Hello from Anna & the adult work force here at St. Gabriel. As with most plans, nothing was more constant than change. After the first day of figuring out local transportation to Loyola and to our work sites, things settled in very nicely. We ended up breaking into three work groups putting up sheetrock (drywall to us). Several of the ladies joined forces with the teens clearing out homes and tearing out drywall. The owners stop by, bringing water, some have stayed and helped with the work when they weren't working themselves. All have been more than appreciative! We have one of the owners stop by every morning with donuts. When she found out that we were drinking instant coffee, she went out and bought us a coffee pot and real coffee! We are looking forward to celebrating mass together on Saturday with the families whose houses we've been working on. We'll end with a pot luck supper. Friday night, the adults took some time off to take a tour guided by Fr. Doug and Sr. Kathleen around New Orleans. We started off by driving to the lower 9th ward. It soon became apparent that although the neighborhood we'd been working in which had between 3-11 feet of water, this area was 10 times worse! A lot of the homes are being hauled away. From there we saw the complete opposite as we toured the area along Lakeshore Drive and the Garden District. I don't know which was more depressing. Our evening ended with a riverboat cruise with dinner and a Dixie band on the steamboat Natchez. (It will make it to Cincinnati for Tall Stacks.) After another full workday on Saturday, we'll start packing our bags for the trip home.
I'll be putting some of our pictures from the 9th ward and Riverboat Cruise on soon.

Rounding third and heading for home. . .
I'm sorry its been a day since we blogged but we had a little key fiasco - which will probably be funny in about 10 years or so. I already posted the pictures from our Honey Island Swamp Tour, but I thought you'd want to know a little more. We worked a half day and then ate lunch, showered and boarded the bus. We drove about fifty minutes away to the swamp (which was near and around Slidell). There were three boats waiting for us and our wonderful teens. Captain Melvin Cousins was one of our great captains. They all gave info about the swamp as we floated and powered along on the river, discussing the animals we saw, explaining the history and general tour guide banter. He tossed marshmallows at the alligators to get them closer to the boat. (while the teens LOVED this they could have stayed further away if you ask me!) Beyond Marshmallows, Captain Cousins placed a hot dog on a stick, so the alligator would perform acrobatics, jumping out of the water for his snack. It was fantastic! (Though I kept my eyes closed for that part (jk!)!) They are huge creatures and very fast... But we didn't loose any fingers or teens. After our tour, we went to Schaeffers Restaurant. They had lost our reservations so we had to wait for the room (the kids were so good and patient; the chaperones were very proud) After we were seated, things went a little better. The food was delicious - The teens and I tried alligator sausage (spicy!) catfish, shrimp, gumbo, Po boys, crab, clam, crawfish among other things. The portions were HUGE! Elsewhere in the restaurant, locals asked who we were, what we were doing there, and when they found out they took up a collection (without us knowing) and presented it to us to use for dinner, dessert or whatever we saw fit. The teens told me to donate it to St. Gabes Parish! Father Doug and Sister Kathleen were very touched! We got back to St. Gabes, had evening prayer and went to bed. (Well, the teens did anyways. I came here, to Loyola, to blog. Hence why you only got pictures that night!) The teens are exhausted at the end of the day. They truly are working their tails off!! On Friday we went back to our full work day (though witout Pete and his daugheter Liz who had to make it home for a fiftieth Wedding anniversery party, flying out of New Orleans about 6:40) While the adult contingent went to do some sight seeing around town, capping off with a dinner cruise. (Anna will blog about that soon.) Since all of the adults except the chaperones were gone from the end of lunch on, we had a few changes in our schedule. I got to drive everybody from site to site in the twelve person van. The Crazy Oats (or Oatmeal Rasins to some of us (thank you Buttercups)) stayed back to make dinner for the rest of us. (The kitchen crew was allowed to get out of the kithcen but just for one meal - JK) We had a picnic dinner of cheeseburgers, hot dogs and beans, complete with a wild water balloon fight in the slightly muggy evening air. It was a lot of fun to watch the kids winging cold water at each other in a mad dash to knock out the other team. A few finally decided to ignore the rules, cross the center line (despite being disqualified) with a bucket of water and go in for the kill. Smart kids! Club time went well and you could see the teens becoming one unit instead of three individual parishes. God is Great! Finally, it was Saturday, our very last work day. Everyone was exahuasted but willing to do anything it took to get the houses done before the end of the day. The heat that had been unbearable at the beginning of the week cooled off a little as the days went by. So today was hot, but not boiling our water. (Of course by cooled off I do mean the lower 90's) The teens really brought it today! Knocking down walls, sweeping up blown insulation, cranking nails out of studs, hard work in the New Orleans weather. We knocked off around 3:30 and came back to shower and prepare for mass. We were all excited to join Father Doug and Sister Kathleen, as well as the parishinors whose homes we worked on for mass tonight. The music was great, performed by Eric the parish pianist. (He even stayed a little later that evening to rock out with the kids who gathered around him to sing songs while he played) He asked people to join his choir for mass, and our teens sounded great! It was so touching to see all of the parishes together in celebration here so many miles from home. The homily was wonderful, Father did an interactive question and answer session where he asked for our thoughts about the weeks experiences. He followed that by asking what we would take home from this mission trip to Cincinnati. Finally he allowed his parishioners to share their personal comments and feelings on the week, and let me tell you the praise for our teens flowed like water over a dam. The comments made were about how greatful they were for us to be down here, and tears flowed, on both sides. We have truly made some great new friends over this week. After communion, Father Doug presented all of us with prayer cards and all three parishes (St. Michaels, Sacred Heart, and St. Columban) with a statue of St. Gabriel to take home with us. Jim and Sally presented Father with a statue of St. Michael, Anna gave them fundraising money (over $14, 000!!) and I got to give the parishoners whose homes we had worked on, a card with a Lowes Gift Card in it. (Insert more tears here) After mass, we got to enjoy a pot luck dinner with the parishioners and their families. (My cousin Judy, who lives in Baton Rouge, came down with four dozen brownies to share at lunch! It was so great to see her. . .and the brownies were awesome too!) For our potluck contribution, we provided the age old Cincinatie standby Skyline Chili. Following dinner, the teens were served ice cream by their adult chaperones, much cleaner than anticipated. Finally, we ended it with clean up, Club time, a beautiful commissioning service led by Christine, and off to bed! I left with Aaron to come blog, but the adult chaperones will probably have their hands full getting them to go to sleep. They were wound up with it being their last night and all! (Thanks Christine, Nancy, Marianne, Andrew, Chip, & Chuck!) We leave bright and early tomorrow morning, so I'm going to go for now. Keep checking the blog though, we have more to come! (The adult contingent will tell you more about the 9th ward, and we'll let you know about the bus ride home!) Please pray for our safe return! God's blessings on your day!

