Mississippi Mission Trip "April 21st - April 29th 2006"

The happiest people I know are the ones who have learned how to hold everything loosely and have given the worrisome, stress-filled, fearful details of their lives into God's keeping.

My second trip down to Mississippi was just as fulfilling as the first. We met a great group of people from the Brantford, Ontario Free Reformed Church and from the Strathroy, Ontario United Reformed Church. My brother is now dating one of the girls we met from Brantford :D When we arrived back at Camp Hope there had been a lot of changes since we had last been there... The kitchen that the boys had roofed was now complete so we didn't need to eat in the army tents for they were all taken down. They built another bunk house for the girls so we didn't have to sleep in tents (unless we wanted to) and it also had air conditioning which we were all very thankful for :D And for some weird reason they had switched the men and womens bathrooms around and me not noticing the changed signs ran right into the mens bathroom... Let me tell you, it was a bit embarrassing... :P but my excuse was taken pretty well!! The scenery was still devastating to look at but there had been a lot of clean up done in the 2 months we weren't there for. My crew and I were designated to one house in particular... That is where I learned how to mud and sand.... and sand some more... and did even more sanding... when we were finally done sanding the entire house, we all looked like a bunch of ghosts :) We were all blowing dust from our noses for a while, at least I was!! Then we painted... and painted some more... and did even more painting... :) My arms had never been more sore there then I can ever remember but it was totally worth all the pain. Here are some pictures of our second trip...

The Sanding Crew!! :)

Becky and I after a days work in Mississippi!! I got
got stuck with sanding... THE CEILINGS!! :/

Myself with the Becky 1 and Becki 2!!

This is our entire group from Ontario...

This is the wall of encouragement to EVERYONE!!

Me and the girls.. Lisa, DOT and Steph... :)

Mississippi Mission Trip "February 24th - March 4th 2006"

"Partnering With Presbyterians In Gulfport, Mississippi"

In August 2005 Hurricane Katrina proved that human wisdom cannot be compared to the power of God in nature. Waves reaching nearly 30 feet pounded the shores of Louisiana and Mississippi, followed by extreme winds and rain lasting for 14 hours. When they announced to our church that Word and Deed was planning on sending a work team down to Mississippi, my Mom thought it would be a great experience... (and a nice mini-vacation :) Word and Deed came into contact with First Presbyterian Church (PCA), a mostly elderly congregation in Gulfport, Mississippi, and their new pastor, Rev. Guy Richard. The church building was severely damaged by Katrina and needed extensive rebuilding. The homes of 35 church families were also damaged; 23 families lost everything. In order to accommodate mission teams who come to help, Pastor Richard set up a "base camp" on church-owned land some ten miles away. This is where we came in... A Word and Deed mission team composed of 12 people from the St. Thomas, Ontario, Free Reformed Church and five from the Wyoming, Ontario, United Reformed Church set out on a week of eye-opening experiences, hard work and fellowship working to rebuild homes that were damaged by the storm. Our group tore off old shingles or at least what was left on the roof tops of the houses and laid down new shingles. I got to tear down moldy walls, paint, cook in the kitchen at camp, pull up wet, saugy, moldy hard wood flooring and help with shingling. I also had the chance to talk to some of the home owners and listen to their stories of survival. And then there was camp!! Sam and Bonnie Campbell from Delaware, USA were our camp cooks for the week whom we made great friends with. We met other teams from all over the US; Kevin and his crew from North Carolina, Charlie and Elizabeth from Pennsylvania, Canarican (Jason), his dad, Ed and their crew from Boston and Delaware. This trip also gave me the chance to get to know the other people from our area a bit better. I think we really formed close relationships with everyone and I am humbled and blessed to have been a part of that!! Here are some pictures of our journey to the Gulf Coast...

This is a picture of the First Presbyterian Church that was almost completely taken out by a 32 ft. wave.

This is the church sign of the First Baptist Church... or read as... "Fist Bist Hurch"

This is a picture taken in what is supposed to look like a residential area... but clearly you cannot see any houses...

Here is a swimming pool full of garbage and unsanitary water... I guess there won't be any swimming in this pool :/

Here is a bunch of us being very patriotic to our country... (from left to right) Me, Aaron VanMaanen, Ben VMS, Mike VanMaanen, Jon Dietrich, Cynthia James and Sarahlynn James!! Behind us is an army tent, that was where we ate all of our meals...

Jon, Mike and Tim Westerveld soakin' up some good Mississippi sun... needless to say they burnt like a marshmallow on fire... :)

This is a picture inside one of the buildings near the church...

Me, Sarahlynn and Cynthia takin' a well deserved break in the back of the u-haul trailer...

Jon, Mamma D and Me :) Standing in front of the new kitchen for Camp Hope that the boys just finished roofing...

This is the whole group from St.Thomas FRC and the Wyoming URC...