My Very First Mardi Gras Parade!

Okay. No more funsies with the fonts, folks. I'll just type and we'll all live with what we get, okay? Thank you for understanding the limits of my technical abilities!

My first Mardi Gras parade was a blast! Judy gave us her insider's take on how to find parking. We did well and walked quite a ways along Route 90 before taking up spots on Porter Avenue, just beyond the corner at Route 90. (More about the highway later.) Once again, we found ourselves next to a group from Augustana College. In addition, two women seated next to us were longtime FEMA workers. When Barbara asked how they found their work (either frustrating or rewarding), they did not hesitate in responding: they found it to be terribly frustrating.

The pre-parade activity is a show in itself. People watching is great fun as folks - most of whom have had a very difficult 6 months - let down their hair in a big way!

The parade itself was comprised of a couple of bands and marching units and 76 floats, most of which were pretty basic in construction and boasted a theme. The goal, of course, is to beg for beads, flowers, toys, whatever is being thrown from the floats. Those who have the greatest advantage in this process are children and good looking (young) men and women.

We all noticed that the older folks next to us (particularly the woman in the black shirt and white hat) were pretty aggressive in their begging. Only after the parade did we discover that the "woman in black" was the wife of the former pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church, our home in Biloxi!

Max was a paragon of self-restraint. He's only wearing more than 2 strings of beads because we told him he looked out of place. He accepted no more than those pictured above. As for the rest of us, we were just getting warmed up!

Emily won the big prize for the day, that very cute ty Moose! (Of course, the pastor's wife tried to guilt her into handing it over with, "I wanted that for my grandchild.") Chelsea is STILL trying to unravel her collection!

As for me? Well, at one point toward the end of the parade, I leaned over to pick up a stray string of beads and almost fell over! I was top heavy! And that's not something that happens without a good deal of effort! I couldn't turn my head to the left, so it was a great help to have a good navigator and three good "spotters" along for the drive back to Bethel.

Back at Bethel, we had a traditional Shrove Tuesday pancake supper - complete with Mardi Gras king cake! And guess who got the baby...Barbara! Congratulations!!

Happy Mardi Gras!

Sue

Tuesday...Happy Mardi Gras!

Happy Mardi Gras!

And what a day it's been!

I, uh, overslept this morning. The earplugs worked wonders! The Tempur-pedic mattress was exquisite! And while I did have some strange dreams, I didn't even hear my alarm sound repeatedly at 6:30AM.

After grabbing a quick bite to eat, I was greeted by Dorothy and Judy, who were both FULL of Mardi Gras cheer! Dorothy, pictured on the left, was QUEEN of the Mardi Gras three years ago!!

After acquiring a couple of wheelbarrows and some extra tools, we headed out onto Route 90 (along the beach) toward our work site. The drive along the Gulf Coast Highway was our first look at "ground zero" in this area. My friend, Ken Davis, had told me that things were leveled. You can describe it. You can see it in photographs. But you can't get a real sense of what it's like until you see it first hand. Mile after mile of the most exquisite old trees, battered and bruised, no longer offer shade to grand old homes. The houses, stores, restaurants and hotels have largely been reduced to rubble. Every so often, a building remains standing and one wonders how it could possibly have endured when all around it was destroyed.

We (Roland, Barbara, Chelsea, Max, Emily and I - along with Carol and Doreen from O'Fallon, IL, across the river from St. Louis) arrived in three vehicles at the home to which we'd been assigned. The homeowner, who has been waiting since December for a work crew to arrive, greeted us warmly, saying, "My name's Lucinda but you can call me Marie." We introduced ourselves and Marie gave us a tour of the house, showing us what we would need to do. We'd be removing drywall (they call it "sheetrock" in these parts) in two bedrooms, the living room, bathroom and kitchen. In addition, we would be removing ceilings in the bathroom and kitchen. (That's Chelsea at Marie's house.)

We assembled our tools and went to work! Emily specialized in removal of baseboards! Chelsea spent a good deal of time cleaning out cupboards and stocking the POD out back of the house before she turned her attention to knocking out sheetrock.

