11/19/05 - Sat
Day 6 Well, we made it though our last workday safe and sound, and another job successfully completed. We were given a job today back over the East side of New Orleans, near where our first job was on Tuesday. We met Miss Mattie there, who was a 90 year old widow of a Baptist minister. She told us that she just wanted us to clear the furniture out, and she would worry about the rest later. She was a nice, gracious southern lady that we were happy to be able to help.

We had to pry a sheet of plywood of the front door that they had put up after breaking the door down in order to get in during a previous visit. We went into the living-room, and I totally lost it. It had obviously been a nice place that she had taken pride in, and to see the total devastation that the flood had made of the place was just too overwhelming to me. Someone said it was like the Titanic shipwreck with all of the wreckage still strewn about. Mike W. asked me if I was ok, and I said, “Not really.” I apologized later, and he said it only proved that I still have a heart. If things like this didn’t bother me, then I would have become desensitized. I sure am fortunate with this team. They are just a phenomenal bunch of folks that have been a blessing to me and to everyone we have served.

We finished up and prayed with Miss Mattie and with her two helpers (they caller her “their other mother”) from her church. She told us how much we had blessed her, and asked where she could send a letter of thanks for us. We said if she sent it to the Kenner Vineyard, we would get it, and she said she would try to come and see us at church tomorrow. We let Brian know that another team would need to come back to tear out all of the drywall.

After we wrapped up, we decided we still had time to drive into the French Quarter to do a little sightseeing. Our “team mascot” Josh guided us into parking right next to the Café Du Monde, where we all had café au lait and beignets for a snack. Josh told us that we were privileged because he only took people that he really liked there, and it was a place of childhood memories for him. He was a terrific kid that we all had grown rather fond of.

We walked around Bourbon Street for a bit, and wondered at how there were still so few people here on a Saturday afternoon. We then drove back into Kenner where we met Ann and Onil, Adeline and Dave for dinner at the Jazz restaurant. We finished up our last evening here at Ann and Onil’s for dessert. We expect to see them tomorrow at church before we leave for home.