleaning up afterward. Then we went to a poor neighborhood to serve food and also invite the kids to VBS. This morning we did some more of the poverty simulation. They dropped us off on the side of the highway and made us walk all the way back for lunch. It was kinda funny because CJ decided that he needed to use the restroom and so we started looking for a place for him to go. But here's the thing. Every restaurant in Abilene is closed at 10:00 in the morning. So, finally, a lady who works at a Pizza Hut let him use the restroom and then everyone decided to go (laugh and sigh). Then tonight, they surprised us by taking us to a church's youth place to eat. The thing is, the youth room has video games, T.V., pool, air hockey, ping pong, fooseball, and guitar hero :). So today was a pretty good day.

Pearlington: Wednesday

Jack Thrash:
Had to drain the piling holes again! Things were going good until the rains came and the pump stopped working. Had to use buckets and form a bucket brigade. The rush to get water out of the holes was because two concrete trucks were arriving at 1:00 p.m. and concrete waits for no man. We needed as much muscle as possible and the other teams pitched in with their manpower to help us wheel barrow the concrete to 21 pilings. The trucks arrived at 1:30 and away we went. The temperature was at least 90 degrees and the humidity was close to the same. The youth and adults worked their tails off and we were finished by 4:00. In all, 17 yards of concrete was moved. Pouring concrete by wheel barrow is, I think, the hardest work I have ever done on a mission trip. I was so proud of the way everyone sacrificed to get the job done and do it safely. Everyone was looking out for one another and making sure that all had plenty of water.

As we were leaving I had a chance to talk with Jane, our homeowner. She and her husband Bert survived the storm surge that virtually wiped Pearlington off the map. They lived in a tent until the second Thanksgiving after Katrina hit. Then they lived in a FEMA trailer until four weeks ago when they were upgraded to a Katrina Cottage. For most of you who don’t know, a Katrina Cottage is basically a mobile home — 35’X12’. The home we are helping build will be 48’X32’ and 8’ off the ground. If it weren’t for faith based organizations, most of the Gulf Coast would not be being rebuilt. Our congregation can be very proud of the work our Youth Ministry has accomplished in this area over the past three years.

Austin:
Today my group had to fill in 4 holes about 4 ½ feet deep and 3 feet wide because we didn’t need them. After we were done with that, we put piers in that were 12 feet high. The piers hold the house up 8 feet above the ground. We got 9 done today and we have 6 left. Also, we ate cake made by Ms. Sams and couldn’t wait to eat them because everyone from last year always talk about her cooking.

Courtney:
Today was another hard day of work. We finished the concrete mixing and also started the porch of the house we are working on. It is owned by a man named Rick, who has gone through some tough times lately. I am glad that we can help him because he seems like a nice guy. A lot of the work today involved getting up on ladders and drilling. I went up there one time, and after much trial and error, drilled the screw where it needed to go. It feels cool because I know that with every screw I drill, or every shovel of dirt I scoop, I am making a difference. But, for the most part, today was a pretty slow day. To entertain ourselves during our many water breaks, our group (including Mrs. Little and Mr. Baab) had dirt fights. No one got seriously injured, but it was really funny. But I have to say, the best part of my day, was going back to Mrs. Sam’s house. We worked with her last year on helping to build back her church from the hurricane. She is the sweetest 90 year old woman you will ever meet. She treats everyone as family and always makes sure we feel at home. She even baked us cakes to take back to the group (and they were delicious!). She is one of those kind of people that are rare to see now-a-days, and she is truly a gift from God. I hope and pray that I will follow in her footsteps. May God continue to bless you all, and hi to everyone in Abilene! God bless.

Sara:
Day five was another great day! During devotional, we talked about how the “blind should not lead the blind” which really applied to our working groups. After that, we headed to our worksite and started to use a lot of different tools to begin the porch. I even got to use an automatic drill and a circular saw! Then after a long day of work, we went to visit Mrs. Sams again. She is such a cutie-pa-tootie and is the nicest person I have ever met. We looked at Mrs. Sam’s church that our youth group worked on last year, and it was so amazing. I truly felt like I could feel God’s presence in her church! May the Lord bless you and keep you and a shout-out to my bubby, Steven, in Abilene. :)

