Salem Katrina Team Report - January 19

Today is quite an adventure, building on yesterday’s events. Last night I got an email from our motorhome insurance carrier that they decided our burned coach is a total loss. This means we’re able to get a replacement for the same price we’d paid for the first vehicle, but it will be quite a bit newer and thus very much to our advantage, and is everything we could have hoped for as a solution. So, this morning as I type I’m sitting in an AirTrans plane flying to Tampa to visit a couple dealerships, select a coach and complete the paperwork. I’ll then return to Ocean Springs to reload our salvaged personal items, partly cleaned of soot and smoke damage, into the replacement coach and complete the donation of our son Ben’s Dodge van to our host Lutheran church. I want to say that this week's “life lesson” has been that insurance folks can’t fix things instantly, but they can be very, very fast when they’re needed, and we are grateful both to them (Mike McGuinness of National Interstate) and our selling agent (Lazy Days RV).

We were at first afraid we’d have to ask to be excused from our promise to donate Ben’s van because we'd need it to pull the UHaul trailer with our belongings back to Oregon, so this solution of a replacement RV might be totally perfect. The old Dodge van is needed here to provide crew transportation and to haul large loads for the volunteers. I am also so grateful for the folks at Christus Victor who’d kept asking how things were going regarding our personal needs and the insurance issues, and I appreciate their happiness when I told them last night how things were resolved. I must say that these two pastors have been a blessing here in Mississippi, but they would be the “dynamic duo” anywhere they chose to serve. I have been blessed with meeting saints everywhere during these four months. And Lutheran saints are pretty good!

We heard from Wayne and Mary Swanson, members of our original team, that they’re to visit in Dallas soon, so I hope we can somehow connect. They were also a couple saints who walked into my life, and into the lives of those folks in Gautier they came to serve.

Work crews were busy here in Ocean Springs all week. They have restarted repairs in the sanctuary, which Joan was worried about, as well as finishing roof repairs in the back. Other teams worked at the distribution center, joined by 30 or so Air Force volunteers from Keesler Air Force base who came to help. As a retired Air Force man, I am proud of these young folks giving up their time off to help the community.

We’ve started getting more job requests. For awhile, we had more volunteers than work for them because bad weather forced cleanup crews to suspend outdoor work. We have had several folks who need help sent over to us by the local FEMA officials, who themselves have requested assistance on their personal homes. Glad to help!

Joan is at home in Oregon, busy scheming how we can continue to help both the Lutheran and the Presbyterian missions in Gautier and Ocean Springs. She’s designing some sort of a matching gift proposal to run by other members of our Salem First Pres. She’s also organically unable to keep from volunteering for her other interests, mostly trail maintenance for the Park Service so she’s already got new trips scheduled. Her months here in the Gulf will be the highlight of her volunteer work, I’m sure.

Late note: I made it to Tampa just fine, looked at vehicles and have some papers to complete, then I hope to head back to Ocean Springs early next week.