This week we have new team preparing to visit New Orleans to continue working with Rayne and its community. This 16-member team will be the third team we've sent to NOLA to help in the rebuilding process. Generous donations in time and financial resources from the HE-UMC congregation as well as the team members made this trip possible. Please keep them in your prayers as they travel to Louisiana May 19-26.

A brief note from our last day in New Orleans...we leave Rayne for the airport at 7:45 a.m. tomorrow.

It was a bittersweet day. It was nice to have accomplished so much in a four-day period...but we all wished we had a few more days to be able to do even more. There were some things that we were unable to take care of for Mabel...things that need an expert opinion before proceeding. We also felt bad leaving a gutted house...knowing that there will be a long road ahead before reconstruction can begin.
Also, we had a nice dinner last night at Rayne with Mabel...but she had to be with her son at a doctor's appointment this afternoon, and wasn't there when we had to leave. It was hard not to get a chance to say good-bye. We've invited Mabel to come and see us in Cambridge...we hope she takes us up on it at some point in the not so distant future.

When we got back to Rayne this evening, we ate a "pick-up" dinner of leftovers in shifts...as members of the team wandered in and out looking at the parades that were passing down the street. There were three this evening.

After the parades...the team (minus Cameron and Kathy) headed into the French Quarter, ending the night again at the Cafe du Mond for beignets and cafe au lait.

It feels as if we've established a true bond and partnership with the folks at Rayne. We know people here now, and they know some of us...and by extension, H-E UMC. I hope that there will be future trips to New Orleans, as well as chances for Rayne folks to come and visit with us in Cambridge. It seems like a very natural, and quite a wonderful thing, for these two warm and welcoming communities of faith to join hands and hearts across the miles at this critical time in the future of New Orleans.

Thanks to everyone at H-E and beyond who made both of these trips possible! We'll see you soon!!

Blessings,
Lisa

We arrived at the UMCOR station this morning to get a safety briefing and our site assignment for the week. When we arrived, we joined a team from New York state that had already gathered in the office.

We were assigned a house of a Rayne Memorial UMC member, Mabel. It turns out that Mabel has recently joined Rayne...after returning to New Orleans from evacuation to Houston, and finding that her church had been flooded and her pastor reappointed to a church in Dallas. Mabel told us that when she walked into Rayne that first Sunday that she was back, she talked to Callie and was lamenting the fact that she didn't have a church to call her own. Callie immediately insisted that Rayne would be her church...and Mabel joined and has been in church every Sunday since she returned home.

Mabel is really a charming hostess...and that is really the only way to put it. She was there with us the whole day--even donning a suit, mask and gloves and journeying into the house and back shed with us throughout the day. She is always ready with a story...and we heard a number from her on our first day. Kathy and I were just recounting to each other some of the snipets of stories that we heard...

Mabel and her husband bought the land and built the house in the mid-fifties. There is now a major elevated roadway right in front of her home...however, when they first built their home it was a part of a quiet street with houses right across from them. Eminent Domain was declared and the houses across the street were razed to make room for the new road. Mabel recalls being relieved at the time that her side of the street was spared...but now wonders after all that has happened if it wouldn't have been better if she had been one of the ones to have been "bought out."

Mabel retired over 20 years ago from teaching...she taught Special Ed. You can see that teacher's caring way in the time and attention she took to talk individually with each member of the team. You can also see that caring when she talks about her family. She was recalling that during Hurricane Besty in the 60's...her sister's house (in the 9th Ward) was flooded and she came to stay with Mabel and her husband. But this time, her sister's house was destroyed by a house that floated off its foundation and slammed into her house. Mabel's other siblings lost everything in the flood as well. You could hear the pain in Mabel's voice when she said that they'd always been able to take care of each other...and now none of them have anything left to be able to take care of anyone. Mabel feels lucky, though, because her son owns a home on higher ground in the city. He was able to have a FEMA trailer moved onto his property for Mabel to live in while her home is gutted and restored.

She recounted for us the day of the hurricane and flood in her neighborhood. She had evacuated...but several neighbors did not, and shared their stories with her. The hurricane came and went and it was beautiful and sunny outside...and then the water started to pour in and didn't stop. One neighbor is in her late 80's and lived in a trailer a few blocks from Mabel. When Mabel called to tell her she was leaving in advance of the hurricane, she tried to get her to leave as well...but the woman refused. She said that she had made a cake, baked a chicken and made some potato salad and she would be just fine! Later, after people were starting to get in contact with each other and piece together what had happened and where people were living--Mabel talked to a man who lived next door to this woman. He was planning to leave before the storm as well...but decided to stay because his elderly neighbor in the trailer next door was staying. After the hurricane had passed, and as the waters came and continued to rise...it was obvious that they needed to leave. He walked in the flood waters and found a boat and came back to the neighborhood to evacuate his neighbor in the trailor. She didn't want to get into the boat until she could go back and get her potato salad! He told her that she needed to get into the boat and forget about the potato salad!!

