Project Gautier

Home Reflections

2006-01-23T08:31:00.000-08:00

It’s good to be back. A week after the trip, and I finally feel rested. I’m not sure whether my weariness was from feeling drained after the trip or still recovering from the cold I had the week before. Either way, I’m starting to feel back up to speed, and that’s good.

I’ve had a bit of time to reflect on what I’ve taken away from this trip to Gautier, though I’m sure that the more subtle learnings are perhaps still going on inside me. We went to provide some measure of help, and the response to what we were able to do far exceeded anything I expected. I think it was Susan that said it was these little things that help people see the light at the end of the tunnel; that things weren’t always going to be the way they are now. In that sense, I’m glad we were able to be there to offer a bit of hope, a sense that Christians across the country still cared about the things they were going through, even when much of the attention of the media has moved elsewhere.

When our team got together (right before leaving), we talked about how we go not only as the ones with something to give, but how in the process, God would use others to change and bless us as well. I think I understand how true that is far better now than I did before. When I think of Gautier and that part of the Gulf coast, it means more to me than a long stretch of destroyed and flooded homes and businesses, it is the people that we met, Susan and George, Pastor Chris, Mumsy, Cookie, Mr and Mrs “T”, Ray, and Jane, Don, the waitress at the Waffle House, the manager of the UPS store. To me, they are a living illustration of courage, service, hope, hospitality and faith. We gave and we received. While I was down there, I felt like this is how it should be; living in community, working and playing, praying and celebrating and laughing –and crying together. I understood why Ray and Jane never left, why Don and his son didn’t want to leave, why our team joked (half hopingly?) that Ray was serious with his “threat” to do something to our car before we went.

I know that’s not how it always (or even usually) is; serving God isn’t about people thanking you, or doing exciting work in interesting places where there are more Waffle Houses than McDonald’s –sorry, still working through that bit of culture shock – it’s about doing our part wherever we are with whatever is in front of us to do at the time. Still, I’m grateful for the opportunity to go. To me, it was an experience of what God’s people are supposed to be like with each other, even in the midst of such hardship and heartache. The journey goes on here in Fond du Lac; and though we hope to return to the coast soon, there’s plenty to do here as well.

Blessings on the Way,
-Brian

Home

2006-01-16T18:48:00.000-08:00

Hey all, just a quick note to say that everyone got home safely after a long drive and wonderful hospitality from an amazing pastor in Nashville. Lots more to say -- but not tonight. Wish you all the best. Thanks for the prayers.
-Brian

Last Day

2006-01-14T19:30:00.000-08:00

'Allo, 'allo; it's G. Today was our last full day in Gautier; we're leaving after lunch tomorrow. Today was quite cold by local standards (the temperature was in the low 40s this morning, but in the 60s by noon), but a lovely sunny day to work outside. We repaired a fence for a family in the church today. The fence was the only major damage this family sustained, so they put off fixing it and spent the weeks immediately after Katrina helping other people with repairs, but the mother lost her job not long before Christmas. So we spent most of the day digging post holes, replacing boards and mixing cement. The family provided lunch for us, and the 15 year old son of the homeowner helped us all afternoon. He's a very outgoing kid and as we worked, he told us about the past hurricane season, about his experiences going to people's homes after the storm to help clean up, and about the culture of southern Mississippi. We had a great time hanging out with him. His mom volunteered to cook a traditional southern meal of red beans and rice with sausage for dinner--not just for us, but for all the volunteers staying at the church tonight (about 20 people).

Robin (back row, left), her son Billy (back row center), and her daughter Amy (2nd from left front row), and her friend Robin (back row on the right), cooked us an amazing meal on Friday.

Our original plan for this trip was to buy groceries, cook for ourselves in the church kitchen each evening and pack lunches to take with us every day. When we arrived, we discovered the church freezers full of casseroles, whole turkeys and even bratwurst that people have donated for the teams of volunteers, so we haven't done much cooking (though we did grill the brats last night for everyone).

