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Love to you all from your Samaritan Seven.

Gary Yagley

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Sunday, May 6, 2007

Hey All

Day two, and what a great day,
 
We did get over to the First Missionary Baptist church for their amazing service.  Wow you talk about experiencing the Spirit of the Lord, these folks were on fire.  And southern gospel music, testimony, tears and wonderful praise.  Really a life experience to those that may have never attended a "tent revival" type worship.  We were welcomed with open arms, and these local folks are very, very grateful for the work the world is doing to help them along.  To quote the Pastor, "Only God could have stirred up the world to bring all of us different folks together to help one another."  Amen.
 
Once the soul was fed we went on into "Naw'lins" to feed the body.  But along the way we witnessed the most terrible devastation.  In the photos attached you will see just a minute fraction of the things we saw.  We did get into the 9th ward, which was the most destroyed of the areas, although there are miserable stories and sites all around.  It is easy to see why experts are predicting another 10 years of rebuilding.  I estimate we saw well over 1000 houses, and another 1000 apartments that are totally un-inhabitable and most likely will be demolished.  Their troubles are many fold.
 
Now totally depressed, and yet thankful, we pressed on into the Big Easy.  What a great city, and mostly (the central city) back in the swing.....and I do mean swing.  What a swinging town.
 
We had refreshments at a cool Tavern (cool, but not air conditioned) and a great meal at the "Gumbo Shop".  We even went to a brief commendation ceremony at St. Louis cathedral, what a gorgeous church, as you will see.
 
We learned tonight that Pearlington was in the eye of the storm, that Katrina traveled up the Pearl River, about 100 yards behind our camp, and wiped put the town.  The population of Pearlington was over 2000 pre-Katrina and is less than 800 today, with a large percentage of the towns folk living in FEMA trailers, there is one photo of a couple trailers next to debris that was a home, this was a very common site.  By the way, the locals have no faith in the Feds and are totally relying upon the volunteers.  There are signs "NO FEMA ALLOWED".
 
Tomorrow we are in charge of breakfast at 7am (cheesy eggs and sausage, cereals, and fruit.) and by 9 will be on the job.  Not real sure right now what we will be doing, probably plumbing, but we are stoked and ready to work.
 
Enjoy the photos.  But sorry they don't email in order, some kind of operator error, I'm sure.
 
Pray for a very productive week from your mission in the field, thanks for all your support.
Gary
 
PS...dang bugs are driving us crazy

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Monday, May 7, 2007

Friends
 
We are finally productive!!!!
As fun as yesterday was, we did come here to work and be helpful to these embattled  but strong people.  And so this morning, after we prepared breakfast for 45 people (Through Keith Bussey's excellent recipe, Fred Wiggers direction and my chef-manship) we headed out to Mary Lou Brooks home that is nearing completion.  Dallas, the job forewoman, learned Mike Harvey and Glen Stevens have electrical skills and the rest of us were trainable, so we went to do the finish electrical work since the drywall was up and painted.
 
This very comfortable home is on stilts, as are most of the homes here, and has been built from scratch by the PDA--Presbyterian Disaster Assistance-- volunteers, which is all the teams and mission groups that have preceded us.  We stepped right into our roles as journeyman electricians and completed all the outlet connections and switch installations by lunchtime, except the couple that needed some minor work to make them ready for their face plates.  And like the theme for this trip is evolving into "Let's Eat", we headed for lunch at the First Missionary Baptist Church, prepared by the lady members and some friends.  Whoa, what a meal! Something like Chicken n Dumplings with out the dumplings, red beans and rice, green beans and onions with pork, corn bread, fruit and salad.  Down home and down to earth comfort food.  We ate with other volunteers, fire-fighters, a few kids from the Pearl River County Jail, church members and more.  They might have fed 100 people.
 
Instead of heading to the tents for a nap, we did head back to work.  And work we did, we finished off the work day by installing 3 ceiling fans, 3 smoke detectors, completed the required changes to the subject outlets and switches that needed help and made plans to add a side-door porch and steps to the side yard, which is a 4 foot drop today.  The experts, Mike Harvey, Glen Stevens and Dave from Illinois uncovered one major defect from a previous teams wiring plan and spent an hour designing a post installation patch-fix, which we will tackle tomorrow along with the porch.
 
