L3 - Day 1

The good news is the new pods have arrived!



The bad news is that they haven't been put up and so we find ourselves living in the old, bio-degrading ones.



Who says God doesn't have a sense of humor?

After a very windy, rather chilly night, Sunday dawned - still windy and rather chilly. But the arrival of the sun boded well.

We worshipped with the congregation here in Luling. Be sure to ask someone in the group to sing you "Jesus is Alive" to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell.



After lunch we set out on a tour of the areas of New Orleans that were most affected by Katrina. The route and commentary was written by a professor from Tulane. We drove along the 17th Avenue canal where the first breach occured.



Then on along the coast of Lake Pontchatrain. We stopped by the house the first group worked on.



And then made a sentimental return to Burger King for a bathroom break. Next down Eylesian Fields and across North Claiborne to the Ninth Ward. As with trips past, they vans became quiet as the scope of the devastation became more pronounced.






There are three other groups sharing the camp with us. One from Gaithersburg, Maryland, another from Greenville, South Carolina and a crew who just arrived from Minnesota.

Jeff Doody is in command of the kitchen tonight reprising his beef brisket extravaganza that he first prepared last August.

Work begins tomorrow.

Keep us in your prayers.

BTW - for you L1 & L2 teams - the trains are still running!!!!!

 

 

 

 

L3 - Day 2

Unfortunately the Day 2 report got lost in cyberspace.

L3 - Day 3

We headed out of camp a half hour earlier today – 7:30 a.m. – in order to avoid traffic and get more time at the work site. It was a pretty good plan that was temporarily interrupted by the four cars that failed to stop as quickly as the one ahead of them. So we crawled along I10 for a while.

The crew from Minnesota are our heroes. They dry walled ceilings yesterday and so they no longer had need for the drywall lift – a wonderful contraption that accomplishes what it took four human beings to accomplish the day before. And it even tilts, so vaulted ceilings become a piece of cake.



Once the team was able to finish the ceiling in the bedroom they were able to divide and conquer. One group started the bedroom walls, while the others moved in to tackle the kitchen ceiling.



Wes made a new friend today. Sabrina who lives across the street. She is quite cute with curly hair and was particularly attracted to Wes’ beef jerky. She also was grateful for Sue sharing her sandwich with her. You see, Sabrina is four legged with some Poodle in her lineage. She spent the entire rest of the day with the crew and jumped in the van at the end of the day, more than willing to come back to camp with us.


David met with Sara Edgecome who is the Coordinator of St. Charles Street Presbyterian Church’s Rhino (Rebuilding Hope in New Orleans) ministry. This is the program that Louisiana IV will staying and working with in August.


This will be "home base" for the August Trip



It’s a fun experience for us to be constructing rather than deconstructing. It’s a different kind of satisfaction tied to the experience of moving hope along. And it’s a very cool feeling to see that we actually can “pull it off” – or actually “put it up.”

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Greetings from New Orleans from Kim Hart! Getting up this morning on the second day was not as easy as it was the morning of our first day. Bodies were more sore, but hearts were upbeat about the day that lay ahead. Walking into the house on Robert St. this morning was unbelievable. The amount of work that we accomplished yesterday blew my mind. As a whole, we decided that perhaps we should pace ourselves due to the rising temperature and the humidity (not to mention, our bodies gave us no choice).

Looking around the house reminded me of an empty shell of what once was. At this same time though, it gave me a hopeful feeling of what one day will be. Yes, we are deconstructing a house…a “life,” but at the same time we are providing an opportunity for a “rebirth.” A new life and existence for someone who had lost everything. A clean slate to rebuild on.

Someone on our team found a bracelet in the back of a closet. It was in a small box, made of leather (that was somewhat decayed from the water damage), and in the box was a handwritten note on a piece of legal paper. Even though I did not read the note, I held that bracelet in my hand and felt sadness. I was sad because the bracelet was “forgotten.” It made me think of the many people down here that fell as if they were “forgotten.”

I began to think that we have not forgotten. We are here helping. Jesus said to His disciples “Even though I am not here, I am always with you.” These people and this experience will ALWAYS be with me. I look at my hands right now as I am typing this message, the calluses on my hands are a sore reminder of the days work. My heart though is not callused. It is open and aches for these people. It hopes that all of them can rebuild their lives.

Many people can easily donate to a cause and thank God for that. I donated with my prayers, my heart, and my sweat and for me that has made all the difference (in my life and hopefully in the person that we have helped here).

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Remember that tomorrow is "hump day" so you need to be especially ardent in your praying.

L3 - Day 4

Hump Day! What Hump Day!

We awoke to the ominous sound of rain drops on the pod roofs. Then the rain drops turned into a forty piece drum corps as the skies opened. Oh, no! But after 20 minutes or so, it ended and the western sky began to show hints of clearing. By the time we headed out of camp at 7:45 a.m. the sun was out and it turned into a beautiful day in the high 70s. At long last we have broken the weather jinks.

The drywall crew – Wes Mattice, Joe Soffayer, Charlie Judd, Sue Welton, Janna Bellwin, Bob Van Dyke and David (when he’s not running off to Home Depot, or some meeting, or the other work site) – made enormous progress today. The master bedroom is finished. The kitchen ceiling and soffits – finished – and the walls begun.




