Blessed be Your name, on the road marked with suffering.

Our caravan consisted of 4 SUV’s to transport 15 people. On the trip down our leaders placed us in different cars and asked us to share our testimonies with one another as a chance to connect and share what God has done in our lives. We shifted at lunch, and again the next morning, in order to get to know more people and avoid any cliquish behavior. It was absolutely incredible, everyone became instantly honest, humbled, and broken. There were many tears and even laughter. God began working on all our hearts as soon as we stepped foot into our first car.

Through distant connections (our team leader's brother's friend from college and his family), we had a place to stay on Wednesday night in Birmingham, Alabama. The house that I stayed in was one of the most gorgeous houses that I've ever been in. They happened to have 3, yes THREE, spare bedrooms, all equipped with their own bathrooms. I swear the bed that I slept in had like 527,000 thread count sheets and there was one of those foamish padding things on the mattress that when you press down on it, the imprint of your finger stays there for like 5 minutes. Considering we left without knowing we would have a place to stay, thinking we would not have a chance to sleep in a bed, and possibly not even be able to have a clean shower for a week, this was truly a blessing. One of many that we would encounter on our journey.

On Thursday morning, we traveled the last leg of our drive south. We were rained on, literally, by swarms of insects we later learned were lovebugs. Apparently these bugs like to breathe the fumes emitted by cars and are a considerable nuisance to motorists. They are only seasonal, and we happened to be lucky enough to be going to the south during the height of the season. They are called lovebugs because you rarely see one bug by itself. They fly around constantly procreating, butt to butt. We spent a week attempting to keep the procreating lovebugs off of our bodies.

When we arrived in Mandeville that afternoon we went immediately to the Church that was in charge of us, Church of the King (their website was based on a server in New Orleans so they lost the entire thing, this is a temporary site giving info until they can re-create their site). Church of the King is one of the Churches that headed up the PRC Compassion response 3 days after Katrina hit. We were basically volunteers for this organization. That afternoon, we were sent to Lakeshore Church, also in Mandeville, which had become a clothing distribution center for the numerous boxes of clothing donated from all over the country. We spent the afternoon unloading, folding, and sorting clothes. This was where we encountered our first evacuees. There were two women who came in looking for clothes for the children in their families. They were from New Orleans, and were temporarily staying in Baton Rouge. We asked one of the women if she planned to return to New Orleans, and she said that she was going to relocate permanently to Georgia where her brother lives.

After our afternoon of work, we retreated to the volunteer shelter that we would be staying in, Franco's Athletic Club. Our accommodations were far more than we ever expected. We had awesome bathrooms equipped with clean, warm showers, towels, a washer and dryer, and even hair dryers! We stayed in the gymnasium section of the club on cots. We were prepared to sleep on the floor, as we were told to bring air mattresses and sleeping bags. We had electricity, and plenty of air-conditioning. Another blessing from God!

The next day we (the girls, the boys were sent to work the chainsaws and take trees off people's houses) were sent to Joy Fellowship Church in Slidell, the hardest hit area by Katrina's eye wall. Joy Fellowship was preparing to become a distribution center; their sanctuary was FULL of boxes upon boxes of supplies that had been delivered. They needed help unpacking, sorting, and moving all of the supplies to prepare to open at 5 pm that day. In addition, we needed to make sure that the sanctuary was empty and ready for worship the coming Sunday. Another team member and I were in charge of baby supplies. One of many days that I would be put in the baby supply section. I now know more about Enfamil, good start, Similac, and Isomil then I ever needed to know. There were two displaced families using Joy Fellowship as their temporary home. Pastor Larry and his wife were there working alongside of us, one of the displaced families was their daughter and her husband and children. At lunch, we had a chance to sit and talk with the pastor and his wife. She told us about how the hotel room they had reserved for evacuation had been double-booked, and there were denied a room. On Sunday evening, they had to drive looking for a suitable place to stay. They ended up in a hotel somewhere in Mississippi. On Monday, Katrina blew through the area, broke open the windows of their room and water rushed in. But God kept them safe. They returned to find their home in Slidell salvageable, but their daughter's home was not. She told us about the trees and the flood damage. She teared up many times as she explained their experiences of the previous 2 weeks.

While the distribution of supplies was not open yet, the Church was passing out ice out front. This was a supply that would not last long, and needed to be distributed. While a few of our team members were distributing, a homeless man came to the Church. His name was Marlin. He was from Illinois, where he had been living in a homeless shelter. He had been told that if he came down to Louisiana and worked in a shelter that he would be paid, housed, and fed well. He did so, and he was unexplainably mistreated. He was covered in chigger bites and had been fed scraps of food, barely enough to survive. He desperately wanted to find his way back home to Illinois. One of our guys decided he would take him to the bus station, not far away and buy him a ticket home. The man said that he needed to return to the shelter for his friend first. When they arrived there, Marlin said to his friend, "I told you I'd come back for you with help. I told you I wouldn't leave you here." This man, Marlin had his ticket home, yet he remembered and went back for his friend. Unfortunately, by the time they arrived at the bus station, it was closed. They ended up taking them to a FEMA location where they could find help, housing, and hopefully a way home.