Max's height is among his numerous gifts! He took care of removing mouldings in order to remove the sheetrock from up top. There were a few surprises, of course. This is the South. It is humid. There are bugs. A few times, when we removed panels of sheetrock, we were greeted by the scurrying of cockroaches. We learned very quickly that Emily does not like bugs. Period. Fortunately, Max was the one who discovered the little lizards in the walls!

Here are our buddies (roomies!) from O'Fallon, IL. (Who says that Big Ten groups can't work together?!) I was reminded that about 11 years ago I had a phone interview for a possible internship at their congregation, Faith Lutheran Church. Small world, eh? There's a LOT of that around here!

BTW, the majority of volunteers are from two groups: seniors (retired folks) and young adults (students). They ROCK!

We broke for lunch at about 11:30AM, decided to grab some lunch, change our shirts, regroup and head for the parade in Biloxi. (Even the folks in Gulfport said, "Go to Biloxi. It's THE parade"!)

I'll start another entry to share highlights of the parade with you, lest this program decide it wants to implode.

You may be interested in knowing that, while typing this, I've been watching a video assembled by a man who volunteered down here during the fall. Among the observations was this: the geographic region affected by Katrina is equivalent to the size of Great Britain.

Grace and Peace,

Sue

Photos...I hope!

Okay, so the silly program wouldn't allow me to upload photos into this afternoon's entry. So, here they are:

This is the house Max and Emily worked on.

Here are the SeaBees working with the HSSM Staff.

Chelsea loved the kitties - literally!

An attempted escape!

Modern camping equipment!

Monday Evening - with Photos!

Good Evening from Biloxi!

This afternoon, Roland continued his day's ministry by sharing his pastoral skills with the folks visiting the clinic. He reports that the most frequent comment from patients was, "Thank you" along with, "Be sure to tell the people up north thank you from us." Others reported encountering similar expressions of appreciation throughout the course of their work.

Barbara worked in the warehouse this afternoon, folding, labeling and packing linens which will be given out through the distribution center down the street. Her efforts will save other volunteers lots of time as they will no longer have to guess WHAT or WHAT SIZE something is!

Max, Chelsea and I were assigned to chores at Camp Biloxi, the tent city located at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church just down the road. We cleaned a portion of the shower trailer, cleaned the latrines (all ten of them; take my advice: use the ones on the LEFT and stay away from #3!), swept the tents and hauled trash. That was enough for this afternoon. When you've cleaned latrines, you feel as though you can set firmer boundaries!

The cleanest latrines in town! Pots-O-Gold? Indeed!

Tomorrow, we hope to spend the morning working on the home of a woman who has been waiting since December to have moldy drywall (which they call "sheetrock" in these parts) removed from her home. We'd like to be done by noon so we can watch one of the Mardi Gras parades in the afternoon. When in Biloxi...!

Earplugs have been distributed to our crew. Roland is anxiously waiting for "lights out." The poor guy looks pooped. I'm sure we'll all sleep soundly when the time comes!

Grace and Peace,

Sue

Greetings from Biloxi! First Report

Greetings from Biloxi!

Well, there is so much to tell...

Let's begin with what Barbara says is the story she'll never live down (that's not quite true but it is a fun story!).

We were scheduled to gather at 2:30PM on Sunday to leave for the airport. At 1:22, I was pulling into my driveway (I had to run home to change and find my checkbook). Barbara called from Biloxi to say that, after worship at Bethel, they inquired about any needed supplies. She was told that folks are coming in with what they call "The Katrina Crud," cold and flu symptoms from exposure to the elements, mold, dust and being rundown over the long haul. "Go to Meijer and just clear out a shelf of cold and flu medicine."

Fortunately, I found my checkbook quickly and headed to CVS to purchase a basketful of medications. Of course, at one time, one cannot buy more than a couple of cold remedies that contain pseudephedrine. Fortunately, I found a nice cashier who understood (and believed) what I was doing and rang up my purchase. It required 5 separate transactions but we did it! So, off I went to church, equipped with $250 in cold/flu remedies!

