Memoir from Geezer James

Words cannot adequately reflect the joys I experienced on our trip to Gulfport. There were so many people who personally touched me with their humble wish to serve God through helping others.

No one of us could singly have accomplished the valuable tasks that were completed. Most of us had little skill to begin with, and we each learned and were rewarded with the satisfaction of contributing to jobs well done. The folks who knew what they were doing dedicated long hours to organizing our tasks and showed gracious patience in teaching the rest of us how to do the work. Our pastors touched each of us, gave us encouragement, and let us each of us know that we are important to God and to his children. Those who worked such long hours to feed us kept us healthy and put smiles on our faces every day. The UMCOR staff and our host church partnered with us as fellow missioners. The people that we were able to help responded with sincerity and truly opened themselves to God in our presence.

The patience and caring that was shown by our young people when working with Mr. Gunderson was especially impressive. Because of their response to his spiritual needs, I believe his life was turned around on that day.

Being of a more traditional nature, I was surprised by how meaningful the music was that was shared during our evening worship services. The leaders are talented and accomplished musicians, and the participation of the whole group is inspiring. That and the special communion service, during which Phil spoke to the heart of each person individually, are memories that I will always treasure.

The news from the Times of Stone County

Iowa Methodists aid in rebuilding coastal region

By Robert Jackson
Features Editor

The Times of Stone County & South Mississippi

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Page A10

A special bond has been established between a Methodist community in Cedar Rapids, Ia. and south Mississippi since Hurricane Katrina slammed into the region nearly two years ago.
About 72 members of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church (UMC) along with Lovely Lane UMC are spending a week of their summer, for the second consecutive year, working on homes damaged by the storm and subsequent tornadoes that have hit the region since Katrina.
This year residents of Wiggins and Saucier have been among the recipients of the good neighbor policy.

The residence of Doris Daughdrill needed roof repairs and two of the five work teams that came down from Cedar Rapids spent two days providing her with the repairs.

According to Mark Novak of St. Paul’s, the group of 72 is divided into five work teams, one vacation bible school team and a kitchen team. And throughout this week (the vacationers from Iowa will leave Saturday) the Iowans will spend their vacation hammering nails, doing manual labor and working with Gulf Coast youngsters.

As he helped out those who needed guidance in installing shingles, Nowak, one of the adult volunteers, called himself a “youth geek” who chose to jump right in with the younger people doing the manual labor.

Phil Rogers, youth and young adult pastor at St. Paul’s, said that after coming down from Iowa to the coastal region of Mississippi last year there was no doubt that another trip would be scheduled in 2007.

“When we were here last year we saw the need was so great we decided to do it again,” Rogers said. “We chose to come back.”

This year’s delegation is 50-50, 50 percent young people and 50 percent adults with the youngest being 14 and the oldest 74.

"They are a joyful group,” Rogers said of the younger members of the vacationing Iowans who brought hammer and nails rather than beach clothes with them to southern Mississippi.
Rogers estimates that between five and seven different projects will be completed or worked on during the group's one week stay in Mississippi. He said he knows the amount of work that needed to be completed in the aftermath of the hurricane and from storms that hit the region in 2006 was tremendous and that what his group will achieve is small, but he said the overall impact of outside charitable aid has been significant.

“It’s amazing what God is doing,” Rogers said. “It’s like the loaves and fishes, a small ripple in a pond that spreads out.”

In addition to roofing work, the Iowans from Cedar Rapids are doing general home repair work, dry walling, ceiling work, general carpentry and flooring.

The VBS team led by St. Paul’s Assistant Pastor Carol Sundberg is working with youngsters in the region, teaching them and promoting Christian values, Rogers explained.
Some work teams are working individually, while others are working together.

According to Rogers, the goal is “to get the job done.”
“We are down here with the people of Mississippi,” he explained, in other words “assisting the people of Mississippi” as they recover and move back toward a normal way of life – a Pre-Katrina way of life.

The sights chosen for work were provided to the Iowa group by the United Methodist Council on Relief and its coordinator for the southern district of Mississippi.

Providing a home to the work teams is Gateway UMC in Gulfport, and the Iowan’s kitchen work team provides the volunteers with a hot breakfast in the morning and supper at night.
Rogers came down to the Magnolia state in 2006 with fellow members of his church and said he has seen major changes since then.

The southern Mississippi community has a lot of new commercial buildings, a coastal tent city is gone and the rebuilding of homes is well underway and moving forward, he said.
Rogers said he sees “new life and new hope” in the area slammed by Katrina.

