Salem Katrina Team Report - January 7

We have just a few days left here in the Gulf, and I know we will want to return. Please, if you are coming to volunteer, hurry! If you have already been here, when is your next trip? There will be satisfying and worthwhile work to do for years.

We handed out the last of the beautiful Salem Quilt-a-Thon quilts yesterday, giving them to members of Christus Victor Lutheran Church in Ocean Springs. These folks have been both victims and relief workers, suspending their lives and turning everything they have over to helping their church and the entire community recover.

Ben continues his work at the distribution warehouse, and I have been simply astounded at the constant flow of praise from various adults that he supervises (that's right..supervises) as they distribute relief supplies to victims. Ben really wants to stay but has to get back to Vermont to help Landmark College get ready for their next batch of RAs. He'll work a bit after than and then continue his studies at Rochester Institute of Technology.

We had a tad bit of excitement last night during devotions. Prayers had just started when we smelled a burning insulation odor, when my phone rang. It was Ben saying to get outside...the motor home was on fire. One of his friends had seen it, called him and he called us. The fire department had already been called and the 15-foot flames coming from the center of the coach were quickly knocked down...the refrigerator had caught fire. We winced as the firefighters had to axe through the roof to suppress the fire. Great folks at Christus Victor invited us to stay in their home until we leave...what a blessing! They even put mints on our pillows and folded our laundry after washing to remove the soot.

Now, we are hoping to learn more from our insurance company on Monday about what our situation is. This morning, we were joined by four great youth volunteers helping us empty the coach, wipe everything free of soot and box it for whatever is next...a replacement RV or shipment back home. In the daylight, things didn't look a bunch better, but we are blessed that we weren't hurt, and neither were the kids who ran to the coach and tried to fight the fire with our fire extinguishers, or the firefighters.


We are certainly lucky in one way. We frequently enjoy camping in remote areas, where a fire department response could have been far too late to be of any help. So, now we have suddenly become Katrina victims ourselves!

See you in church tomorrow!