They're Headed Home!

At 4:00 Eastern, the team was leaving Birmingham Alabama after stopping for lunch.

As proud as I am of my wife Melinda and her mom Nancy for being so selfless as to take this week between holidays to go serve others, I was very happy when she called to tell me they were on their way home. Our loved ones left St. Tammany Parish around 9:30 eastern time and are heading back towards us. We should be welcoming them home Sunday evening. Spare ribs and sour kraut will be for dinner at the McGuire house this year.

Lord we thank you for the generosity of spirit of these volunteers to go be your hands and feet. Please protect them on their return journey home, help them to have a pleasant trip home and help the time till we see them again pass quickly. Amen

Team 6 - Friday Update from Troy

Today was a unique day. We spent the day with a family in New Orleans East just east of the 9th ward gutting houses on a cul-de-sac. The family lost literally everything and they had already gutted their house and were coordinating the clean up efforts for all of their neighbors.

While we were gutting their houses one of the ladies came home and began going through her belongings on the front lawn. She says you don't know how trivial everything is until your entire life is in a pile in your front yard.
A quick story today that was so cool. This lady wanted to find a comforter that was from St. Croix that meant a lot to her. She looked for a little while and gave up. Ross and Justin found out that she was looking for something, the dove right in and started looking through this smelly pile of trash.

Ross kept picking things out and showing them to the lady and she would reply, "No honey, it's a comforter." a few minutes later, Ross emerges and asks, "What's a comforter"! And to add to it all, it was an ecru comforter, and a few seconds later, Justin emerges on the other side of the pile and asks, "What color is ecru."

It was a funny situation, but with a very deep meaning behind it. Too many times, we feel we need to have all the facts and information and then decide if we want to help. These two guys saw a need and literally dove right in. We NEED to have that attitude all of the time, not just in a time of crisis. Thank you for your prayers and pray for a safe trip home tomorrow and Sunday.

Love 'Em Like Jesus,
Troy Blair, Youth Minister
Northland Church of Christ
www.ncocfamily.org
tblair@ncocfamily.org

Where the team is working today

Here is a map of where our team has been working today. They left the remaining and still soaked portion of Crowder Road Church of Christ to dry out and have been working in a culdusac nearby, one block off of lake Pontchartrain in East New Orleans.

It's important to note that while power has been restored to most areas, most individual houses still are not on due to water damage even when there is power in the neighborhood.

One of the residents on the culdusac has been working with the Operation Nehemiah while living in Batton Rouge. He started bringing volunteers into the culdusac to clean up one Carrolton Avenue church member's house, then another from Crowder Boulevard CofC and someone else came home so they cleaned out that house. Our team was there to complete two that had been started and also cleaned out a third house.

Tim Hines who is one of those heading up the Tammany Oaks effort and building a permanent disaster relief organization down there told me today that of all the members of all the Churches of Christ in New Orleans, only 80 are still there, 65 of those at Carrolton Avenue where the housing was less damaged.

Team 6 - Thursday Update from Troy

Today was an extremely long day. The work is definitely starting to wear on us all. We are moving a little slower and moaning a little more. But it was a great day. We were at the Crowder Blvd CoC again today. The entire front of the building is now completely stripped and a majority of the back is free of furniture and debris.
As we were packing up to return to Tammany today, Gregory Hamilton, one of their elders came back and he and I walked through the building together. As he surveyed the front he was overjoyed. When we got to the back and saw the progress, I told him that we were a little disappointed that we did not get it all done today, he stopped in his steps, turned to me with tears in his eyes and said. "When you showed up without the bobcat, my heart sank because I felt that not much work would be done with this crew. As I stand here today, I never dreamed that even with the bobcat, that this much progress could be made in two days."

He has sent pictures to as many families as he had e-mail addresses for and he told me that there are three families now trying to make it back because of the renewed spirit they have from seeing their church home coming back! I reminded him that our God is able to do more than we can ever hope or imagine, he said "I Know". We prayed together and then went and prayed with the entire crew.

Today was Lee's birthday so we all went to the Cheesecake Bakery after devo tonight and had a great time. Also as a side note, we had the devo tonight and Kasey and Justin did a great job with the singing. (Paul was his usual great self with the ole power point.)

Tomorrow they have a circle of about 6 houses in the lower 9th ward that we get to gut out before leaving on Saturday morning. Continue to pray for the work here, and pray for Kasey as he leaves us via train to join his family in Colorado.

Love 'Em Like Jesus,
Troy Blair, Youth Minister
Northland Church of Christ
www.ncocfamily.org
tblair@ncocfamily.org

Team 6 - Wednesday Update from Troy

WOW! What a day this was. Our assignment for today and probably the rest of the week is at the Crowder Blvd. CoC. This is a church in the infamous 9th ward. The day began with a stop at the Carrolton Avenue CoC. That, as you will remember, is the church we demucked back in October when we were here last. They have the pews from Tiffin Road in Findlay in place and are having services on a regular basis now. It was exciting to see the progress being made. In fact they are now acting as a staging area for "The Nehemiah Project" the rebuilding of the churches in New Orleans.

We left Carrolton Avenue and headed for Crowder Blvd. As we exited the interstate I thought we had regressed to the days immediately following Katrina. No power on in the entire area (including street lights and traffic signals), people were very sparse, even animals seemed to be in hiding and all building deserted and in shambles. It was simply amazing. I guess I was lured into thinking that things were better than they were based on the media.

