Yesterday in brief

Ocean Springs, Mississippi, USA

Okay, we're on a lunch break, so here's a quick summary so far...

The First Baptist church has a well-organized camp going on at the church. Pastor Mike and his wife Traci are spearheading a lot of the coordination of volunteers over here. We're not the only team; there are a number of Southern Baptist groups from places like Kentucky, Florida, Virginia, and Texas.

Their activity hall has been converted into a 24-hour station for volunteers. It's full of food and drinks that we can stop by any time and use. Three meals a day are served out here, saving us the hassle and mental energy of finding places to eat.

We're actually staying in the chapel of the church. The area the church is in doesn't really look bad. There is a gas station across the street that has gas. A group from Texas has a portable shower trailer, with stalls and hot water and everything.

When you go south of the church about 3 blocks, you start to see some of the damage. Then trees and debris start to cover the roads. By the time you get down to the water, you see foundations where houses used to be.

Yesterday we had about 2-3 hours of daylight left. The first 3-4 houses up the street were only foundations. The next 3-4 houses had most of the contents of the previous set in and around their houses. These are the houses to which we were assigned.

We all split up to work on three houses; I mostly worked on the house of Burleigh and Lillian, a couple who had lived in their house for 35 years. When the hurricane came through, they had decided to ride out the storm. The water burst through the garage, forcing the 75-year old couple up into the rafters. The three feet of water eventually drained. They stayed in their house for two more days after the storm, until they found a motel to stay in.

The weather has been an absolute blessing, even before we got here. There hasn't been any rain since the hurricane, and the humidity has been relatively low. That means much of what has been soaked has had ample opportunity to dry. That's helped a lot with the amount of mold and stench.

The place was really a mess. Our main job was to help them get the stuff out of the house they couldn't get themselves. Most everything in the house that wasn't above the 3-foot mark was ruined. We set ourselves to the task of throwing a majority of their worldly possessions into a scrap pile in front of the house.

We were all equipped with a safety arsenal, including boots, work gloves, protective eye wear, and masks.

But even with the masks, the first thing you notice when you go in the house is the stench. Even with the water rushing out, the microbes have had a couple of weeks to grow. The masks ensure the air you breathe is hot and humid and sticky.

We started in the living room. It was a swirl of misplaced furniture, seaweed, and sticks. By the time the evening had ended, we got that room done, along with a good chunk of the next few rooms. There was so much to do.

We got an opportunity to pray several times with the people we were helping. You could feel their appreciation, even see in their eyes. We are making an impact here.