Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Tomorrow is 1/2 way for us. It is so important for all of too continue to pray for compassion, strength, endurances, & wisdom for the team and all those coming and going. Our bodies and our minds are starting to tire but after each day we replenish our bellies, get a good nights sleep ready to go again the next day. For most of us we awake by 6 and return after 8pm, then we have emails, blogs, phone calls & laundry to complete before turning in for the night. Thus making for a very long day.
Now today was a day most of Gulfport/Biloxi were praying and hoping for. It rained & the general consensus was that they still feel like they need more but little at a time is better. The reasons most were hoping for rain was to wash the salt off the trees, grass, & vegetation as the salt is starting to kill things off. Then this creates another problem. Forest fires are starting already.
Also in most areas the children were starting back to school. However it is going to take time before they all get back. They estimate all should be back into school before the end of the year. The children are excited to be back with their friends, however the older ones feel they should stay home and help with the rebuilding. Some are choosing that.
On our run today for some reason we found a lot were not home. I feel that was because people who could were taking advantage of the wet to go and do errands instead of doing outside work at their homes. And since children were going back to school they were scarce as well. We did how ever still do 125 meals. We also where able to get to areas we do not always get to regularly.
Every time you drive down your run you see something different, your heart feels something different and you hear another story and then another. Each time you hear these stories you wonder how they could ever go through this and some keep getting kicked over and over and over again. The thing you heard or saw the day before is still in your mind and you hope for the opportunity to minister to them again and they are not there. So you worry a little as to where they are and if they are ok. However a few more feet down the road is another story waiting to be told or shared.
The thing that most sticks in my mind from yesterday is Kim and her story how she goes home after we all have left the area for the day, gets into her bathtub, closes her door, and cries for the next few hours. The other story the sticks in my mind are Guy and his wife Rose who cried with me as they showed me what was left of their lives. What they had lost, and how the thing they most like to get back is their pictures. I am praying for water restoration to their photographs.
Today I received 2 new stories. Henry has been telling me for 2 days now about Brian. During the storm a tree came down and hit Brian in the head. He has had at least one surgery and is waiting for another one. He has had many test, and many more to come. He has Great Spirit and says God was not ready for him and he feels blessed by this. I see his community and family coming together to help fix up his place. It is a pleasure to finally meet him today. What a great positive friendly man. He is so very grateful for what we do.
As you do your runs you cannot help but get attached to a few special people who stick out in your mind. There are those who you would love to give them the world and make it all better for them, however you know that this is just not a reality.
I have the cutest little boy on my run by the name of Cody; he is so cute you could just gobble him up. He wears the most adorable coveralls and the nicest decomposition you could ever ask for. Yesterday I gave him a Canadian pencil and his eyes lit up. He was going to dress up as spider man. I noticed he could use a pair of boots. So this morning I went and found a couple I thought might fit him. Good thing cause when I arrived today at his house he was running around in flip-flops and mud about 2 or 3 inches thick. Now for most kids that dirty in mud it would be ok cause you just rinse them off with a hose and into a bath they would go. I think we are in day 60 something since Katrina hit and they still have no running water. They are using bottled water to bath with. This little boy is being raised by his father as his mother left shortly after he was born. He does not know his mom.
Cody and his father Patrick have had one bad experience after another. Femma lost their application, and then when they finally got that straightened out and arranged for his trailer to be delivered it arrived with a broken frame. The cell phone they were given will not work, the pump that he had delivered was damaged upon delivery and had to be returned. Today 2 of the transformers in their area blew up and so they were without power. Patrick and Cody have many other stories like this that I still do not know all of them but it makes you very grateful for what you have and makes you wonder how they keep on going.
Patrick said they have each other and God and they believe God will provide for them and he keeps sending them special little extra like we deliver to them. Patrick had not been in touch with his family in Alabama in day’s cause of the phone not working so I gave him a 120-minute phone card. When I asked Cody if there was anyone special he wanted to call and speak to he said his poppa. I asked where his poppa was and he pointed up to heaven. He said he died and he misses him and needs him. When I asked him if he wanted to call his grandma he said yes, but he was quick to tell me she is still in the bar. So I gave him his own 30 min phone card to call his grandma, his face lit up again. It just about broke my heart. I asked if needed anything tomorrow he asked for socks for his boots and some clean clothes.
God is Good. We were told that we are always on call 24/7 while we are down here. I have found on several occasions I have had to do ministry work after hours. You just do not know where the Good Lord will use us. Tonight as we were settling in for the night Nicole & I heard something that felt we both needed to go and do ministry work. We helped to reassure some people and to build trust and faith. We put a plan in action and will help to follow it through. Please pray for the young women from Florida.
