1st Day of Work: Painting

So I already mentioned that I'm working on Fran's house. Spent the day painting. It was a good time. I'm not really eager to ever get back to office work...

Here's Fran's house:
Here's my new little friend that wandered up into the house today. Adorable. I probably have fleas now...
Used to be a treehouse belonging to Fran's 13 year old son. He's a good kid, gets good grades and is just starting spring training for football this week.
The barrage of pictures continues with Jared's living quarters. It's a mobile home type thing. Pretty roomy with nice bathrooms and AC. I'm pretty cozy here.
I wandered out to the beach after I finished up at work. Beautiful. The beaches are totally abandoned. They feel like some kind of ruin, with concrete steps and stuff, but no other signs of life. It was so peaceful out there. This picture is great because I'm talking on the phone at the time and SERIOUSLY in danger of dropping both my phone and camera into the surf...
Tomorrow I get to put up drywall. Very excited to learn something new. Good night everyone. It's been a long day. Hope you enjoy the pics.

Fran Daniels

Today's day was so big I may have to break it into multiple posts. Hopefully I'll have time to post everything...

First - Fran Daniels
Fran, second from the left, is the owner of the home that my team is helping to rebuild. Fran, her sister, two of her brothers, and her father all lost their homes in Katrina. She told us the story of how her father, brother, and nephew survived the storm at her father's home which is about a mile from the coast.

When the news announced that Katrina would be a category 5 storm, Fran and most of her family decided to leave the area. Because Fran's father has seen many hurricanes and has survived the flooding before, her father, brother, and nephew decided to try to survive the storm by bailing water out the windows. When the water level reached the ceiling, they moved to the attic. When the water level continued to rise, they chopped a hole in the roof with an axe, and climbed out onto it. The men tied each other together with ropes, and attached the rope to a tree to keep from being swept away.

The 3 men survived the 10 hour storm and 34 feet of flooding for two reasons only.
#1 - The storm occurred during the daytime. If it had happened at night, they would have had no electricity or any other means to see and secure themselves on the roof. According to the men they surely would have died if Katrina had come at night.
#2 - The men survived 34 feet of flooding on a roof that was no more than 15 feet high. If the house had stayed in tact, Fran's family would have been swept away. Luckily the house was torn from the foundation and they were able to survive by clinging to the roof as the entire house floated away.

Fran told us that after the storm, North St., through which I drove into town, was littered with entire houses. Many people who lived here in Pass Christian don't even know what happened to their houses. When they returned, they had nothing but a vacant lot.

I wrote in a previous post that it felt like we're out in the country here. This place used to be a beach town. It only looks like the country because almost all the homes were carried away, and after 2 years foliage has grown over where all the houses used to be. Here's a shot of overgrown beach front property:
Today was unbelievable. I'm still having trouble grasping how much these people's lives have been shaken.

Christian Community

This morning I went to Calvary Baptist Church in Pensacola with my buddy Jess. He's only been in town for a month and he is buddies with everyone in the church! I must have met 25 extremely friendly, godly people at church and at a friend's birthday party afterwards. I've never walked into a church and had so many people introduce themselves and have honest, down to earth conversation. It made me realize what a Christian community can really be. I hope someday I'll get to settle down into an encouraging community like the one Jess has.

In other news, I finally made it to Mennonite Disaster Service in Pass Christian Mississippi and they've set me up in a big, comfy mobile home with bunk beds. I feel like I'm way out in the country here, but I'm told they have some beautiful beaches about 5 minutes away. Hopefully I'll get to investigate this before the weekend...

It looks like there will be about 20 other people here ranging from age 20 to 65. Orientation starts in about 20 minutes, where I'll get to figure out what I'll be up to this week. The most important item of note: the basketball hoop.

Mobile Alabama

Mobile, Alabama is amazing! Just kidding. It's mediocre.













Only a 3 hour drive from Pensacola to Pass Christian Mississippi - cake.

Pensacola

It's been soooo long since I've had a fun day at the beach. Thank you, Jess Pomeroy for your hospitality in Pensacola, FL. I'm so jealous that this friend of mine upgrades his career, cuts his cost of living in half, and lives luxuriously, 30 minutes from the beach. If I weren't running away to Peru to save orphans I would say this is the life for me.

So today I played volleyball for the first time in probably a year and it was fantastic. My body is beaten and battered. I haven't felt this good in a while.

We also ate at Hooters and I decided that while Hooter's has tasty food, it's wrong to eat there because I'm giving money to an organization that hires people based solely on physical appearance and glorifies sex. Wait... Hard Times does that too... =( I guess I just can't win in this world.

