There is no doubt in my mind that everyone has heard of
Hurricane Katrina and the path of devastation that was left in
her wake; people killed, cities destroyed and thousands homeless
just to name a few of the results. Like many, my heart broke
into pieces for the people down in the gulf coast area. After a
lot of prayer, I felt God calling me to take a team down to the
gulf coast to help in anyway we could.
On December
26th, 13 of us left from our church, Warsaw Valley Chapel, bound
for Pass Christian, Mississippi. Some of you may not know that
Hurricane Katrina caused a huge storm surge in the Gulf
Coast sending recorded waves up to 50 feet high in-land; we were
later told that 90 miles of the coast was completely destroyed
and damage was found as far as 100 miles inland. We didn't know
what to expect when we got there, but I do know that none of us
expected what we found. We got to Pass Christian in the
dark, there were no street signs left, only parts of the 90 were
open because of the black top being torn up; needless to say we
were lost and everywhere w! e looked there were piles of rubble
where buildings use to be. We did eventually find where we
needed to be after a bit of help. We unpacked and went to bed
with no idea what to expect anymore about this place. The next
morning our team was split up, three of us, myself included,
went to God's Katrina Kitchen to cook. The other ten went to
rake up debris and do some construction.
God's
Katrina Kitchen is an amazing thing, it was started by one man
grilling burgers on the beach and it has now grown into a well
run establishment that serves free meals to residents,
volunteers, and anyone else who shows up; which adds up to
around 1500 meals every day. The kitchen and the dinning room
is all housed under huge tents on a vacant parking lot, this is
where I spent all of my time while I was down there due to my
cooking experience. ! During my time at God's Katrina Kitchen I
had a lot of great oppurtunities to meet many people who lived
down there and went through the hurricane. I got to hear a lot
of amazing stories about the flooding, people barely escaping
their houses, people watching from higher grounds as the waves
came up and all the things that were lost. The most amazing
thing about almost all of the stories that I heard was that the
people would end them by telling me how greatful they are to God
for all that He has blessed them with and given them.
Their biggest request was that we wouldn't forget about them,
what they had been through, what they had yet to go through and
most importantly that we would remember to always pray for them.
It wasn't
until the trip home that I had the chance to hear anything that
went on outside of the tent with the rest of the team! . They
had spent their time cleaning yards, doing drywall, roofing,
siding and other odd jobs in various parts of Pass Christian and
Gulfport. They also had the chance to meet a lot of residents,
they would come out and help clean up the yards; one couple Pat
and Cindy cooked them steak and shrimp for lunch on the last day
we were there to thank them for what they had done. While they
were driving around they saw people living in tents on the edge
of rubble that was their house, they saw endless destruction,
boats brought inland and left their; things that even after
seeing pictures I still find hard to believe.
It was an
amazing trip and an awesome experience, I learned a lot about
myself, other people and God down in Mississippi. I think that
all of us left a piece of our hearts in Pass Christian, and a
month later! I still find my mind drifting back there, to the
people and the help they still need. I am planning another trip
for April around Easter time for another week; some of the team
had different ideas though; one man from the trip came home just
to turn around and go back for two more weeks; two other men are
going down for the month of February to help out. 300,000
people or more were in some way displaced by Hurricane Katrina
in such a devastating way that even after being there I can't
wrap my mind around it, the only thing about Katrina that I find
more amazing and harder to understand then the destruction is
the sincere out pouring of love, kindness, compassion, sympathy,
and concern for the people down there.
Meg Johnson
