Update from the 2006 Puckety Mission Trip to New Orleans

      The 2006 mission team has made it back safely from our mission trip to New Orleans. Being on the road for as many hours as we were definitely had its challenges. Every road trip seems to have its stories. The story that we like to tell is about what happened on the second day of driving. Gene was driving and did a fantastic job at steering the vehicle safely to the side of the highway when our left, rear trailer tire exploded, ripping off the wheel’s fender with it. Gene and Lance put on the spare, and in no time, we were on the road again. However, about an hour later a stone from a vehicle in front of us hit our windshield and chipped the glass. This did not stop us or slow us down, but it did worry the leaders a bit wondering how we were going to explain all of these things to the rental company. Not too many hours later that evening, the hitch of our trailer became lodged in the cement of the driveway at Faith Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama. The fun just kept coming…  J

    When we arrived in New Orleans, we were a part of Group Workcamp, a mission-based, camp-like organization designed to develop and mature Christian faith in teenagers.  Our 5½ days in New Orleans was spent serving in a few different ways. About half of the group (about 90 people total) suited up in Tyvek suites, respirator masks, hard hats, and safety goggles to gut homes that have not been touched since the day of the hurricane. Keep in mind it was about 100 degrees plus 90% humidity there. “Gutting” means that the crews were throwing away EVERYHING left in the homes and removing everything except the floors and studs of the home. This meant that refrigerators, freezers, cupboards, children’s toys, photo albums and people’s most cherished possessions and collections were put at the curb as trash. Once that was done, the demolition of the home began.  The other half of the group spent the week helping to restore and rebuild lives as they were putting in electrical wiring, insulation, and drywall, and then painting inside and outside. The rebuilding of New Orleans is slow and is done mostly by Christian groups like Puckety.

    While there, all of us heard personal stories from survivors and experienced sacrificial kindness and servitude from the residents.  Although their homes were being rebuilt, many of the residents wanted to help us by supplying cold water and ice while we worked in the hot sun.  Some even cooked southern, New Orleans-style lunches for the crews. These people have lost everything, yet they managed to serve us with generosity and unwavering faith in Jesus Christ. They spoke not of sadness and loss but of hope and the undeniable help of Jesus in their lives!  There is not enough paper to write down all the stories and experiences, so when you see someone from the mission team, please take the opportunity to ask them to share one or two things that they did or learned while in New Orleans.  Also, please share our stories with your family and friends; let them know how God is working in New Orleans and what still needs done.  Encourage people to help in any way that they can or even visit New Orleans (all tourist sites have been restored and can be visited again) because their economy depends on tourism, and the people are begging for tourists to come again.  Slowly but eventually, the people of New Orleans will have new stories to tell—of the rebuilding of their lives with the help of their Christian brothers and sisters.

    Lastly, on behalf of all twelve of us from the mission team, we thank YOU, our Puckety family, for your support through prayers, finances, supplies, and tools; and we give a special thank you to Presbyterian Women for your generous donation.  We as a church, working together as the body of Christ, successfully completed this mission trip. Thank you for being a crucial part of our mission experience! Now we are already looking into the future with a possibility of sending another group to New Orleans before Christmas and another one next summer. Both of these trips would be for all ages and would include jobs for all skill levels and physical abilities.  Please prayerfully consider serving the Lord in this way; we are sure that your experience would be as rewarding as ours.