Now satisfied that we are being productive for our Lord, the actual purpose for the trip, we headed back to camp to, UH, WELL, .... Eat!!!
 
Couple of things I should point out in the pictures.  First, notice the beads of sweat on Bob Wade, Connie Wade needs to see that.  Second, no matter how hard Fred Wiggers and Tom Zipf claim they worked on this trip, remember this second photo.  Next is a photo of Dave from Illinois, one of our electrical experts.  The next photo is Keith Bussey actually working next to the side door that needs the porch.  Word is that Keith stepped out and hence the newly discovered need for the porch.  And finally is the most important and proof positive photo of the bunch.  Please notice that there is only one guy actually working in the photo, and that is ME, up on that ladder slaving away while the rest look on.  It was kinda like that all day, ask Fred and Tom.
 
We are going through our evening devotionals right now so I'll sign off.
 
Keep Praying for us, work is getting done and the residents are very thankful.
 
Gary
 
Obviously I jest about my co-workers, we have all pitched in with out the first need to ask.  Everyone is ready to do what ever needs done, from wiping down tables, getting up to make breakfast, what ever.  Dayton has sent out a great mission team.

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Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Friends
 
Today was the best day yet.  We started off with our team leading morning devotions, Bob and I spread the joy of service in Jesus.  This was a fitting beginning for our very productive day, our most productive yet.
 
We went back to Mary Lou Brooks home and we were all ready to work.  We decided yesterday to do as much as we could for the owner, Mary Lou, before this week ended.  When we started yesterday the home was under roof, painted, wired and plumbed, but no switches, outlets, flooring, doors, plumbing fixtures, permanent steps, side porch.  Certainly inhabitable.  Our hope is that by Friday she could actually live in the home!
 
Before I get into today, let me tell you about Mary Lou Brooks, this wonderful child of God who has gracefully endured several years of hardship, more than many of us could have handled.  Her run of tough times began in 1998 when her husband lost his battle with cancer, followed by the loss of her only daughter to ovarian cancer in 2002.  She was living in Alabama when she lost her loved ones and decided to move back home to Pearllington to be near her mother and grand children.  The Year before Katrina, her mother collapsed and under went quadruple by-pass surgery.  It was good fortune for her mother that her daughter was here, particularly when, a few months later the world again fell apart for her as Katrina attempted to now take her worldly belongings.  She managed to gather her immediate family and head out of town prior to the eye of the storm running up the Pearl River right into Pearlington, every one except her oldest son, who refused to leave the family homes that are all adjacent on the same street.  Three days later she was searching every hospital and evacuee's station for that son.  Miraculously, as she and her last child were leaving the last station, her son recognized the tail lights of her SUV and ran out from the rear of the station in the very nick of time.
 
Her remaining family intact, they loaded up what ever belongings the son had salvaged and went back to Pearlington only to find her home, her mothers home, and her sons home, totally destroyed.  Everything gone, years of memories gone, memories of her husband, her only daughter, totally gone.  And her childhood hometown, GONE.
 
So, do you think you are tough?  What would you do?  How would you handle this?  Mary Lou and her family did the only thing they could, they decided to hang on to the only thing (besides each other) they had left, they parked their SUV on the lots where their very homes used to sit and for three hot, humid and lonely weeks, they slept in turn in the car and cooked what ever they could gather on an open fire.  The first days there was nearly nothing to eat, then relief efforts started showing up regularly.  Then one day a church group showed up and gave them a 6 man tent.  That was their new home for the next three months.  I don't think I could live in a tent anywhere for three months, let alone in Mississippi in a hot fall, no power, nothing but a tent.  Their days were spent gathering food, filling out forms and fending off depression.  Now, do you remember that Mary Lou's 75 year old mother was just a few months out of by-pass surgery when the hurricane hit, how tough is she to endure this?
 