SOUTHERN DINNER AT SCHAEFFERS: GUMBO CITY!

Our mission trippers enjoyed a delightful dinner after their Swamp adventure where the menu featured some wonderfuly awesome Alligator Sausage, Powerfully delicious Po Boys, Great Bowls of Gumbo, killer Cajun Catfish, Scrumptious Seafood Platters or Chicken Tenders and fries. Take your pick! (Aaron had the Gumbo, Brad ate a slab of ribs for his birthday. . . IN 5 MINUTES!)

These are some of the awesome sights we saw at the swamp. I'll add more pics and tell you all about the day tom. I am exhausted and am going to go sleep on my little air mattress in our room. Please keep us in your prayers.

Today we went on the Honey Island Swamp tour and out to dinner for a treat. We had to take three boats to get all of us back into the swamp. This is the "sun boat". They were the only ones who didn't have a cover.

This is one of the covered boats.

This is a close up of the boat I was on. The captain's name was Melvin Cousins, and he is pictured in the middle back. The gentleman on the left was our bus driver Richard. (He is wonderful)

The stop sign outside our house. All of the signs are messed up, or missing. Very few road signs are where they are supposed to be. This makes it a little tricky to find your way around.

The Sheet Rockers with Cheryl and William M.

One of the adult groups with the owners of their home.

I told you it would remind you of Monsters INC.

The mount of Sheet Rockers. (Or three days of gutting a home with the sheet rockers group.) The girls left early to get more water.

This is part of our wonderful kitchen crew. They do a great job!

When you gut the home, everything gets thrown on the yard between the street and the sidewalk, but we didn't have any room there, so it got dumped from the street to the yard. This big green truck is waiting for the bobcats to scoop up the trash. (If they come while you are working, you must vacate the premises, unless you own a hard hat. We sat across the street and watched.)

Here is the sign that is posted outside of the church.

