My Not That Exciting but Perfectly Fine Life

Wow! May has been one crazy month! I guess you can probably tell that since I haven’t posted anything since early on in the month. It’s been filled with some great things though!

My parents flew in for a week to meet their new grandson and to spend time with family. It was wonderful to have them here. One of my favorite meals my Mom makes is fried chicken. So while she was here we requested she make it for us, but this time I learned how to cut up the chicken. I don’t know if I’ll be able to remember it…but at least I’ve done it once and can hopefully pull it from my memory bank when I try it again.

The day after my parents went back home, I got up at 4 a.m. and traveled to Gulf Port, Mississippi with a group from my church to help with the Katrina relief effort. It was a long day as we didn’t arrive at camp until around 8 p.m. Steve drove all but two hours…kudos to him for his perseverance and stamina! Even though the trip was really long, I really enjoyed my travel companions! Brianna and Linda were loads of fun to travel with and I soon found out our week was to be filled with lots of laughter.

Our camp facilities were very nice…I’ve been told the nicest of any volunteer camp around. For that I was very thankful! There were 20 bunk beds on one RV camper. A bathroom in the middle separated it into two rooms with 10 bunks on each end. In addition to the two bunk houses (one for men and one for women), there was a Bathroom bunk house where two more toilets, 3 showers, and 3 sinks were located on the women’s side as well as the men’s side. We convened daily for breakfast and supper in a larger trailer that was connected to a storage room and kitchen. We packed our own lunches after breakfast every day and ate on site.

My favorite aspect of the campsite was being right there on the ocean front. We just had a road separating the campsite from the beach. I managed to walk the beach three times and would have loved to gone more, but our schedule didn’t really allow for that. One evening we had a sharing time, another evening we traveled about 40 minutes away to eat a restaurant called The Shed. The name reflects what it looks like literally. It was a barbeque restaurant filled with plenty of character. The protocol was stand in line, order your food, find a seat (we sat outside at picnic tables), and wait for a waitress to come out and scream your name at the top of her lungs at which point you flag her down and confirm it is indeed your order by giving her your last name. I’m amazed they still have their voice by the end of the day.

Anyway, the last evening we were there we hit the road after cleaning up and packing so I didn’t really have time to enjoy the peacefulness of a stroll along the beach. Swimming is officially allowed, but no one is really encouraging it. There has been a lot of yucky stuff wash ashore along with items that could be harmful i.e. glass, metal, etc. I chose to stay on the beach but others braved their way into the water. While walking one day I saw jelly fish washed ashore as well as a large horseshoe crab turned upside down. Linda flipped it over with a stick so it could swim back into the ocean.

Well, it seems I’ve written so much already and haven’t even told you about the service project I was assigned to work at. Leave it to me to be long winded! I worked at the same project site all week long. It entailed moving Ken Wetzel and his family to an old church parsonage that was being renovated because the previous tenant had let it deteriorate. Ken was given the Presidents Call to Service Award from President Bush in 2006. He and his wife, Dawn (pictured on the right) survived Katrina and he has volunteered for 5 different organizations ever since the storm including HCRN, the organization we volunteered with. Their lease was up this last week and it was imperative to get the parsonage in livable condition for the Wetzels so Ken can continue to help with the Katrina relief. I believe they said 1.5 million people were displaced by the hurricane. Many of which are still living in trailers and terrible conditions. It’s not uncommon to see concrete slabs with debris lying all around where a house or building once stood. There are plenty of piles of metal and concrete as well. If you look closely you can see just that behind me in the picture to the left.

My duties were widely varied, yet I still came away without learning much about dry walling and insulating as I had initially thought would be a big portion of our responsibilities last week. Well, plans changed. So, my work entailed packing up items in their old house and loading/unloading several truck loads, cleaning the old house, doing some touch up paint on the old house, painting the kitchen (two coats) in the new house, helping discard of a large pile of construction debris out of their new front yard, helping put new trim on the kitchen ceiling, holding their adorable 15 month old, Elizabeth, cleaning up the new house, and arranging furniture and boxes to make the new place a little more livable.

Others worked hard to get door handles on the doors, ceiling fans hung, electrical work completed, and plumbing finished for a functional bathroom. I’m sure there was plenty of other work completed I’m not even aware of. Even though there were several finishing touches to be done on the house, we left them with a livable home…which was our goal. And as we were reminded all week, don’t feel bad about what work you can’t accomplish because another group is coming right behind you. Hope City has volunteers scheduled for every week throughout the year.

We were required to keep our hours recorded because the government says our volunteer work is worth $18 an hour if we were to be paid. Our group put over $20,000 worth of work into the rebuilding effort this last week. Amazing!

Others in our group worked at a few other sites doing some demolition, insulating, and painting. Holly, one of the girls on the work team, didn’t realize insulation is itchy and pretended it was a boa and wrapped it around her neck as if she were at a fashion show. She soon realized her mistake!

I’m praising God for your prayer support, safe travels, wonderful weather, strength to keep working each new day, good health, new friendships, great teamwork, an opportunity seized to serve and get beyond myself. The work was hard and took a toll on many muscles I didn’t even know existed. I also didn’t do my hair or wear make up all week and sleeping didn’t always come easily. But it was all worth it, because it’s not about me. It’s about Jesus Christ and how he chooses to allow himself to be reflected in my life through my obedience to him in whatever comes my way. It’s humbling to think he’s chosen me to be a vessel for Him.

And now, I challenge and commission you to step out in faith and do something beyond yourself by serving as Christ would serve. Whether it be volunteering a week of your time at Hope City or serving a neighbor in need wherever you live. You’ll be amazed what an impact serving can make in your life and in many others.