Beyond the Storm

Day 7 – April 7th, 2006

Today is our last day at Camp Hope. And, while we were excited to go home, we were also sad to leave – the new friends we had made, the feelings gratitude and satisfaction that we been able to touched even in a little way the lives of those living in the hurricane’s devastation, and the disappointment knowing that was so much yet to do.

Last night and this morning before breakfast, we watched the video taken by Kennard Jackley who had weathered the storm in his home on Lake Pontchartrain. His video had been picked up by national networks documenting the storm. It touched us so much that we felt that we had to meet him and his wife Dukey and pick up copies of his video.

The drive to Jackley’s home was unbelievable. Homes along the way where either completely demolished by the hurricane and storm surge or severely crippled. Seven months later, boats were still left where the storm surge had placed them, tossed into yards and banks. Debris was strewn as far as you could see.

And not just older and poorer homes were impacted but beautiful expensive homes. In fact, the governor of LA had a home on the Lake Pontchartrain had been destroyed. But there were signs of reconstruction.

Beyond the Storm

Day 6 – April 6th, 2006

Our team today was split up again to work on Dot’s and Bonnie’s homes and we had one of our teammates (Barb Bleke) stay behind at the camp to help with the cooking and cleaning.

We knew that when we got to Dot’s we had more work than could be done in a day so the group stayed very focused on the tasks at hand. We got the feeling that Dot too felt the pressure knowing that this was our last day with her. Dot seemed to truly like our team, trusted us and was disappointed that we were going to leave. It could have been our imagination or not, but we felt that she wanted us to finish her home. She kept telling the team that we were so talented and how thankful she was being under our care. In fact, she had spent a lot of time the evening before at dinner telling anyone that would listen about how grateful she was to have us helping her.

At the end of the day, we did have the kitchen appliances installed and tested, all but the refrigerator (it hadn’t been delivered yet). She had complete plumbing in both bathrooms, the livingroom, master bedroom and hall way had laminated flooring, and the kitchen cabinets were installed and stained with the sink dropped into place and functional. Other things that we did that were not on the original work order was installing a door in her outbuilding, yard cleaned up, cleaning out the gutters and reattaching them along with any loose siding. All that was left to do was installing the flooring in the other 2 bedrooms, trimming out the baseboard and trim around a few doors.

We wanted to go back for a ½ day on our departure day (Friday) but there were 2 good days or more of work. While we were disappointed that we wouldn’t be the ones to complete her home, we knew that there would be others after us that would finish.

At Bonnie’s house, we finished ripping out the 2 bathtubs and 4 feet of drywall from the garage, finished pulling nails and spent time just talking with Bonnie.

Again, it is not getting the job done that matters but helping the healing process for the residents by listening to them. It was a way to also show them the respect and dignity that they had lost because of the storm. We were reminded of that when Bonnie told us that for some reason she felt that the reason that were weren’t spending time talking with her was because we thought poorly of her and thus didn’t like her. Our focus on getting in and getting the job done probably gave her that impression which was far from the truth.

By day’s end, all that remained to do at Bonnie’s before the power washing and disinfecting process was to pull out the floor tiles which covered the entire house and disassembling the fireplace mantel and insert. Again, work for another team.

When we pulled away from Bonnie’s, she looked sad and a bit lost. Since she had no one else to rely on, who would take her through the next phase of rebuilding? The night before we had brought her along with us to the Lenten service at Lamb of God and had introduced her to some of the members there. She said that she was looking for a church home and we thought that maybe this was a fit for her – at least there were others to know that were in her situation. Unfortunately, Lamb of God seemed to be too “old fashion” for her. Later she shared that she is looking for a church that is more contemporary and has a young adult ministry which she was used to in her previous Baptist church.

Our evening was spent off camp as we walked the French Quarters in New Orleans with Pastor Stefan as our guide. Couldn’t leave this part of the country without having some great fresh seafood, bit of Cajun cooking at Ralph & Kacoo’s and some yummy café au lait and beignets at the Café Du Monde. Dinner highlights included fried gator and shrimp to start off our meal followed by a lively turtle soup and entrees that were to die for.

Beyond the Storm

Day 5 – April 5th, 2006

Slept OK despite the coyote and dog banter last night. Not sure who won the shouting match but it was interesting being in the middle of it. Temperature was a bit cool but our hosts had plenty of blankets for extra warmth.