It's late and I am now back at Loyola. It is Wednesday around midnight and all the teens are asleep with their chaperones standing guard. It was a very eventful day. I thought I would start by telling you what the teens are doing on a daily basis. We get up at 6:30am, brush our teeth, comb our hair, and sleepily walk to the chapel area. They bring their bibles and their devotional books, and spend some quality alone time with God. We spread out all over the church and have 15-20 minutes just devoted to Him. (This is one of my favorite times of the day. I think it is harder on the teens because it isn't a normal part of the routine for a lot of them.) Then we get to eat! Today we had french toast and sausage. (Yummy!) We get ready to leave for our work sites. The teens have been split into four groups. Then they got to name their group. We have the Sheet Rockers, the Git-R-Dones, the Crazy Oats, and finally, the Buttercups. (Seriously, the biggest guys in our group are in the buttercups. They did it to themselves. . .I swear!) We patiently wait for the vans to take us to our sites. Each day, one of the groups is assigned to KP and one of them are assigned to help with drywall. This helps break up the monotony of gutting homes every day. The ones who are going to the houses to gut have to put on goggles, hats, breathing masks, gloves, and protective jump suits. (Think Monsters INC.) We look very stylish. (JK) Honestly though, after they saw the work that they had to do, no one has complained about the outfits. It really does protect us. We changed our starting time at the houses after the first day. We moved it up an hour because the heat sets in quickly. We tend to get more done earlier than later.
We get picked up for lunch around 12-1pm. We tend to eat in shifts since the vans don't hold us all at one time. We have a check off list to mark when our group is done, so that the kitchen crew knows when they can stop serving. I'm sure it seems like they are just finishing up from lunch, when they have to start cooking us dinner. It takes a lot to feed 90 people. (Not to mention that the owners of the homes tend to join us a lot also.) It is nice to have some time with them to hear their stories. It's even nicer to put a real face with a home. Everybody is so great and very appreciative of the work we are doing. It's nice to see the tiny difference we are making in this huge area of need. After lunch, we go back to the work sites. It really is hot and miserable there. The temperatures have been running in the low 90's. Unfortunately, that is before the heat index. Today we had a break. It was only 84. . .but it rained buckets! This caused some of our afternoon work to be cut short. I think that was a little blessing from God though, because the teens were working themselves so hard. They could use the hour to get themselves ready to go swimming. We took the bus to Loyola. Richard is our driver. He is amazing. The streets are polluted with trash. Cars are parked where they can. He never even hit a curb. I was impressed. We swam for 1 1/2 hours and then took the bus back. Because of the rec center closing at 8pm, we went before dinner, and the kitchen crew stayed later to make sure we all got fed. (Did I mention the kitchen crew is wonderful???) After dinner, we let the boys shower first. (The girls went first yesterday.) There are always adult leaders standing guard. Not that the teenagers would try anything, but . . . . We have a standing joke that the teens like to repeat back to me. I told them that the boys are blue, the girls are red, and there will be NO purple! So anytime the girls need something from the boys room, or the boys need something from the girls room, we just say NO purple! After the showers, they had a little free time before they had to be back for Club. During free time, the other adult chaperones and I get together for an adult meeting. We discuss the progress made at all of the houses, any issues or concerns that have come up, and what we are going to do the next day. It's nice to get everyone on the same page. We also get to hear other people's stories. It's good. Finally, we have club time. This opens with praise and worship music. We then have Hey Gods, Yeah Gods, and Mad Props. (I know, I'll explain.) Hey Gods are prayers that the teens want to offer up asking for God's help. Sometimes it's for nice weather, but more often than not, its for family and friends back home, or for the people down here. They are very touching. Then we do Yeah Gods. These are prayers that the teens offer up in Thanksgiving for something God has bestowed on us, or others. It could be for a beautiful rainbow, like we saw today on the way home from swimming, or for a heart that was changed towards God. They are fun to hear, and sometimes the teens even explain further. It's a nice springboard for discussion later. Finally, we do Mad Props. This is when the teens get to give Mad Props to their friends for the work they saw them do today. It can be silly (and usually is.) I firmly believe that God smiles on us for lifting up our friends to Him. I know that I can use all the prayers I can get. After the mad props, we move on to our bible message. All of the themes this week are based on water. (Today was on stilling the storm.) One of the teens asked if he could give a witness testimony on trust. Jake did awesome. How much more it meant to the teens to hear it from their peers, than from an adult. They really are opening up about their faith, and sharing it freely. It's been exciting to see God at work through them. After the message and reflection, they get to have a bed time snack, and a little bit of free time to unwind. We say ending prayer around 11pm, and some of the teens actually go to bed. More of them, stay up until lights out at midnight. They still have to get up at 6:30, but so far, it isn't fasing them. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. We look forward to sharing our personal stories with you when we get home. God Bless!

