Sunday, January 18, 2009
We arrived safely in Gulfport and settled into the dorms at Seashore Assembly. This is truly a special place with a beachside view and live oaks that survived Katrina’s surge. Three years ago, I remember the live oaks - brown, looking as if they would never show their green leaves again. Now, they are beautiful with their budding emerald leaves and their stately branches hovering over Seashore’s campus. With the beach in the background, we better understand why people come back time and time again to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
This morning, the team worshiped at Turkey Creek UMC – the small, quaint community church filled with hallelujah voices and hospitality. Matt Fitch, first year team member, said it was “a place right out of a movie”. Afterward, we traveled to St. Paul’s UMC in Biloxi for a second service. The gospel choir was missing, but one highlight of the service was the “hand praise” – the act of clapping your hands when visiting a southern UMC in East Biloxi! Brother Robinson, the minister, preached a sermon with a vocal rhythm that lured parishioners into the message. We waited anxiously to see when he would, in fact, stop to take a breath.
The afternoon involved a walk on the newly refurbished beach (construction still in progress) with warm sun in our faces as we walked west and then warming our backs as we turned around to walk back east. It’s hard to believe that the same soft water that lapped onto the beach today, giving us joy and solitude, is the same water that brought such destruction and death to the lives of so many.
Tours to the Katrina Monument and the Camille Monument reminded us two monumental dates that are now etched in the minds of so many. For me, I vividly remember that night in August 1969 when our family rode out Camille – a “cat 5” – and how when my sister asked my father, “Are we going to die, Daddy?”, he humbly replied, “God will take care of us, honey.” I’m sure that similar comforting words from parents provided little solace to children during Katrina.
Today, August 29, 2005 is the date by which people make reference in their lives. “Before Katrina we…” or “It was after Katrina that we…” For us, it’s the birth of our children or our 50th birthday or our anniversary, for people here – it’s August 29, 2005.
Cassandra Broadus-Garcia
Biloxi VIM (Jan. 06; Jan. 07; Jan. 09)
SUMC Member, Mississippi native
We arrived safely in Gulfport and settled into the dorms at Seashore Assembly. This is truly a special place with a beachside view and live oaks that survived Katrina’s surge. Three years ago, I remember the live oaks - brown, looking as if they would never show their green leaves again. Now, they are beautiful with their budding emerald leaves and their stately branches hovering over Seashore’s campus. With the beach in the background, we better understand why people come back time and time again to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
This morning, the team worshiped at Turkey Creek UMC – the small, quaint community church filled with hallelujah voices and hospitality. Matt Fitch, first year team member, said it was “a place right out of a movie”. Afterward, we traveled to St. Paul’s UMC in Biloxi for a second service. The gospel choir was missing, but one highlight of the service was the “hand praise” – the act of clapping your hands when visiting a southern UMC in East Biloxi! Brother Robinson, the minister, preached a sermon with a vocal rhythm that lured parishioners into the message. We waited anxiously to see when he would, in fact, stop to take a breath.
The afternoon involved a walk on the newly refurbished beach (construction still in progress) with warm sun in our faces as we walked west and then warming our backs as we turned around to walk back east. It’s hard to believe that the same soft water that lapped onto the beach today, giving us joy and solitude, is the same water that brought such destruction and death to the lives of so many.
Tours to the Katrina Monument and the Camille Monument reminded us two monumental dates that are now etched in the minds of so many. For me, I vividly remember that night in August 1969 when our family rode out Camille – a “cat 5” – and how when my sister asked my father, “Are we going to die, Daddy?”, he humbly replied, “God will take care of us, honey.” I’m sure that similar comforting words from parents provided little solace to children during Katrina.
Today, August 29, 2005 is the date by which people make reference in their lives. “Before Katrina we…” or “It was after Katrina that we…” For us, it’s the birth of our children or our 50th birthday or our anniversary, for people here – it’s August 29, 2005.
Cassandra Broadus-Garcia
Biloxi VIM (Jan. 06; Jan. 07; Jan. 09)
SUMC Member, Mississippi native
1 comment:
Hi Cassandra, Hi team or at least I still feel like I am part of your team. Costa Rica called this past week so that is one reason I am not working with you guys this year. The other reason is it was Cassandras turn to go. Our team had a great experience in CR, I hope yours will be just as great. Take care, enjoy your time together and get allot of work done.
Vicente Garcia
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