The adults in the group paid their way, Rogers explained, while the young people under the age of 20 conducted fundraising events to pay their way.

Ant Planet - Brent - Friday

So here I am at a computer for the first time in....days. I'm not sure how I feel about that. It's really great to actually get some exercise, since nothing I do everyday does anything for me. We've been running every morning, and when I say we I mean Kiley, Tim, myself, and whoever else is willing to wake up for it. For example, Tyler tells me he's going to run before we go to bed, and when I wake him up almost every morning he says,
"....I'm not going."
It's weird to have so much energy every day with only 5.5 hours of sleep. I haven't eaten so much food or drank so much water ever in my life. I think I prefer the dry heat of New Mexico for sure.
So on the second day of work on our roof site we had just torn off half the shingles when it started raining, which was not so good since it then had nothing to stop the rain from getting in. We got the the felt down in about 15 minutes...it was awesome! I love roofing. It is best. I also love rain. Hannah just pointed out to me that another really cool thing about that was that no one complained that it was raining; everyone just started working and was all, "Yay, rain!" Seriously, though, it was so sunny that that rain was amazing. Don't tell anyone, but I think I almost got sunstroke these last two days. What saved me the day before yesterday was a break every 20 minutes for the last two hours of the day, and an ice cream sandwich. Yesterday, it was the hose in the backyard.
So there were BILLIONS of ants at that site. It was an ant planet. We killed about half of them and then yesterday we found more. In our lunch cooler. Well, on our lunch cooler. Again I'm going to ask you not to tell anyone, but we just used that as an excuse to buy pizza - we ate our sack lunches too :)
I just realized that I can use bold and italics and underline so I went back and underlined the word "on." Marci's going to do a devotional now. Hold on.
Okay, hold on again, it's prayer time.
You know what, I'm just gonna be done now.

Group Paul

Group Paul started out in full force working for homeowners Scott and Kathy. We were able to be together and work hard the entire first day with group John. However, people were needed elsewhere and so as we start to drywall on the second day a few of our members were pulled to other sites. Our first day of drywall was a learning experience and thus went slightly slower. On our second day we had the hang of the drywall and along with team John finished two bedrooms, a kitchen, 1 1/2 bathrooms, and the hallway. As we accomplished more and more drywall we cut off the air circulation and the window air (it was soooooooooo hot).

Unfortunatley today we have to leave team John, on the day the homeowners offered to grill lunch for us, and join team Luke on a roof.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read all about our trip. We wouldn't be here without your support.

Kiley

Another Another Update from GROUP JOHN!

Hey Everyone Back Home!

We are going to update already! Another update from Team John. All the ceilings are done with dry walling ceilings. Then today, we finished dry walling some closets and another bedroom. The bedroom that had the AC unit in it. As soon as most of the walls in the house were closed up it got really hot in the house. Walking out of the house you'd hear most of us saying, "Man, it's a lot cooler out here!" Everyone got their water though!

We had everyone involved. Even Pastor Phil acted as a 'deadman' holding up a piece of drywall. (He made fun of us being vertically challanged since he's so tall. Tall enough to reach the ceiling.) I never had a moment were I was sitting around or doing nothing that I wasn't yelled at 10 seconds later, excluding lunch.

And of course, as cool as we are, we have come new pictures:

Our prayers are with everyone back at St. Pauls, and Lovely Lane. Prayers with our new Pastors, Paul and Gale. Prayers with everyone back at home.

-Nicholas W.

Yeah God!!

Yeah God!!

Part of our evening worship is the sharing of the places and people where we have experienced God during the day. Some of the “Yeah God’s” are very personal to the team, others are about the work that we have been doing. We share these with you so that you can hear and see more deeply the journey of our faith as a community....

These are the revelations and reflections and prayers of the team on July 16…

At VBS there was a young boy with heart problems that was not happy and willing to participate at first, but by the end, Joshua was singing and dancing with everyone else.

DORIS was the best homeowner according to group Mark and Luke. She made them a HUGE meal for lunch, gave them an abundance of hugs, and told them her story of encouragement and hope to show her appreciation. She told them of how she lived in her garage because the heat was so unbearable in her house that had lost electricity. Kathy also heard the story about the area churches. Doris said that even though almost all of the churches in the area were damaged, they each had one cross still standing upright somewhere in the church.

At the drywall house, previous groups left scripture for the homeowners written on the “headers” over the windows and doors; and although this will be covered by drywall and painting, the blessing of the house remains.

The family at the drywall house told a story about how they had many family members who had houses destroyed. However, instead of seeing this as a grave tragedy they said they saw God’s grace as each family member had a safe place to go after the storm.