On Thursday morning, we packed lunches to take with us. Those bag lunches have gone with us to our work sites for three days now and haven't been eaten because the people we have been helping have fed us. We have been overwhelmed by the hospitality of the people here and amazed at the sense of family that exists among teams of volunteers, church members, long-term volunteers like Ray and Jane and church staff like Susan and George (site coordinators). I think this is a picture of how the kingdom of God is supposed to work.

Last night, I had a chance to meet Susan's sister Mary, whose house was "slabbed" by Katrina. In Mississippi, no one has basements; houses are built on concrete slabs. We drove through the neighborhood where Mary and her husband's house used to be on Thursday. If a house was slabbed, it means that the slab is the only thing the hurricane left. The people who were slabbed consider themselves more fortunate than those who had several feet of water in their homes. Repair is not an option; they start over from scratch. They are not faced with the task of sorting through their belongings to try to decide what is slavagable; there is nothing left to sort through.
Rebuilding will take years. We're going home tomorrow, but if we come back in six months, there will still be plenty of work for us to do. -Gabrielle

.........

Brian here,

I intended to post something yesterday, but the server went down again last night. Can't really complain, it's just nice that the church has made their wireless available for us to connect to. A few things that Gabrielle didn't mention; we had lunch at "Chloe's cafe" on Thurs. Max sent us down there to find someone named "Sunny". Apparently after the hurricane hit, she went all out to help the people that were falling through the cracks. From the personal stories I've heard while down here, there are lots of cracks, and they are wide. But I digress a bit. I'd been told that it was an unusual place, and that turned out to be true. It took a bit of driving to find, and it turned out to be a little cafe attached to a sort of run-down looking gas station. We walked into the cafe, and found three dining tables, a counter, and several tables loaded down with food and supplies; free for people down on their luck. We never did get to meet Sunny, the waitress said that she's not around much anymore, she's busy organizing a trip to New Orleans to feed 300 workers daily over there. We did however, get some of the *biggest* hamburgers we'd seen in a long time. The old saying: "don't judge a book by its cover" definitely applies to food in this instance.

Something else that touched me was the visit that Gabrielle and I made back to the manager of the UPS store in Pascagoula. I won't go into all the details, but we had been getting on each other's nerves a bit, and Lindsay picked up on it immediately, and before we could say much more than 'hi', she had us sitting down and talking about how we were doing. Once again, I was reminded of the concept in the missional church that the process of mission is a two way street; that we are ministered to, even as we came to hear more of her story and experience. It turns out that she has an amazing story of faith that she shared with us, and a great deal of compassion for whoever walked through her store. As we were talking, customers kept coming in, and I watched how she ministered to each person that walked through the doors. Before we left, we explained our plan with the Lowe's cards (I forgot if I said anything about this earlier -- if not I'll explain it in a future post), and gave her 5 of the gift cards we had bought, with instructions for her to give them to people in need that she encountered. She insisted on getting our address and names in case people wanted to write thank-you notes. We maintainted that wasn't the point, but we hope to stay in touch with her in some way once we get back to FdL.

Today (Saturday) we drove around a bit after we finished the fence and had showers (thank you again, Kentucky team!!). Susan wanted us to see the homes that were destroyed along the bayou's. It was her home neighborhood. Although some of the street signs are gone, we did find where she wanted us to see; entire neighborhoods of gutted homes. I don't even know how to respond right now. Without the human stories behind it, it almost seems like destruction without context; and yet the beautiful setting sun beyond these wrecked homes made for an odd contrast. We took many pictures; not out of any sense of "tourism" but because the sight was so compelling.

It's hard to believe our week is pretty much over. I'm ready to come home, but hoping we can return here. If we were going to stay another week, I think our whole team could do it without blinking much of an eye. That said, we miss our families and friends in FdL (yes, even our little feathered guy), and look forward to seeing y'all on Monday night (or whenever we meet).

One last note (since I might not get the chance to post tomorrow -- we're basically going to get onto the road after the worship service and lunch), thanks to everyone who prayed for us during this time (please don't stop yet), and especially to those who took time to post an encouraging comment. We trust and hope that God did indeed use us to bless others. We sure feel blessed. Jody; sorry I couldn't help you with tonight's service; we've got lots to say about hope, at least stories to share, but it'll have to wait for another time. I'm sure it went just fine.

