Today we continued on with some of the jobs we have been working on all week plus we added a new job of gutting a much larger home. This job had a larger team of 11 people and they did an amazing job and were very pumped up when we all shared at dinner.

Last night there was a huge thunderstorm (or monsoons as some on our team like to call them). Basically, if you have never experienced a thunderstorm in the south then you are in for an amazing storm. We are staying in a very large tent - men on one side, women on the other, there is a big tarp separating the two separate areas. During the storm, it kind of felt like the tent was going to cave in at times depending on where you are in the tent. We all survived and today was working with intermittant thunderstorms - it was refreshing actually.

It is fun to do the work but I feel a mild frustration in that I would love to be able to see a project all the way through to the finished project. We are just a team of 25 people working on a segment of the projects. Another team will come next week and continue the work. You kind of have to envision what it will look like when it is all said and done. I have family here in New Orleans so I plan to return next year to visit and drive around the neighborhoods we helped, in some way, to rebuild. 

Tonight, we sat around a large table to eat and shared what is going on at each of the work sites. It is fun to share in this format because we all like to know what is going on at each others' sites. The greatest part about most of the sites is the people connected to that site.

Charlie is the optometrist who has a mother (Catherine) with Alzheimers. Pray that he will be able to get back into practicing medicine. He has not practiced since the storm because he is taking care of his mother and is so overloaded with trying to just get back on track. Pray that he will find a suitable place/person to care for his mother.

Anthony is the retired New Orleans Fireman. He is 86 years old and is very much health and alert. His home is the first rebuild project that Mercy Response has. Up until this point, all Mercy Response has done is deconstruction - now they begin construction on Anthony's house. This is the house I have been underneath for the past 2 days trying to level the home. Pray that his home will be finished soon and he will be able to move out of his FEMA trailer. I've been inside this trailer to use the restroom. It is not a pleasant place to be and I pray he won't have to stay much longer.

There are a few others but I'll share those later. Time to sleep and prepare for our final day in New Orleans. Our plan is to finish work a bit early and then all go together to the lower 9th Ward to see it as a team and then pray over the city together.

blessings,

pastor marty