Team members: Linda (leader), Dan, Emily, Lela, Nancy, Cheri, Kevin, John, and Steve.

Thursday June 21, 2007
Left Linda and Dan’s house around 6:00 am to pick up John at his house a short distance away. I got to Linda’s last night since we were leaving so early. Left John’s at 6:15 am after repacking everything. Dan even had to strap down some items on the truck lid until we could off-load to the other car in Springfield.

We met Nancy and Lela at Bass Pro’s Hemingway restaurant for a good breakfast buffet. We were stopped for 1 ˝ hours. We caravanned to New Orleans and arrived at 11:15pm – total trip time of 17 hours, including 4 hours of ‘stopped’ time for eating, gas, and rest breaks. Everyone took turns driving. It was a long day of driving.

Pastor Ray and his wife Donna were sitting on the church steps waiting for us. They had been called as we came into town. After packing stuff to our rooms we gathered in the sanctuary to see that and hear some information. Got to bed around 30 minutes after midnight.

Friday, June 22
The main project for the trip is to tear out and rebuild (as much as possible) the church kitchen. Hurricane Katrina damaged an already bad roof and leaked water into the church. We tore down a wood box surrounding duct work. This was very difficult because there were nails covered by cabinets. We really had to work at it and it was dirty and dusty. The shop vac sprayed fine dust all around and created a fog. We didn’t use that shop vac any more. We took out 2 light fixtures and the suspended ceiling. The first day of this type of mission trip is usually the dirtiest and this was no exception.

Pastor Ray went to seminary at St Paul’s in KC and pastored Lake Creek and Florence churches. All the other team members know him from that. It turns out I met him at a Cursillo meeting a couple of years ago, so I “knew” him too. He and Donna own a farm 75 miles north of New Orleans, but live in the parsonage several miles away. He shared his frustration with local church and district politics. The Algiers church is in a “mission zone”.

There was brisket for dinner that was soooo tender it fell apart. Really good after a hard day’s work. We went for a stroll around the neighborhood – Algiers Point. It’s the finger of land opposite the Mississippi River from the French Quarter. There are many quaint houses - an increased number of them for sale or rent as compared to a year ago. There are huge trees that look like bonsai plants – twist branches reach all the way across a street. Very cool looking. I can’t remember what type of tree they are, but someone thought they were 70 years old.

This area was not flooded, but damaged as a result of rain and wind. The levees on this side held with the Mississippi River up to their tops. Barges sat on top of the levees after the storm! One of the ferries embarks from this area. It’s free for pedestrians and only a $1.00 for cars. We walked past the original House of the Rising Sun that the ‘60s song was written about. A brass sign was mounted on the front. Ray is always greeting and glad-handing folks in the area. He’s not bashful about that. His goal is to invite at least 5 people to church a day. If 1 out of 50 actually comes, then that’s a success. I showered and everyone got to sleep early after the long hard day after the long hard drive.

Saturday, June 23
The second part of the team, Kevin, Emily, and Cheri, arrived at 5:30am after driving all night. They were sleeping as we got up for the day. A sign-up sheet was filled out for morning and evening devotions, and Grace before meals. After breakfast, other Algiers church members came for a work day to help us with the kitchen and other work. We removed the Formica wall covering and countertops. You were lucky to get large pieces off in one chunk. Mostly it was using hammer and chisel to break off little pieces at a time – very tedious and time consuming. Cheri and Emily painted the outside stairway and I painted the front door. Skateboarders had marred the concrete edges, but they look great now with a fresh coat of white paint.

Inside, the new plywood went up around the kitchen ductwork. A stronger support was installed. It’s surprising how the previous stuff even stayed up. Several of us took turns brushing on a primer coat of Kilz. There wasn’t that much to paint and we only wanted to get one brush dirty. After working a shower sure felt good. There are 3 very nice shower stalls in a storage room. It’s very convenient to stay in the same location as work.

The Fellowship Hall outside the kitchen is where we eat, have devotions, and generally congregate. An interesting observation of two tasks going on at the same time is in the Kitchen. Literally, while we are tearing down the ceilings and walls, Lela and others are underneath the ladders preparing meals and cleaning dishes afterwards. It’s as crazy as “Wait - let me cover the pot (of cooking food) before you take that ceiling tile down.”

