Perspectives of Faith
Wednesday Morning Bible Study
On January 23, we begin our study of A Generoul Orthodoxy, Why am i missional + evangelical + post/protestant + liberal/conservative + mystical/poetic + biblical + charismatic/contemplative + fundamentalist/calvinist + anabaptist/angelican + methodist + catholic + green + incarnational + depressed-yet-hopeful + emergent + unfinished Christian by Brian Mc Laren. The group will be led by the Reverend Jody Betten and meets every Wednesday morning from 9:30 - 11:00 AM in the church parlors. All are welcome.
ADULT MISSION TRIP NEWS, February 10-16, 2008
SUNDAY-MONDAY
The mission trippers left our parking lot at 6:30 AM, Sunday in blowing snow and barely above zero temperatures to make their way to the airport. At some point yesterday, they made it out of Kent Country Airport only to have missed their connecting flight in Chicago. They were delayed due to electrical problems on their plane. We last heard that after an overnight in Chicago, they are due to leave for New Orleans at 2:00 this afternoon. We'll keep you updated as we get information from the group.
TUESDAY MORNING
Our first group, Dan, Steve, Kelly, Sue, Arnie and I, landed in New Orleans at 11:45am yesterday. Bill, Mary, Nancy, Frank and Stephan stayed behind for the later 2:19 flight, which was delayed until 4:00 due to weather in OH. They took off around 4:30 and arrived here at the church around 8:00pm.
We met with Fred Meade, who is one of the 2 ministers here, and he went over the basics with us as well as sharing their church history, which is quite interesting. St. Matthews Evangelical and Central UCC, (an African American congregation) joined forces when hurricane Katrina hit because there was extensive damage to Central. Here at St. Matthews the water only came to the front steps. Fred says the neighborhood is very much like ours, with a well-to-do area on the church side of Carrollton and a poor neighborhood across the street. We have been duly warned to keep doors locked and not wander around alone in the area.
The church has been in the process of becoming O&A, but are currently O&I, (Open and Inclusive). I saw one of their bulletins and it really could have come from East Church!
This morning we will meet with the head of the disaster relief agency, have an orientation, then be given our assignments and head out to work. We're told it could be gutting a house, painting, dry walling, or even cleaning up yards.
The weather has been beautiful, the air smells so sweet, it is partly cloudy, and we've been outdoors in short sleeves and comfortable. We are very happy to be back together again, Arnie is our chief cook and made a wonderful breakfast for us, and we are ready to work!
Blessings! (Kimberly SLupe)
WEDNESDAY
This morning we met with Alan Coe, Minister for Disaster Relief, who briefed us on what has been happening over the past two and one half years and what we would now be doing.
Bill, Frank, Steve, Kelly and Mary went to Otha's house where they met up with a group that was already working and started sanding and mudding drywall. Oltha is a 70ish year old woman who has had 2 heart attacks since Katrina and is in congestive heart failure. She lives with her son Andre. Her experience was made more difficult when drywallers came in and did all of their work, leaving her house looking beautiful and ready to move into, until it was discovered that they had drywalled right over termite damage and mold etc. The "piers" or supports that held up her house were also ruined and had to be rebuilt. It broke her heart to learn they would have to start all over, but that is what they did last April.
Dan, Sue, Nancy, Arnie, Stephan and Kim went to Ingrid's house. On the way they stopped by Beecher Memorial Church, (their bathroom spot!) which has been totally gutted and is awaiting the approval for a builders permit to begin reconstruction. The congregation worships there and they have a make-shift altar. Friends, visitors, and church members have written messages of hope and inspiration all over the wall studs.
The weather was beautiful right up until the group got to Ingrid's house and started painting outside. That's when the severe thunderstorms rolled in. It was still surprising how much they accomplished around them.
Ingrid is a 57 year old school teacher who learned she lost her job as a result of Katrina over the internet. She and her brother had lived in her house all of her life and evacuated to South Carolina for the storm. Her brother died of lung cancer while there. She is a well educated, wonderful woman who lives with her Rotweiller named Fred (a teddy bear of a dog). She has had her share of difficulties as well, a shady contractor took her for 60 thousand dollars, and she and her dog caught thieves under her house trying to steal her copper tubing.
