Monday, March 20, 2006

mississippi and back again












we made it...there and back again...6 of us...and what a trip it was :) on march 12th at 6:30 am tom, danI, priscilla, jessie(my sister), lynsey (my cousin) and myself hopped in the mini van and started off! we made it 30 minutes down the road before we hit our first delay...in the midst of packing...i accidently grabbed someone elses bag that was sleeping over, but was NOT going on the trip with us...ooops! so we had to fish it out and return it...luckily we were only a short ways down the road. the rest of the trip down went very quickly and smoothly. that was a blessing, aparrnetly we mised a couple of major storms on the way down too! so we arrive at the "compound" - as they called it - at about 11:30 pm. we were greeted by my dear friend and old roomate tiffiny...it was GREAT to see her and spend the week with her :) monday morning...bright and early (6am) we get up and get ready to start our day/week of work. we get assigned to be with "the man" (orley) and his wife bonnie, to help them finish a couple of houses they had been working on by themselves since thanksgiving! so again we hopped in the mini van and followed them to alabama (it was only a 45 minute drive). we spent the week priming, mudding, sanding, painting, putting in floors, putting up trim, putting in doors and so on. we were able to meet and know the owners of these homes. the first home was the tilmin home. they were so sweet to us...everyday they would come out of their trailer to see how we were going and brign us refreshments. mr. tilmin was determined to set us girls up with some fine alabama boys - he even tried teaching us the indian "love" call - no boys ever came though :) we decided that my attempt at making this indian "love" call scared them all away :) oh well...we found out at the end of the week that the tilmin's had had this home in the family for generations. if it wasn't for the volunteers putting it back together...they would have lost this home for good.
the other home was cequoia's (i am not sure that is spelled right?). again they were living in a trailer just waiting for their home to be finished as well. both of these homes were flooded majorly due to the hurricane. the town we were in was bayuo de barte...this was a shrimping town. it was amazing to see all of the shrimping boats. one of the ways this town has suffered the most due to the strom was losing their boats to the land. there were numerous boats land locked...later in the week we also went to see where the eye of the hurricane was and traveled along the coast to see the damage. it is beyond words...there's is nothing left but debri...6 months have gone by and parts of alabama, mississippi and louisiana looks like the hurricane just went through a few days ago...wow...
in mississippi, we were helping through an organization called nazarene disaster relief. it was amazing to see all the churches helping in these areas. the goal of this organization and others like it are to rebuild the churches first, then supply these churches with the necessary means to rebuild the communities...they are trying to set the churches up as the foundation of the communities so as to show these people God's love. all of these organizations are church oriented. i can't even expain the urgency and need of the communities in these areas...volunteers are continually coming and going...there is still so much left to be done...some people are even commited for the long haul. the nazarene disaster relief has borrowed a church's gym for the next four years...there is still so much work to do...and hurricane season is on its way again...
well, the 6 of us worked hard all week...watching God work through our team again goes beyond words...then it was time to say goodbye...all of us really wanted to stay another week...but we had commitments back home...so we left bright and early saturday morning...and God brought us home bright and early sunday morning...(this is a whole other stroy in itself...i'll have to tell later...let's just say we had a little car trouble and learned a heap about patience...no one was hurt or in danger and that was a blessing as well.)
PLEASE be in prayer for these communities down south...if you have the opportunity go and help...it is still very much a need...if you don't know the means to get down there let me know and i will give you a number to call. please pray...please try and go...they need you!!!

Sunday, March 05, 2006

throw a wrench in it...


well, it is sunday again...the last two weeks have just flown by...it is crazy to think about all that has happened since my last blog :) where to start??? how about with mississippi...since before new years i have been praying that God would open the door for me and a small team to go down south and help serve a community still suffering from the effects of hurricane katrina. God has opened that door! :) gautier, mississippi...here we come :) it has really been amazing to watch God put this trip together. my desire was to go down over spring break...but for a few days i was starting to doubt that was going to happen...my next desire was to take a small team down with me...again there were a couple of days i doubted that was going to happen as well..."oh, ye of little faith..." my God is a GREAT BIG GOD!! :) He works out His will every time. within a week God provied me with a place to go, a team to go with, the money to get down there and even a reliable van to drive!! how cool is that?!? i've just been in awe...this past friday however i was put to the test again...i recieved a phone call from my contact in mississippi. she informed me that somethings had changed over the last week and it was looking like we were not going to be able to go down. needless to say i was shocked!! stunned actually...i didn't know what to think or do for a few minutes...i mean i was in the middle of writing a paper for school that i had been putting off all week (did i mention i am a horrible procrastinator...). i was trying to figure out whether or not i should try to finish my paper then figure out what to do or something like that...i opted to for go the paper and pursue God to find some answers. "where were we going to go?; what ws i going to tell my team?; can i find another place to go?; everybody is going to be sooo dissapointed...Lord you pulled everything into place...and now you're closing the door...i...i just don't understand..." these were my thoughts and prayers for the next hour or so...i called a few people and just asked them to be praying with me. before i started work at 1 pm friday, i decided to call back down to the church in mississippi that we were originally going to go to...just to re-clarify that we weren't able to come down...i think i was still in shock and denial...i called...come to find out that within that hour or so i was dazed and confused, things worked themselves out and we are scheduled to leave for mississippi march 12th!! how amazing is God?!?
the last two weeks have just been filled with similar instances...there were multiple things in my life that i thought were under control and i was well on my way down a steady path...it just seemed to make sense...then there goes that wrench...into the machine...what?!? how did that happen? and i am left clueless again...
you'd think that with all God has done and provided for this life of mine, i would have unshakable faith...but i don't...yet God is still in control! despite what i might feel at the time...He is Omniscient and Omnipresent!! AMEN!! :)
i may not understand or even know what God is up to...and i am learning and re-learning that i don't need to...all i have to do is wait, watch and follow when called to do so.

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."
~Hebrews 11:1~

would you belive it...it is snowing!! :) it was almost flip flop weather yeasterday...and this morning it is snowing...everything is white again :)

well unitl next time...in light of the group on grounds this weekend...i leave you with a 'warm fuzzie': "may God bless you and keep you safe while we are apart. may you be surrounded in His grace and may you feel His love with an abundance." :)