Finally, some time after Thanksgiving a FEMA truck showed up towing a gorgeous new CASTLE, a 26 foot camper trailer.  With power nearby, (on a pole) they now had power to cook, lights, TV, and Air Conditioning, except in early December you start needing heat, but they were not about to complain.  What a wonderful night that first night off the ground, in a real bed, safe and comfortable.  Of course, 17 months later, it is still home, and neither of them are complaining.  Each day Mary Lou has come by to thank us personally.  Every day she has brought a visitor to show off her new home, and I mean SHOW OFF HER NEW HOME.  This is 2 bedroom, 1 bath home, with a kitchen and living room.  And she takes each visitor through each room and proudly announces that This is my Kitchen, This is my Master Bedroom and such.  She is so proud of this place, and so pleasant.  I wonder how I would act in such a position.  How would you?
 
We want to get her into her home this week if at all possible.  It may need carpet and base trip, but if we can accomplish the rest of the week as much as we did today, we think we'll have her in.  What a blessed day that will be for this lovely person.  We went out today and purchased everything we will do to do this using our travel and mission funds and worked like crazy people today.
 
Today we finished all the electric, including all the ceiling fans, light fixtures, switches and outlets.  Mike Harvey and Glen Stevens focused on the bath and managed to finish the sub-flooring, the tile, lights and fan.  Tomorrow they will set the cabinets, sink and toilet, making the bathroom ready to go.  Fred Wiggers, Tom Zipf and I laid the entire concrete board sub-flooring for the kitchen tile.  Bob Wade and Keith Bussey worked on the exterior front deck and side steps, finishing the side steps and the front deck post holes filled with concrete for the main support posts.  It seems entirely possible that the deck and bath will be completed tomorrow, and the kitchen ceramic tile will be down and drying, waiting for the grouting to be completed on Thursday.
 
We are exhausted and sore, but it is a good soreness and we pray for the strength and good fortune to be as productive tomorrow as today.  One point about two weird looking photo's I've sent.  One is of a blue van next to a truck trailer, and the other is of two folks inside the blue van.  Just to show you how adaptive these folks are, the van is a step-van with a portable kitchen inside ( a lunch wagon)which the restaurant where we stopped for refreshments, uses as their kitchen, since their real kitchen was destroyed by Katrina and they have never been able to rebuild it.  So the owners bought a lunch wagon van "up north" and are cooking out of it until they save enough to rebuild their kitchen inside the restaurant.
 
Our photos start off with the breakfast devotional, go through the work day,(where you can actually see each of us working), and end at the Turtle Cove where some fermented beverages took some of the pain away and quenched our thirsts.  But the first photo is of Mary Lou and her widowed son-in-law Sammy.  It's been 5 years since they lost their loved one, yet they still tear up at the mention of her name, and the telling of her story.  A story that they wanted. maybe needed, to tell us at the simple question I asked, " what relation are you to Mary Lou?"
 
How great is our Lord that can bring 7 guys from Dayton, Ohio to Pearlington, Mississippi, to listen to their story, to share in their pain, to allow them the honor to show us that they loved her, missed her and that she is still alive in their hearts.  If we did nothing this week, we did that.  And our churches (Southminster and Fairmont) can share in this because each of you were here as well.  Our Christianity has, again, been set free of the walls of those churches.  They will know we are Christians by our love.
 
Gary

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Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Hey Y'all
 
We all is settlin' in down her-yah and we a thinkin' we might jus' stay put.  Fishin's good and dey ain't no snow to plow.
 
OK, that's the extent of my faux Naw'lins drawl.....
 
First things first.  We want to give the award for "Service above and beyond the call of Duty" to Glenn Stevens, Keith Bussey  and Mike Harvey whom got up at the crack of dawn (5am) to go and insulate the attic with Fiberglass Insulation before it got too hot to work in the attic.  And it was still to hot, but they made it through.  They put in 3 hours of work before breakfast.  AND THEY WILL GO BACK TOMORROW TO FINISH with insulation we (Fairmont) purchased, because Mary Lou couldn't.
 
But the rest of the day we learned a lesson in humility.  As proud and puffed up as we were last night about how we were going to do all this and all that, well reality hit hard today and we are humbled by it.  First off, the electric was way more troublesome than originally thought.  Turns out the previous dry-wallers had covered over 3 ceiling lights an a couple of switches.  They (our electrical experts, Mike and Glenn) thought they had it figured out and made the applicable changes only to find out today, the changes did no good, so they had to get in the attic and figure out what-was-what.  This caused such a delay that we couldn't get into the bath to do the plumbing until the electric was hooked up right, which did happen, but did delay us in finishing the bath today as we hoped.  It will get done tomorrow, however.
 
