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.