Day 2 - Sunday in Louisiana

In the morning, we were informed that there was a church nearby that was open again. Worship began at 10:00 A.M. Inside their building, the walls were up but not fully painted, parts of the framing of the building were still exposed, and we all sat on folding chairs on their concrete slab floor. But anybody could see signs of life in the people. Greeters at the door welcomed visitors with a hug or handshake, prayers and Bible verses were written all over the walls, and when the pastor called for everybody to gather to pray for revival in the community, everybody gathered.

After church, we returned to Camp Rowley to have lunch. We cleaned up the cafeteria, and then we went out to "see the sights." We stopped in one neighborhood and took pictures of some of the storm damage, including a shrimp boat sitting in the middle of the street (it has been burned down since we visited). The ONN crew followed us in the neighborhood, and took pictures of their own. We also headed into the Lower 9th Ward, something we did not do in my first trip. We saw all kinds of devastation, crews cleaning up in some areas, and houses moved off their foundations. One of these houses was stacked on top of an upside down pickup truck.

We then drove into downtown New Orleans. It was similar to my previous experience--for the most part, downtown New Orleans has already been cleaned up or rebuilt. We parked on Bourbon Street and I got to see more of the sights than I did in July. I bought a couple more souvenirs as we walked the street.

For dinner, we ate at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company in New Orleans. Then came the return trip. On the way back, I thought about the damage we had seen, and the fact that we were there to reduce just a small amount of it.

We began preparing for the next day, getting new "Hilltop Rescue" identification cards, and getting ready for orientation. A 26-member group from California arrived, and orientation began. After that, the other "veteran" on my team took me to help get tools for work tomorrow. The one problem we had, was that we only had seven people from Ohio. We did not know if we would be added to another work detail, or whether we would work alone. We were advised: "prepare as best as you can for your team to work alone, just in case your team actually has to work alone."