The day camp kids have little to no building to worship in and have seen a lot of hardship. However, they still shout at the top of their lungs, “This is God’s house!”

Some thought things in Mississippi would be fine as it has almost been two years. However, we saw much more than we expected. We were awed by the hope we saw in the people we have met.

The youth lead the VBS team with little adult support!!!

WE MADE THE PAPER!! Pastor Phil was interviewed by the Wiggins newspaper about our return to Mississippi.

Working hard.

YEAH GOD!!!


And from Tuesday, 7/17/07

Scott the homeowner for our house is allergic to insulation and yet he was still working hard to help with his own house.

Tore off roof today and as they were working it started to rain which motivated them to work harder and allowed a mid-day shower. It also made us work harder.

Scott and Kathy (drywall homeowners) are living in a FEMA trailer which 8 by 27, so small, but they are doing it and persevering after two years.

We finished the job at Doris’ house. She was given a Dear Jesus book. We could not grow in Jesus like we do on this trip if it were not for people like her allowing us to come into her home. She was so moved by the work the kids are doing. She also gave hugs to all the sweaty and smelly workers.

First day on site the skilled adults took over and did the job while the youth sat around and it was not the greatest thing while we were down there. One of our leaders addressed the group and said that we are here to be the hands and feet of God but we are also here to show the youth how to be the hands and feet also. Today we trained the youth to help out and got so much accomplished and almost no one standing around.

Entire community for their flexibility and going with the flow when we change our teams everyday. Kids, adults, everyone doing what they are asked without a fuss and with positive attitude.

Yeah God for the lunch crew that brought our lunches to our site. Also for feeding us so well thus far.

Update for Team John's House -- July 17th

Drywall = Done in 2 rooms; ceiling done in 2 other rooms!

Bus Status = Ellen is an amazing driver; stopped at McDonald's for shakes today!

Insulation = DONE! Yea!

Much more work to do and hope to get a large part done tomorrow!

This couple is amazingly blessed. Their house has at least 30 or 40 bible verses written on its frame and there is also a wonderful picture drawn on one board! This couple was to be married on August 29th, 2004 and was married the Sunday after that. They are some of the sweetest people we've ever met and are so willing and thankful. They are all living on their grandfather's land including about three other houses of family members.

"Team John"

Tuesday worksite team philip

Team Philip's "mud crawlers" finally emerge from under the house - with the job completed!

Tuesday, July 17th - Ashley B.

Worship = Awesome as was the rest of my team's day. We worked on drywall after breakfast and got a ton done. The homeowner on our site pitched in and his group got a whole room done. It was amazing to see the adults and teens working together so well. I'm sure that everyone on our team and everyone else's is learning more than they ever thought they would. It's such a joy to see all the teamwork and fellowship everywhere we go.

Intresting Story = "Pulled Over" On the way for the (about) one mile walk to the closest gas station (called Kangroo <33) we were "pulled over" and told we had to walk on the grass next to the highway. Apparently it's unsafe to walk along the side (as if we didn't know that LOL). That was a funny experience for Mississippi.

The trip up here was great. We watched many movies and were enjoying each other's company. We had many laughs already this week and will surely come back with many new inside jokes from this week.

(SHORT && PERSONAL SHOUTOUTS)
Mom && Tyler -- Miss you! Hope all the animals are doing okay!
Grandma && Grandpa -- Missing you! Hope Tyler isn't too much trouble w/o me! :-P
Friends -- Hope CG is okay w/o me! I promise the broom here is getting as much of a workout as my rifle usually does! I miss you guys so much and can't wait to see everyone when I get back!

<33 Ashley

VBS Team Gets a Workout!

After the second day of work, Team Mother Mary, the VBS Team is exhausted. It's a good thing that the team gets a break between 1:30-4:00. In the morning, our schedule consits of 'counselor-ing' 4-11 year olds at a local United Methodist Church. The church was devastated by Katrina, and has recently been rebuilt temporarily. Architects were at the site today scoping-out the site. Anyway, the church has been hosting a day camp for the last few weeks and the children enjoy a variety of activities, including: volleyball, flag football, morning worship, crafts, singing and performing skits. It was a little bit muddy yesterday, but I was the lucky one and helped with crafts inside the dry-ness of the church. From 1:30-4:00, the team usually takes a short nap or takes a shower. Whatever time is leftover during the break, well and for that matter the work day as well, team members break out the card decks and play card games.