Take care and g'night all,
-Brian

Our last day of work was today. I really can't believe that it's over. Through this past week, we've seen and done a lot. Showers were installed during the week, and let me tell you, it was one of the best things to happen for us and the other teams. I was rather excited to get a hot shower at our home away from home. We have all been working with sporadic chances for showering. Before this trip, I would look forward to playing the next XBox game. It's amazing the shift in perspective we've had. The key is to bring that home with us.

If you took a moment to listen, people had stories to tell. Our small stories will end up being a bigger part of someone else's, as theirs have indelibly left their marks upon ours. We have to go back to our loved ones, and I understand that I won't get to see most of these people ever again. As a good friend of mine has said, "Christians don't say goodbye, but rather see you later, because it will eventually come true no matter what."

This trip has been a real blessing to all of us on the team. I feel that a part of me has permanently changed. Partly through the things that we saw and did, but also partly through the people that we met. I have to say that the most influential person to me was Ray. By the world's standards, he's no Donald Trump, but by God's standards, he's much higher, in my estimation. He would talk about all the people that were needy, get choked up, and kick his boots. I will really miss him. I know I'll get choked up saying farewell to him. Ray...see you around. It's been a privilege to hear your story.

-- Tony

Friday morning reflections

2006-01-13T05:35:00.000-08:00

Elijah did a good job of covering the bulk of what we were up to yesterday, but there were a couple of other things that left an impression on me.

After we had gotten a decent morning's start at Mumsy's house, I took off to get the DVD to the UPS store so that it would get to Fond du Lac in a timely manner. Just a simple little chore. Yet as I got to talking with the UPS attendant, she started telling me her story of her experience in the hurricane (she almost lost her life, her friends lost their home and everything in it). But one thing in particular bothered her; the number of people who had had enough and left town, including her friends. Try imagining that in our little church; take a fourth of the people; they lose their homes and all their belongings. Another two fourths had damage to their homes from either flooding or debris. What would it mean to us to try and make it right for each other? What would it mean to us if a fourth of our congregation decided it wasn't worth staying and just moved elsewhere? (I'm talking the personal impact, not just church viability). I hadn't really thought about the sorrow that has come from all of the relationships strained and lost because of this storm.

On the flip side of that, I talked with Don and his son last night; they're the ones who've been working eight to ten hour days and staying in a couple of tents out behind the church for the past three months helping people get their FEMA trailers set up. They're being relocated by FEMA to New Orleans, where they'll do what they've been doing there. Don is a retired police officer, his son owns a U-haul business that he plans to sell so they can move down here and keep going with the reconstruction. A person might not understand what could drive people to do things like this; until you meet the people here, until you see the enormity of what needs to be done. It all sounds so simple, and yet tearing out a parquet floor and putting up drywall took us two and a half days. It takes time; and people, and resources -- and there is so much to do.

One of the folks from the Gautier Presb. church spoke yesterday about the people who are so overwhelmed, they just don't know where to begin. I would probably have fallen into that category. It took me months to fix a sink that leaked if you put water in the wrong basin; because I didn't quite know how to do it and was afraid to mess with it. It wasn't a difficult fix, in the end, but getting started was tough. How much more if it involves destroying (gutting) and rebuilding your whole house and throwing away the majority of your belongings?

Anyway. I'll write more later today. Blessings to you all from the warm (slight gloating) town of Gautier.
-Brian

Elijah speaks :)

2006-01-12T15:19:00.000-08:00

Hey it's Elijah here. It is my turn to make some comments about this trip. When we got here on Monday and saw the devastation my eyes were really opened because the News coverage was only on New Orleans and all of the damage their but didn't cover anywhere else. Their is a lot of commercial damage along the coast. We also saw some of the residential damage today and that is basically the same as what we saw on Monday.

The work we did the past three days was doing some drywalling and ripping out three rooms that had parkay flooring in them. Two of the three rooms were really coming up easy but the second one was a little bit harder to work with. Due to water damage it was spintering and didn't want to come up.

I was mostly involved with ripping the parquet flooring up and I also did a little bit of drywalling too. My hands are a little sore from holding the flat bar and hammering on it to lift the tile up. We also went to a older ladies house to remove all of the things in the garage and rip out the wall board on the bottom half and then we put everything back. Then after that we raked the next door neighbors front yard.