Pearlington: Tuesday

Sarah:
Yesterday was a day to learn about a lot of stuff. We woke up at 6:00 a.m. for breakfast at 6:30 a.m. Then we waited around to find out where we were supposed to be. Then we got there and put dirt in a hole. After that we took a lunch break and it started raining. Once we got to the work site, it started too hard to get out and work. So we came back and some of us decided to play in the rain. We played in the mud, in puddles, and port-a-potty tag. After that we went to get a snow cone when we got dried off from playing in the rain. When we got a snow cone there were these people sitting on the porch. So we decided to go up and talk to them. When we started talking they told us all the stories about Hurricane Katrina. They had a beautiful statue with a plaque under it. The plaque said “I survived Hurricane Katrina with water over my head.” Then it had this big statue of Virgin Mary. What they were telling us was very inspiring. It made me find God right away. They said that when they left they put the statues in the ground and when they came back, everything was gone and the statues were still there. Today was a lot of fun, and then at the end of the day, me and Rachael fell in the mud before devotional.

Matthew:
Today we bailed water out of pier holes that the storm had so nicely filled up for us. But we needed something to do this morning. After that we ate lunch then went back to the work site and waited for the cement trucks. When they showed up we were ready for them. We would fill the wheelbarrows with concrete and roll them on our picket fence boards to the pier hole. After we filled all the holes we headed back to camp and hung out for a while before dinner. The guys and some girls wanted to play ultimate Frisbee, so we played for a long time. We then had our evening devotional where they told us that Philip isn’t going to be able to come. I am disappointed because I was looking forward to working with him. But I understand that it is more important that he should be with Keith.

Chris:
Dropped the trailer at Berta and Brett’s today. Talked to Berta for a while and asked her of her experiences. My question to her and all who live here … after all this, how do you keep going? Her answer was, “God doesn’t give you anything you can’t handle.” That was so moving to visit with her and be moved so much by her. I am proud of the kids for the incredible effort in helping people who need them.

Tyler:
This morning we had cereal for breakfast. I went to the same work site as yesterday. We had to shovel (I mean power-pump and scoop) rain out of the pier holes. We also had to shovel around mud to level the ground. Lunch was hot dogs and macaroni. I took more than I should have (like usual), but it was good. In the afternoon most of the guys went and helped dump cement in the pier holes. The cement was unloaded from the truck (actually two trucks) and put into wheelbarrows. They could weigh as much as 300 pounds! I got to push the wheelbarrow some, but I mostly help guide. It is the hardest mission work I have done so far. After we came back, we just chilled for a while. Then we went to dinner, which was some kind of bean-sausage mixture. You poured it over rice. It tasted better than it looked. The guys played ultimate with three of the adults. Ms. Lofland played for a little while too. At devotional we sang “grin-again-gang” in honor of Mr. Keith Friend.

Pearlington: Monday

Rachael: Today we woke up before God, at 6:00 in the morning. We had breakfast at 6:30 and then we headed off to our worksites. We had to refill the holes with dirt that had been previously dug, and we had to suck the water out of the other holes. Sarah and I had to get into the holes and “compact” the dirt. After that we left for our lunch break and we had sloppy joes. Then, it started to rain so we were unable to go back to our worksites. A few of us decided to go back out in the rain to play. We splashed in puddles, played port-a-potty tag, and played in the mud. Then, we took showers with our clothes on to rinse off, and it took a really long time to dry. After that a group of us went to get snow cones, while we were there we saw a sign that said, “I survived Hurricane Katrina even though water was over my head.” There were some people sitting on the porch so we went to visit them. They shared their story with us, and it was very inspiring. On the way to the devotional, me and Sarah fell in the mud. Today has been very unforgettable and I look forward to the rest of the week.