Journey Complete... Almost

Depart Washington, DC 7:45am. Arrive Pensacola, FL 3:15am eastern time. I had a great trip, and I've never been so thankful for my iPod.

I was hoping to post a picture of Charlotte when I stopped there, but couldn't find a WiFi connection. Everything was so clean and modern. It seemed like such a great Arlington-esque young town that wish I could have spent the night there.
I chose to cruise through Atlanta without stopping because it was getting so late, but I have to say that driving through the middle of the city at 70mph on that 16 lane highway, right underneath all the skyscrapers is surreal. I would have stuck my camera out the window and tried to capture the moment, but the camera was out of juice.

I intentionally held out on eating dinner until I got to Alabama, hoping to maximize the southern deliciousness of my meal. I pigged out in the little town of Opalika, Alabama. Apparently I have an accent... I asked for water. I got butter. I didn't complain. I also learned that in Alabama, baked potatos are the size of a watermelons. I wish my camera still had batteries so I could have posted a picture. It killed me for the last leg of my journey. I seriously struggled for those last 3 hours because of all the tasty food in my belly.

As delicious as Opalika was, it still was no Hard Times. Someone mail me some grilled Texas wings!

Duke

I'm sitting in a coffee shop surrounded by Blue Devils right now... This is pretty crazy. Durham, NC is amazingly beautiful. The campus is pretty much carved into the middle of a forest, and everything is bright green. I kinda don't want to leave.

How My Morning Began

Actual driving visibility

Texas Wings Grilled = Delicious

Today was my last meal at Hard Times...ever.

Ok, so I'm definitely going to stop in on my way back from Mississippi for more Hard Times, but it FEELS like the last Hard Times ever. I enjoyed some grilled Texas and honey mustard wings and a few bites of Chili Bubba with Terlingua Red. Delicious. Once Kyle sends me a pic of the delicious Hard Times food I'm going to stick it on here to make you hungry (Update: this picture is making me drool right now!).The long, long drive from DC to Pensacola begins tomorrow. Gonna try to do it all in one day. Pray for my awakitude.

I Like Books

Much thanks to Peter "TBD" Murphy for his rockin gift of great literature, not to mention a copy of Crime and Punishment to replace the one I left in NYC. Check out what he gave me. If you want to discuss some fine literature with me, put these on your to-read list.

Leaving Home

I read one chapter last night before bed and look what I found...

Luke 18:29-30
"I tell you the truth," Jesus said to them, "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life."

Road Warrior

The long drive to Mississippi begins tomorrow. Just me, the Taurus, and 1,200 miles ahead of me. I've never driven more than about 5 hours in one sitting, so we'll see how my nemesis the 2000 Ford Taurus holds up... not to mention how I hold up...

I've plotted one route through Durham, Charlotte, and Atlanta. Another has me going through Tennessee. If you know any landmarks between Philly and Mississippi that I should stop and check out, give me a comment. Hopefully somebody will send me on a photo scavenger hunt.

I'm excited because I think I'll be able to keep posting updates while I'm in Mississippi, so if you want to know when I post something new, make sure you subscribe to the blog. Also, I've only told folks about the blog who I've seen on IM, so make sure you tell everyone I have this thing up and running.

NYC

Well, I explored NYC for several hours today. Perfect day to be outside. My only complaint is that I wasn't playing basketball...

Here are a few shots from today:

The Empire State Building


















Breakdancer doing a backflip














Broadway















City life is a little crazy. I had a lot of fun living up the city life in DC, but for me, all those many things to do and see in the city have merely distracted me from the important things in life.

Consequently, I hope that these pictures will be getting much more interesting.

Much love and God bless.

The Journey Begins

So the journey begins.

For everyone that wants to know the itinerary of my travels, here it is:

4/20 Visit NYC
4/22 See Tim Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian in Manhattan
4/22 Visit CT
4/23 Back to Lansdale, PA
4/25 Depart on the long drive to Mississippi, hopefully stopping in DC, Alabama, and Pensacola
4/29-5/12 Rebuilding homes destroyed by Katrina in Pass Christian Mississippi with Mennonite Disaster Service
5/12 Begin the long journey back to Philly
5/30? Leave for Peru to assist Scripture Union in helping abandoned kids in Lima and the surrounding country

Stayed tuned here for updates on my journey. Thanks to Alf for giving me his old digital camera. I'm going to try to put up a few pics of Manhattan today.