This whole trip has been a real big blessing for me because I got to help with the hurricane relief effort and the fact that all the people we have come into contact with have been real people and really nice to us. It has shown me that even though it has been six months past the hurricane people all over down here still need help and we see a lot of other church groups down here helping out the best that they can. Hope to see all of my family and friends when I get home.

Mud. Joints. Drywall.

2006-01-11T19:58:00.000-08:00

Wednesday. Our second full day of work at Mumsy's place. She's the best. She was kind enough to buy McDonald's for us at lunchtime. I was really speechless. Here she was, without much to her name, buying lunch for the four of us.

Because I've done mudding before, my task was to mud the joints of the drywall. Brian, Gabrielle and Elijah are working on the very tough job of removing parquet from the floors. I wished to join them after the mudding was done. Not so.

I felt almost overwhelmed. I've done mudding, but only on one occasion. Plus, it turns out, we did it wrong at that time.

I want to stay up late again tonight to do research, but the people in my room want to get sleep. Sorry Donna, I'll call you tomorrow. I'll have to rise early tomorrow to research some more. I can't do the mudding quickly since I really don't have the experience.

But the team is depending on me.

I want to get everything perfect for Mumsy.

But I need to push on. Another house is waiting.

But if I go too fast, I won't get it right. I'm sorry Mumsy, I just can't seem to get it perfect enough.

I pray that my hands would find the right way to do it, but I can't get the mud to set right. We had to leave early today. I couldn't get the corners right. Everything seems wrong, even the dimpling and the joints. I talked to Ray tonight and learned that I put up the drywall wrong. I'll have to go back and redo a section.

I need to move on. There's another house waiting.

Drywall. Dimpling. Joints. Mudding. Corners. More drywall. More mudding. Corners with gaps. Wall joints with gaps. Tape. Time.

It's silly to feel this way, but I feel like I'm letting everyone down. My hands just shook after a while. I couldn't keep the mud on the blade properly. Tomorrow I'll try harder. I know I can do it better. Prayers will help.

-Tony

Wednesday Evening

2006-01-11T19:32:00.000-08:00

Oy.

It's hard to believe that I'm this ready for bed at only 9:34pm, but I wanted to check in and write down a few thoughts from the day.

First off; I made a change to the structure of the blog; I'd forgotten to set the comments so that anyone can add a comment to this journal. That's fixed. Please feel free to leave a comment or message for the team as you read the blog. Thanks.

We were back at "Mumsy's" house today -- we'd hoped to finish what we were doing there by early afternoon and help out at another place where a person has been storing furniture in a garage; the furniture needs to be moved, and the garage may have some mold issues that need to be cared for. It definitely wasn't that we wanted to leave Mumsy's house; she is such a wonderfully sweet person -- she brought us lunch; hamburgers and fries from Wendy's, and apple pies from McDonalds! I had heard about "Southern hospitality" before, but this really takes the cake. We worked hard to finish taping a section of drywall and finishing the parquet removal, but some of the wood was damp and it took a lot more time than we were thinking to get it taken care of. We hope to finish tomorrow morning.

We also taped a message for the congregation to be shown on the 15th. We watched it afterwards; it says a little of what we wanted to say -- but like many of the workers here have told me; so much just can't be put into words.

I wish we could have taped Pastor Chris' message at vesper's tonight, or all of what Ray had to say when he and Gabrielle and Tony and I were chatting after interviewing him. The people here are incredible. Susan and George, the new site managers (as in, literally their first week on the job) have been absolutely wonderful in making us feel at home and connecting us with anything we need. In fact -- at their own insistence, they're doing our laundry for us tonight because they didn't want us to have to go to a local laundromat. That is definitely going above and beyond the call of duty. Fortunately, one of the other groups that arrived today will be installing both showerrs and a washer/dryer hookup, so hopefully that need won't come up in the same way again.

