I depart Dublin, Ohio on Friday, September 9th, after Pastor Brian Gath blesses me with the courage to withstand the emotional trauma certain to be witnessed in southern Mississippi and Louisiana. Listening to the radio as I drive gives me comfort that our nation is singularly focused at this time. As I change stations from Columbus to Dayton, to Cincinnati, to Louisville, to Bowling Green, to Nashville, I hear the exact same message in each town - everyone is publicizing where and how to support the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

On Saturday morning my sister, Sarah, and I leave Franklin, TN for our personal mission. Together we journey to Wiggins, MS where one of our first cousins lives. We are struck by the character of the opposing traffic. We see convoys of utility trucks from Detroit Edison, Georgia Power, and other areas leaving Mississippi with their mission accomplished. We see convoys of empty busses returning to their home state. We see convoys of state troopers and sheriffs. It is obvious that many people have already paid a great service to the relief efforts.

Once we arrive in Wiggins, we see the minor roof damage caused by a tree hitting our cousin's home and learn of the roof damage of their daughter's home. Since it is still afternoon, we journey to Gulfport to view our first clean up project - the home of another first cousin, Kenneth. Kenneth's home is in the third block off the beach in Gulfport and it has been severely damaged by trees and water.

Front view of home

Side view of home

We take a short tour toward the beach seeing more destruction: houses moved off their foundation, houses moved aside other houses, etc.

House off foundation

House leaning against another

The stench grows the closer we walk toward the beach, and we now discover that the next two blocks of homes and living complexes have already been bulldozed. There is nothing left but rubble. In fact, it is hard to recognize much more than a toilet or some other small fixture from a home. ... We know that we cannot do much for Kenneth's home, but we can try to lessen the load of the tree on his roof and clear the other fallen trees, so that when he returns from Texas, he can focus on assessment and clean up inside his home. That will be our mission for Monday.

On Sunday morning we worship at Bethel Baptist Church where our cousin's husband is preaching. We learn at the service that three mission teams will be arriving in the afternoon and staying at the church for the week; any member of the church needing help in tree removal or roof protection should put their name on a list.

In the afternoon we drive to our old hometown of Slidell, LA to see if we can find any of our friends who we have been unable to reach by telephone. As we pass by my alma mater, Salmen High School, we see military personnel keeping watch. We visit our old neighborhood and see the terrible destruction. Not only did fallen trees crush houses, but the water rose to seven feet inside the homes there on Westchester Place, creating havoc with the furnishings and leaving a deposit of several inches of muck (mud, sewage, silt, etc.) in each one. The church across the street, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, has lost its entire roof and stained glass windows. While we see the destruction of friends' homes, we see none of our friends. We then journey a few blocks north (away from Lake Pontchartrain) and find a dear friend of the church family sitting in tears in her carport. Aided by another church member, she has tried to pull out a few articles of clothing which she hopes can be saved with careful cleaning. We learn that our home church (Slidell First UMC) was also flooded with four feet of water and lost almost everything. We pledge to come back in the middle of the week to help where we can.

Our Lady of Lourdes

Neighbor's home

Inside our former home

With appropriate entry documentation from cousin Kenneth, we journey to Gulfport on Monday morning and enter the "war zone." Armed with heavy gloves, chain saws, rakes and trash bags, we remove as much debris as we can. While working at his home, hardly an hour goes by without someone in a truck stopping by to make sure we have enough water, food, and ice for the day. We are visited by UMCOR (United Methodist Committee On Relief) representatives and given a flood bucket! We meet a United Methodist Volunteers in Mission team from northern Mississippi who are there to take down trees and put tarps on roofs to protect homes from further damage. The tree on Kenneth's home is too large for us or them to take down, and it prevents us from covering the roof with a tarp. Nevertheless, we are pleased to clear the way for Kenneth to do home clean-up later in the week.

Pile of limbs and debris

Property after clean up

I should mention more about the supplies. Everywhere we drive we see distribution centers set up, mostly to distribute MRE's (military rations), other non-perishable food, water, ice and clothing. Almost every strip shopping area has boxes and boxes of donated clothing that has been picked through. There is no organization to the clothing, and it just sits unattended day after day. When it rains, I know it will get wet, and I fear that much of the donated clothing will end up in a landfill.

Tuesday was planned to be a small construction project to fix the ridge cap of my cousin's daughter Lesia's roof. I had been told that a branch fell and put a small hole in the roof, and I naively believed that I could repair a truss or two, re-lay sheathing, and put new shingles on her roof. Unfortunately, what we find is not small. The branch that fell is almost a foot in diameter, and it broke 5-6 rafters. It is a much larger project that what we could tackle at the time, so we buy a 20x20 tarp and secure it to the roof to protect them from the rain until a permanent repair can be made. We also cut down half-fallen trees and cleared debris from her property as well as my cousin's property.

Lesia's home

Roof damage

On Wednesday we venture to Slidell and return to our dear friend's home to help her clean out her home. Water had risen to the four foot level in her room, so anything at that level or below has been soaked and is now growing mold. She wants to save the model trains that her son collected, but there is little else that can be saved. The muck in the house and the buckled wooden parquet floor make it difficult to walk without slipping. Did you ever think about what books in a bookcase do when submerged? It's not pretty. You cannot remove the swollen books without taking a crowbar to the bookcase itself. Food left in a refrigerator for two weeks without power has an odor than will take your breath away. With help from other church friends, we are able to clean out the home by early afternoon and break for lunch. During the lunch break we discover that some of our neighbors have now returned and need help. We promise to help them on Thursday and return to remove the parquet floors today. You might ask, "Where will she live?" The church family came to her rescue. She was graciously accepted into the home of another member whose house was not affected by the storm.

Removing parquet floor

After clean out

Common street scene

On Thursday we return to Slidell and work on our former neighbor's home. The water line (or should I say, mold line?) in the home is about a foot from the ceiling. The muck inside is so deep that we remove sectional sofas by merely laying them on their side and sliding them out the door. Furniture is no longer where it belongs. A neighbor states it this way: "It was like the house was filled with water and then put on a spin cycle. Living room items ended up in the kitchen. Kitchen items ended up in the master bedroom. There was no rhyme or reason as to where you would find anything." In the garage, a freezer ended up laying flat, perfectly positioned on the hood of a car. At first our former neighbors seem convinced that they can clean and salvage many of their belongings, but after about an hour they are overwhelmed by the destruction and simply want to get everything out. It's easy to understand their feelings - where would you start to store something to clean it when you don't have a home at all any more? Yet, it's hard to part with damaged photos if they are the only memory you have of a special occasion. It's hard to part with furniture that was originally owned by your great-grandfather. It's hard to leave behind pictures painted by your mother. It's so hard to put memories in the trash to be hauled away. We share their tears but know that their love for each other and their faith in God will give them a new beginning.

Neighbor's garage

After a clothes change, we bid farewell