The next day was Saturday, September 17th. We arrived at Church of the King for our daily assignment and found out that we would be staying and working their distribution line as they found they were short-staffed for the day. I was again placed in the baby section. The way the distribution line worked was that cars would pull through to the first station, bottled water, and volunteers would places cases of water in their vehicle, they would then move on to the next station where they received bags of non-perishable food, toiletries, cleaning supplies, toilet paper, and paper towels. If there was a need, they would move on to the special needs section where they told us what kind of diapers, wipes, baby food, formula, or feminine products that they needed, and we would run and get it. This was my first section. It was awesome to be able to work on the front line and talk a bit to some of the people coming through. The most memorable of the morning was a lady in a mini-van full of people. I turned to look in her window to ask what she needed and her smile was BEAMING. I immediately smiled and laughed with her and said, "Wow! You are so happy." She replied, "Honey, that's because God is good!" I agreed with her and asked about what she needed. She continued smiling as she told me. You could not wipe the smile from this woman's face nor the light of Jesus shining from her. I asked about the diapers, food, etc...and about feminine products. She said in a fast-paced monologue, "Honey, my daughter just had a baby and she needs some of those feminine products. She probably wants some tampons but I say she needs pads. That girl says she can already have sex but I just think she's just crazy. It's not possible. So you better give me some pads for her." In the meantime, I'm rolling on the ground in laughter. We filled up her car and she just couldn't stop smiling and exclaiming the greatness of God. She was easily my most memorable encounter. I later asked some other team members at different stations if they remembered her as well, and they did. She was a light.

The distribution line closed at 3 that day so Church of the King could prepare for their Saturday evening service. We were able to rest for just a bit and then they told us that they needed us back over at Joy Fellowship to help unload a few trucks that they were expecting. It had already been a very long, tiring day and we were covered in dirt, sweat, sunburns, and much Deet. During the drive over I was able to check my voice mail for some Miami v. Clemson game updates. It was not going well, despite me wearing my green shorts to match my orange Relief Team t-shirt and my Canes hat. We arrived at Joy Fellowship and helped them unload the trucks. There were also a few people there from an organization called can-do.org. One of whom had a camera attached to his face at all times. I checked out there website today (see the ‘Katrina Update’ blog entry), and apparently my back is now famous (yes, that’s me right there in the hat, covered in dirt and all). We unloaded 2 trucks and helped them start sorting some of the supplies.

Finally, our work for the day was completed and we were off, covered in dirt, sweat, grime, and deet to a Mexican restaurant to celebrate the 30th birthday of Julie, one of my most inspiring team members. We had an awesome time of fellowship around the dinner table. Everyone else in the place was in their Saturday night attire, and here we are, most likely smelling the place up and being loud with our large party. Towards the end of the dinner, a man came by and asked to speak with our team leader privately. We all immediately let out an “uh oh.” She came back and told the table, “Because the owner’s of this restaurant knew we were here from out of town to help out with relief efforts, our dinner is on the house.” It was amazing. If we had returned to Franco’s to clean up and change clothes, this would not have happened. Another blessing from God! We were also able to share some of Julie’s cake with some tables around us, and as a result some of the team was able to share with them the reason we were there. I’m telling you people, God really is awesome.

On Sunday morning we had the chance to attend the worship service at Church of the King. The Sanctuary was packed as more and more Mandeville residents were returning. I’ll also point out here that the city of Mandeville’s population has doubled; it is now full of displaced people trying to get their lives in order. Traffic was terrible the entire time we were there. The streets and interstates are not yet equipped to handle the population. Not to mention the fact that they also were hit by Katrina and are attempting to recover their homes, jobs, and utility lines. The service was amazing as God’s presence was felt throughout the room. People were hugging one another and giving updates on how they fared the storm to their Church family. It was great to see these people worshipping Jesus despite what they’ve been through.

The distribution line opened at noon on Sunday, after the services. We again stayed at Church of the King to help with these efforts. In the meantime, we had to go in shifts to a clinic to get Hep A and Tetanus shots as we were to go to New Orleans on Monday. (A side note: When I was at the makeshift clinic I saw a hand written note on one of the signs in the waiting area that said “Jim Cantore stopped by to see so and so, will return later.” How cool is that? Jim Cantore!) After my shots, I returned to the front line and worked one of the food/toiletry stations. This is where I encountered a woman in a huge van, barely able to drive because of the tears streaming down her face. I immediately ran to her car to see about her well-being. She said that the impact of what had happened and what she had to deal with in the future was just hitting her. She runs a home for mentally challenged adults. I peered in the back of the van and saw 5 of these men, staring, seemingly in shock. Tears continued and I began to cry with her. One of the guys in our group came up to the van and asked if we could pray for her. She grabbed my hand and held it while he prayed.

