Westview Baptist Church, Opp, AL

This group of volunteers came to serve for the weekend and helped in many areas. They also came to see what help they may be for future trips and to meet some of the residents of the area and hear their stories. Getting to meet the people personally and seeing the needs first hand helps to understand the importance of the ministry to the area that is ongoing.

The group helped with little chores like moving boxes out of an attic crawl space to helping a resident rebuild his home destroyed in the storm and helping in our local distribution center. There are many ministry opportunities to serve the Lord if one is willing. We thank the Westview mission team and the Carpenters for Christ for their service to the people of the Gulf Coast of MS.

Faith and Mercy Missions

We've lost count on how many trips to south MS this group has made since Katrina. Their ministry is certainly Spirit-led as they have a deep and abiding love for the people of Waveland and Bay St. Louis.

This time their ministry was a bit different and continues to grow. They had a day camp at the community of Bayside on Saturday and at least 60 youth attended. 20 gave their lives to Christ!! And the Lord blessed mightily with great weather, food, fun and serious life issues.

They held a sports, music and Bible camp during the day and in the evening they had singing and a dramatic real life situation skit, then a short message by their pastor under the tent.

The area children love this group and were asking when they were coming back! Thank you to this mission group for having a desire to serve in this area. We look forward to your next trip!!

Thank you also for the many trips you have made lately bringing food, clothes and supplies to the people of the Hancock County Gulf Coast communities. It has made a huge difference in the lives of the people here and all are so grateful!

Special Prayer Request

We are asking for prayer for Marguerite, Linda's mom, as she prepares to enter into rest with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. She has certainly lived a wonderfully long and faithful life to His service and as she enters into her last days we pray for passing with ease into His presence. Pray that family relationships will heal during this time before her passing as her time of grief has been long and hard. We thank you for the kindness shown to her during your visits. And we thank you for your prayers for her and our family during this time.

Youth Build, Atlanta, GA

This is the second visit for Youth Build to our camp. We are grateful they have chosen this area in which to train their group for a combination of hard work and missions for the Lord's service.

This week was spent working with an area church in their service to the residents of the Gulf Coast.

Some in the group also were kind enough to help us with our ongoing "tree house" project. We were installing insulation when they offered to help us complete our mission! We are so thankful to them for this days work and we were able to complete the task. We are sure God will use this special house for His glory as He has already revealed to us some of the many ways He will!! Wow - who knew?!

Thank you Youth Build for serving here on the Gulf Coast of MS. We look forward to your return!!

Poplar Springs Baptist Church, Ringgold, GA

This was the 10th trip for Poplar Springs!! Their visits lift our spirits and give us encouragement. Each of the families they have made lasting relationships with have expressed just how much their presence means to all of us. We are surely blessed to have them on board to serve in this area.

The church gathered many items of used clothing and supplies and brought them down to our distribution center for the Hancock county gulf coast area, one of the poorest areas in the poorest state in the US! Literally everything that is donated can be used by the people and we are so grateful for all of the effort it takes to gather these things and bring them here.

One group from the church helped the distribution center this week by unpacking the items they brought and organizing them in the tents. They also helped organize another storage unit that has winter clothes and other miscellaneous items now ready for distribution to the needy.

Another group helped "Mercy House" get closer to completion by painting the ceiling in the bottom floor area that will be used for the supplies and distribution once it is complete.

Other areas of service included helping our area elderly with various chores that were impossible for them to do. They also visited and spent some quality time with some of our residents.

And, of course, one of their ministries that is so appreciated by the families here is the great nightly feasts and fellowship times that are served up with love, care and good food!

Greetings 5 Years After Katrina: August 29, 2010, Blessings

A years worth of hard work on a new dream home - all lost. All tools, supplies, materials, every bit of paper work, certificates or memorabilia that indicated that we were in business for 35 years - gone. 85 years of anything belonging to my newly widowed mother including her home - gone. And over 100 years of buildings and family "treasures" stored in them that could never be replaced - gone. Family and friends - devastated as well. You could say all was lost.

As for Waveland and surrounding areas, we have a long way to go to be restored. And it will never be restored the way it was. We are still somewhat devastated. Our main shopping areas have not been rebuilt and the buildings remain gutted. We had at least 4 grocery stores before the storm and still there is only one. There is no bowling alley, skating rink, nor movie theater and shopping of any kind is very limited. Our roads are completely torn up with so many pot holes they have ruined our shocks on our cars and everything else in it rattles. We still are waiting for new sewer lines and water lines to be installed and the pipes lay everywhere along the roads so the grass cannot be cut. People just left their homes or land where homes were and the grass and trees are out of control. All in all it is pretty ugly and nothing like the beautiful little seacoast town it once was.