The weather today started a bit cool but heated up nicely. Clear sky all day. So far we have had great weather – no rain, cool evenings and temperatures in the 80’s during the day!

The team split in 2 with one group (Dave E., Dave B., Ken, Cherri & Laura) going back to Dot’s to work on laying the flooring, finishing up the plumbing and finish installing the kitchen cabinets. The other group (Pastor Karl, Tim, Barb & Ellen) went to Bonnie Davis’ house a few minutes from Camp Hope to do “rip out” work. Rip-out is the 2nd step in cleaning out a home. First is mucking out a home of the debris and muck. Then ripping out a home is just as it sounds - ripping out drywall, cabinets, tubs, sinks, insulation, and any other materials that would have mold due to the flooding. After that is completed, a crew comes in to thoroughly clean and chemically treat what is remaining for mold. The last step in the process is what we have been doing at Dot’s house – rebuilding, readying the home to habitable again.

Bonnie’s story is quite a bit different than Dot’s. A single woman, Bonnie has mental and emotional disabilities. She lived in hotel rooms for 3 months after the storm but now has a FEMA trailer parked on her front lawn where she stays with her 4 dogs. When we met her, she had just gotten out of the hospital. Bonnie’s home had a storm surge of 3-4 feet (same amount that Lamb of God Church down the street had) so we had to rip out at least 4 feet of drywall & nails, tubs, toilets, kitchen cabinets, all appliances, etc.

When the team initially showed up at Bonnie’s to assess the damage and see what tools we would need, it was like a might force surrounding Bonnie. She said that it was like being interviewed by Home Makeover. Pastor Karl remarked, “…except without Ty Pennington.”

Bonnie told us that after they were allowed back in to the area, she was approached by a couple of people who needed temporary housing and asked to stay in her home even though it was covered in muck. Since Bonnie has a very kind heart and it was quite cold, she agreed. Unfortunately, they turned out to be drug addicts. They later claimed, when Bonnie and the sheriff tried to get them out, that they were leasing the property even though they were not paying rent. Here in Louisiana it seems that gave them squatter’s rights and Bonnie was unable to evict them. She finally had to turn off the electricity to force them out. Angered, they stole almost everything that she owned while Bonnie’s neighbors looked on.

By the end of the day, Dot’s home had ½ of laminate flooring in the master bedroom and ¾ in the livingroom and installation was complete of the bathroom cabinet & sinks and kitchen cabinets.

At Bonnie’s home, we had most of the drywall cut out in all rooms but the garage. What was once a clean front lawn now had 5 feet high, 5 feet wide and 18 feet long of debris piled waiting for pick-up.

Mid-way through the afternoon, we learned that we had been invited by Dot’s church, Lamb of God Lutheran Church, for a Lenten meal and for Lenten service afterward. The food was amazing with pasta salad with shrimp, shrimp and crawdad gumbo (Barb thought of it more as a stew). When we asked for the gumbo recipe, one of the ladies said that it would cost us. “What’s your price?” we asked. “Just cleaning up of 160 chairs in the church that had storm damage,” we were told. They were using any asset to help with the clean-up efforts.

Pastor Stefan Wismar lead us and his congregation in Lenten worship. Afterwards we spent time talking with the member and further enjoying their fellowship.

Beyond the Storm

Day 4 – April 4th, 2006

After a day of mucking out yesterday, our team needed a bit of positive reconstruction. Today’s work was to help Ms. Dot Burton finish work on her house. Dot is a 60+ year young women who taught junior high school Special Ed for 30 years, recently served in the Peace Corp in Dominican Republic and just a few years ago moved from Georgia to the New Orleans area to be with her sister. Unfortunately, her sister died a 1-1/2 years ago and now she is alone dealing with reconstruction after the hurricane. To top that all off, she is un-going chemo therapy which has weakened her.

The surge from Lake Pontchartrain had deposited a foot of muck in her house. Dot had contracted someone to repair her house paying out $25,000 for the work. But unfortunately, before he had completed the work, he left. So there she was with no lower cabinets, no flooring, no toilets, etc and very little money left. She couldn’t stop thanking us for the work that we were doing.

We split into smaller work cells with some laying laminate flooring, others working on installation of the kitchen cabinets, others work on clean-up of bathroom & kitchen sinks getting them ready for others that would install them after the sink cabinets had been installed. But there was so much to do and we ran out of time. After assessing the progress, it was decided that a few of us would go back tomorrow with the entire team returning to finish the work on Thursday.