The rest of us worked on the front deck.  This too became a challenge, for many reasons, mostly a minor design flaw that expressed itself halfway through the project in such a way that part of us had to run to town for additional supplies while the rest disassembled most of the progress to make the mid-course correction.  This project will also be completed tomorrow, but there will be little time to install the ceramic flooring as it looks right now.
 
The final distraction was the kitchen cabinets.  We got word on Monday that a man in Florida had a small kitchen's worth of cabinets he was willing to donate.  So, Dallas, our PDA construction supervisor (more on her tomorrow) drove 12 hours round trip in a truck to pick them up, only to find out they were used cabinets and had been roughly removed.  Mary Lou (homeowner) was thrilled with them never-the-less, so we kept them.  The problem is that they will need a finish carpenter or cabinet maker's skills to rework them so they look right and work right.  This totally halts any idea we had for finishing the kitchen's ceramic tile floor any way, since the cabinets are to be installed before the tile to save tile costs by not going under the cabinets.  Most of us wouldn't do it this way, but Mary Lou has no extra money, tiling up to the cabinets will save some money, just not much  Our crew had planned to donate the tile, but now with the timing issue, we won't even get to install tile.  This is OK because the next crew may need an opportunity of benevolence or PCUSA might kick in.
 
So, after a day a frustrations and (WOW) the heat. We headed back to camp a little more humbled than expected.  Don't get me wrong, we did get a lot accomplished, just not as much as we had hoped or planned.
 
On the way back we stopped to refresh at the Turtle Landing (I called it the "Turtle Cove" yesterday) and sat back along the bayou, relaxing and planning our attack to get the house habitable tomorrow when "Charley, the gator popped out his head right in front of us.  This was the highlight of the day.  And he drifted up to with-in a few feet of us for the longest time.  It was great and he was a beauty, about 5 or 6 feet long, lots of greens and yellows.  It was really cool.  There are 2 pics for you to meet Charley.
 
Most of today's Photo's are generic, not much in work photo's ('cause not much work got done).  One photo is of the very unique "Welcome to Pearlington" city sign.  It is really a work of art.  Then there is the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance banner with all of us in front of it.  There is also an amazing photo of the front of one of the PDA workers trucks.  He had just traveled 12 miles, total 12 miles, after washing the truck.  Try to see the bugs on this truck's front end after only 12 miles, this will give you an idea of how thick the bugs are down here.
 
The best photo (besides Charley) is of Mike Harvey FINALLY getting power to the bath light fixture and then there was LIGHT.  Then there is the photo of Glenn calling Roto-Rooter to come and get his watch out of the toilet, either that or he was calling me at Lowes, trying to explain to me what type of fitting he needed to get the toilette to work.  The next picture is some of us out in the heat of the day (90's) working on the deck, which didn't get done today either.  The last photo is of the cemetery here in Pearlington, taken by Fred Wiggers.  It is a great shot that has a spooky feel to it.  I liked it so I included it for you all.
 
So we are on the down side of this terrific journey.  About half of us are leaving Friday morning and the rest Friday night, so we really need to kick it up a notch tomorrow because we really want to leave Mary Lou with a habitable home on Friday.
 
Tune in tomorrow to learn about Dallas, our PDA superintendent, her story is truly amazing as well.
 
God Bless Y''all
 
Gary

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Friends, let me say that this LONG story needs to be read, but I apologize for being so verbose.
 
Sometimes people are just in the right place.  The tools and skills they have accumulated over the years are just ripe for use when God puts them where they need to be, where they are needed, sometimes desperately needed.
 
This is the case with "Dallas".  Dallas was born in Dallas Tx, and we (the Samaritan Seven) think this is not a given name but a "moniker" for someone born in Dallas but being raised elsewhere, in this case New Orleans.  At 53, Dallas has "been around", seen it all, done it all.  Covered with exposed tattoos that tell stories of their own.  In Dallas' own words, " I've been ridden hard and put away wet."
 
Dallas left home at 15 to make a path through the world away from a dysfunctional family life, large family, poor, no father in the picture.  Part native Indian.  First, just bouncing from job to job, then settling in as a cross-the-road truck driver.  Driving and seeing the world was an idyllic life, but a job in construction promised more down time and better pay.  Dallas eventually became a construction foreman in New Orleans in the early 70's as New Orleans was going through a growth spurt.
 