God Bless and Good night
Now today was a day most of Gulfport/Biloxi were praying and hoping for. It rained & the general consensus was that they still feel like they need more but little at a time is better. The reasons most were hoping for rain was to wash the salt off the trees, grass, & vegetation as the salt is starting to kill things off. Then this creates another problem. Forest fires are starting already.
Also in most areas the children were starting back to school. However it is going to take time before they all get back. They estimate all should be back into school before the end of the year. The children are excited to be back with their friends, however the older ones feel they should stay home and help with the rebuilding. Some are choosing that.
On our run today for some reason we found a lot were not home. I feel that was because people who could were taking advantage of the wet to go and do errands instead of doing outside work at their homes. And since children were going back to school they were scarce as well. We did how ever still do 125 meals. We also where able to get to areas we do not always get to regularly.
Every time you drive down your run you see something different, your heart feels something different and you hear another story and then another. Each time you hear these stories you wonder how they could ever go through this and some keep getting kicked over and over and over again. The thing you heard or saw the day before is still in your mind and you hope for the opportunity to minister to them again and they are not there. So you worry a little as to where they are and if they are ok. However a few more feet down the road is another story waiting to be told or shared.
The thing that most sticks in my mind from yesterday is Kim and her story how she goes home after we all have left the area for the day, gets into her bathtub, closes her door, and cries for the next few hours. The other story the sticks in my mind are Guy and his wife Rose who cried with me as they showed me what was left of their lives. What they had lost, and how the thing they most like to get back is their pictures. I am praying for water restoration to their photographs.
Today I received 2 new stories. Henry has been telling me for 2 days now about Brian. During the storm a tree came down and hit Brian in the head. He has had at least one surgery and is waiting for another one. He has had many test, and many more to come. He has Great Spirit and says God was not ready for him and he feels blessed by this. I see his community and family coming together to help fix up his place. It is a pleasure to finally meet him today. What a great positive friendly man. He is so very grateful for what we do.
As you do your runs you cannot help but get attached to a few special people who stick out in your mind. There are those who you would love to give them the world and make it all better for them, however you know that this is just not a reality.
I have the cutest little boy on my run by the name of Cody; he is so cute you could just gobble him up. He wears the most adorable coveralls and the nicest decomposition you could ever ask for. Yesterday I gave him a Canadian pencil and his eyes lit up. He was going to dress up as spider man. I noticed he could use a pair of boots. So this morning I went and found a couple I thought might fit him. Good thing cause when I arrived today at his house he was running around in flip-flops and mud about 2 or 3 inches thick. Now for most kids that dirty in mud it would be ok cause you just rinse them off with a hose and into a bath they would go. I think we are in day 60 something since Katrina hit and they still have no running water. They are using bottled water to bath with. This little boy is being raised by his father as his mother left shortly after he was born. He does not know his mom.
Cody and his father Patrick have had one bad experience after another. Femma lost their application, and then when they finally got that straightened out and arranged for his trailer to be delivered it arrived with a broken frame. The cell phone they were given will not work, the pump that he had delivered was damaged upon delivery and had to be returned. Today 2 of the transformers in their area blew up and so they were without power. Patrick and Cody have many other stories like this that I still do not know all of them but it makes you very grateful for what you have and makes you wonder how they keep on going.
Patrick said they have each other and God and they believe God will provide for them and he keeps sending them special little extra like we deliver to them. Patrick had not been in touch with his family in Alabama in day’s cause of the phone not working so I gave him a 120-minute phone card. When I asked Cody if there was anyone special he wanted to call and speak to he said his poppa. I asked where his poppa was and he pointed up to heaven. He said he died and he misses him and needs him. When I asked him if he wanted to call his grandma he said yes, but he was quick to tell me she is still in the bar. So I gave him his own 30 min phone card to call his grandma, his face lit up again. It just about broke my heart. I asked if needed anything tomorrow he asked for socks for his boots and some clean clothes.
God is Good. We were told that we are always on call 24/7 while we are down here. I have found on several occasions I have had to do ministry work after hours. You just do not know where the Good Lord will use us. Tonight as we were settling in for the night Nicole & I heard something that felt we both needed to go and do ministry work. We helped to reassure some people and to build trust and faith. We put a plan in action and will help to follow it through. Please pray for the young women from Florida.
God Bless and Good night
# posted by Alexis @ 11:51 p.m. 