The area has 5000 families still without housing. And a recent poll showed that more than 30% of the people on the coast are either stressed or very depressed. And now enter the BP oil spill. Dead fish, sea turtles, dolphins and other sea life washed up on shore along with birds covered in oil all over the news. All fish and seafood suspect for contaminants contrary to what they tell us. And so many people out of work with the recession and the oil spill. They are asking, what next? They cannot take anymore. An area that was not fully recovered from one storm - hit again.

But if anyone had told us on August 29th that that hurricane would turn out to be one of the greatest blessings of our lives - well, we would have been very skeptical to say the least. Now the Lord did hint at it right after the storm in some of the scriptures that He gave us in Jeremiah 29-33rd chapters, but He also wanted to surprise us. Isn't that just like Him! He takes our tragedies, our sorrows, our "storms" and turns them into pure joy. Miracles. Wonders. Blessings. Awe. That's what the past 5 years have been watching Him at work. And we wouldn't trade it or go back to life before the way it was for anything. We are so grateful for being able to take this ride on the wings of our Lord.

And it isn't over. No. God is still working. He isn't through with Waveland yet. And we are so thankful that we are a small part of what He is doing. We are fully ready to be used by Him to continue the work still left to be done. Are you?

Faith and Mercy Missions, North East, MS

An awesome and very touching sight was that which happened this past weekend. This group came after work on Friday down from north Mississippi to fulfill a mission impossible - but not with God. In less than 3 weeks of hearing of our dire need down here for food, clothes, furniture and miscellaneous household goods they filled not one but two 16 foot trailers to overflowing.

God has put us together with our local distribution center run by Lakeshore Baptist Church which serves about 500 local families. Recently, with the recession and then the oil spill, the center had run seriously low on any type of supplies, especially food. We put out the word to any groups we knew of who are coming down to help if they could. The response has been awesome and we are so grateful for all of the food and supplies. We surely did not expect to see the two trailer loads of goods filled to capacity with so little time in which to fill them.

The local newspaper, The Pontotoc Progress, helped spread the word to the people of North East MS. A collection center was set up at a local church, By Faith, and people brought goods and supplies until the day the group was leaving. No one expected that two trailers would be filled! One trailer was filled with food and clothes. There was a dire need for men's and children's clothing and the people supplied!

When the trailers were being unloaded the center's director, Ms. Bea, could hardly believe it! The center has operated the Quonset hut distribution tents since Hurricane Katrina. The group spent the entire morning emptying the boxes and bags of food and clothes into one tent and the furniture from the other trailer into the next tent. Then they organized all of the food out of the boxes and onto the bare shelves. They also organized and distributed all of the clothes by size onto the clothing areas. It was wonderful to see the shelves full.

While the group was unloading Ms. Bea contacted one of the families who was in dire need. They had just moved out of their 10 X 12 foot shed into their new 900 square foot home built by the center. They had no furniture and they were sleeping on the floor and sitting on buckets for chairs. The family came to the center and began to cry when they were told they could have one of the table and chair sets the group brought down and also a bed! Well, this began quite a large cry party among the group, real tears of joy brought down by God Himself!

What joy it is to see all of the wonderful blessings the Lord has in store for those who serve Him.

________________________________________________

For anyone interested in helping the distribution center you may contact us at 228-206-4660.

Westview Baptist Church and the Carpenters for Christ, Opp, AL

This was the first time Power of Prayer Ministries has been blessed to have with us the Carpenters for Christ and the Westview Baptist Church. We were personally blessed and the area was as well by their dual ministries and multiple skills.

Some in the group love to meet the area people and to minister by talking to them about their needs and praying with them sharing what Jesus can do in their lives. Since this area is in such dire need at this time, we are so grateful that we still have people coming who care for us that much.

The VBS (Vacation Bible School) children from Westview collected a large sum of money as did others from the church for food for our local distribution center at Lakeshore Baptist Church. Many large cases of baby food were also donated. Two young men from the group went to deliver and helped stock the empty shelves. When presented with the check for food the center leader, Mrs. Bea, was very taken away by God's goodness at a time when it was so desperately needed. God is awesome and He provides for our every need at just the right time!!

Others in the group performed many various jobs. One group worked for a nearby neighbor who was just recovering from the storm and lost his oyster business in the oil spill. They were able to finish texturing sheet rock on the walls and ceilings. Then they primed and painted all of the rooms, cut, painted and hung crown molding throughout the house and completed painting the exterior of the home.

Another group of men worked to install hardi-plank siding to a nearby home. The owner stated it would have taken him 2 years to do the amount of work that they completed!! He was very grateful for this valuable help.

Then another wonderful job the group performed was one which we doubt they ever dreamed they would do on a mission trip. They helped us complete the siding and helped us close in our grandson's tree house!! Now that is servant hood!! A personal project that we have been trying to complete for a long time, it is finally done thanks to you wonderful Carpenters for Christ. And thank you, Lord.