Ok, I know that I am sleep deprived, but here comes another installment of our mission. Please know that I have tried to blog everyday, but either I got lost in New Orleans (very scary, by the way) or the internet connection was down, or the ethernet cable that I needed was out of stock, or it was to late to blog because the library was closed that had the wi/fi connection I needed. . .sigh. Anyways, it is going to get better.
The adults have 3 groups that are all working on homes that have already been gutted, de-molded, and are ready for the drywall (which they call sheetrock down here). They got off to a rough start because there are so many of us that need to get to different places, and we didn't think we would need the bus to take us there. (We figured most of the houses would be within walking distance. As it turns out, none of them are.) So we had a lot of wait time while we got the routes figured out. Then they got there, and the drywall screws didn't come in, so they had to wait for those. I think they have all the bugs worked out now, and they are hard at work.
The teens and chaperones were split into four groups and each given a house to gut. My group went to Cheryl and William M's house. It was gorgeous at one time. They had three bedrooms, a formal dining room, two living rooms, a kitchen I would die for, a huge shed and an in-ground pool. All of it is now covered in mold and slime. We found a lot of personal mementos, pictures,
etc. and just started hauling them to the street. It was heartbreaking. The owners met us, walked us through the house, and then had to leave. They just couldn't stand to stay and watch. I felt awful for them. Cheryl was upset so she left in the car, and William just stayed outside and worked on the yard. They gave Emily and I a ride to their house in their vehicle, and told us that they were one of the lucky ones. Everyone got out in time, they had relatives to go stay with, and William's job transferred him to Texas. They had only been back 4 times since the hurricane hit. They explained that with two mortgages, and nobody living in the area yet, they have to pay for the gas and the hotel rooms along the way. This is very expensive with the cost of living and paying for two houses. We went inside their house, and thought that their faith must be very strong, because we didn't see the 'luckiness' that they did. All we saw was destruction.
We got to work, and it was nasty hot and humid. It was very hard to breathe with the masks on, but it was imperative that everyone wear them. We weren't going to take the chance of anyone getting sick from the mold. My group agreed that the worst part was the smell. It was working an 8 hour day in rotten eggs and sewage. The teens did awesome! They worked circles around me! (I must be getting old.) Once in a while, the teens would find something that they thought was salvageable. They took great care in setting it aside to let the family look it over later. It was very touching to watch them. Of course, the rest of the time, they took great pleasure in ripping out the walls with huge sledgehammers and crowbars! When we left for the day, we had about 50% of the house totally gutted. We hope to have it finished today.
We had to take all of our tools and supplies with us when we left though, because theft is prevalent in that area. (A lot of it they blame on contractors in the area. . .How sad is that!)
The kitchen crew is doing an outstanding job. Our meals are great, and no one in the teen contingent has complained once!
Club time, which is the teens nightly spirituality component, is going well. At first, the teens weren't taking the praise music seriously, (I think they were to wound up from the day); but after I threatened to lecture for two hours, they came around. hehe. We have prayed every night for our families, friends, and the parishioners of all of our parishes. The teens have really bonded well, and are taking their responsibilities seriously. I have received nothing but praise for them from everybody who comes into contact with them. I just smile and say "I know." (Thanks to the parents of the teens who have raised them so well!)
Today we are going to Loyola with the teens to use the swimming pool. It will be a nice break for them. I'll blog again as soon as I can. Thanks for being so patient with me! Please continue to keep all of us in your prayers. God Bless!

