Back from New Orleans

This Week at UCMHE; blog below

Serving opportunities:

∑ Saturday am. We plan to meet to work on a Habitat for Humanity house. We need to coordinate with the folks at Habitat for Humanity, but we can probably work. Stay tuned for more details.

Managing the World and Coordinating opportunities:

∑ Tuesday 4:00 PM. UCMHE Board meeting.

∑ Helping plan the set up the Peace Expo for April 15, 2007. We’ll find a great way for groups interested in Peace to meet & greet.

Worship Opportunities: Lori Young

∑ We’re getting ready to meet 2nd Semester, Wednesday nights at 8PM on campus. Lori Young is taking on a leadership role here. Join us as we plan for the spring schedule and Wednesday night’s events: Emerging Worship; progressive, intensive, thought and sense provoking.


Now the blog:

The trip to New Orleans was difficult physically and spiritually, but well worth it!

The bus ride was 22 hours each way. The six days in between were both fulfilling and sustaining. We gutted houses, put down a tile floor in another, spent time on roofs with standard materials as well as sealing leaks on a metal roof. We put in soffets, drywall and a bathtub and painted exterior and interior areas. We served the people who needed it most.

There were a few by products as well. We learned a great deal. First, we learned that the strength of people is in the community they are part of. The victims of Katrina are scattered, so the sense of community is, too. A recent guestimate put the current population at 180,000 people. Before the storm, there were over 400,000 people. The sense of being fractured is still alive among these folks. The sense of community is partitioned off. Our presence, and that of others helped bring a sense of belonging. Second, we learned we had enough skills and energy to make good things happen. We were up early, had our devotions (thanks Lori!) and were out the door at 7:30 am. We worked until 4 or 5 PM. Some of us were energetic volunteers and some were more skilled. We learned from each other. People were trained in installing p traps, dura rock and drywall mud. And third, we learned God is present in our participation and sharing. New Orleans folks continued to give us accolades for coming down to help. They felt grateful for our coming. They told us this in their personal stories and they told when they found us in fast food restaurants and gas stations. They really did give us a sense of joy. God is good.

Some math for you all and the influence serving others can have: UCMHE has sponsored two previous trips to the Gulf coast. Last year, there were five students from UNL that went with us. Those five joined us again. In addition, Because we were going and they were going, students from Iowa, South Dakota and Utah joined us. There were grandparents and grandchildren, mothers and daughters, folks in their teens and seventies. We built some generational bridges on the trip as well. I appreciate the work of our UNO folks: Lori Young, Jon Derrick, Kevin Bradley, Renee Gosch, Maijada Aljamei. We hope to have their stories in coming editions of this blog.

People are still needed and there is great opportunity to continue this help. If you’d like to go with us during Spring break, please let us know. If there’s enough interest, we can make it happen. In the meantime, we wish you

Peace,

--Fred