When we arrived in Biloxi, we discovered Walgreens, CVS, KMart and Wal-Mart to be operational. (We could have purchased the drugs here! Oh, well, it's a better story this way, isn't it?)

Our flights took off safely and landed gently, pretty much on time. On the second flight - full of students heading to "Tent City" - we realized how fortunate we were that Roland and Barbara had taken our sleeping bags. The overhead compartments were FULL of the other groups' sleeping gear!

The woman seated next to me on the flight into Gulfport asked about our efforts and thanked us for coming. She said what many said in New Orleans: Without volunteer efforts, the city wouldn't be able to recover.

On the way to Bethel in our rented minivan, I almost hit a small dog. It was a big like watching a glacier calve. First, I heard it (actually, I heard Emily gasp from the back seat) and then I saw it. I hit the brakes hard. I gasped. The dog yelped. But then it kept on moving. I HOPE that I just scared us both!

We arrived at Bethel and were warmly greeted by Barbara and Roland, who gave us a tour and started to offer an orientation. We were interrupted by the "volunteer gestapo" who told us that lights were out at 10 - and then shut them off! Her greeting was an aberration as we have truly been welcomed warmly.

The lesson for the first night: Don't leave the earplugs in the van. Distribute a set to all. Between the adrenaline from travel and the snoring woman in our room (yes, we DID score those lovely TempurPedic mattresses! YAY!), sleep did not come easily.

Question for the first night: Why is it that the snorer in any group is the first to fall asleep and the last to awaken? Huh?

This morning, we had breakfast and an orientation from Judy Bultman, the Director here at Bethel. Her husband is the pastor. And he'd be hard pressed to preach any more dynamically than Judy did in welcoming and encouraging and empowering us for service this morning. She's amazing!

Roland and Barbara stayed at Bethel to offer pastoral care at the clinic. (As the shock wears off, people are presenting with PTSD, which is Roland's pastoral specialty.)

Max, Emily, Chelsea and I went to "the little green house" for our assignments.

Max and Emily were assigned to electrical work at a house just off of "tent city."

Chelsea and I were sent to help the Humane Society of South Mississippi (HSSM) which is moving to a new location. In addition to the two of us, they had 30 students from Augustana College and 17 Navy SEABEES. They had more people than they could handle! We cuddled puppies, walked puppies and dogs and Chelsea helped with the cats.

Lesson for Monday morning: Take BOTH boots and tennies along as one never knows which will be more appropriate (i.e., my boots were not meant for dog walking!).

Following lunch, we're awaiting our afternoon assignments, which are probably ready for us.

Photos will come later.

Peace,
Sue

The Excitement is Building!

Roland and Barbara took off for Biloxi this morning, their station wagon packed with sleeping bags and supplies for our trip.

On Sunday afternoon, Max, Chelsea, Emily and I will take to the skies and join them at Bethel Lutheran Church. We're almost ready!

Sadly, Kelly will be unable to join us. Her beloved grandmother died on Monday and Kelly will be heading back to Buffalo for the funeral and then to Philadelphia to be with her family. Please keep Kelly and her family in your prayers during this sad time.

Grace & Peace,
Sue

Welcome!

Welcome to "Light from Ann Arbor," the brand spankin' new blog of Lutheran Campus Ministry!

This blog is designed to be a forum for the sharing of thoughts and ideas regarding the mission of Lutheran Campus Ministry based at Lord of Light Lutheran Church, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The impetus for this blog was a mission trip earlier this month. As our mid-year, mid-states retreat, I traveled to New Orleans, Louisiana with several of my Lutheran campus ministry colleagues. Over the course of a weekend, we worked with three families who are recovering from the effects of Hurricane Katrina and the flooding caused by breaks in the levees. In addition, we worshiped at Bethlehem Lutheran Church and heard Pastor Pat Keen's perspective on the disaster and recovery.

On Sunday, February 26th, a group of us will be heading to Biloxi, Mississippi to participate in Lutheran Disaster Response's recovery efforts in that area. Stay tuned for our blogs from Biloxi!

Grace & Peace,
Pastor Sue