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Samaritan's Purse Mission, Chalmette, LA

On Sept 16th, I left for Chalmette, LA, just a bit to the southeast of New Orleans proper.  Chalmette is in St. Bernard's Parish.  After about 1250 miles, I arrived at the Samaritan's Purse mission compound at the Nunez Community College.  We stayed in the building that housed the gym.  The college is up and running, mainly in one of their 3 buildings with about 1000 of their normal 2400 students.  Surrounding the college are neighborhoods that are still devastated by Katrina over one year ago. 
 
I worked alongside an excellent group of folks from Calvary Chapel Albuquerque, NM, and our work was to strip the inside of the house of all sheetrock, insulation, fixtures, and anything still left in the house.  The mold from the flooding is toxic and so everything is discarded and then the studs are brushed and sprayed with an anti-mold treatment.  The folks from Calvary Chapel took me in and made me part of their group.  I really enjoyed being with them. 
 
The first house was a two story house that had water halfway up the second floor.  The second house we worked on was a one story where the water was probably about 8' deep. 
 
Among my new friends is a sherrif from St. Bernards Parish.  You can hear his testimony of what happened during Katrina at http://www.helpoutnow.org .  Definitely take the time to listen.  
 
I would highly recommend Samaritan's Purse if you are looking for a missions trip.  Evangelism is first and that is so important to doing missions work.  The site was comfortable and they took good care of us.  The chaplin's they sent out with us were so good at using the opportunity the work team opened up, to talk with people and lead them into a relationship with Jesus.  They are at www.samaritanspurse.com
 
I think I left part of my heart in Chalmette.  I felt deeply moved when talking with the local people and the Lord has put a burden on my heart for everyone I met.  I would go back in a heartbeat. 
 
Here are some pictures to give you an idea of what the week was like!
     

theteam.jpg

The Calvary Chapel Albuquerque team and me! 

pickinup.jpg

Loading debris into the wheelbarrows.

rippin2.jpg

Disassembling the walls.

rippinup.jpg

Taking more things apart.

missinghouse.jpg

This house just washed away.

me2.jpg

The latest deconstruction fashion! (Itz me in there)

me.jpg

I like that hardhat! 

openfridge.jpg

You are never supposed to open one of these...

spraying.jpg

Spraying the mold killer.

alldone.jpg

Almost cleaned up!

debrispile2.jpg

The debris pile.

fred.jpg

My new friend, Fred and his little pup!

truckboatpole.jpg

Give me a Ford F150, topped with a boat, with a little telephone pole on top!

upthestreet.jpg

The neighborhood, missing all the people...

debrispile1.jpg

starting the debris pile.

meandtheboys.jpg

The young guys...and me.  These are all good'n's.  Hard workers.

steve.jpg

I think that's my bud, Steve, in there somewhere.

ddhouse1.jpg

Just keep shovelling it in the wheelbarrows....

samaritanspursecompound.jpg

Samaritan's Purse compound at Nunez Community College.

bobcat.jpg

Derrick's bobcat with the big claw!

hawkmark.jpg

Mark chainsawing the hawk out of a log.

mark.jpg

Working on the details.

hawk.jpg

A closer look at the hawk.

pelican.jpg

The school mascot...a pelican.

caddy.jpg

A washed out caddy.

house2.jpg

There are many, many houses just like this.

house1.jpg

Clean but nothing inside.  Many houses were like this.

nunez.jpg

The water bent this door frame!

bear.jpg

Daniel and Leo giving a bear to a little one.

holeinwall.jpg

The water broke through the block wall, at this point.

ramp.jpg

The ramp out of the kitchen area.

theblanket.jpg

The Rita blanket method of removing debris!

looters.jpg

Warning to looters...

moredebris2.jpg

More debris.

house3.jpg

More houses awaiting cleanout.

gym.jpg

Where we stayed.

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