Mostly sunny skies with slightly cooler temperatures, (in the high 50's) are expected for the next two days! (Kimberly Slupe)
THURSDAY
The temperature dropped a bit for us today; it was only 42* out as we set out for work, but it was sunny and we were happy to get outside. By afternoon it had warmed up into the upper 50's and, of course, the sun helped it feel warmer.
Bill's group went back to Oltha and Andre's house for more drywall work, (did I mention that some of this work was on the 12 foot high ceilings?) and it was colder in the house than outside!
Dan's group went back to Ingrid's to do more painting. Sue continued the work that she, Nancy and Arnie started stripping years of varnish and paint off of the front door and French doors that were dividing the living room from a bedroom. Dan was replacing clapboard on the peak of the roof. The site leader, Garret, needed volunteers to help unload some ceramic tiles at another site so Stefan, Nancy and Kim went with him.
The tiles were delivered to Patricia Gordon's condo and they learned that this is actually her second time starting over. Her condo flooded in the storm and she had to wade out in chest-deep water to evacuate. She finally got back into her condo in September of 2006 only to have it catch on fire two weeks later.
We worked until noon today because on Wednesday the church plans a special tour for the group. Charles Hadley, a retired professor from University of New Orleans, drove us all around showing us the failed levees, the upper and lower 9th wards, Musicians Village, the community that Brad Pitt is working on rebuilding, the Habitat houses, Lake Ponchartrain-we went all over New Orleans. Hopefully we will have many photos to share with all of you. Afterward, the church treated us to a wonderful meal of red beans and rice. Finally we shared in their Lenten chapel service.
The week is starting to feel like a whirlwind, we get very tired in the evenings, but it will be hard to leave. (Kim Slupe)
THURSDAY NIGHT
Thursday, February 14, 2008. Happy Valentine's Day everyone! While most of us could not celebrate with our special someones, we did enjoy the best ice cream we have ever tasted at Brocato's today! (But not until after we put in a full day's work!)
Bill's group went back to Oltha and Andre's to do more drywalling. At the end of the day Kelly said she was so covered in dust she felt "like an adobe hut". She and Steve found that the couple that drywalls together stays together! They were proud to say they were able to hang drywall together successfully.
Dan's group had their last day at Ingrid's where they continued painting and stripping doors. Ingrid said she called for prices to strip the doors and the lowest quote she got was $500.00 per door. Sue, Nancy and Kim felt really good about saving her $1,500.00! Ingrid shared her scrapbook of pictures showing the progress since her house was gutted. She gave us her email address and told us she keeps all of the volunteers who work at her house updated on the progress. Tomorrow Dan's group will go to a new site and do more painting. Both groups plan to work outside, hopefully the rain that's in the forecast will hold off until the work is complete.
FRIDAY
Today was our last workday and we worked hard! Bill's group continued drywalling and mudding but they also painted the trim around the windows,(outside) then put up the all important "burglar bars" , which was very important to Andre. This was especially difficult because another round of thunderstorms rolled through the area this afternoon.
Dan's group went to Earline's house and worked alongside another group, "The Methodists". Earline has a "double shotgun" house, which is usually a duplex, but Earline remodeled hers when she bought it to be a single dwelling. Dan offered to paint the front peak of the roof, which involved being on a very steep porch roof. Earline was thrilled because nobody else had wanted to do that! The rest of the group worked on filling small holes, sanding, painting inside and acting as ballasts for Dan's ladder.
This evening there is a play being performed at the church where we are staying; Soldier Story. Some of us were able to watch the dress rehearsal last night. Some stayed and watched the performance tonight. The rest of us went into the French Quarter hoping to find "Maspero," a restaurant we ate in last year, to enjoy some fine NO cooking. The Quarter was hopping with the NBA Alls Stars, a section of it was off limits to us regular people. But we were able to find our restaurant and enjoyed a very nice meal.
Our flight leaves at 10:30 in the morning and with our layover we should be landing in Grand Rapids at around 6:30pm. We can't wait to share more about the wonderful people we met and our experiences. Thank you so much to all who have supported us with prayers and contributions. Hope is blooming here!