Then we can never forget the ones who serve in the kitchen. This time an all men group who had all men cooking and cleaning as well. We could tell the men were fed well by the looks of the wonderful food served. This is such an awesome ministry that not everyone can do; to take care of 20 plus hungry men who are working in 100 degree heat.

We look forward to serving with you again someday.

Chickamauga Baptist Church Chickamauga, GA

This wonderful group of volunteers from Georgia are not new to P.O.P. or the Gulf Coast of MS. They have been coming since Katrina helping many, many families rebuild their homes and lives.

What an extraordinary time of learning flexibility and patience while finding out exactly what God's plan was for the work week! All of our best laid plans were not what He had in mind. So after doors were shut tight in two different places with two different ministry goals, the servants proceeded with what they were led by God to do.

This mission team also divided up into three major groups. One of the groups performed construction skills working to complete sheetrock work on a home whose owner recently lost his job of oyster harvesting due to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf. They also painted his home on the exterior. Both jobs were beautiful and the homeowner is thrilled to have this work done.

The evangelism team went to Dunbar Village, an assisted living facility where they had an amazing time of fun and fellowship with the very appreciative elderly people at the home. They played games and sang songs with the residents who had a wonderful time with them and especially the young people. They also had a very blessed time of visiting the shut-ins in their rooms. After the fourth day, the center was so grateful for all of the attention given the residents that they returned the blessing by fixing the group desert and refreshments. Awesome!

This team also mowed and cleaned a yard for one of our elderly neighbors. She really was thankful for this help.

Another interesting thing that this team did was divide their youth into three groups at Wal-Mart to purchase groceries for the Lakeshore Baptist Distribution Center. They made a contest out of it giving each group money and ideas for food. They had fun while serving in this much needed ministry. They delivered all of the food, plus more food they had collected from their church members before they came. They also helped the center organize it on the empty shelves. Then they helped sort winter and summer clothes. The center feeds over 250 families weekly and the number is growing due to the economy and the oil spill.

The third ministry was, of course, the food. Feeding the church groups three meals a day is not an easy task and two of the ladies on the mission team were happy to perform this necessity. They also had a Wednesday night dinner for the people whose homes they worked on this time and in the past. It was an awesome time of great food, fun and fellowship where we shared our experiences of Katrina.

Northbrook Baptist Church Boiling Springs, SC

This versatile group from South Carolina had a very busy week in the Bay/Waveland area.

The mission team was divided into three groups. One of the groups was the construction group who sub-divided into two groups and worked on several homes in the area. They worked on electrical, plumbing and sheetrock mostly, but also performed various other tasks for other families. As a group they were able to help one particular family who is still living in a shed to get further along in the process of rebuilding and provide for their needs by purchasing many household fixtures. Everyone was grateful for their week of labor, care, love and service they provided.

Another group was the evangelism team. They were also divided into sub-groups to be able to perform many tasks. They held a VBS type kids camp in the morning where they had at least 30-35 kids attend. Many of the children were provided transportation and picked up on either a church bus or a church van. The children were so excited to be able to attend the camp that taught them about JESUS.

In the afternoon, the youth in the group held a sports camp for the older children where over 30 teens attended daily. There were many sports including water sports offered and so appreciated by the youth as it was one of our hottest June weeks. They also were provided opportunities to learn about JESUS.

And then in the evenings, their pastor held a revival on the same property giving everyone in the community the opportunity to hear more about JESUS. All in all anyone living in this community, kids and adults alike, had many chances to learn of the saving grace of our Lord and approximately 12 people came to know Him!

The other group was the cooking team. Wonderful ladies who served up luscious meals everyday for the 43 people in the group. Everyone working together well organized helped to make this a great mission week with many people being shown the love of JESUS.

Also, this group brought a truck load of food items for our local food pantry that helps to feed 250 families weekly.

Youth Build, Atlanta, GA, May 28, 2010

This wonderful group of YouthBuild students and their leaders came to the camp willing to take on any project where the need was greatest. It was the first time for most in the group to come to MS. We really thought at this time we would be asking their services to de-oil birds and clean up the beach. But thankfully that hasn't happened as yet so they were able to help in various different projects this time.

One of the projects they worked diligently on this week was reinstalling a long section of a wooden fence for neighbors of the camp. Portions of the fence actually floated on to our property with Katrina while the rest fell. The owners propped up the fence all these years and put it on a to-do list with all of the other storm damaged items. With yet another hurricane season quickly approaching they really were very grateful that the group was able to completely rebuild the fence with much sturdier posts and concrete. It was quite an undertaking, but they finished it and it is even better than before the storm!

