Weekend excursions

This past weekend we drove to Mississippi for National and Global Youth Service Day. Friday we arrived in Biloxi early afternoon and joined atleast 300 other corps members from my campus and the other two campus's (Denver and Perry Point MD). All of the teams that are currently serving in the gulf were supposed to be there. It was great to see everyone, even though it was just for one evening. Unfortunatly my roommate and a couple other people wern't there because of prior commitments or being quarantined in their housing, but it was nice to be around some familiar faces, none the less.
We had a pannel discussion meeting that afternoon, with 4 people representing the Corporation for National and Community Service (Americorps is under this), Habitat for Humanity International, Biloxi State Gov't, and i don't remember who the other guy was. It was a nice 3 hour meeting, but some parts of it were interesting. Such as, the discussion about whether a year of service should be mandatory for all 12-25 yr olds, since the selective service is still for guys. I think most of us who are in this program because we have a passion for service felt that making it manditory would take away from why we do it. Personally I feel like that will create a situation similar to what my team dynamics are right now, where people don't wanna be here and that is very frustrating. Corps members were also allowed to get up and voice their opinions or ask questions about what was going on in Congress w/ issues regarding Americorps, funding, etc. Once the meeting was over we were given tickets to the Crawfish festival that was going on outside of the convention center. This was a pretty pitiful festival if you ask me, but we went for like 10 minutes since it was free then walked across the street to the beach for a little bit. I had hoped we could drive down farther on I90 to where I had been last April but that didn't happen. I am hoping to get there sometime over the next 5 months though!
My team stayed in Kiln Mississippi (about 40 min west of Biloxi), at Camp Coastal, which is another volunteer camp. (Fun Fact: Kiln MS is the home to Brett Farve, Green Bay Packers QB). One of the teams from my campus is currently staying there, and atleast 6 other teams stayed as well. I met a guy who went to UNCG and is from Greensboro, he's on a team from the Denver campus! That was pretty cool, apparently he recognizes me. Must be CVS, or maybe because he was a film major and knows my old roommate and good friend Katherine. Anyhow, it was nice to talk to a fellow North Carolinian for a bit.
The first night a few of us girls camped out, and the second night we had a bed in one of the bunks. On Saturday each team participated in different service projects in N.O, and MS. My team was with 2 other teams cleaning out a campsite that was on a river/canal that had been hit really bad by Katrina. We had a big bonfire on the small beachy area to burn the wood we were choping down. (yes, i got to use an Axe!)It was a lot of fun, especially since we havn't done an environmental project yet. I enjoyed working with people who wanted to be there too, and didn't complain about working hard! I even got to ride in a cool air boat! The rest of the weekend we relaxed at the camp, since it was in the middle of nowhere. I enjoyed the downtime.
Sunday we drove back to Lafayette, but we took a detour and drove to New Orleans and through a little of the 9th Ward. I originally was gonna take pictures, but decided once I got there that there is no way pictures could capture what I saw. We wern't even in the worst part, and it was still unbelievable. Most of the houses had absolutly nothing in them, and looked like they had been sitting there since the hurricane. You could see on the fronts of them the X mark with the date it was checked, and how many people were found, dead or alive. It was a chilling site. My team had mixed feelings about going and driving through the area. Personally I feel like people would want others to come see so they go tell others and more volunteers come down to help. However, I do see and understand the other side, where people are probably tired of seeing lookers drive by and stare at their destroyed homes.
My team leader thinks our next project will probably be in New Orleans, since most other teams have been there already, so I am sure i'll see plenty more of it over the next few months. I have actually aplied for a summer camp project there that will be in July, so maybe i'll get that and then i'll definitly be in N.O for 6 weeks!

Last week my team finished the sheetrock for Mrs. Lucy's house. We got to meet her one day last week too, not for very long, but it was cool. She's kinda a crazy old lady, who is pretty much legally blind, so we didn't really get to talk to her a whole lot. We started puddying the walls, and ceiling, but that is a task in itself, since there are gaps w/ the cookedness and dips in the house. I think we have another full day of puddying/scraping left. Today (and tomorrow) we are working on another house that Rebuilding Together (the organization with United Way that we are working for) has been working on here in Lafayette, trying to finish it up. We scraped and painted the outside today and are going to do the second coat tomorrow.

