Ok, so I just got back from my mission trip saturday afternoon. We left sunday morning and got there about 8:00 pm. it was such an amazing experience. We went as volunteers for the Tammany Oaks Disaster Relief. All together we worked on 4 houses over the week and finished them all. We were split up into 3 groups within our youth group. Each group had about 8 teens and 3 adults. I was with Roy, Bobby and Mr. Benford.
So we woke up at 6:00 every morning, put on out faded mustard yellow t-shirts they had for us to wear(they washed them every night for us)and eat, not worring about make-up, hair, etc, and got on the bus to head to our house we were assigned to. The houses were about an hour away. When we first drove through the the neighborhoods it was alitle bit overwhelming because they were deserted, and the doors were wide open with the windows broken, some of the roofs tarped over. You could see the mark the army placed on the houses after searching, as if branded. They were marked with a giant red X with the top number being the date, the right was the amount of animals found alive, the left was which army searched them, and finally the bottom was the amount of bodies found. Fortunatly I didn't see any with a number on bottom, but some other people said they saw them. I think God was sheilding my eyes or something. But the houses had this erie feeling, it was quiet and it didn't help anything that it was a windy, overcast day so it was gloomy and depressing, like a horror movie. Some of the streets still had 2or 3 inches of standing water, because the drains were so badly clogged with mud.
The house were trashed, destroyed. Our house wasn't as bad as it was it if was untouched, you could walk. But our owners showed us the next door house. THe door was wide open, so you could see inside. THe furniture had been picked up by the water and strowed about, you couldn't walk a foot into that house. It was impossible. But the house we worked on was bad enough. They had cleaned some of it already. The house was to be condemmed, meaning it was going to be demolished no matter what, so we didn't have to gut it. We just helped Barbara try and find the salvagable stuff. These houses, were unbelievable when you entered them. Imagine your house, with everything you have out on the floor, soiled with mud and water, furniture toppled over, clothes stained and decomposing, glass broken, the ceileng completly gone, you could see right through to the attic. The floors covered in your belongings, insalation, ceiling, etc, some places up to your knees or higher. It was horrid, and it smelled terrible. Everything that used to be shiny and pretty, was tarnished and ruined, pictures were ruined with colors bleeding together. These houses were immerssed in water for months, some over the rooftops. We had to wear masks, gloves, goggles,and heavy duty boots. They said only a few weeks ago they were wearing full body suits that looked like ghost buster outfits. They told us not to open the refrigerators, no matter what. We had to duct tape them completly if they were to be moved out, becasue of the stuff growing in it for a year without electricity. They said the fumes could literally knock you out.
We(our group alone) worked on two houses. We were extremely lucky to have had such sweet owners. The first owners were a couple. They found softballs in their attick and gave them all to us, so we got one and signed it and wrote God Bless, Good Luck, Etc on it and gave it to them. It was the best thing we good have done for them besides giving them our love and compassion. They signed one for us also. I now have a ball that survived Katrina! But it was so awesome and amazing to find something that meant so much to this women, to see her face light up because something so dear to her was found unharmed. It made it all worthwhile to see the effect this great dead played on these people and knowing that your making a differnce, maybe even leading them closer to God. At the end of the day when we had found everything we were going to find, she says "Well this isn't much for thirty five years, Oh well! At least were still alive!" I could not have done that. Their attitudes were amazing, for instance we found the husband's golf trophies(and clearly this guy was an amazing golpher) but he didn't want them. You could tell he was simply glad and thankful to have his wife. It was amazing.
The second house we got to gutt. We tore all the sheet rock off the walls, tore out the base boards, the appliances, plumbing(even though he had done most of the appliance and plumbling work already), carpet, got all the muck out, etc. We stripped the house of everything except the boards that held it up. Our owner got us doughnuts and drinks everyday. One day he even got us ice cream when the ice cream truck went by. He noticed that another group was working on another house accross the street and got them doughnuts also. He was so nice.
Chris, my amazing youth minister!, and his group found a goldfish on the window seal with a fish bowl on the other side of the room. They had mustard bottles everywhere outside becasue they all came from Big Lots. They said it looked as if these people left in the middle of everything because there was a pizza in the oven, dishes in the sink, clothes and water in the washing machine, etc. It was as if time just stopped suddenly.
There was so many weird stories we heard fromother groups. One foung a dalmation on the bed. :( Someone found a baby shark in the bath tub, about 2 feet long. Someone found literally crazed fish in the pool. (I mean just think about the water they've been in, they would be crazed). People found aligators, we had a refrigerator on the roof, with the door on the other side of the roof and it wasn't even the owner's. It's just crazy and unbelivable.
While we were there we showered in a wood box, drank water from a can, and eat peanut butter sandwiches everyday from half molded bread. It was deffenatly differn't. I am glad to be home, even though it was an amazing experience. I am glad to have water that doesn't taste like alluminum, am gald I can go to sleep whenever I want without having to beg people to turn the lights off, be quiet and go to sleep at midnight. I am glad I don't have a flash light Nazi outside my door(Jane)(long story). LOL But even though it was hard work, and intense, and a bit stressful at times, it was an amazing experience. It helped me to deffenatly be thankful of all I have, and reminded me to not get so caught up in my stuff, because it could be gone tommorow, just like that. It's like the parable in the bible about the rich man who had a really good crop but he didn't have a big enough barn to store it all so He built another. God called him a fool(which was probably pretty scary to be called a fool by God) and told him his life was going to be taken from him that very night. It could all be gone an hour from now. It's scary.
But I'm going to put some pictures on here of the destruction and stuff, if this posts this time, I wrote all this yesterday and it froze up and I lost it all, I was furious.
God Bless!
Kayleigh
all of us, and the owner in front 
all of us, and the owner in front 
