NOLA

New Orleans was torn apart by hurricane Katrina last year, and I chose to go down to NOLA to help clean up the mess over break. It has been 6 months since the hurricane and there is so much destruction left to be taken care of that
it will probably be ten years until things return to normal. I went with 115 people that was organized by campus crusade for christ to an area of New Orleans called St. Bernard Parrish. St. Bernard Parrish was more of a middle class area that mainly was flooded up about 15 ft. There were many areas in New Orleans, like the 9th ward, that were completely destroyed, so that nothing could be salvaged. Since these areas require complete removal of debris and would take a long time for anybody ever to return to the area, instead we were sent to areas that could be salvaged were people could return to their homes. We were asked to completely gut homes down to their studs and frames. It was the dirtiest work I have ever had to do in my life. Black mold was everywhere in these homes, requiring special masks to prevent inhalation. We went into these homes destroying everything, and then pulling it out of the house and placing it on a debris pile by the curb.

It was worth the experience. It was worth leaving my life of comfort, organization, and the process of furthering my education to come down to a city torn apart by a natural unforeseen disaster to clean up a bit, and to love like Jesus. It was unnatural to be in a mode of destruction and disorder though. Garbage didn't have a place, so you would just throw it in the street. Stop lights didn't function, so instead temporary stop signs were placed to create some traffic order. Apparently it was quite common for people to ignore these signs and cause major accidents. Destroying things isn't always very natural either. Dual welding hammers and going to town on some kitchen tile definitely brought out some fury and fun in me.

Amidst this disorder there was some adventure. One day Jeff Blevin's, Dan Shontz, and I decided to do some exploring. You know, the kind of exploring when you were a kid that had no limits. It consisted of a search for 'gators, a walk through a toxic waste dump, visiting a revolutionary war battlefield and graveyard, a 100 ft memorial discovery, the mississippi river, barge jumping, throwing rocks up a water drainage pipe, and an attempt to break into a slave plantation mansion. Wow, how refreshing was that. It was refreshing to just hang out with men and be adventurous together. There was this sense of freedom that came with it. Freedom that consisted of no homework, no classes, no test, and no work. The only responsibility we had was watching out for each other, enjoying each other's company, and letting ourselves be free and adventurous. We succeeded, and in those moments I felt like God was smiling on our spirits.

BTW, I met some fantastic people. That tends to happen when you spend a week with people you don't know. What impressed me the most about these people? Amidst all the undesirable circumstances, I rarely heard anybody complain. That made the trip very pleasant. Thanks everybody.