This ended abruptly one day as a scaffold collapsed with Dallas on top, and a crushing fall smashed several vertebrae that had to be fused together to ease the pain.  So construction was no longer a career path or a future due to the severe back pain.  So Dallas bounced around again from job to job, tried driving a truck again but the pain wouldn't allow that, so Dallas worked mostly as a bouncer in the bars and speak-easy's of downtown New Orleans.  A rough and dangerous life even for some one as tough and "in charge" as Dallas.  It is also very hard to get work as a bouncer when you are just over five feet tall and a woman.  So Dallas took her meager savings and moved to Pearlington to semi-retire, she was 38 and took a job as a convenience store manager.  Her life somewhat stable now, in much less pain, and she saved enough money for a down payment on her first home.  As far as we know Dallas was the first person in her entire family to actually own a deed to real property, ever.
 
Pretty much alone, Dallas took the path of a quite, settled homeowner.  She kept to herself, (being "in charge" took too much energy and was too hard of a life), so she surrounded herself with a few close friends and relatives, her horse and her collection of "mutts", six or seven dogs of mixed and pedigree breeds, she was again living a quiet and idyllic life, this lasted for about 15 years.  Then came the morning of September 3rd, 2005.
 
From the perspective of the old-timers in Pearlington, this new storm was nothing they hadn't already lived through.  When Camille hit a few years earlier, it too a category 5 hurricane and nearly a direct hit, they lived through it, nothing more than 1 or 2 feet of water and lots of wind.  So what's to worry about?  Most planned to stay put, they would board up their windows and doors, a few homes that were not on stilts may need some sand bagging, but the residents mostly wanted to stay behind and protect their belongings. This town had endured severe weather before and they would again.  Dallas planned to stay put also, she brought in a friend and a family member and they, and her six "mutts", settled in to wait it out, like most of the residents of Pearlington, like all the storms before.  But this, of course was going to be like no other storm, ever.  Pearlington was going to be ground zero of this "storm of the century" as the eye of the storm would travel up the Pearl river (from which the town gets it's name).  Of course no one knew this ahead of time but even still the residents had handled a near direct hit before and expected to make it through this time, as well.
 
The wind kicked up at about 8:30am to gale force, hard rain, hail, a fairly typical beginning from all accounts.  At mid-point of the storm, Dallas received a call from a co-worker to check outside, it was probably over already, since the caller had waited for what seemed like ample time for the eye of the storm to pass over, after this much time had passed, so must have the eye.  It was probably over and it was not as bad as the National Weather guys had predicted.  So Dallas went out, check on her horse and started picking up debris.  Then all hell broke loose.
 
Once the eye actually had passed, the "storm of the century" earned its name.  The sky broke loose with 185 mile an hour winds, from almost a calm, and " a wall of water was heading right down on Pearlington.  The forces of the wind were so strong that it was actually blowing the water of the Pearl River and the surrounding bayous out of their banks.  It was all Dallas could do to get in the house and reseal the door and plywood reinforcement.  For the next 30 minutes it sounded like hundreds of people were hammering on  every inch of her house, as the hail beat into the walls and roof and debris slammed into it.  With in minutes the ceiling was dripping from dozens of places.  In less than an hour the water was at their knees, 15 minutes later it was chest high.  Her friend suggested they head to the attic.  But years of leadership kicked in and she insisted they go out a window and ride the waters to high ground or a tree, at least they should get outside and not get trapped inside to drown.  Good decision.  By the time they got out the window the water had engulfed the house.  The three floated to the roof with 4 dogs (2 had already drowned, as had her beautiful Cockatiel).  They were all tied together with rope, they did this for 2 reasons,  one reason was to stay together if they were pulled down stream, (Dallas decided they would either all live or die together, leaders sometimes have to make tough decisions and this was her toughest ever).  But the more important reason to tie together was that her relative could not swim, at all.  So as the water rose they grabbed on to roof shingles and pulled themselves on to the roof.  But the water was still rushing in and rising rapidly, they would not be able to stay on the roof much longer.  On the roof they saw Dallas' hand built horse stall float off, as far as she knew her horse had drowned now as well.
 
