11/17/05 - Thursday
Day 4 We had a tough time getting going this morning because we had quite the snore concert last night. We have a group of roofers here from the Iowa Vineyard, and they make quite the racket. We had our devotions and prayed together, and then got our job to do in the Lakeview area. I told the team that they would be in for a treat, since this was close to where we did our last job when I was here last time. I was not mistaken either! The Lakeview district of New Orleans is directly in the path from where the levee broke during the hurricane and the flood went through at heights up to 15 feet. When we first got to the house, we thought that we were too late because the inside of the house had already been gutted. I was just getting ready to call the resident when they pulled up. It was an older lady of 81 years that came with her son, and she needed us to clear the rear guest house/garage where her grandson had stayed before the hurricane. She also needed help clearing the debris from the back yard, so she could have a FEMA trailer delivered. She told us how she had paid her grandsons $4000 to gut her house to help them out, and how they had not done a very good job.

We got into some nasty stuff in the back house that her grandson had been into. Gerry, Karen and I were saying how it was really weird, but Jo Ann came in and said, “Do you guys feel the darkness in this place? We need to get out and pray.” We were so grateful afterwards and felt a lot better. We then went on to finish up the rear house, completely cleared and swept the backyard, and finished the front house as well. The four of us guys even carried out the cast-iron bathtub to the street. Miss Ida, the resident who lived there, was so thrilled and when her daughter came she told her that she would get the grandsons back and show them how it ought to have been done. We finished up again by praying with them. She offered us a donation, but we refused and told her if she was serious she could donate to the church.

We then wrapped up the day by going over to Ann and Onil’s place for a visit. Onil is just so funny and had us all in stitches. The whole team said they realized what they needed was a good laugh. We gave them their CAT team t-shirts, and told them that they are now official members of the team. We came back and worshiped and prayed and all went to bed. How you continue to bless us, Lord!


11/18/05 - Friday

Day 5 We started out today by devotions led by Deb M. and she read the section from Our Daily Bread because it was so perfect for our group. It was called “Seven Ones” and was about Christian unity from Ephesians 4: 1-6.

We got our assignment to tear out drywall in downtown New Orleans, real close to the Superdome. It was a real challenge because it was both halves of a duplex, and because it ended up being lath and plaster. It was really very difficult to remove, but we did the best we could. The resident was a younger man that had bought them a couple of years before and had renovated them to rent them out. He showed up with coffee and donuts for all of us, and even helped out with the work. He decided that since it wasn’t drywall, that maybe it didn’t all need to come out. So we did the worst mold parts and took out all of the baseboards, window frames, and cabinets. He was also very thankful for our help, and prayed with us afterwards. He was also friends with Ann and Onil who are supposed to join us here at the church tonight. It was interesting to drive through these parts of downtown New Orleans that are still essentially like a ghost town. There are hundreds of abandoned flood cars that alone will take months to remove. While we were working a Red Cross truck drove up and offered us a hot lunch. We told them no thanks because we had brought enough for us and even some extras for the people in the neighborhood. They seemed real disappointed that they were having a hard time giving away soup!

We returned to the church that evening for dinner and had worship that evening led by Jo Ann and Matt from the Iowa Vineyard. Ann and Onil even turned up for worship with us. Ann told me that they had been praying for the man that we had helped today and had been trying to get him to join them at church, so it was important that we were able to help him with his house. Onil told me that they would continue coming to the Vineyard here from now on. It was such a great way to end the day!