At 4:00, the team usually starts to plan for the VBS session, at around 6:30, and ends at 8:00. Kids sing songs, complete crafts, eat snacks, and learn a little bit about science during Discovery Time. After VBS, the team heads back to Graceway UMC for worship, dessert, and, more card games. Lights-out at 11:00, to rest up for tomorrow :) 6:00 is the universal wake-up time, for those who don't walk/jog/run at 5:30 in the morning. Breakfast is at 6:30 and the team heads out for the day camp at around 7:30.

It has only been two days and I am so suprised by the devastation. Even though the storm was two years ago, the effect is still here today. There are stairways that lead to nothing, parking lots with no stores, sidewalks that lead to an empty lot, and a cemetery that has tombstones and memorials that have been knocked over and havn't been set upright. I have seen a lot of houses being rebuilt on stilts, especially across from the beach. The beach is so peaceful, and I don't want to turn around because there are missing trees in front of empty lots. What is comforting is that these people have not lost their spirit. They have lost almost everything, and they are happy.

Everyone at Covenant and Graceway have welcomed us in so gracefully, and I am thankful. With every passing minute it seems that the entire mission team has become my new family. I am never bored and always have something to do. Hopefully, I can grab some sleep tonight so I can do it all over again tomorrow, as well as the rest of the week.

For everyone back at CR and St. Paul's and Lovely Lane UMC, thank you for your continuing thoughts, prayers, and support. Sunday will be here faster than you think, and I will see you all then.

I love you mom, dad and sissy.

Sincerely,
Carlyn

Team Mother Mary

Secret Ninjas Attack!

Hey! Guess what???? Alyssa is blogging now! Okay, well even though this is only the second real day of work, I feel like I am closer to God than I have ever been in my whole life. When I first heard about these mission trips, they sounded so fun and I had no hesitation. I had my mother sign me up and I was ready to go. When the Mid-high mission trip came along, I had a lot of fun, but most of the people who went were my age. But here, I am forced to be in situations where I may not be comfortable. But I guess it's like when Mary said that when she goes on mission trips, it forces her out of her comfort zone, but that is why she goes--because it is good for her. I do believe that this trip is doing a world of good for me even though it is not even over. So, on Monday, we had VBS and this fun little 'sports camp' to go to. The sports' camp was very interesting and I hung out with the guys who were teaching football to the kids. The only downside was, IT WAS RAINING. I got completely soaked and remained soaked until I showered. [which got me even more wet, but then I dried off.] When it seemed like the day should be over, it was not because we still had VBS in the evening. Vacation Bible School was GREAT! We met a bunch of cool kids and "Rev" who was the coolest pastor [besides everyone at St. Paul's of course!] They all had stories to tell and were good company. Then, we had worship. No words can rightfully describe how I felt last night. My 'Yay God' was that I was so surprised how nice everyone down here is dispite how they have lost virtually everything of value to them in their life. As soon as I said that, I realized how selfish of a person I really was. It really made me think a lot about my position in this life. Then, Rev got up and recited/told the story that we are studying for devotionals by heart as if she remembered it like it was yesterday. At the end of her story of how we are like the man who was robbed, she said something that made me think again. She said, "It is okay to hurt, it's okay to need, and it is okay to want." Maybe, we all don't have to be as strong as we want to be; because in the end, the world is made up of people who appear strong, but wear masks. And then there are the people who really are strong. Those people are the ones like Rev, who trust God, believe in God, and live for God. I remember thinking what I wanted to gain from this trip, and thinking, "Wow! Look at these people, their faith is so strong. I wish my faith was like that." I guess stronger faith is what I want to gain. The realization I have come to is, not only is faith a life journey, but also, that it doesn't just happen over night. And part of it is me letting myself need God. Last night was powerful. There is not much more I can say, because it was just that amazing.
Today, was really fun because it did not rain on us forever like it did yesterday. The Secret Ninja Club listened to QUEEN [aka the best band ever] on the football/soccer field, and every one thought I was crazy....but that is nothing new. Oh! we also went to the beach today. The sand was really white, and I wrote "Iowa Loves You, Mississippi!" in the sand. I also found a shell that I thought had nothing in it, but as it turns out, there was a little crab inside and we had to walk it back to the Gulf. TODAY = NOT OVER YET. so maybe I will blog more later....

Alyssa :]

Pictures From the 1st morning from St. Pauls

Picture taken from the roof of St. Paul's during prayer time.

Prayer moment continues.

Picture of supplies that were taken down for the Mission trip.