After dinner tonight, Kurtis told us his family’s story about their experience with the hurricane. Fortunately they were able to leave and actually evacuated with financial help from a friend and ended up in Fort Wayne. His in-laws live in Woodburn. Their story was actually reported by the News Sentinel a month or so after Katrina. While their house in Slidell was hit by the storm surge, by the grace of God, they experienced no wind damage, tree damage and little muck damage. As they recounted their experience with their 4 children, they truly felt that they had more positive effects from the storm than negative – most because of the wonderful people that they met, who helped them and who are now helping the victims of this catastrophe.

Beyond the Storm

Day 3 – April 3rd, 2006

Today we spent finishing up mucking out a home in the St Bernard parish in a small community called Meruax. This area was one of the hardest hit as a 12’ storm surge swept into the community in less than 3 minutes according to eye witness reports.

Shortly after we arrived at the home, we noticed a woman next door sitting on the steps of her small FEMA trailer right in front of her home and went to ask her directions. Her name was Penny. We spent a delightful hour-hour ½ talking with her. She took us proudly through her gutted home telling us how she and her husband had mucked out her home shortly after they were allowed to return to the parish, how she had saved many of her family photos but only because she was in the process of decorating a nursery for her soon-to-be grandson. Unfortunately, the items she had purchased (food, gifts, nursery items, etc) for her daughter’s baby shower which was destroyed by the storm surge a week before the event.
Penny is a woman of great strength, family and hope. A witness to the dexterity and perseverance of the people of this area. It was a privilege to listen to her and pray for her and her family.

Mucking out a home (Keith & Debbie Randall) sounds just like it sounds. The 12’ ft storm surge also carried with it 2 feet of muck – a mixure of mud, oil, gas, sewage and other disgusting articles. As this muck traveled through the homes, it carried with it furniture, clothing, toys, pictures, kitchen utensils, books, important documents, essentially your life. While the hurricane actually hit on 8/31/05, some of these homes have not yet been opened up and cleaned.

Going into each house you have to clear away a path from all the house contents which had shifted from room to room, ceiling materials which had fallen from the moisture and other debris that had come in from other homes from the surge.

In order to muck out a home, each one of us had to be fitted with boots, hazmat suits, 3 layers of gloves, googles, respirators and a hard hat almost all duck tapped to our bodies. Key to this cleaning for the volunteers are to keep a barrier between us and the mold with has permeated everything.

Beyond the Storm

Day 2 – April 2nd, 2006

Most of our second day was spent traveling again south with our sister church from Hudsonville, MI. We were glad that we had walkie talkies to coordinate rest stops, gas fill-ups, meals and that all important ice cream break. The rest of the trip was uneventful which gave us time to get to know our new friends from Hudsonville.

It was so good to see more and more green as we drove farther south – grass that looked like it needed mowing, trees bursting with new leaves, azaleas in full bloom. But as we drove closer to Slidell, we started seeing the signs of the hurricane’s devastation. We saw neighborhoods with campers in the drive ways, blue tarps still protecting the roofs, trees snaps in half or totally up-rooted. And this we learned was not even the worst.



Finally late afternoon we arrived at Camp Hope on the grounds of Lamb of God Lutheran Church in Slidell. We were greeted by Kurtis Smith, camp director, and Arlene, who registered us and made sure we had all our documents in line and tetnus shots taken. Kurtis took us on a quick tour of the camp including sleeping tents, shower trailer for our 8-minute showers, sick bay, mess tent and the ever important porta-potties.


After dinner, we had our official orientation. Kurtis told us just a bit of the impact of the hurricane. Over 1,500,000 households throughout the entire storm area registered with FEMA for aid. Hundreds of thousands of families are still not home after 7 months. Some houses had still not even been entered yet. This camp alone has generated 70,000 volunteer hours which at $17.50 per hour (FEMA) is over $1,225,000 donated hours. But even with that said, not even 25% of the work is completed yet.

Our tasks this week will be - mucking out homes and doing some reconstruction on homes (drywalling, flooring, painting, etc). Tomorrow…..muck-out!

Beyond the Storm - Day 1

Mission Gulf Coast: Beyond the Storm
Day 1 – April 1st, 2006

This morning, Concordia Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne, IN sent out ten called people to be of service to those that were devastated by hurricane Katrina at a tent camp at Lamb of God Lutheran Church in Slidell, LA. Pastor Karl is leading our team which includes Barb Bleke, Laura Bowser, Dave Ensley, Cherri Glessner, Ellen Mann, Ken Marcum, Duane Thieme, and Tim Witte.

