Just a quick update and praises from Pearl River, LA!
We (22 of us) arrived at New Jerusalem Praise and Worship Center at about 4:15 pm, thus the trip was about 1040 miles and took us 21 hours. The trip was long but went well, and everyone is very tired but we are happy to be here. Hauling the trailer slowed us a bit, especially when highway was rough (like riding a bucking bronco), but we get to deliver the school supplies hopefully tomorrow afternoon.
Lasagna is in the oven, the students are relaxing, and a crew is out buying groceries.
We have two rooms for accomodations, 6" foam mattresses on the floor that actually will be very nice. We also have the entire run of the church, the kitchen, and fellowship hall (and computer access for these reports!)
On Sunday am, we will get to participate in their 2 hr long pentecostal worship service, which will be an experience for most of us. After lunch, we head over to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Evidently a 26 foot high wave hit the beach there and destroyed everything for over 1 mile inland, and much of the area looks the way it did the day after the hurricane hit. We will see this area tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon, then spend a bit of time relaxing together on the beach.
On Monday, we will go work in St. Bernard Parish, immediately west of New Orleans, in an area that was flooded up to 18 feet deep and was NOT protected by levees. We will be gutting a house so it can be rebuilt, as the inside of the walls, etc. are still wet from the flooding!
The one amuzing piece of information we found out so far is that John Deere lawn tractors FLOAT! After the 26 ft wave hit Bay St Louis, evidently the lawn tractors were the only intact floating out in the Gulf of Mexico (most other items sank that were swept out to sea by the wave sank).
Please pray that we can connect with the school in Bay Saint Louis to deliver the school shelving, cabinets, and supplies from the old middle school by "Decorah Cares".
Please pray that we are all refreshed and get the sleep we need following our long trip and are ready to go on Monday am.
Pray that we can be Jesus' hands here to those needing hope and encouragement, and that we can really have a productive week.
- Kirk Larsen
