Day One: "It's Not About Us"

After a good night's sleep and breakfast our first day of work in New Orleans was started by a morning devotional by Team Leader Dan Valentine. His message was “It’s Not About Us” from Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life. It was a fitting and meaningful message for us to remember while we worked today.

The day started with a rush hour drive from John Calvin Presbyterian to East New Orleans and Eastminster Presbyterian Nursery School. Flooding and destruction were apparent and grew worse as we drove. When we arrived we scoped out the work to be done. The initial impression was that everything inside the church had been turned upside down and nothing was where it should have been.

Respirators (for Mildew abatement) for all workers working indoors were an absolute necessity. Fortunately we were blessed with a beautiful cool sunny day with a steady breeze. This helped air out the buildings and made our work easier.

In the building we found running water but no power. The tasks we faced and eventually accomplished included:

• Tree cutting


• Haul all branches and logs to the street


• Clean out sanctuary, disinfect and separate usable from non-usable pews and other worship related items


• Pull up all carpeting from all rooms (Sanctuary, Offices, Nursery)


• Haul all unusable items (most of what was in the church) out to the street


• Clean up areas in Nursery which several people fleeing the flood lived in for quite a few days

The team had a lunch break with “gourmet” MRE’s served. After a long afternoon of more work we stopped at around 4:30 to load up in order to leave the area by curfew time and be on our way by dark at 5:08.

After showers and a dinner of Barbeque and Ribs, Claire Dunaway did our evening of reflection on today’s accomplishments and how our lives are being changed by serving God. Claire referred back to Dan’s message of “It’s Not About Us” and how Christ said God’s purpose for us is our spiritual “Food” (4th Chapter of John).
This was a near perfect end to our day and we all went off for a much needed night’s rest.