11/16/05
Day 3 – Another eventful day. We were given our first job very close to the church, but when we got there we found another group from a church in Boston was already there getting ready to work. The resident there apologized and said that she had gotten impatient and when this group showed up yesterday afternoon and offered to help she accepted. We said that was ok and went over to Pam’s house who volunteers for the Kenner Vineyard to remove a tree that had fallen on her garage roof. Unfortunately we found that it was directly above the power lines that ran to the house, and if we cut the tree it would have fallen on the lines. Pam said that she had already been told that by another group, but all of the professional tree trimmers were booked up. She was really thankful that we had come out and I think it was a help to her just to know that she hadn’t been forgotten. We cleaned up in her yard a bit and then went back to the church to get more work.

Brian gave us another job close to the church for an older couple, Eddie and Oliver, who had gotten a foot or two of flooding. They had already removed all of the wet things and had packed everything else into boxes that were stacked in the center of the rooms. They needed our help to remove the wood paneling and drywall from all of the rooms. We ended up doing all of that and also removed the cabinets and fixtures from the bathrooms and kitchen. They were thrilled that we were able to get so much done. We all formed a circle and prayed for them and Eddie even prayed for us again as well. These people are so incredible in their grace and friendliness even in the midst of their troubles. It was really very special.

We went back to the church for a Jambalaya dinner and then my friend Dave Collier called to ask if I could join him for a trip out to the French Quarter. He came and picked me up and we got there at about 8 o’clock. It was a very interesting place with live country music where he stopped to get his dinner. It was too bad that I had already eaten because the food there sure looked good! It was a little sad though because there were so few people there and the waiter at the restaurant told us that they would probably have to close after this weekend. They just weren’t getting enough customers in to even pay the electricity bill. I think it will be a long time yet until business is back to normal I’m afraid. They can’t even get many tourists here because all of the hotels are booked up with people that lost their homes to the hurricanes.

We finished up and walked out to the overlook to Jackson Square and the Mississippi River. It was a beautiful location and definitely someplace I would like to come back to on vacation and bring the whole family sometime. It was a nice evening out and a nice chance to spend time with my friend Dave as well.

Lord bless these that still have so far to go in rebuilding what they have lost.