There are a lot more stories to tell and to share...we'll post more as the week goes on.

This is another terrific, hard-working team that's managing to work hard, and have some fun along the way as well. We look forward to sharing all of our reflections and experiences with you throughout this week and when we get home.

Today was a really emotional day from start to finish. I was up early...so I attended the 8:45 worship service. Like Harvard-Epworth, Rayne's early service is smaller and includes Holy Communion. It is held in their chapel...a smaller worship space with beautiful stained glass windows and, hanging above the altar, a red stained glass cross with a dogwood blossom in the middle. Callie preached a wonderful sermon from the Gospel text--the paralyzed man lowered through the roof in a home where Jesus is teaching. She made a wonderful tie-in with the hole that is now in Rayne's sanctuary roof...talking about all of the miracles that have come to Rayne as a result of the hole in their roof. Harvard-Epworth and all of the volunteer teams that have come to New Orleans to help were raised up as one of the miracles.

The 11 a.m. service was also a wonderful experience. Cameron played the Prelude...and did a terrific job. Kathy and I sang with the choir...and that was a lot of fun. At the beginning of the service, Callie introduced the H-E group and a group from West Virginia that was here as well this weekend. She also asked the groups to come up front during the singing of the last hymn, so that the congregation could greet and thank us after the Postlude.

Immediately following the service we had lunch that a parishoner had brought in for us--jambalya and salad and garlic bread. There were also jars of pepper jelly for each of us to bring home. We all ate and then headed out for the two Mardi Gras parades that were going down St. Charles--right in front of the church.

After the parades we had time for a quick trip to the grocery store, and a chance to catch our breath before heading out for a tour of some of the hardest hit areas of the city.

Even those of us who had seen the pictures from the tour by the first team were unprepared for the extent of the devestation. Several of us had seen the pictures, and heard the team talk about block after block of utter devestation and destruction in the Lower 9th Ward. But it in no way compared to the experience of standing on the street in the midst of what used to be a vibrant neighborhood, and is now a ghost town. It is hard to imagine that many of the homes in this area of the city will be able to be repaired to a livable condition...this if and when the city deems it a "viable" neighborhood. But, at the same time, it is more obvious when you view it in person that these were people's homes...their property...their neighborhoods...and something must replace what they've lost, or what might be taken from them.

There are hard questions...and perhaps even harder answers that are going to have to be addressed, and which will determine the future of this city.

We came "home" to Rayne in a very somber and sober mood. We invited the group from West Virginia to join us for dinner...and cheered up a bit cooking and sharing a meal together. Later, several members from each of our groups headed into the French Quarter to walk around a bit and to have beignets (New Orleans French doughnuts) at Cafe du Monde. We walked over to the Mississippi River levee and stood looking out over the river for a few minutes. One of the folks from West Virginia commented that it was restorative in some way to see the calmness of the river after the destruction we'd witnessed this afternoon...I think he was right. Perhaps it's a bit ironic that a powerful and large river could give a sense of calm after seeing what rushing water had wrought--but it did have a calming, peaceful effect to stand there beside it.

I've babbled on for long enough...I'm probably more tired than I should be when "blogging."

More tomorrow...we report to the Uptown UMCOR station at 8:30 a.m. for our site assignment and the beginning of our 4 days of work.

G'night...Lisa

We arrived as scheduled in New Orleans this evening (2/18) at a little after 5 p.m. local time...and made it to the church with only a minor detour through the city. The Sr. Pastor at Rayne (Callie) met us with a warm welcome and a key to the church. The only glitch in the day was that one of our team members (Brad) was flying on a different airline than the rest of the group, and was bumped. He is coming in on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. Seems that Feb. school vacation and Mardi Gras have made travelling complicated this week!
Kathy's brother and sister-in-law brought over breakfast food for Sunday morning, and had dinner with us at a local restaurant.
We will attend the 11 a.m. service tomorrow...then have lunch that is being brought in by a church member...then watch the Mardi Gras parade that will pass right in front of the church...then go on a tour of the city with the same tour guide that led our January team around.
More tomorrow...

After Hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf Coast, no one could imagine the difficulties in store for the region's displaced families. And even months after the catastrophe, the return to normalcy seems distant at times and the need to assist others remains everpresent.

As part of God's call to serve our brothers and sisters in need, Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church has committed to provide ongoing support to Rayne United Methodist Church in New Orleans, Louisiana. Despite the damage to Rayne's church steeple, its congregation remains strong and continues to be hopeful during the triumphs and challenges of rebuilding. Harvard-Epworth has scheduled two week-long mission trips where members will travel to New Orleans to help Rayne members rebuild their homes. Our first mission team returned to Boston at the end of January with a transformed perspective on the power of God's work. Our second mission team leaves February 19th for another week long trip. Please continue to visit this blog as members of this team post daily reflections on their work in New Orleans. We also ask for prayers for all those who continue to struggle after the hurricane and for the people who are working hard to help them. Thank you.