This evening we went to the parsonage (nice house) where Ray and Donna treated us to a traditional New Orleans meal. Ray had a gas-fired pot on the patio where he dumped large amounts of Cajun spicing into boiling water. He boiled shrimp, onions, new potatoes, corn-on-the-cob, plus he cooked shrimp-ca-bobs on the grill. If the food was left to sit in the water longer, it would have more time to soak up the spices and be hotter. But Ray didn’t let it soak for long. It was still plenty spicy for us Missourians, but not painfully so. The dining room table was covered with layers of newspaper and we eat on throwaway plates. Ice cream and blackberry cobbler for desert. Mmm – mmm – good. What a feast!

Back at the church we practiced a medley of songs to share on Sunday morning: Lord I Lift Your Name on High, Jesus My Lord, and They’ll Know We are Christians. These are on the “one page” song sheets I brought. Both Kevin and I had our guitars.

Throughout the day, and the whole trip, we heard stories about the storm. Lots of government waste. After Katrina, 200 people stayed in the church for 3 weeks without electricity.

Sunday, June 24
No working today. The team split up to attend whichever Sunday school class they wanted. Several of us went to one studying the Purpose Driven Life. We ended up not even opening the book, but spent the time talking and hearing stories about Katrina. People here do not refer to it as “Katrina” or “the hurricane”. It’s “the storm”. The worship service was fairly typical. We sang our special music at the designated time. Ray’s sermon was on 1 Kings, Elisha, and depression.

We took the ferry over to the Jackson Square area and walked around a lot sight seeing. We stopped at St Louis cathedral which is a landmark of this area. The inside decoration with high artistic ceilings was reminiscent of fancy European cathedrals. We eventually ate at the Hard Rock Café where the waiter’s “name” was “Dude”.  Then we went to the IMAX theater to see “Hurricane on the Bayou”.

Several months before Katrina, an IMAX film was being shot about erosion on the Mississippi delta. As a result of well-intentioned intervention by man decades ago, land is being lost. In a hurricane, even delta land weakens hurricane forces. Since this land is disappearing, New Orleans is at more risk because there is less of a weather “buffer”. Katrina hit and the filming took on a whole new meaning. The actual events were woven into the film and it made a very compelling story and message.  

Back at the church showers and some rest time before 8:00 pm song-fest and ice cream. Both Kevin and I had the small format “1,000 songs” book. Lots of fun.

Monday, June 25
Today was my turn for devotions. I referred back to Dan’s devotion about immigrants and how WE were like immigrants to New Orleans – strangers in a strange land. But we are here for a reason: task and mission. Used June 24 quote from God Calling (task) and a hybrid version of 1 Cor 13 (mission).

Speaking of task… we caulked the woods seams on the box around the ductwork, cut trim pieces and mounted them, then painted the final coat. The Emily and Cheri team took measurements inside and out to create scale drawings for the pending insurance policy. Did I mention that insurance rates are up in New Orleans? Before going to seminary, Ray was in the insurance business. This experience has proved invaluable in his ministry at Algiers and dealing with insurance claims there. After “pushing back” on the insurance company, a new roof had already been put on instead of a paltry $1,700 benefit originally offered.

In the afternoon we worked on hanging the new suspended ceiling grid work. None of us had ever hung a suspended ceiling before and there were no instructions in the materials. Fortunately, John had his laptop with WiFi and we Googled “install suspended ceiling” and immediately found easy, common sense installation instructions. One design mistake we made was running the long pieces one way versus the other. Fortunately Dan realized early in the process that the cross pieces were 4 feet, not 2 feet. Our overall grid design did not change, just the direction we hung the two different sized rails. Now we have another skill to put on our resumes.

Some of the women cut out old carpet in the parlor room. Furniture had to be moved around, cut carpet into strips with a utility knife, cut the padding too, stuff into large trash bags, sweep up, move furniture back, and take the heavy bags to the curb for pick-up. It was actually a lot of work. The drapes were removed and taken to the “washerteria”. They didn’t sell soap there so they had to borrow some at a near-by store.

This afternoon, Ray took us up into the church bell tower. It was quite an adventure. You go into a storage closet in the office, climb up a wooden ladder into the attic. This is a junk storage space (like many attics) containing among other things broken wooden children’s chairs. It’s pretty dirty up here. Then you cross over some obstacles to the base of the inside of the bell tower. You climb up what seemed to be 2 more stories on a metal ladder going straight up. This is surprisingly more difficult to climb than a ladder with an angle. There is an open hatch at the top and you have to maneuver yourself from the ladder to sit your rear end on the lip of the hatch and then stand up, hopefully all without falling two stories down the opening.