Hello! This morning was a little hectic.. as usual for the first day. I (Holly) went running at 530 AM, regretting it now at 705 with the pain in my legs. Roofing was not easy on neither of our legs! But, it was worth it and we were disappointed that we didnt have enought time to finish our roof. A couple people were attacked by fire ants! The home owner, Doris, was so sweet. She made us a HUGE lunch/mid afternoon snack consisting of: fried chicken, corn on the cob, rolls, fruit, beans, green beans!, 2 kinds of cake, ice tea, pop, etc. It was amazing. In the beginning of the day, it rained a little and we were worried about it because we had heard that there was going to be 6 inches, but in the end the sun came out and the weather was nothing short of perfect for our day. Two reporters from local newspapers came to take pictures of us and interview our director, Mark Novak. It was very exciting. All in all, it was a great start to our work week and we can't wait to finish our roof tomorrow!

Holly and Torin

LOOK MOM!!!

Justin is thinking about lunch.

Who's Who of Teams

Here are the team names and who is on them. That way you all can keep track of what your family members are doing:

Barnabas: Penny G., Julia, Joanne, Ken, and Chuck P.

Mother Mary: VBS sqad: Alyssa B, Emily, Ellen, Carlyn, Kristin, Mary, Lois, Andrea, Adam, Tess, and Carol.

Mark: Mark N, Chuck D., Bab G., Brent, Dawn, Tim, Brian, Alyssa K, Alex L., Zach R., Pam S.,

Philip: Rich Gayle, Lee Ann, Ron, Cathy M., Cody, Ashley K., Alex N., Abby, Glynn, Meghan

John: John, Jim O., Jen, Kenny, Jacob, Sean G. Ben J, Derek M., Nick W., Ashley B

Luke: Jamin, Kathy C., Nick E., Holly G., Marcie, Gary, Jason, Torin, Nolan, Matt, Brad

Paul: Kerry, Kathy, David R., Tyler W., Darrel W., Colton, Kiley, Justin, Skylar, Mason, Andrew

Group Mark

This team was on the same roof as Group Luke. They plan to separate tomarrow.

Group Philip

Group Philip worked on a double wide mobile home. The home has a family of five 2 horses, and a lazy dog. They live on "ranch" way back on a one lane road. The home was hit by Katrina, repaired the roof. At the end of the repairs the family was getting ready to move back into the home from a camper. That day a second tornado hit the home and did a number on the house. The tree which hit the house happened 4 months ago. The house is having a new floor, ripping out the ceiling and putting more dry-wall up. Mesh lining is being put under the home to keep critters out and a moister barrier. Cathy M., Glynn, Alex N, and Lee Ann crawled under the house to do this muddy job. Just so you all know Glynn new name is "pig- pen" because of the clouds of dust behing him.

Group Luke

Group Luke is doing a re-roofing job. The home was hit during Katrina tornados. Nick says " put me in the blog!!" The home is owned by Doris. She has a huge family, but lives there alone. She was incredibily appreciative, gave many hugs to all. Dispite a very slippery roof and thumbs in the way, the work went quickly. Doris and her daughter provided a HUGE fried chicken meal with several courses. The group saw geckos in the bushes (hopefully with pictures to follow). The fire ants attacked with no serious injuries reported.

This is the first house for the group of John and Paul. The house is a new build because the couple had lost their home to a tornado during Katrina. The couple who own this home were suppose to be married the day Katrina hit. These groups installed insulation within a few minutes. Then started drywalling the entire house. This will be a several day project.

The church in Memphis had a large gym with a loft. The group loved the environment. We were given true "southern hospitality" of an Italian meal with a very sweet treat to end the meal.

The blue chair needed to make an appearance in Memphis. This is in front of Egg of Memphis. Judy does this chair look familiar?

Monday- our adventure begins

The bus trip began with two sets of buses and 73 adults and kids off to Gulfport. The youth bus is in this picture.

Worksite Team Philip

Worksite Team Philip prepares to crawl under a raised house to install netting on the underside of the house.

Dirty backs of the Hazmat crew post-crawl. Despite heavy dust and a jungle of pipes and cinder columns, the task was (halfway) completed.

This is a side view of Team Philip's worksite. Inside, a bathroom ceiling was torn out and flooring was installed.

Loading Up and Moving Out

There was a flurry of activity at St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Cedar Rapids IA as 73 missioners and family and friends arrived...some sending off loved ones and some preparing to be sent off. We all remember that we are missioners regardless of how we serve - when we are in prayer for those in need; when we get on a roof for repair or cut drywall or prepare a paint roller; when we bring gifts of food. There is no limit to the ways that Christ sends us forth in his name....