Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Mississippi Mission Trip


We are at the end of Day 3 and so far we are having a wonderful time. We're sleeping on air mattresses on the floor of Sunday School rooms and taking showers in a small shed they've fitted with plumbing and shower stalls. We wake up in time for breakfast at 7 and we stay up playing games and doing laundry until late at night.












Mr. at Home was assigned to work with some of the long-term volunteers to lay the foundation for a new house. The rest of us have been moving around from job to job. We started Monday morning together to clean up a yard, where the kids found a really, really great old oak tree that was perfect for climbing. In between tasks, the limbs of that old tree were filled with intrepid climbers. The inside of the house was gutted and is being rebuilt by different volunteer crews. Those are the skilled workers, but there's still plenty of work for us grunts and we've been having a blast.

L has charmed her way into the hearts of everyone here, including three of the older girls in our group who have been acting as her babysitters/audience. K is loving having so many other kids around all the time to play with. K came with me yesterday to paint and L joined us today. The lady who's house we're rebuilding has been so wonderful and just adores all the kids. It's great that the girls have met some of the people that have given their lives to this rebuilding cause as well as some of the people that are being helped.

Driving around the neighborhoods, it's so odd to see the driveways that go to nowhere, the empty concrete slabs and posts, the houses that are still boarded up, and the damaged buildings that sit next to the glitzy rebuilt casinos. And this is three years after the hurricane.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Kathryn has an Aunt Bethany haircut from childhood.