Jessica: Today we had to strip and unscrew the poles that we were going to use as piers. Us girls in the group had a hard time finding the right tool because there were so many. Both Mr. Monty and Mr. Teague had a lot of patience with us because we were really slow at unscrewing. We were supposed to drill holes in to the piers but it started to rain. So instead of working we play in the rain and had a port-a-potty party. I don’t think I have that much fun in a port-a-potty in my life. It rained for like 2 hours and we continued to play in the rain. So most of us were soaked head to toe. After it rained we played a lot in the mud. A group of us went to get snow cones and met these nice ladies that told us about how the hurricane affected them. It was a very fun day!!!! OH and Sarah and Rachael fell in the mud. DJ: Today was a little slow. We woke up at 6:10 because breakfast was at 6:30. When we were done eating, we got ready to go to work. But it took forever to get to our work places, because we didn’t know where to go. So we played around at camp. When we finally got to our work station, my group had a house that already had piers. There was some extra holes that wouldn’t be used, so we had to fill them in. When we were coming back from lunch, it started to storm, so we stopped working so we went to the store to get some stuff. When I got back to camp, I played around. (It stopped raining.) I went to the snow cone store just across the street and it started raining again, we stayed under the porch and talked to the guy that lived there. He said he lived here his whole life, 50 years. He said he waited out Hurricane Katrina somewhere else, and he would never do that again. He said the rain was unbelievable. He said he could see people hanging on to trees. When it was over, the water was at least 11 ft. high. It looked like a nuclear bomb went out. Trees were all over the place. When he could get back home, he did. When we got back home, his whole house was destroyed. He had to pay his own money, or people that donated money $315,000. I also talked to the lady that lived across the street. She told us about her story. She had one big and small statue. She put the small one under the house, in the bushes, and it was still there when she came back, even though everything else was gone. And the big one didn’t even move. I couldn’t understand that. But I guess it was because it was the statue of Virgin Mary.


Patti: I think I saw God today….. He was looking for Noah. All kidding aside, the kids were great! As all mission trips go, Monday was a slow start. We patiently waited. Our job for the day was to dig holes, the beginning of a deck. For the little (no rain) time that we had -– two holes emerged. Then the rain came. It rained and rained. We decided it was a lost cause for the day. On our way back we stopped at Ms. Sams' house. (We worked on her church last year. ) She was very happy to see us. Mud and all, she invited us in for a chat. She is an amazing lady, full of life and love. We get to visit her Wed. to see the finished church. (Maybe she will make us some of her famous brownies.) I am amazed at how much progress Pearlington has made in the past year. We have not come across one person that has lost faith. Everyone has a story. Everyone believes. Everyone has the faith that will, one day, help Pearlington be finished. Until then we will continue to do God’s work -– your kids are great! They want to work. They want to hear stories. They feel compassion. I feel it is an honor to be able to spend this trip with them. Thank You.

More photos from Pearlington.

Greetings from Pearlington: Sunday

Olivia:
Today we went to church in Baton Rouge at the University First United Church. We all felt very welcome and at home. There we were fed by the cooks at the church who were very nice. The youth group was small compared to ours. There were only 10 in Sunday School but they were all very nice but a little quiet at first. We broke into small groups and I had to get the conversation going. We met a lot of people during the worship service. After that we left to Pearlington. Pearlington is not what I expected at all but I love it in a weird way. All the people we have met here are very welcoming and I look forward to being here and putting myself into someone else’s shoes.




Matt:
Today we finally left the hotel and went to church at the University Methodist Church in Baton Rouge. We were greeted by amazing food including cookies, strawberries and something with biscuits, cheese and sausage all piled together. Then we went to Sunday School with their youth followed by Sunday Service. Next we left and went to an amazing mall in Slidell where we ate. After we ate we made our journey to Pearlington. As we got closer I began to recognize many familiar places. It was almost a warm fuzzy feeling mixed with a kind of puzzled or unsure feeling. It has not changed much but there are still new things that need to be checked out. Dinner was great. We had fruit, corn, rice, shrimp gumbo and smothered pork. After that we played our annual game of 4 square and then football and lacrosse.
It is hot and humid and the adults keep telling us to drink lots of water.

Victoria:
Last night we spent the night at a super 8 motel. Only it wasn’t so super. After hearing everybody complain about how nasty and gross and scary it was I started to realize … what if somewhere someplace what if somebody had to live like this or even worse everyday? If there is do they complain all the time? If they don’t then why do we? On the way to Pearlington today Mrs. Shelley put on a CD by a band called Avalon. The name of the song was “Orphans of God.” In the song it said that in the eyes of god there are no outcasts, no orphans in the eyes of god. That song really put a new perspective in my eyes on how God views everybody. Even though the people in Pearlington didn’t have much after the hurricane hit (and some still don’t) God still views everyone the same. This is my third year in Pearlington and I can still tell that there is a lot to do. Please keep us in your prayers as we help the people of Pearlington. :)



More photos.