Getting ready for the hand off

Donna S. writes:

We worked as long as we could today, leaving just enough time to reorganize the tool trailer while we still had light. Indeed, as has been the case every day this week, we were the last group to straggle back to Gateway in our filthy (and getting filthier by the day) work clothes.

Even though there are places we are not happy with (such as spots in a couple of rooms that a group prior to us primed before they sanded ... we did attack some of them today with a power sander), we are pleased with the progress made at Stella's this week. Stella is too. Doors are hung. Some rooms are primed and ready for paint or ceiling texturing. Most of the trim has been primed and painted once. John 3 has a list of where we were when we had to stop so Team B can pick up the relay torch. Thank goodness for fresh recruits and God bless you for deciding to continue this mission.

Stella said today that she always has mixed feelings when the people who have worked on her house leave. She gets attached and feels sad to think about them leaving. Sometimes she stays away from the work site so she does not get too attached. That was not the case this week. She said she often forms a bond with one of the women in the group, and we advised her that next week she'll have an all-male team!

Just before we picked up carry-out lunch at Joe's, Stella took as few of us by Morning Star Baptist Church, the church she attends about two blocks from her home. We had stopped at this church on our first morning as we searched for her address, never considering we were on Stella's home turf.

The church sanctuary is in shambles and they're now having services in the former fellowship hall. Stella's pastor took us on a tour. The pastor had to move some things out of the way to let us in to look. He said he was afraid someone might get hurt in there if given access.We stood in what had been the baptistry and surveyed the ruined sanctuary. Some of us noticed that Stella had a funny look on her face and a little while later she was observed wiping away tears.

She said it was the first time she had seen the inside of the sanctuary since the storm, and it made her very, very sad.

We picked up lunch and picnicked on Miss Willie Merrill's vacant lot next door (Where her FEMA trailer had been before her house was restored). Shrimp Po Boys and Red Beans & Rice were a popular lunch choice. Stella ate with us, and afterward spent about 20 minutes telling us about her family. It was a moving account of hardships she's faced beyond Katrina and the electrical fire she experienced shortly afterward. Perhaps the emotion of seeing her church sanctuary brought it all out. But her faith remains strong and she's eager to share.

The hour grows late as we pack clothes and the second trailer to come home. There's much more to say... We'll have to get back at it on the road.

Teams B & C, we're thinking about you and praying for you to be as blessed on your trips to Gulfport as we have been.