What a mess—what an opportunity to share THE message! It is hard to talk about our trip to Slidell, LA as a wonderful experience, since so many people are far from putting their homes and lives back together. For nearly 100 miles, homes had been filled with three or more feet of water or were blown completely off their foundations.
God put together six of us for this trip to help. There was Ed Schumacher (owns a renovation business and drove down his truck and trailer with every tool imaginable), Vern Happel (knows electrical and plumbing), Betty Happel (painter, branch remover, and served as our form completer), Donna Bogner (this was her second trip to LA, drove her truck, did many different jobs and served as our photographer), Pastor Joe (held up shovels, motivated the crew) and Paul Golke, Director Camp Io-Dis-E-Ca (loved the chain saw).
Our trip had two goals: 1) Find a new home for Bethany’s old chancel furniture (altar, pulpit, lectern, baptismal font, hymn boards). We were able to deliver them to Pastor Bob Aumann who is shepherding a mission church in Slidell.
2) Serve as many households as possible through the organization of Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR). They put us to work everyday (Thursday to Wednesday noon, except Sunday) from 8:00 to 5:15. We worked with four families, doing such things as finishing trim work to cleaning the mold off the studs in their homes.
What were conditions like for us? Well, we ate great food thanks to a couple from Alaska that cooked out of one of the LDR cook trailers, we had hot showers thanks to the LDR shower trailer, and we slept in large tents (sometimes chilly) on cots (covered by LWML quilts). There were portable bathrooms nearby. In our camp, we were part of a great host of paid and volunteer staff (including a camp dog named Buster).
I will remember the appreciation of the homeowners—they all felt we were sent by God. I will remember how the paid workers would stop by to see the Lutheran volunteers. I will remember the joy and laughter we experienced as we worked together as a team. And I will remember the people who supported us so that we could go and do this work. What blessed memories!
How big is the problem? “This rebuilding will take 3-5 years,” one LDR staff member told us. More groups are needed. If you are interested, here are the steps:
1) Contact Mrs. Ellie Menz at 515-370-1159 (ellie.menz@idwlcms.org); contact Lutheran Disaster response at www.ldr.org; or contact Curtis Smith at ldrvolunteer@yahoo.com.
2) Gather a group of people, 18 or older, who can be gone for 10 or more days.
3) Pull together the supplies suggested by LDR and encourage people who cannot go on the trip to donate money or supplies.
4) Pray, drive and arrive safely to one of the three camps.
5) Work as a servant. You will receive work orders which include a map, the supplies needed, and forms to complete. There may also be ways you will be asked to serve at Camp.
6) Return, tell others what you saw and did, and invite them to consider going themselves.
7) If you have any questions, please email me at pastor.joe@bethanylutheranchurch.org. IDE
