Katrina Mission Trip Report

This April, I was lucky enough to be able to go with thirteen others on a mission trip to Vancleave, MS. Vancleave is inland from the coast so the damage done during Hurricane Katrina was from tornadoes, wind and rain rather than storm surge. Vancleave is in Jackson County, which we learned is only 15% recovered.

We stayed at UMCOR’S “Camp Hope”, a multi-functional building which houses a warehouse, men’s & women’s dorms, bathrooms and a small lunch room. We ate our morning and evening meals at the Vancleave Methodist Church.

Part of the Covenant Agreement for Camp Hope is:

“We are privileged to have the opportunity to serve our great God by being volunteers in mission. Our primary purpose as volunteers is to radiate the love of Jesus Christ. We are to invest ourselves in the mission and honor God in all we do. Our Task may be to clean up, or hang sheetrock, or put on a roof. But our Purpose, which is far more important, is to be a living expression of God’s love, building relationships and loving those who need our help.”

Most nights during devotions, we were asked, “Where did you see God today?”. I would like to tell you some of the places I saw God.

Upon arrival at our worksite my group found a house that was full of mold, with a rotted roof, walls and floor and all kinds of critters. I didn’t think I would ever see God in that place. We were asked to do our best to fix up what we could and try to make this home a bit more livable for the seven people that lived there. Among the seven were twin baby girls that were about three months old. We all felt despair that we were only putting a Band-Aid on the situation but we kept working on it and praying that somehow the unfairness of that family having to live under such conditions would somehow be resolved in a more permanent way. Finally, by the third day, we were making some progress with our repairs. On Thursday we arrived at the house ready to start putting up drywall, install cabinets and hook up a new dishwasher. Spirits were up and all systems were go. Then a phone call came. We were to stop work! Due to a new program through the Red Cross, a refurbished trailer home had become available for this family. Although we felt as though we had wasted three full days of work we knew that what we had done was necessary in order for someone to realize that this family was living in a very unhealthy home. We had had the worst working conditions but in the end we were able to see lives really being changed the most. This was truly a gift from God and our many prayers were answered.

I also saw God in the twinkle of the “convict’s” eyes when he told me to relax and take a deep breath when I was trying to back a trailer up a ramp at the local dump. It didn’t help that Ruth Nubson was sitting next to me laughing the whole time. One would think that I would have been nervous being around convicts who were helping at the dump but in “Bird’s” case, he was my savior.

I saw God in the actions of our group, especially the three young men who gave up their spring break to travel to MS. to paint, insulate a very hot attic, help with plumbing and electrical and paint some more. They were amazing.

I saw God in the volunteers from the Vancleave Methodist Church who have been feeding up to fifty volunteers every day since two weeks after the hurricane hit. To date they have had approximately 5,000 volunteers stay at Camp Hope. When I asked one of the women in the kitchen how they managed to find people to cook meals every day she told me that God had provided volunteers from the congregation.

I saw God in Miss Lillie’s eyes (our homeowner) when we presented her with a Bible provided by UMCOR and signed by our work group. I know that her new Bible will be well used.

I saw God in a little boy’s eyes when someone from our group bought him a new bicycle after his old bike had been run over.

God was everywhere on our trip. One of the funniest times I saw God was when my Uncle Daryl tore his peanut butter sandwich in half to share it with the little boy. It wasn’t when Daryl gave the little guy half of his sandwich that I saw God, it was when the little boy decided he didn’t like peanut butter and gave it back to Daryl. You would have to know how much Daryl loves peanut butter to really understand what a gift from God that was.

I know that every member of the mission trip has stories to tell. Ask them where they saw God in MS when you see them in church. The other members of the Mission trip were Adam Comerford, Pastor Lisa Dodd and her father Leo Dodd, Rich Dohrmann, Aaron & Karen Drake, Travis & Shirley Hutchins, my aunt and uncle Eunice and Daryl Johnson, my cousin Becky Armstrong, and Dick & Ruth Nubson.

Thank you to all who kept us in your prayers, they were answered.