Once on top there was a panoramic view of the neighborhood. The church has a new roof which is obviously easy to see. Ray told of a funny story of workers putting on the roof. He was in the bell tower and called down a question to them from above them. They didn’t know where the voice was coming from and thought that maybe God was taking to them. There’s an excellent view of the children’s playground next door, the bridge in the distance, damage and repair of nearby houses, and you can see downtown over the tops of the trees.

In the evening we spent some time sharing about our previous mission trips. We viewed a CD of photos Ray created showing different activities and ministries at the church. One such ministry is an after school program for the school next to the church. Ray told about a play that the children wrote and performed at a program. Different scenes included “a hurricane’s coming”, “the wind is blowing” (where they tore up paper mache palm trees), “the water’s rising – climb on the roof”, “poor Arthur is dead” (one of the little boys), and “Amazing Grace”.

Ray told of an incident when he was speaking with a group of children (I can’t remember if it was children’s church or the after school program). They told of relatives who died in the storm. He told one child “I’m sorry for the loss of your Grandmother” and the boy said “She’s not lost. She’s dead!” These kids know death. Also, a little lesson in how we each have our own vocabulary.

Tuesday, June 26
This was a lazy morning. Not quite enough heavy work to do as it’s our last full day in New Orleans. Sometime before our trip, a directional sign to the church several blocks away was run over and broken. A new metal pole had been purchased and the sign remounted. Several of us went in Ray’s (big) pick-up truck to replant the sign. We took water, cement, and a post hole digger. It didn’t take long at all.

This was the day to tour around the city to view storm damage. In two vehicles we crossed the river downstream on the Chalmett ferry. On the opposite river bank was a huge refinery. When it flooded a lot of damage was caused by oil. Many people were out of jobs too. This particular area was hit by the eye of the storm and was pretty much wiped out from the storm surge. It was like a tsunami. There is a mixture of sights. Some businesses are open, but not all. Burger King has a new building, but it’s small.

Sights that become very familiar are houses that are dilapidated, yards littered, search & rescue information spray painted on the front. A big “X” makes four quadrants for information: the search date, team ID, number of dead/live bodies, and pets. Some houses are being repaired and may have a FEMA trailer in front. Sometimes there is a house still not fixed up, but is painted with “do not demolish”. Occasionally there is a house that is repainted, nice yard, and flower beds. This is the brave pioneer who is forging the slow rebuilding of New Orleans.

We stopped at one area near where the levee broke. Most of the small houses are swept away nowhere to be seen, but leaving a concrete slab. Those still left likely have a hole cut in the roof.  Several of us walked down the devastated street that was blocked off with signs. As we walked passed the signs, a man drove up in a car with lights on the top, got out, and told us this area was off limits because it was going to be a movie set. When one of us made a comment about a Katrina movie, he said the movie was not Katrina related. Regardless we turned around. As we walked Cheri said she didn’t believe him, that she saw him carrying a gun, and figured that he was probably protecting a drug area. I didn’t notice the gun and I guess swallowed the story hook line and sinker.

As we moved from one part of the city to another, we saw water lines 3/4 up the first story of buildings. Different parts of the city were damaged to different degrees. As we made our way around town we ended up coming down Canal St toward the French Quarter. The group split up with some going back to the church, some going to an Art museum, and some of us just browse around the tourist traps again. We had coffee and beignets at Café Du Monde. When our group was done, Ray’s truck JUST missed the ferry so we came back over the bridge.

One of the church women made us shrimp fettuccini for dinner. Another song fest then pack to be ready to leave at 6:00 am the next morning.

Wednesday, June 27
We left at 6:12 am. It was terrible getting out of New Orleans. The signs were not clear and I know I made the first goof telling Dan to turn off the freeway at the wrong place. One car was ahead of us and was OK, but the 3rd car which was behind us followed us off the turn. It was difficult in finding the way back on the freeway – the highway system was very confusing right there. Later the turn North onto the causeway was not marked well and we missed that having to stop and turn around.

The causeway is 22 miles of bridge over Lake Pontchartrain. It is a lot of water – I hope Dan doesn’t drive over the edge!! We stopped at the Waffle House in Hammond, MS for a 45 minute breakfast. The rest of the stops on the way back were mostly 15 minute rest/bathroom/gas/ice cream breaks. The trip back took almost exactly the same time as coming down – 17 hours. It rained the last several hours of driving, through the night, and into the next day. I stayed over night at Dan and Linda’s and drove back to Kansas City Thursday morning.

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