Monday June, 25, 2007

This is like a war zone! I have never seen anything like this. There are rows and rows, so many neighborhoods that are abandoned or a trailer is parked in the front yard where people are living, instead of in their house. These are not poor people. What we saw today was once beautiful "gated communities" of 2 story brick homes, lovely ranch homes, pools in back yard; peoples' dream homes. The people are just 'gone' and it has been two years. Every level of income, every age, every color has been impacted.

We talked to a young man today that is now working at BBC (Building Better Communities), the christian organization that we are working with. His name is Dino and he will be a junior in high school. He told us how he sat on his roof for two days as helicopters passed them by. Finally he and his family were rescued. They were dropped off to go to the stadium,as they walked, they passed dead bodies along the way. He said he still remembered the smell. His family's home was lifted and moved off the slab across the street and several slabs later was his house. They have been in Chicago with family for the last 2 years and are just returning.

The women of our group helped Amanda, a 25 year old girl from California that was led to come back here after a mission trip. She is leading a children's program. She has taken on a huge task and needs support. We helped her prepare for a 6 week program she will begin next week. She has 42 children signed up. When we asked her if the kids are afraid when it storms her answer was yes. She is an educated talented young woman who answered God's call to serve this hurting area. She is making a positive impact, helping to heal the wounds of scared childhoods.

The men went to work at gutting a house the last team began to work on. Michael is the owner of the home. He is a New Orleans policeman. Mold is still on the walls of his home. We will see more of that tomorrow.

We went out for ice cream in the local area this evening. A woman my age was trying to keep this little shop going-Sophia's Gelato. She had a story and we listened. She is smiling and has a lot of pride for her city. They just want to get back to some sense of normalcy, the sad part is this war zone has become the normal for them.

Please continue to pray for..........all of it. r