I guess that about sums up what's been going on with me! Thanks for the comments/cards/emails/etc from all of ya'll! It is great hearing from everyone! I know i have been promising pictures for a few weeks now, but getting them on a computer is kind of a pain. The computers here in the library don't let me upload pictures from my card reader to facebook. Hopefully i'll get some more New Orleans break pictures from people this week and i'll try to get pictures my team has taken up too, so you will have PLENTY to look at!

Have a wonderful week!!

Hope

Happy Easter! Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend.
I spent the weekend in New Orleans, with some of my friends on other teams. We had a 4 day break, so we met up here on Friday. I took the lovely Greyhound from Lafayette super early Friday morning, and rode for 3 hours to New Orleans. Others came from Biloxi, Pascagula MS, and Lake Charles LA. This is the first time my group of friends has been all together since we left for our first projects back at the beginning of February. One of the best things about this weekend, other than being with awesome people, is that some of them call me Daigle. I am not quite sure why, i think it is because they are amazing people and want me to feel like I am at home. It makes me smile!
We've done a lot of the touristy things, but since we are all traveling on foot, we have been limited somewhat by what we can go see. We did go on a tour of the historic French quarter through the National Parks Service. That was pretty cool. There are quite a few other people from other teams here too, so we constantly ran into people we know. This cold front has hit us down here, like most of you around the states. It was rainy and cold most of the weekend. Of course most of us didn't bring any coats from Sacramento when we came down, so we've layered up with the light hoodies we happened to bring. Ya'll know me and cold weather. . . grrr!!!
Our hotel was downtown, near the French quarter. That area was definitly spared in comparison to other parts of New Orleans. There was a little flooding, but a lot of the businesses, restaurants and what not have opened back up, looking a little beat up on the outside. A friend of mine, Sean, has been living in the Broadamoor district for the last few weeks, so Sunday morning Heather, and I went with him to a church he has been going to. This area was flooded pretty badly, and it is still very evident today, a year and a half later. They are in the process of rebuilding their church. THey have the walls up now, so they built a little platform, and they have worship inside the church. There is no heat or AC yet, so it was pretty chilly in there this morning. One part of worship that was powerful to me was, when the congregation joined hands and sang the Lords Prayer. Here we were, in an unfinished building, worshiping together, praising our awesome God who sacrificed His son, and raised Him, giving us an everlasting Hope, that conquers everything. Hurricanes, floods, stresses, frustrations, etc. It was a huge reminder that the people are the Church, we are called to praise God, and serve Him, and no matter what this world throws at us, in each of our lives, that is what we all were doing this morning.

This break from my team, and Amerilife has been nice. The last two weeks have had their ups and downs. My team has been working on a house in Delcambre LA, a small town about 20 minutes south of Lafayette. The owner, Mrs. Lucy, is legally blind, and has been living in an assisted living center for the last year while she is waiting for her house to be rebuilt. We have been putting down plywood on the floors and started with the sheetrock this past week. I personally feel like more of the house should have been tore down, because it is incredibly crooked and uneven in most of the house, walls ceiling, floors, you name it. I feel like I got pretty good with putting up sheetrock from the Mississippi trip last April, but the crooked ceilings have made me question if i have ever done this before!
The experience has been different than any mission trip I have been on, where we did construction projects. A lot of it has to do with the differences in group dynamics, but I am learning more about myself through the frustrations both on the project and with my team. I am also learning to trust God more and look to Him, for things big and super small. Decisions like what am I gonna do in October, down to smaller ones like the rediculous team drama i have to deal with. Maybe learning to deal with people, outside my comfort zone of friends, and love them, is one of the things He is trying to teach me?

I am enjoying Lafayette, even though it doesn't sound like it sometimes. The break came at a good time, and now I am ready to get back into the swing of Amerilife for the next 6 weeks till our week break.
I will get some pictures up later this week. Have a wonderful week!