I met with Gregory Hamilton, a Crowder Blvd elder. He told me that out of a congregation of 150 members, only about eight have returned. He is committed to rebuilding God's house in the 9th ward regardless of the opposition he is faced with. We prayed with him and went straight to work.

The entire building has to be gutted. It was quite easy since the front of the building was glass, we simply removed the remaining glass and framework and the auditorium opened up to the street. Our team had the auditorium gutted in no time and began working on the rest of the building.

It was rewarding to see the face of this elder begin to glow as we demolished his building.




As the furniture and walls and the like were carried to the curb, he knew that God was at work preparing the way for a rebuilding, and he understood it all too well.

We also had opportunity to witness to a single mother and her 12 year old daughter as three of our crew spent two hours removing some large appliances from her home across the street and then praying with her and leaving her with water and food.

I spent a considerable amount of time with Tim who is the principle of a private pre-K to 8th grade school down the street. He was principle for all of 9 days when the hurricane hit. Out of 897 students who were enrolled, he is opening back up this Monday with only 212 students who are back. He was overjoyed to be able to stop working for a few minutes and simply share what he has been through with someone who wanted to listen to him and shared a passion for children. We prayed and he walked back to his school.

It was a very tiring day, but a very rewarding day. Our crew is exhausted but looking forward to going back tomorrow. Today we got a glimpse of how in our weakness, He is strong.

Love 'Em Like Jesus,
Troy Blair, Youth Minister
Northland Church of Christ
www.ncocfamily.org
tblair@ncocfamily.org

Team 6 - Wednesday's Work Report

Tammany Oaks hosted a total of 80 people last night including our team. Others were from Kokomo Indiana, Huntsville, Alabama, Missouri, Virginia and other locales. 20 more joined from Colorado tonight with more expected from New Jersey.

Some of our team worked laying the 2nd floor decking in the new building and cutting trees, but most of them are working to muck out the flooded Crowder Boulevard Church of Christ in the Upper 9th Ward seen here, before the storm.

Cement pillars and a brick wall inside the church were pushed into the auditorium. The crew removed all the debris, pews, etc from the auditorium and 5 classrooms today with 15 more classrooms to go.

They are working with Gregory Hamilton, an elder at the church that had a membership of 150 before the storm. Only 8 of their people, including kids and elderly, are able to live in the New Orleans area currently so he was very happy to have so much outside help with the church building. He's also working to clean up his house that got 5 feet of water.

Fortunately the Northland church bus has already had it's can't miss visit to the mechanic. This trip it was just a couple of rebar holes in the back tires that have been patched. Should be good to go for the rest of the trip!

Melinda McGuire

Team 6 - Wednesday Update

Greeting from warm Mandeville, LA. We arrived around noon today without incident. As usual, we had a warm and wonderful reception from the gang at the University CoC in Tuscaloosa and got a great rest last night. We left Tuscaloosa about 8:15 this am and as we came closer to our destination, I was filled with a turmoil of emotion. I was recognizing some familiar sites, but things were a little different. Some signs of progress can be seen.
The sides of the roadway are pretty much cleared, but as we got close to the cities, the ever-familiar blue roofs remained. They were everywhere. The highway signs were practically all repaired, but homes and businesses were still just as I left them in October. It is as if nothing had been done. I guess I was expecting more.

Caiti Morris reminded me that possibly the reason so many businesses were in disrepair still was quite possibly due to the fact that people were too busy trying to get their homes repaired that their work places suffered. She is probably right. As we went to a few stores to get some supplies, signs abounded that they were still operating on skeleton crews and limited supply STILL!!

The greater New Orleans area is an area of about 4 million people and it is estimated that only about 300,000 people have returned to their homes. The continued need is quite overwhelming.

We are going into N.O. tomorrow to begin de-mucking operations at another inner city church building. This will probably be our assignment for the remainder of the week.

As I reflected on my emotions today, I was taken to how God must feel with my life. He has given me everything I need for life and Godliness, however, I sometimes get preoccupied on my own agendas and the real work suffers. As a result he looks at me sometimes I am sure and says, "I was expecting more by now". But He just loves on me and helps me up where I am. I am so grateful for His love, His grace, His mercy and His salvation!

Thank you for your support and continued prayer.
Love 'Em Like Jesus,
Troy Blair,
Youth Minister
Northland Church of Christ
www.ncocfamily.org
tblair@ncocfamily.org

Katrina Team 6 in Tuscaloosa

Team 6 arrived in their overnight stop at University Church of Christ in Tuscaloosa, Alabama at around 8:00 central (9:00 in Ohio). All those feeling ill this morning are feeling better and they're all bedding down for the night.

The team left the Spring Road Church of Christ this morning at 8:30 in a mix of snow and drizzle. This is a partial team picture. The team, led by Troy Blair includes:
Lisa Blair
Tom McClanahan
Josh Fairchild
Melinda McGuire
Nancy Michael
Paul Ping
Jason Read
Kasey Dunkin
Justin Ping
Amanda Evans
Caiti Morris
Lauren McVicker
Dan Roades
Jessica Fino
Lord, please bless these volunteers. Make their trip safe, their bodies strong, their minds sharp, and their hearts open to the direction of your spirit. Please use them in turn to bless those they will work along side and those they help this week. It's in Jesus name we ask this blessing. Amen