What to say about the spiritual impact of all of this from a personal standpoint? I was geared up to do a bit more interacting with people up to this point (and that may well be the case in the days to come), and so far that hasn't turned out to be the case. And that's ok. Maybe that's part of what I'm learning by doing; serving in whatever capacity is needed at the moment; and I'm glad. I am humbled by the spirit of the people who have been here helping for months, I am amazed at the way the folks here who lived through the hurricane and are still picking up the pieces of their own lives are helping others. If I say I wish you were here, it's not because I want a few more hands to tear out parquet, or because serving God at home is less important (because you and I both know that's not true), but it's such an experience that I wish you could share, people I wish you could meet. I hope this journal in some way bridges these many miles from Fond du Lac to Gautier.

Well, I guess I'm rambling, which means I'm tired, and truth be told, I'm a little surprised my fingers still work after two days with a hammer and prybar.
So I'm going to bed.

Good night, and blessings to you all,
-Brian

Tuesday Update

2006-01-11T05:48:00.000-08:00

Howdy -- we just have a few minutes here on Wednesday before we head out again, but I wanted to say a bit about yesterday (the church's computers were down in the evening, so we couldn't update the blog then)

Before we headed out yesterday, we met up with a group of college students that have been using the church as a sort of "meal" base; we just had a few minutes to get to know them, but they were a neat bunch. (they were from New Hampshire, btw, for some of our church family from back there)

We spent most of the day yesterday at the house of an older lady everyone affectionately calls "Mumsy" Her house is mostly redone, but there was still a fair amount yet to do. We worked on drywalling and on taking up a parquet wood floor that they suspected (correctly) had water damage and a bit of mold. After we got done with a room, it looked like a Jenga world
championship had been played there.

Gabrielle working hard to take up the parquet flooring.

Well, I need to go; we're about to get everyone together for a morning prayer before we head off. Our agenda today is to finish our tasks at Mumsy's house and then finish the dvd presentation for Sunday morning (kinda important). I'll check back in later.

Elijah, 'Mumsy', Gabrielle, Tony and I

Blessings,
-B

Tuesday Morning

2006-01-10T05:21:00.000-08:00

Heh, I know... it seems like we're messing around with the internet more than we're actually working -- that will change very soon.

Gabrielle and Tony spoke of the people we've met, and some of the damage we've seen. Actually, we mostly saw damage to corporate buildings and a few churches. Today we'll start to see some of the impact it's had on homes and on people's lives.

Arrival

2006-01-09T18:28:00.000-08:00

Now that we've arrived and gotten settled a bit, I've asked members of the team to share some of their thoughts & reflections (hurray for Gautier Presbyterian church and wireless internet!);

'Allo, this is G. Here we are in Gautier, Mississippi. We arrived shortly after 3 p.m. today after a bit of a detour. South of Jackson, we drove through state parks and forest preserves, and noticed a lot of damage to trees in addition to the damage to homes and businesses. In many places, the trees were all leaning north. In other places, dozens of trees were flattened. For the last stage of our trip (Gulf Port to Gautier), we started out on Highway 90, which parallels the beach. We made it as far as Biloxi before we learned that the bridge over the bay was still out, so we detoured north. On that short half-hour drive along the beach, we were astounded at the devastation. The words that came to mind--devastated, smashed, shattered--don't even begin to describe what we saw.

This church is one of the many smashed buildings we encountered along hwy 90 in Gulfport.

When we arrived at Gautier Presbyterian Church, where we are staying this week, we met an amazing group of staff and volunteers. One of the couples we met came down to Gautier on a detour to their trip to Texas for the winter; they're still here, helping teams of volunteers get connected with the needs in the community.

As the church staff and volunteers helped us get oriented, I was humbled to hear their stories of people who have given up months of their time to come to Gautier, stay in campers or tents, and work twelve hours a day helping people recover. We've been here for six hours, and already meet people who are so amazing. -G

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The drive down was a good experience to get to know Brian, Gabrielle, and Ezekiel better. Yesterday and today were a blur. I thoroughly enjoyed driving, singing, and joking with my compatriots. Isiaiah took our gentle ribbing well. Brian had a Screaming Demon sausage from Love's, which is a convenience gas-mart. Needless to say, the burn will be felt again. Lowe's had some small alligator heads for sale. I really hope that I get the opportunity to get some to scare the kids with.

