Holy Trinity at the Gathering

We didnt really do anything today. We went to the interaction center we were there for a few hours. Pastor and Dee Dee gave blood and lots of it. Then we went to the River walk and Zach and I got this stuff and painted our hair red well it was pinkish but samedifference. Then we went to the superdome. We came back to relax which lasted for like a whole 15 minutes then we were called to our room for final 15 then we went to(are going to) sleep! GOOD NIGHT ALL

Today was a special day because we met a very special person, Brian, a friend of pastor Tim’s. He gave us an outstanding, educational tour of post Katrina. He brought us right into the reality of the disaster with his detailing. The holes on the roof tops where people were escaping from their homes. The code markings on the sides of the houses indicating whether the house had been inspected, bodies found, family pets found. Empty lots where there once were homes. It was definitely a reality check. It certainly made the most impact on me to why we’re here, in New Orleans. It was comforting then to see the new construction that churches and different volunteer organizations have started here. There’s still much more to be done. For lunch he took us to a fun diner that showed a more laid back side of New Orleans. There I had plantains for the first time. Finally, he took us for a refreshing New Orleans treat, Snowballs! They reminded me of flavored,(coconut for me), snow cream like my mother and grandmother used to make. It was delicious! Meeting Brian was the highlight of the week for me. Thank you Brian, dahlin’! The topper of the evening goes to the Christian rock band Skillet! I forget my age when I go to a good rock concert! They were awesome! It’s been a wonderful day.

What an insane day today. We got to see some houses that survived Katrina and see how they marked the houses when they searched for dead bodies! Or how some houses had holes on the roofs because people had to saw their way out of their homes. We also say places that were just really tall grass where homes used to be, also we learned that the water was about 13ft up in the air.. We also learned that when you got back to your home and if you wanted to stay in it that you had to take everything off the walls until you get to the wood beams and then you had to let them dry. The one house that we went to had nothing but the beams and a toilet but the beams looked as if they were rotted! It was kinda cool but kinda weird at the same time! We also went to the dome again I had fun but I guess something like bugged me the whole time but I enjoyed it to the best of my ability:) We ate lunch at Slim Goodies the food was okayish! Then we got this snoball it was like shaved ice, I got grape flavor it tasted like medicine………. Well I guess that was the adventure of my day…..

Today was our tour-around-New-Orleans day.  My friend Brian Perry  joined us for the morning, and gave us the insider’s perspective.  We started by driving through the French Quarter and over to the 9th Ward, which has gotten a lot of press.  It’s incredible how close these are — the Quarter which wasn’t under water, and then what stretches for hours of driving that was.  Brian said that over 80% of the city was flooded after Katrina.

Down in the 9th Ward, we saw houses that had been gutted — after the water, if an owner planned to keep the house, they had to strip it down to its studs and let them dry, and then clean and sand off the residue from the water even from there.  It was striking how many empty lots there were, where before Katrina were proud houses, children playing, a park.

One house we saw had a hole punched in the roof, which Brian said was where a homeowner had to chop through his/her own roof to get up on top, to get away from the water.  It was a very striking day.

Then tonight’s Mass Gathering featured two speakers, a young man whose legs had to be amputated at age 2, and another young man who was a child soldier in the Republic of Congo at age 5.  Imagine — at age 5, he was abducted by rebel soldiers, blindfolded, told to pull the trigger of the AK-47 they handed him, only to pull off his blindfold and discover that he’d just killed his best friend, Kevin.  And then the soldiers told him, “You’re a killer now.  Your family won’t want you back.  We’re your only family now.”

All in all, a powerful day.

More pictures at Gathering – Friday

Well today was one of the sad days we had we went out and saw were Katrina had done the most damage. We would see a X on a house and on the top it said who the house was searched by and at the bottom it would say how many bodies they had found in that house we saw only about one or two houses with a number at the bottom but we saw a lot of houses with a zero on the bottom witch makes it better. It was very interesting to see were the water was and how high the water had gotten. In this one spot the water was 13ft high it was CRAZY! We went in to a house and saw how they just had nothing in there and i mean nothing the walls were gone, all that was there was the wood that held the house up. But then we go to see were all the history in New Orleans was. That was really fun. We also ate a Snowball. Nope it is nothing like a Snow Cone at all. I would much rather have a Snowball any day. Well im getting to bed! Goodnight!

ok so after all the tour stuff we went to eat. we went to slim goodies. we all ordered and i ordered a waffle and cheese fries. the cheese fires were great but as i was eating my waffle i came across a piece of metal. let me tell u eating metal doesnt taste the best. so we told the manager and i got a free t shirt. but im ok. i didnt need to go to the hospital or anything. the metal just came from the scrubber used to clean the waffle maker.

well today we got to go on a tour of the city where katrina hit the worst. it was like a completely different world there. you hardly every saw someone outside. really the only people we saw were the kids on their service day. the houses that were still standing some of them looked horrible. they didnt even have any walls. it was so surreal. and then on the houses they would have an X which meant they had been searched. in the top part it had the date and on the bottom it had how many people they had found. also were the animals found in the house. just to see all of what the hurricane had really done first hand was hard to grasp at first. it took awhile to say wow this is really what happened. i think that we learned a lot today though. our great tour guide brian was the best!

Tonight we saw Skillet play. That was really fun. Can’t wait to get home so I can catch up on sleep. Forgot to tell everyone that yesterday we all ate alligator. It is shockingly really good. My calf muscles are going to be huge when I get because of all the walking I’ve done. Goodnight everyone.

Today was servant life day. It was very inspiring to see all of the shared enthusiasm and every one working working together as a team. Zach, Marisa and I were on clean up duty. We removed trash, tape and staples from walls, doors and windows. I removed so many staples I gave myself a blister! Near the end of the day we were able to help a teacher that was starting in the fall set up her classroom the way she would like it. It was nice to be able to see a finished room, (2 actually) and picture the kids sitting at their desks. What a feeling it was to know what a difference our bus of 40 kids/chaperones made in the expected 250 children starting at that school in the fall. That was only 40, imagine what the other 35960 are going to do this week! We also had the taste of New Orleans’ food today! Have you ever tried alligator sausage?! It’s awesome!

I uploaded more pictures at http://holytrin.com/pages/photos/gathering-2009–thursday.php