Mr. Washington stopped by again to survey the progress. He’s anxious for us to get his cabinets up and we keep trying to let him know that we’ll be lucky to get his walls up by week’s end. He seemed relieved to know that others would follow after us.


Later in the afternoon, his sister arrived. She was dealing with a construction crew that she had hired to do some repair work on the chimney. She also let us know that she’d be back on Friday with fried chicken for lunch. We’ll have to keep it quiet or members of the demolition team will be trying to inveigle a change into team drywall.

Though MIA when we arrived at the site, Sabrina finally made her appearance later in the day.

On the way home we took the “scenic” route through town, partially because of a traffic jam on I10 and partially so our two vans could also get to experience the Huey Long Bridge.

That route also took us by the site of the PGA’s Zurich Open that begins tomorrow. We’ll know where to find David if he suddenly disappears.

* * * * * *

Hi. My name is Peter Yanicky.


Upon awakening I was just happy to be dry. I could not participate much in breakfast prep (because I cannot cook); clean-up was my early-day accomplishment.

Work started slow for me and everyone else. After lunch I found my project and worked at it: disassembling the back room of our assigned house. People who organize Fish Camp are great. They make all the work on the jobs possible. All is well coordinated and everyone is great to work with. I appreciate all they do here. Without them, all this activity would just be a dream. For the first time in recent years, I’m on vacation and feel this is the best way to spend vacation: helping people and accomplishing some thing permanent. Thank-you to everyone for the experience.

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Hey – Doug here. What an exciting day!



We went over the Huey Long bridge expecting to possibly finish the house we’re working on (we didn’t). The main task for the day was to knock out one of the ceilings and get rid of the really-moldy insulation in the attic space above.

Mike Nauman and Frank Matsuda were our “astronauts” today. They looked like spacemen with their Tyvek® suits; they had to climb in the attic to kick ceiling out. It was quite dusty and messy.

Luckily we had Elaine “Elaine-o-lux” Best with the broom today.
She was on the job and there was no dirt particle that was safe. She helped clean up what was on the floor after Mike and Frank kicked out the ceiling.

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It’s true – Mr. Doody didn’t believe Mr. Van Dyke about how hard those plaster ceilings were going to be. At lunchtime, he confessed that he was now a believer!



Tomorrow is our half day of work and trip to the French Quarter for dinner. So that means that we get to leave camp at 7 a.m. Early call tomorrow.

Keep up that praying. It’s keeping us going!

L3 - Day 5

Since we were only going to work the morning, we decided to leave camp even earlier today – 7 a.m. Both work teams noticed the same thing - they work well to deadlines. Both manage to get an amazing amount done in only 3½ hours. The reality that our time here is quickly winding toward a conclusion seemed to spur the intensity.

The kitchen is almost finished and Bob and Charlie knocked out most of the ceiling in the second bedroom.



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Greetings to the Saints back in Stamford from New Orleans. This is Frank Matsuda contributing to this blog.
I’ve been blessed with a last minute opportunity to accompany our intrepid team on this wonderful mission in an area that will need continuing help for years to come. The scope of the devastation was reinforced on Sunday’s tour of the city. I am encouraged by all the hard work and teamwork of everyone not only on our team, but the fellow Presbyterians we have met from Maryland, North Carolina, Minnesota and the staff here at Fish Camp in Luling, Louisiana. It is rewarding to feel we are contributing to the hope in this part of the country.

We were up early this morning and on the road by 7:05am and were at our work site on Roberts Road in about 40 minutes. The demolition team has made good progress on this house. Mike Naumann and I donned the Tyvek suits and ventured up into the attic and were able to kick, knock and brush out the ceiling and abundant insulation of three of the rear rooms. Peter Yanicky was a one man demolition crew on the rearmost room. Caryl Castellion and Kim Hart were diligently pulling out exposed nails. Doug Edwards, Jeff Doody, John Harter and Karen Peebles were bringing 3 feet of accumulated insulation on the floor in garbage barrels to the street and Elaine “Elaine-o-lux” was sweeping up all the debris. Whew! We were determined to finish by 11am in order to get back to camp and get cleaned up and back on the road by 1pm.





“Hurricane on the Bayou” at the Imax at the Audubon Aquarium was our destination for 2 p.m. Then a leisurely walk down Riverfront Plaza to Jackson Square. Some of us did a mule carriage ride tour around the French Quarter before a 5:30 p.m. dinner with everyone from our group at the Gumbo Shop and wonderful New Orleans cuisine. Finally a brief walk down a surprisingly lively Bourbon Street for a weeknight before heading back to Fish Camp to finish some chores before some much needed rest. What a day!

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We had a wonderful time in the Quarter tonight. IMAX, leisure time, the Gumbo Shop, beignets & café au lait, and a stroll down neon lit Bourbon Street.



Then on back to camp to top of the night cleaning showers and the outdoor sinks. Nothing like communal living!

It is hard to believe that Friday is just an hour and a half away. Our last day of work. Time flies when you are having fun – especially doing God’s work with sisters and brothers in Christ.

Pray hard that we’ll stay strong through tomorrow!