Just a quick update–the last two days have moved very fast, without much time to write; I’ll spend some time fleshing out Tuesday and Thursday for you, as well as getting Friday and Saturday’s pictures and stories up. I’ll also create a picture site over the next few days that will be accessible by trip participants only. (I’m more than happy to put the pictures on disk for you–just ask me)

We had a great time yesterday in New Orleans–I’ll tell you about it soon–meanwhile, pray for us as we travel back to St. Louis!

Peace and grace,

m@

Such a day! I apologize, but such is life on the road–I’m going to have to catch you up tonight, if I can get internet. Last night held so much to do; we’re heading to New Orleans this morning (Friday). Gotta go; talk to you soon!

Pictures are here from Thursday: http://elementropy.org/mission/Thursday/

Peace,

m@

Anyway, Wednesday was absolutely magnificent! The St. Lou Crew split up into two groups, one going back to the house we demolished on Tuesday, the other going to a new (to us) site, a little further inland near the town of Kiln.

At the Kiln site, our task was to finish a demolition job—only the floorboards and foundation remained of the house at the site; we made quick work of tearing it apart and then jumped into the more time-intensive task of removing nails. We were very fortunate to have been working mostly in the shade; the temperature was in the 100s, and there were a lot of worries about heat exhaustion. All of our group came through the day, just fine. We’ve been stressing the importance of taking breaks and drinking lots of fluids.

At the other site, we did a bit more debris removal…I’m getting the picture that debris removal and nail pulling are the bread-and-butter of working here. It’s not so bad, actually. ..I was not on this crew, but I heard about two exciting events during the morning. First, some of the debris was burnable, so several of the crew leaders put together a bonfire (the landfills around here can only handle but so much trash) Our crew worked efficiently to ensure that the blaze did not spread beyond the designated circle of bare earth. Secondly, Jon managed to step on a nail during the process, and made a side-trip to the hospital to make sure it was properly taken care-of. He is ok, but very glad to have a good excuse to not be the adult accompanying the morning runners. ☺ Early to rise, hard to keep up.

After all of that, both groups met up at the dump, unloaded…guess what…debris, and came back to camp, stopping for ice cream at Sno-palace along the way…they had about a thousand flavors of ice cream and snow cones. We met the owner, Mike—who, as it turned out, is a member here at Christ Church. He introduced us to his blue crawfish (they’re rare, one in about 20,000) that he kept in a tank in the shop. We came back, briefly rested, then worked on preparing, serving, and cleaning up from dinner (our duty for the day). The cook had a day off, so our main dish was Popeye’s chicken and biscuits. We also got together green beans, mashed potatoes, and pineapple.

After dinner, the group that had been at Kiln led our evening devotions, down at the beach. Two of our youth related stories of meeting local folks earlier in the day. I’ll put up video of those stories soon. The service was short, simple, and quite nicely done. We smoothly transitioned into journaling time, as the light faded and the stars began to shine. The beach is very nice in the early evening. We’ll be back again tonight.

There have been internet issues, and we have breakfast duty this morning, so if I don’t get pictures up now, I’ll try to make that happen soon.

Peace and grace be with you; take care!
m@

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves, this time–I’ll write more, next time.

Pictures

After working, we returned, had some beach time, cleaned the bathrooms (our turn), dinner, drum circle, and a little bit of worship on the beach. Jon threw a lot of sand up in the air as he was acting.

We’ll probably be out on the site, today where the house was collapsed, cleaning up debris.

Peace,

m@

Last night, I had such difficulty getting things to work, here on the blog…the moment I woke up, however, the exceedingly simple solution that had eluded me, thus far suddenly hit me. Duh. Major. So, here we are, live on the web!

So: a little about our environs atMission on the Bay. (to find out more about the program, click the link in the last sentence)

The place is a little encampment of 8 or 9 semi-temporary buildings on the property of Christ Episcopal Church. The church itself was destroyed, save for about 70% of the bell tower, which now stands as a symbol for their mission to proclaim in the desert a highway for our god. (”desert” being a metaphor for the aftermath of disaster…the air is actually thick with moisture) We sleep in four dorms: two for women and two for men. They’re very comfortable. Standard bunk beds, and it’s air-conditioned. Nice and dry in case of weather, too.

Yesterday was a trip…no pun intended…As soon as we loaded the van, Hail came pouring down upon us and University City…along with tree limbs and a deluge of rain. We decided that it was best to get moving, as there were large trees looming over us. We wound our way through Clayton and Brentwood and Webster Groves to stay somewhat safe, then got on 55 for the long haul. We have two vans we have borrowed from Jon’s dad’s church in Illinois. (thank you!)

Several road stops and many hours of singing and bad jokes over the walkie-talkies later, we made it! We got here around 9:30, a little later than expected, but not too bad. The folks hanging out around the camp were very enthusiastic in their welcomes…I think we may have come the furthest of the folks here. I checked out the bulletin board in the office…there are dots from all 50 states except Alaska and New Mexico. Pretty cool.

We put our stuff away, then headed to the beach for some evening reflection. A little singing and a little talking, then we walked out on the tidal flats in the wonderful moonlight. Tiny jellyfish made their presence known on the edges of the 1-inch-deep water on the sandy gulf floor. It was a magical place and time.

I need to get to breakfast, so I’ll make this short. Here are some pictures: Monday Pictures

Peace be with you!

m@