When we arrived at the church, it was an introduction to the realities of the situation here in Gautier, placing names and faces to all of the reports that I've heard in the past. It was amazing to see the level of dedication of the volunteers that have managed their way here from beginnings unknown.

George and Susan are a husband and wife team that got here not too long ago. Their energy and spirits are high. Ray and Jane are similarly a husband and wife team from Iowa. They came for a short stay, but ended up staying on for a longer basis. Ray is a very nice man, working day after day without a break. He's the main maintenance guy here. We spoke with him, and at one point, he showed empathy to the suffering of the people here, barely able to keep back the tears. All of these people are giving of their lives for the benefit of others. They have truly inspired me. Chris is the pastor here. I worry about the strain of the situation on him.

Things here won't be fixed for years to come. This is the message that I would like to convey to the 'people up North' as others have put it. It may be out of the mind of CNN and the like, but the reality here is that rebuilding has only just begun. -Tony

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Pre-flection

2006-01-06T21:40:00.000-08:00

In the edit to my last post, I spoke about feeling a bit better; Gabrielle and I have been battling a pretty annoying cold [I'm assuming it's biologically the same cold, so I guess I can talk about it in the singular], and our fervent hopes are that we avoid giving it to the rest of the team, and that we're physically in good shape to do whatever we need to when we get to Mississippi.

A couple of friends did something really nice for us last night, and as I've been thinking about it, I think it really relates to what we're about to do. They knew we were both under the weather and trying to tie up all the loose ends before this trip, and so they brought us over a big bowl of soup and a bag full of home-made sandwiches. I guess you could say that in the BIG scheme of things, that this was a "little" thing, but it sure meant a lot to us; the soup soothed my sore throat, and the sandwiches tasted like something out of this world for someone who'd been achy and out of it all day. And the last thing you want to do when you're sick and have forty-eleven other things to do is cook. (-g)

We're heading to Gautier pretty soon -- and I'm very aware that we're not the ones riding in on some white horse to save the day. We're hoping to make some kind of difference in giving our time and our hearts, but we know it's a two-way street, that the people we meet will have something to teach us, to share. I'm working to organize this trip so that we can lend some measure of help, but a friend knew that I needed something I wouldn't have asked for.

I think that's the way God wants us to be with each other, giving and recieving (not taking) in return; the bottom-line idea that we need each other, that caring for each other is part of what we're made for.

Peace on the journey,
-Brian

Prelude

2006-01-05T07:21:00.000-08:00

An opening word...

I should start out with a bit of clarification -- Project Gautier isn't my 'baby', it's more of an ongoing connection of teams of people with the city of Gautier, MS, which was hit hard by hurricane Katrina. It began with Pastor Max Ramsey of Immanuel church in Brookfield, WI, who became aware of needs in that community through a personal connection and decided to do something about it. I think we're the sixth team to participate in this, and it's pretty exciting. I decided to start a blog so that our team could journal its experiences next week, but I hope to try to set this up so that other teams can do the same thing. Maybe I can talk Max into explaining some of the thoughts behind Project Gautier, because the coolest thing about this is that it's not a "church" thing -- it's about learning, about discipleship on the road, about connecting people in new ways.

Our story so far....

It's three days to go, and our team spent a decent chunk of last night going over details of the trip, at least the ones we can actually prepare for. Our team isn't that big, it's me, my wife Gabrielle, and two great people; Tony and Elijah. The good news is that we'll all fit in my car for the drive down. The bad news is that it's not all that big of a car...

Our connection with a church in Gautier tells us that we'll probably be doing some demolition work (the kind with crowbars, and not explosives, unfortunately ;) and cleanup. Six months out and that's still a big need. Another part of our plan is establishing contact with someone that has a pulse on those who in some ways may slip through the cracks of the assistance that is available.

[edit] -- yesterday I tried to see if I could edit and update the blog wirelessly from my PDA; it worked, but apparently I lost part of what I had written on Thursday. Oops. The moral apprently is: keep it short. Friday's good news: I'm feeling much better (physically) than before. Maybe Gabrielle and I will be over this cold by the time we leave on Sunday.