They're home!

The mission team arrived home safely around 6 p.m. Saturday. They'll tell us more soon here, but from what we heard in the parking lot as they unpacked the trailer and put luggage and tools into their personal vehicles, it was evident they had been blessed.

They worked hard (bringing home drywall dust in their clothes). They met homeowners such as Silas and Miss Ida with whom they bonded while helping them rebuild. They formed friendships with fellow Methodists and fellow Hendersonians they hadn't known before. They came back with sore muscles but with smiles about funny incidents. "What happens in New Orleans," one of them said, "stays in New Orleans!"

Particularly touching was how, as they prepared to drive to their respective homes from the First Methodist parking lot, they said their goodbyes. People from Chapel Hill United Methodist Church hugged people from Bennett Memorial UMC, and people from Bennett hugged people from First UMC.

They had not only help rebuild homes. They had built new Christian relationships with people from back home.

Amen.

Now, if we can just get them to spill the beans about some of what happened in New Orleans!