Another project that was completed and for which we are very grateful was the cleaning of our future storage slab. It was heavily loaded with an array of items collected since the storm. One was an entire pecan tree that was a victim of the storm that was cut into huge pieces and stored on the slab. The remains of an older green house, and various other trash was loaded onto a pickup truck and 3 loads of trash went to the dump. We are so very thankful for the help to clean up the slab and yard of trash, much of it leftover from Katrina. It's hard to believe after almost 5 years there is still debris, sad but true.

The group also went to the Lakeshore Baptist church distribution center to help with the sorting of winter and summer clothes. The center is still very active in the distribution of food and clothes and is at this time in dire need of food. So many people who were victims of Katrina now find themselves victims of the oil spill and are very needy.

The group was able to see first hand the extreme need by visiting this church and touring the area. They have stated they are committed to coming again in the fall to help once again. We will surely welcome them back!

Faith and Mercy Missions, Northeast, MS

F & M Missions came for their annual spring visit with two purposes in mind. One was to plan their annual fall trip in which they minister to the Bayside community. The other was to have a camp "care" mission. And oh did they take care of our camp and the grounds!!

Much was accomplished by these 30 wonderful missionaries in just 2 days. Unbelievable!

One of the goals of the group has been to help us in our upkeep of our camp by making repairs and updates to the facility itself. They gutted one side of our bunkhouse and painted the entire room, added new carpet that they donated and brought with them, then added new vinyl baseboards. This not only updated the room and made it seem so much brighter and bigger, but also added comfort for the many people yet to come on missions or retreats in the future!! Beautiful.

They also donated and brought with them new and much needed foam mattresses for all of our bunk beds. After 4 1/2 years of use by thousands, the new beds will bring great restful sleep after all of the hard work in which our volunteers are involved. Awesome.

Also to update our shower house dressing rooms, 4 fantastic new benches were built by one of the men in the group gifted and handy with wood. Each has a handy shelf underneath and a cushy vinyl seat on top! Our volunteers are going to love this addition!! Fabulous.

We are also very grateful for the electrical system that was run from the shower house into our greenhouse. An all day project headed up by another man gifted in electrical skills. This will afford us many different ways to heat and fan our plants. Terrific.

Another project that was completed that is invaluable to us was the extension of our lean to on the side of the camp. Everything was removed (and there was a lot of junk as well as good stuff) and everything was then organized on shelving newly built by yet others talented in this field!! Wow! It doesn't look like the same place. Looks like one of those reality shows came and had a complete remake. Now everything is neat and tidy and we can actually find things! And there is room for more stuff! Spectacular.

The sidewalks leading to our camp from the parking lot and the one leading from our camp to the shower house got a complete face lift by gardening experts! They weeded, remulched and weed eated the entire walkway. It is beautiful. They also changed our batteries on our solar lights and we once again have lighted pathways at night. It is amazing.

Other hard work was done believe it or not. One thing was the running of a water line from the front end of our garden to our mayhaw trees and also to the muscadines. Pipes were laid and facets were installed. Also, limestone was hauled from a large pile by the camp to the sides and back of the camp for water run off. They cut grass and weed-eated many other areas. Fixed our outdoor security light. And a very talented young man with a tractor leveled ground on the side of the camp! Remarkable.

Added to all of this, the group had a great cook off where one of the men in their group who is mighty talented in cooking, cooked steaks and fixin's and invited others to join us in a great time of food, fun and fellowship even though the weather turned really nasty and rainy. But, he was able to use his pit under the newly remodeled lean to! Yummy.

And to end the trip we had a wonderful Sunday morning service in the camp where the Word was preached by their pastor Scott who had brought his beautiful wife and three lovely children with him. Thank you Lord for this unbelievable time. We look forward to the next trip!!!

Meadowood Baptist Church, Amory, MS

This group of 28 came and stayed at our camp and went to work in downtown New Orleans which is just a short drive from here. The groups Youth Minister had been here twice before with another church and brought his young people down to help out with disaster relief.

This time they were coming to work in Covenant House where the young ladies volunteered their time working with the children in the day care.
The guys went to work at Bethal Colony South where they painted and helped with the construction of a new womans facility. They also helped hand out fliers for "Hands-On" day in New Orleans.

One of the things they enjoyed most was feeding the homeless and being able to fellowship and eat with them as they ministered. It was a most humbling and fulfilling experience to be sure.

GREETINGS!

Well, Power of Prayer Ministries is now entering into it's 5th year of ministry!! We can hardly believe it. And after a pause in volunteers over the harsh winter months that we have all suffered through, we are now moving forward with our work. Many groups have expressed interest in continuing the work here and we have had several groups who have booked in spring and summer.

We have helped in the beginning construction of a new home from ground up in Waveland. Another amazing "God" story. We are excited to see God's work in this family. We are also excited to see what He has in store for us in this coming year. We invite anyone interested to contact us and see what God can do in and through you as you serve Him here on the Gulf Coast of MS. Remember that this area is 86% unchurched - what an awesome mission field in which to serve.