More from New Orleans

It's been another long day in Louisiana. We started working with Habitat for Humanity on Tuesday, and it's been a nice experience so far. We've building and putting up frames for walls for a house and also doing some flooring. Some of the work is pretty tedious - hammering in nails into wooden planks, sawing stuff, and gluing and nailing floorboards. I always imagined building a house to be almost impossible for a normal person, but it's actually not that bad. It's nothing like extreme makeover: home edition, but it's pretty good. Hopefully by the end of the week, we'll have framed a house. When the home is actually complete, Habitat for Humanity sells it to the owner of the destroyed home for an average of $75000, which just covers the cost of materials. They also have to put in "sweat equity", their own 250-hour contribution to the labour. Then the whole process continues, with more houses being built.

Like I said before, I've been really impressed by the people here and today was another unforgettable experience. Some of the locals come to the volunteer camp we're staying at (Camp Hope, which is the largest volunteer base in the US) to share their experiences with Hurricane Katrina. It's amazing to hear their stories and they tell you things you would never hear about in the news. You just have to be here and hear it for yourself. Today, a man named Steve showed a video of the destruction in St Bernard Parish (a small parish just outside of New Orleans) and offered his commentary while images of the damage came up on the TV screen. The pictures were just unbelievable. Homes and stores were more than half submerged. Imagine the size of a Wal-mart - the water level came up to the middle of the Wal-Mart sign. I saw videos of people in boats with the water so high that you could touch a traffic light. I saw pictures of houses that were literally picked up by the water and moved down several blocks, ending up beside another house, almost as if it had always been there. Now that's just the physical damage.

Steve told us how many familes were separated. Many died, and many children were left without parents. The emotional damage post-Katrina was probably even worse. The incidence of children needing psychological help has increased six-fold, and healthy people have literally been dying of emotional stress. Steve himself has lost almost everything including his wife and his best friend, but he manages to get by by talking to the volunteers here. When a destructive force of this magnitude devastates thousands of innocent people like this, you have to think to yourself how God could allow this to happen. When you're taught in church that God has a purpose for everything, it's still hard to convince yourself that something like this was even necessary. If this happens to you and you think that way, it will feel like gg for you.

Fortunately, God has a plan. For the people of Louisiana, the hurricane has brought out the best in some of the worst people. It brings people together and gets them to care for people in ways that would never occur under normal circumstances. And those who prayed and trusted God to provide for them in the tough times had their prayers answers. As it says in Jeremiah 19:11-14, '"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you."' Even corporate giant Wal-Mart stepped up to the plate to help these people. They offered anyone in the community a job at the store that paid whatever they were earning before to get them back on their feet. Students from high schools in Florida donated their prom dresses and suits to the students in St bernard so that they could have a prom. From big to little things, God provided for them.

Now as for Steve, he had his own share of miracles. When he was rescued from his house after the flood, he had a 4-6 inch wound in his leg that was infected by the dirty contaminated water that went up to his legs. The doctor said it wouldn't heal and he'd probably have to get it amputated, but despite the advice, he trusted that God would be the only one who would know what would happen to his leg. After that appointment, he didn't see the doctor again and it completely healed to the point that he feels no pain today. Before the storm he had a limp and a partially blind right eye, but now he walks normally and sees perfectly fine in his right eye. Now he is working on opening a community center in memory of his wife, which will be the first of its kind in St Bernard. When he started out he only had $250 out of $1000 required to initiate the proposal. A week later, the volunteers heard about it and started giving him money and he had enough to start. Since then people have been lining up to offer whatever they can to get the community centre up and running. A culinary school offered to provide the food for free, a band promoter offered to line up bands to play for free for the dance programs. One of his friends even offered to finance the whole project. At the end of the story, he shows us his keychain of the cross he holds so dearly and it's pretty clear by now the power of prayer. Selflessly, he insists that he's just an ordinary guy and that he's just doing His work. Then he thanks us and calls us the "real heroes" for helping to rebuild New Orleans.

I never even imagined that this experience would have any kind of spiritual impact. Now that I've witnessed something extremly encouraging and real, I just thought I had to share it. I wish you guys could have been there to hear just a few minutes of some of the stories I've heard, because my account hardly does justice to the true, unedited version. There's about 2 more days left here and it's been great so far. I've got a lot to think about and writing this down really helps me remember it so, this is pretty cool. Anyway, I need to rest up for another long day. Stay tuned for another entry.

In N'awlins

Hey guys,

I realized no one's posted in a while on the blog, and to be honest, I probably havent checked it for a month. But anyway, here's a bump. For those of you who don't know, its my reading week and I'm on a volunteer trip with some other students from my school in Louisiana. I got here on Sunday and it's been a nice trip so far. The weather is warm, much nicer than in Toronto or London.. its actually sunny and I'm sweating right now. It's also been a nice cultural experience as well, and I'm enjoying this taste of Southern flavour.

So I'm about 2 days into my trip, and I've been doing a lot of thinking about what I'm doing here and stuff. Going to a place you've never been and volunteering to help people you don't know is something we don't normally do, and in a way it's a lot like missions. I'm in the greater New Orleans area, and it's amazing how badly devastated this place is. It's been over 2 years since Hurricane Katrina and there are still TONS of houses that haven't been touched since it happened. Driving along the streets and highways, I've seen abandoned strip malls, Wal-Marts, taco bells, and tons of damaged houses - in sharp contrast to the mostly-repaired downtown New Orleans. The political situation down here has been complex, and many people deeply rooted to their homes are now homeless. You just wouldn't expect this to happen in a country like the United States.

Today, we helped restore a home for a lady, who is now staying temporarily in a house down the street. The house has been around since 1790, and we did some demo work on the house so other people can help put it back together again. It's amazing to see how grateful people can be. There were 40 of us working on the house and she took the time to cook all of us lunch. Some of us were vegetarian, and when she found out, she went back into the kitchen to make us a "vegetarian" pasta, but it had chicken in it. She must have thought vegetarians only avoided red meat, but anyway, the vegetarians couldnt eat it so she went back to make salad. Now it's amazing she did this for us, but she does this everyday for every volunteer who comes to help. In a low-income neighbourhood where the house down the road sold for $2000, it's amazing how people with very little (and on top of that no home) can give so selflessly. This is just one example of what I've witnessed so far, and this form of love and selflessness is just amazing. I think that as Christians, this ability to give so freely is something we should all aspire to.

So far, that's just a taste of what I've seen here so far, and I'm sure I'll see more. It's been very encouraging for me in a time when I haven't been as on track with my spiritual life as I should be, and although I'm not technically on a missions trip, I feel like there is a bit of a mission for me to accomplish here - to other people and within myself. Please pray for the people of Louisiana in their gradual healing and restoration of their homes, and for a sense of hope as they go through the tough times. People who didn't have much to begin with have lost everything including their family members and their homes, and many of them still haven't returned since being displaced.

I'll do my best to keep you all updated, so keep an eye out for a new post. Good luck on your midterms and school.

Later guys,

Colin