With the water rising she had to make another life or death decision.  If she could get to the near-by tree and grab hold she could be an anchor for the other two to get there as well.  She entered the water at a point where the force of water flow was directly in line with the 200 year old Oak Tree that sat in the corner of her yard, and it worked.  She grabbed a limb (about 15 feet above ground) and held on for everyone's dear life and just in the nick of time as the rising water had already lifted the other two off the roof and they were headed toward the tree anyway.  They climbed aboard, 3 people, 4 dogs, one big tree. 
 
So there they sat, wet, scared and hanging on for their lives.  They couldn't rest though, they had to keep climbing as the water continued to rise, ultimately they were 30 feet above ground before they could settle in.  And there they sat and waited.  As they waited, Tornado's spun by from the east and from the west.  A house floated by, deflecting off her home.  Once the storm waters receded, Dallas would see that her home had been pushed off its stilts and floated 32 feet, with one end blown out by the force of the water.  Bodies floated by, ultimately 125 Pearlington neighbors were killed.  Cars, trailer homes, refrigerators, freezers and all manner of things that previously demonstrated stable lives.  For nearly 9 hours they sat and waited to see what was next in this surrealistic experience.  So there they sat, cold wet and totally exhausted, finally, just before dark they were rescued by a neighbor in his boat.
 
Once the Pearl River had returned to with-in it's banks, Dallas returned home only to be kicked in the chest by reality.  Her home was destroyed, her horse was missing, probably dead.  She could have given up, probably should have given up.  But this is a tough lady, bull headed and strong.  She decided right then, that she was not going to loose everything over this, she would disassemble the entire home, piece by piece, and rebuild it, herself.  There was no insurance money, the insurance companies through-out Louisiana and Mississippi had just 2 months earlier announced to their policy holders, that they were dropping any wind and water damage insurance coverage totally.  Of course what is a hurricane but wind and water. 
 
So she set about quietly taking apart her home, board by board.  Resisting offers from FEMA to just take a check and leave.  But then, in the midst of the disaster, the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance people started showing up.  First they brought her a tent, and consistently brought her food and water.  And as FEMA set up relief centers, her basic needs were met.  So she worked on, often with volunteers from PDA just showing up and starting to work, not even asking.  The Pearlington folks do not take help with out returning the favor, and Dallas was obligated by a strong feeling of appreciation for what she was offered, to help others as well.  As she took apart the house she stacked the boards and pieces of her life, it's furniture and stuff, in the yard.  When she heard there was a need for a piece of furniture, or some wood, (or what ever) and if she didn't need it, she delivered it, giving away pieces of her life to help others.  Soon she was preparing meals for the tent village of volunteers and delivering it, food given to her by FEMA, food she could have hoarded, but didn't.
 
Once the volunteer camps were more organized and functioning, worker-volunteers from the world over were being assigned tasks, but local co-ordination was non-existent since the paid staff and volunteers were all from out of town.  Where were the equipment  and where were the things needed to return life to normality?  One day, after she had deliver some food, she heard a staff member trying to make arrangements for a delivery of supplies, but the worker didn't know the driving directions or the best spot to stage the distribution of supplies.  Being a take charge, pro-active personality Dallas jumped in and help set up the distribution points for getting supplies to the residents.  Soon she was relying on her years of construction work to arrange what was needed along the way to rebuilding Pearlington for her neighbors.  Then there was the need to control the needy, the demanding and the con-artists.   What was needed now she had learned from her years as a bouncer, a strong, take charge personality that would make decisions and have the force of personality to not be intimidated or pushed around, someone street-wise enough to know a con-job when she saw one, yet someone sensitive enough to offer a hug and a tear when needed.
 
Today, Dallas is the lead construction manager for PDA, someone they probably would not have hired prior to September 20, 2005 because she did not have the resume', nor the stature, to take on this massive task, besides she doesn't look the part, besides she's a woman.  But God put her here  in Pearlington at the right time, because God knows her strengths, this is just one of the many miracles of  the Katrina experience. 
 
And now the people of Pearlington know her as "their Hero."
 
Gary
 
PS:  The horse returned two days later and the 4 "Mutts" all lived through it, so did her friend and her relative, through her heroic, take charge actions.