Day 2 . . . More Drywall and Reconnecting with Thelma

After Jo's delicious dinner last night and Dr. Larry's devotional, DeAnna, the minister of Westside Christian Church, visited with us. DeAnna and her husband are from Puerto Rico and have lived in New Orleans since 2007. She is delightful! After a mean game of Catch Phrase, we turned in early in anticipation of another early morning.

Tuesday began with Jo's fantastic breakfast of pancakes and sausage. All of us worked at the house on Carnot for a while so that the rest of the dry wall could be hung. Then the group working on the house on Bruxelles went there to hang dry wall. They had a very productive day, finishing the dry wall on the ceiling and a wall in one room.

Those of us working on the Carnot house applied putty and sanded again today. We were at a stand still this afternoon waiting for putty to dry, so we took advantage of the down time to take a tour of the Lower Ninth Ward. Many members of our group had not seen the destruction in the Lower Ninth Ward since the homes we are working on this trip are in Gentilly. We took the ferry across the Mississippi River and visited Thelma, a lady whose home we worked on during our last New Orleans Mission Trip. I don't know who was more excited - Thelma over seeing us or us over seeing Thelma! It was a fantastic reunion! Thelma gave us a tour of her home, which was completely renovated with the help of Westside Mission Center. We drove by the Greater New Jerusalem Baptist Church, where we worked on the previous mission trip, and Pastor Washington's house, which we also worked on during the previous trip. The Lower Ninth Ward has come a long way since we were here two years ago; however, there are still numerous homes that are in need of repair or demolision - this area of New Orleans certainly doesn't look like it must have looked prior to Hurricane Katrina with its pristine yards and homes.

Another thing that is weighing heavy on my mind tonight is that we drove past the place below Interstate 10 at Canal and Claiborne where tent city used to be - a place where the homeless people lived. All the homeless people are gone. As Dr. Larry pointed out, this could be a good thing - perhaps they have found housing and are no longer homeless. Or perhaps this could be a not-so-good thing - maybe the City ordered them to vacate the area and they are still homeless. I guess we will not know the answer to that question.

Jo prepared spaghetti, garlic bread, salad, and banana sour cream pie for dinner tonight. Dr. Larry led us in a devotional where we discussed where we saw God today. Now we are all gathered around the TV watching American Idol and preparing to play games. I've already called that I want to be on Team Rybolt because Alex and Scott are awesome at playing games!!!!!