DAY 1 - GULFPORT

Hey guys, Johnny here again and wanted to give you an update of what we did down South today.

Today was a HUGE work day and the team got a ton accomplished. We are actually living at the church this week. The pastor turned their children's classes into "dorms" for youth groups and mission teams to stay at the church to do relief work (more on that in a minute).

We divided into several teams and got to work right after breakfast. A good handful of students got to work in the fellowship area of the church, where we are having our meals and storing some of our stuff. They cleaned up chairs, floors, refrigerators and cabinets. After how many people and materials filter through here it was time for a good 'ole cleaning. Another team was outside in the tent, working on painting trim board that we had brought with us from Indiana. Their was an absurd amount of boards to paint, but they rallied together and finished painting all the trim in spite of some rain that slowed the project for a bit. Upstairs, the carpeting process began and two whole rooms got brand new carpet put down, students helped with the fitting, glueing and smoothing of the carpet. (Don't worry parents, none of the children were allowed to use the razor blades! )
Several more painting crews went to town and got two rooms completely painted from start to finish. A third room needs only a final coat, a fourth room got a full coat of primer and the fifth room got the finishing touches of primer added to it. A couple of detail workers started priming the doors for 4 of the rooms so that those too can be painted. We got things cleaned up, had an amazing spaghetti dinner and then had a bit of free/shower time. We gathered as a team to talk about the day, spend some time in worship and hear from YOU! I read your comments from yesterday's blog and they were a huge hit! Everyone was very excited to here from home, so keep writing!

We then gave the kids some time to journal their experiences so far. Not only did we give them the time, we gave them the journals. Not only that, but we gave them the coolest journals I've ever seen in my life. Laura Vincent, Oasis leader and scrapbooker extraordinare, put together a journal/scrapbook for every student. Each one is unique and has several pages already scrapbooked and ready for pictures of this trip. There are also several lined pages in the middle for journaling throughout the trip. The kids were very excited and the impact of the journals was huge! They will be able to remember their time spent here and what God does for a very long time. Laura, we are so grateful!

Pastor Tim came in and spent about an hour with us telling us the story of when Katrina hit and how things unfolded here. I had NO clue what we were in store for!

Here are some facts about when Katrina hit that I had no clue about:
-There was over 1 million acres of Gulf Coastlands that was obliterated by the hurricane.
-The amount of destruction in New Orleans pales in comparison to how much was wiped out in Gulfport. The only difference is that for several reasons, the news coverage was in New Orleans.
-The waters rised and moved inland as the storm approached. When the worst winds hit 35 to 42 foot waves rose and instead of breaking on the shore, went across all the water that had already risen and the waves broke directly on top of homes 2-4 blocks inland past the beaches. All the houses that got flooded, didn't have gradual water rising in the basement and at the foundation. The flooding came through the torn off roofs and second floor windows.

Now for some reasons why we are spending a good majority of our time working here in this church instead of out in more demolished areas:
-This church was literally the connection between Gulfport and the rest of the world. It was the hub that connected all ministry efforts.
For instance:
Larry Jones didn't only send his team down, but he himself came down to Gulfport and stayed 7 days here at the church in one of the dorms to help assess the damage.
Pat Robertson came personally and spent time with the pastor, helping use his influence to get things rolling.
Convoy of Hope, Randy Johnson's "God's Pit Crew", Compassion Alliance, CBN, 700 Club all came to THIS church to help out.
A Disney producer came over to work and told the pastor "Don't tell them who I am, I just want to help work."
President George W. Bush was here and spent some time with Pastor Tim and told him that what was happening here at the church was more than the government was even able to pull off.
This church can house around 50 volunteers and in order to help the sustaining efforts to rebuild and give hope to those in Gulfport, we are helping to strengthen this ministry so that it can continue to help meet the needs of the community.

If you're wondering exactly what they were able to pull off, here ya go:
-In 7 days they were able to distribute over 50 truckloads of food, each truck's goods averaged a retail value of $50,000.
-6,000 hot meals were served the day after the storm, 9,000 the second day and then were able to setup several more distribution centers in the community at partnering churches and parking lots.
-They continued to serve 8-12,000 hot meals a day for 5 weeks.

They had food, they had hands and hearts, but the main thing they needed was fuel to pass out along with the 3,000 generators that were given so the community could have power back long before utilities infrastructures were rebuilt. Through a quick news interview, word spread across the country of the need of fuel, since Gulfport gas stations were wiped out and didn't being having gasoline for weeks. Truckers began pulling in off the highway saying, "Pastor, take 25 gallons out of my tank" College students from Chicago drove 17 hours with a trailer full of 55 gallon diesel drums. Farmers donated thousands of gallons of fuel that they had on their farms for their equipment.

And Pastor Tim was the first to admit that no entity, this church included, could have done what was accomplished. The CHURCH did this. And that is why we are here.