Our team’s goals, besides clean-up and rebuilding work, are to show the face of Jesus to those who don’t know His saving grace and are in desperate need of His hope and comfort and to support the efforts of those Christians who are dealing day to day with those in need. As Duane Thieme stated: “We are going down there to rebuild structure with our physical hands and, through the grace of God, rebuild faith and hope with our words and actions.”

This afternoon our team met up with 10 wonderful and caring people from New Hope Lutheran Church in Hudsonville, MI doubling the size of our team. The first 15 minutes together were spent with the traditional hand shaking, name sharing and working hard to try to remember those names as we lunched on a savory salad bar in Effingham, IL.

Over the last few weeks, Pastor Karl has reminded us to expect changes in our plans, typical of all mission trips. He did remark to the team that it reminded him of the one Beatitude that was not covered in our Lenten mid-week services as it was never recorded: BLESSED ARE THE FLEXIBLE, FOR THEY WILL NOT GET BENT OUT OF SHAPE.

Our team needed to remember this as we showed up tired and ready for a good night’s rest at our motel in Horn Lake, MS to find that some of the rooms had been given away. We graciously left the Hudsonville team there to rest, jumped in the cars and drove 45 minutes to find other accommodations at a “Batesville” Comfort Inn in Batesville, MS.

We are anxious to get to Slidell tomorrow where we will be joined by five more team mates from Chesapeake Community Church in Chesapeake, VA. Our team is ready to do His will and be a blessing to the people of Slidell.


There are individual and very personal reasons why the Concordia team members felt called by God to participate in this mission. The following are just a few of the testimonials by the team members.

Strands of Hope (Ecc. 4: 9-12): What the Gulf Coast Mission Trip means to me by Laura Bowser
The utter devastation – although so different than September 11th – it was so similar in the sense to see someone’s life and or their things destroyed. It is not so much the “things” but those items of memory – your child’s first toys, pictures of your child in kindergarten or graduating from high school, pictures of your grandchildren, the quilt that your grandmother made for you, the floral arrangement that you sister made – things that those you love put time into for you – GONE. It is a reminder that these possessions are only ours temporarily and that our real home, in heaven, is adorned with even so much more. While we are here, on earth, we need the stability of a home, of a bed of our own at night, a refrigerator that has food in it to feed our family, a place to gather our family to pray and play. This mission trip is so important to me to help rebuild that quality of life for the people who have lost so much to help them, while we are here, on earth, to know that other people care about them today and want to show God’s love for them that there is a bright future on earth and in heaven.

Restoring Grace by Dave Braun
You also asked why I feel called to make this trip. I wanted to help just after the storm hit, but did not know how to respond. I prayed about it, but it seemed that the Lord was telling me "no" since there were several obstacles in my way. However, I think his real answer was "wait". Without going into all of the details, He led my wife (Ev) and I to Concordia at the first of 2006 through Fred and Ernie Weiss. Ev noted early in the year that this trip was planned and pointed it out to me. Again, I prayed about it and this time there were no obstacles or other 'things' holding me back. I believe He is now saying "yes" to my initial prayer.
Why do I want to go? I asked myself, "If I were in their shoes, how would I want people to respond?" I would want help, or at least know that my neighbors cared enough to show support with the offer to help-and I believe that I would accept it. Simply put, I care about my neighbors.
The invitation came through Pastor Kevin, and the rest just seemed to be right. I know that we have not officially transferred our membership to Concordia, but I am grateful for this opportunity that Pastors Kevin and Karl have offered. I am led by the Lord and now committed to this work. With his grace as my guide, I will go to Slidell to serve as He has planned.

Trip to the Gulf: Why am I going again? by Dave Ensley
I felt like I was called to go to the Gulf as soon as I saw the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina. I had to question myself, why am I going halfway around the world to Thailand when there is work to be done right here in the USA? I realized that we had already spent the money on non-refundable plane tickets, and we would not be good stewards of those funds if we were not to go. I’m thankful that I have been blessed with opportunities to go and serve on both trips. It is amazing the way God’s plans for us seem to work out and how rewarded we are when we serve Him. I want to thank everyone for their continued support and prayers for both missions and the ones to come. We need to continue our mission in life and all become fishers of men.