I just got back from a work and witness trip to Louisiana/Mississippi. A group of NNU students--about 35 strong--traveled down to Louisiana by bus a few days after Christmas break to help rebuild after the hurricanes. It was a long, long drive! Forty hours is the approximation I make. On the way down we took 4 days to travel; on the way back we took 3. The way there would've taken shorter, except our bus ran out of gas in Kansas and then the shocks had to be fixed, so we were stalled for a few hours.

I got four chapters into Jane Eyre on this trip and almost all the way through an abridged version of Les Mis�rables. I watched, or heard, 15+ movies--including all three of the LOTR movies. I told my "life story" (much abbreviated) in a group of friends. That, of course, was all on the bus ride.

I worked in the Mississippi half of our group. There were 21 of us. We were joined by a team from Michigan and another team from somewhere else. The Michigan team included a man with a very broad British accent who had moved to Ohio with his wife from the West Midlands of England. All of us slept in the gym of the Crossroads Church of the Nazarene in Gautier, Mississippi.

Our Mississippi group split up into three teams. My team was...just incredible. We had a wonderful combination of people. We got along really well. All of us worked and the only one of us that complained was me. {cringe} But I did apologize for that one night at devotions.

Each night we had an incredible devotion/sharing time in the sanctuary of the church. Michael T. was a great leader in that. The last night�I have to tell this story, because it was the most moving part of the whole trip for me�after a long, hard work week, we did a small activity. There were 20 of us�one had gone to bed sick, poor guy. We took 10 chairs from the sanctuary and put them in a circle. Ten of us sat down in those, and the other ten stood behind us. Michael T. asked us to close our eyes and think of someone who we really love, like a family member or a friend. Then he asked us to think of one thing that person could say to us that would mean a lot. After that, we were instructed to bend down and whisper to the person in the chair in front of us what phrase we had thought of�and then go around and say it to each person in the circle.

I thought of my sister�something from her that would mean the world to me would be, "You're the best sister in the world." So that's what I bent down and whispered into my friends' ears�substituting "brother" for "sister" when necessary, of course. :)

After getting around the circle once, we switched places. The people in chairs stood and the people standing sat, and we did the same thing.

Something someone whispered to me that made me bawl was, "I pinky swear." My team leader's phrase was, "I love you. I missed you. Welcome home." Someone else just said, "I love you."

It was extremely touching, to say the least. The whole trip was absolutely amazing... It was great to take a long time out and just be with God and people (minus homework, minus Internet, minus numerous other distractions). I was finally able to feel at peace again..

The funny thing about getting to know new people on a trip like this is that after you meet them, it seems crazy that you never knew them before. For instance, I got really close to two people from the trip who were in my small group: Dave, our fearless leader, and Matt, who works in the Dex. :) At one meal stop on the way down, we stopped at a place where they had an Arby�s, so that�s where I went. Several other people went there too, and by the time I got my food, there was just one a table of our group with a seat open�with Dave. I knew it would look silly if I sat by myself when someone I �knew� was sitting right there, so I timidly went over and sat with him. It was very awkward.

Now I look back on that, and it amazes me, because now I know I didn�t need to be insecure around Dave at all. He�s such a great guy�really laid-back and so easy to talk to. I really got close to him. It�s sad that he isn�t associated with NNU, really; he just goes to College Church and has a CDL, so we took him as one of our bus drivers.

The other guy I really had a changed opinion of was Matt. He�s closer to my age�probably about 25. I told you he works in the Dex (cafeteria) here at school. He has a very sarcastic sense of humor�he throws out insults, just as a joke, but if you don�t know him, naturally he doesn�t sound like a wonderful guy. Before Louisiana, I didn�t think he was a Christian. I thought he was pretty funny, but I didn�t think he was a Christian. Man, oh man, did God show me better! Matt is a Christian, and on top of that, one of the most sensitive guys I know. I didn�t find out his whole story, but I do know he was into hard drinking and smoking last year. Just last year! And the way he told us that�and then the way he prayed�oh man, it was so neat just to watch him, because I love to watch people learning new things� As long as new Christians are sincere, I have all the patience in the world with them, because it is so much fun to watch them learning.

I�ve only seen Matt once since. I can�t say I said the most brilliant thing to him, which is embarrassing, but I just didn�t know what to say. It�s such a change, to get to know him so well on a work and witness trip� And then to see him back in the Dex, in his work clothes� I just don�t know what to think, with these two conflicting images of him in my mind. Next time I see him I�ll try to speak more intelligently. I don�t think I�ll go to his station today for lunch, though. I�m not too brave after embarrassing myself in front of guys. :P

On the last day of the trip (before starting the drive back home), we all got to go visit New Orleans, which was a blast. I bought a ton of little goodies there for my souvenirs and such, since we didn�t get to do that in Mississippi at all. My souvenirs from Mississippi are all the pictures I took. I used three rolls of film on the trip. A lot of them were taken when the 21 of us took a drive along the oceanfront, where the destruction is at its worst. There were houses after houses that were leveled or at least blown out�churches and businesses, too. I saw a Super Wal-Mart that was blown out. There were signs twisted and leaning, and even now I can�t go past a Skipper�s �anchor� without thinking of those signs that weren�t supposed to be leaning, but were. It was bizarre. There was a McDonald�s, too, that was blown out.

One of the most disturbing sights was a big church that had one whole wall nearly all blown off. We drove past that and could see right inside�and inside, the balcony was completely untouched. The pews were sitting there in perfect rows, as if waiting for church to start. I�m telling you, it was weird.

There were lots and lots of spray-painted signs on sheets of metal or pieces of wood or even on the houses themselves, and they said things like: �Missing black-striped tabby cat. If found, call this number.� �No looting�will shoot.� The addresses are what got me most, though. People spray-painted their former addresses onto the sides of their houses�or the foundations, if that was all that was left. Those houses used to be homes, with addresses that people wrote to. It was just sad.

We saw a couple of graveyards that had been plowed into by the water and wind from Hurricane Katrina. Though we weren�t close enough to see, I�d bet in at least some of them, bones were exposed. Talk about creepy!!

Well, I know I�m writing an awful lot. It would take so long to tell you all the stories from the trip, even though I�d love to. I�ll write another entry with a few more stories about the house I worked at and the couple we helped. :) That�s some fun stuff right there. For now, just remember: four months later, there�s still so much work to be done. It will be a few years before Mississippi and Louisiana are themselves again. If you get a chance to go down there and work, TAKE IT.

-Stephanie