That evening we had an amazing time of worship, prayer, and Bible study with our group. I think each one of us was touched by this time together with our Jesus and it was evident the work that was going on in all of our hearts, and mostly in our faith. Throughout the trip I was shown the importance of truly giving it all up to God, in faith. God will take care of us if and when we hand it all over to Him. I was also shown what it’s like to have a constant connection with Jesus through prayer. When I’m tired, I’ll put off praying or spending time with Him. I learned that this is when I need Him most. When we are weak, tired, and feel like we can do no more, we can ask Jesus for strength to press on towards the goal. It’s okay to stop what you’re doing, say a prayer, and be renewed.

One of the guys in our group is from New Orleans originally. His grandparents lost their home to flood, the home they’ve been in for 30 or 40 odd years. This was our reason for going to New Orleans on Monday. We packed up our cars with supplies and had our National Guard passes ready to get through the roadblocks. Mark had already been to the house a previous day, and we were going to help salvage anything and everything possible and help them assess for insurance purposes. We traveled from Mandeville to Jefferson Parrish via the 22 mile Lake Pontchatrain Causeway. (You can see the google map again if you are interested.) We drove through Jefferson Parish and saw much flood damage, which looks very different from Hurricane damage. There was unrecognizable trash everywhere and you could see the flood lines on houses and fences about 3 or 4 feet up the walls, the water had long receded. We got to the roadblock and we were denied entry. They were only letting people in with Construction passes. We later found out that they were denying entry as a result of Hurricane Rita and a possible approach of the storm. This entry point into Orleans Parish was right at a levee. After being denied, we turned around back through Jefferson Parish. We pulled into some parking spots and got out of the car to go up to the levee. We climbed on crates to look over and we were right across from one of the breaches. I was amazed at how small the breach seemed and how it had assisted in flooding the entire city. You can see here on the Google Katrina map the breach that we saw and the flooding that was there on August 31^st. Also, here is a map from CNN, this was the first breach on the left. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get some pictures from my team, as I did not take a camera with me on the trip.

We returned to Mandeville to work the distribution lines at Church of the King once again. This time, I was in the cleaning supply section, bagging an array of supplies to be handed out. Unfortunately, cleaning supplies had been demoted from the tent and I was in the sun the entire day long in heat that I have not felt in quite a long time. Let me tell you, I have some pretty cool farmer tans going on. I did roll up my t-shirt sleeves so the tan on my arms is DARK despite the amounts of sunscreen that I continued to apply throughout the day. This was by far the hardest day we had on our trip. I was filthy and exhausted, but it was so worth it.

The days that we spent on the line we saw a range of people and cars drive through picking up supplies. We see through the media that Katrina seemed to devastate only the impoverished people living in New Orleans, but it didn’t. The storm had absolutely no class distinctions. There were people in nice cars coming through, people whose pride was hurt to be accepting handouts. But through it all, people were blessed by the help offered by the many people that donated to the cause in Jesus’ name. When people continually thanked us for our work and help, all we could was to say that it was not us, it was God. None of these efforts would have been possible without Christ working through the many contributors of time, goods, and skills.

Possibly because of our group’s generational enthusiasm (or stupidity, if you’d rather), we decided to return to Franco’s, take showers, pack-up, go out to eat a good dinner and get on the road, to drive through the night. We had originally planned to leave at 4 am Tuesday to return around 1 am Wednesday, but thought it best to go ahead and leave and take driving shifts throughout the journey. We left around 11:30 pm (central time) and somehow I got the first shift as a co-pilot, keeping the driver awake until 5 am. The only problem we ever encountered on either trip (down or back) was a nail in the tire that was discovered while we were eating lunch on Tuesday. It was an extremely quick fix at a nearby auto-shop and we were back on the road within the half hour. Another blessing! We returned to the Church around 8 pm Tuesday night. We gathered our belongings, gave our hugs and said our good-bye’s. We are meeting for our team de-brief on Sunday before Frontline and I can’t wait to see the whole team again. We were truly blessed with an incredible group and lasting friendships.

If you happened to make it all the way to the end of this, thank you so much for reading and for the many prayers that were lifted up for our team. We could feel the prayers coming from home, and across the country in some circumstances. Thanks again…and I’ll say it one more time that God is an awesome God and is worthy of all Praise!