Hi Cincinnati! I am so sorry that I haven't blogged before now, but a comedy of errors has occured. I'll explain more later. First, let me tell you that for the most part, everybody made it down here ok. The bus with the teens and chaperones was fine. One of the RV's had a blow out, and one of the adults van's was in an accident. By the grace of God, noone was hurt, and everybody could continue to come down.
Since I was on the bus, you get to hear more about that exciting adventure. We stopped at our first rest area deep into Kentucky. We were stopped by a truck driver who was one of the top 13 safest drivers in the nation. He was there from the state of Kentucy Highway patrol with a huge painted 18 wheeler to talk to motorists about highway safety, and blind spots the truckers can't see. Once he found out that we were on the way to New Orleans for a mission trip, he wanted to take the groups picture for our "good works". He said that the Kentucy State Highway patrol was putting together a collage of pictures of his state's volunteers. We told him we were from Ohio, and he said that he didn't care. . .hmmm. Anyways we get back on the bus and rode, and rode, and rode. We watched a lot of movies and talked, and slept in the aisles. (Well, the 6 foot boys did, because they just didn't have enough leg room with all the stuff we had to carry down with us.)
We finally got off the highway on Louisa St. in New Orleans. The bus went dead silent. The teens turned the movie and cd's off by themselves. The destruction was apparent even in the darkness of night. No one said a word, and for teenagers, that's pretty amazing. You could see trees sitting on houses, boats in the middle of the yards, and rotting buildings with the sides falling in. It was so sad. We had seen the pictures of the destruction, but we were still unprepared for the real sights.
We get to St. Gabe's and are led to our rooms. The whole first floor of the building we are staying in doesn't have electricity or running water. It was very creepy, and I was thinking "What have I got us into." Then we go upstairs, and they tailored everything to the teens. The rooms were air conditioned, the floors were cleaned and waxed, the bathrooms had running water, and brand new showers were installed for us. (Of course, we weren't able to use them until the next day because they wanted to install the air conditioners in the shower room for us. But, they are wonderful!) They even put the boys in a different wing than the girls for me! (This is always a nice thing for the chaperones.) After we unloaded the bus of gear, food, tools, and supplies we went into the church (which is also the cafeteria area, club time area, etc.) and had ending prayer. It was a very nice end to the long day.

These are some of the people going on the New Orleans Mission trip with us. This picture was taken at the last adult meeting.

Things are really starting to shape up! Today, the teens T-shirts came in, the food was purchased and picked up, and the Morning Devotionals were finished! (Thank you Tom, Jim, Maureen, Mary Jo, Donna, & Carol! What would we do without you!)

I got to talk to Sr. Kathleen (from St. Gabe's) today, and she informed me that they have been working with Bell South for over a month now trying to get phone service established. Their cell phones work, but land lines are non existent. This could pose a problem for this blog, but where there is a will, there is a way. (It may just mean we only get to blog every other day.)

Loyola University, where the adults are staying, has internet access, so I might just have to drive over there. (Unless I can get one of the adults to do it for me. . . .jk)

We are really excited that it is right around the corner. A couple of us are getting ready to pack supplies, so I'll close for now. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. We hope to get a lot of the Lord's work done.

I'm Anna Geoppinger, the Adult Faith Formation Minister at St. Michael Church. Seven months of planning, fundraising, and meetings have come to an end (almost!) and now we're ready to leave for New Orleans to accomplish as much as we can in 6 days. We thank the parishioners and especially our families, for their ongoing support. I know there will be a lot of hard work ahead of us and we look forward to the challenges and blessings during that time. Thanks to all those who have volunteered in some way to help to make this happen. Pray for a safe journey!

I have been asked by multiple people in our parish (St. Michael's) to design and publish a blog so that the parishioners who are staying at home, and keeping us in their prayers, will have a way to follow along on our journey. I have never blogged before, but I am confident that one (if not all) of the 43 teens going with me will help me out. (So far, so good.)

My name is Lori Anne, and I am the Youth Faith Formation Minister at St. Mike's. Anna, the Adult Faith Formation Minister and myself are taking 43 teenagers (with 8 other chaperones) and 35 adult team members to St. Gabriels in New Orleans. We leave on June 19th and will be returning on the 25th. While we are at St. Gabriels, we plan to gut and help reconstruct 15-20 parishioners homes. Some of these homes have not been opened since the hurricane came and the levy failed. The devastation is immense.

A lot of planning and hard work has taken place already. The teens will depart by bus, and the adults are carpooling in RV's, vans, and cars. When we get to St. Gabe's, the teens (and their chaperones) will be sleeping on air mattresses in the school classrooms, and the adults are staying in dorms at Loyola University and carpooling to the church. (Don't worry, those of us staying at St. Gabe's in the school building have air condition and showers too!)

We have a team of adults who are coming just to feed us! Jim, Sally, and crew have worked hard at making our meal times appealing to all age groups, and we hope to experience a little bit of New Orleans cuisine as well. We even have a pot luck supper planned with the parishioners of St. Gabe's. (Yummy!)

Fr. Doug, Sr. Kathleen, and Matt are our contacts at St. Gabe's. Anna and Manette have been down there to visit twice and to firm up our itinerary. They are extremely excited to be working in conjunction with the three of them. They assure me that they are a great team, and from talking to them on the phone, I have no doubts!

We will working long days, but have some free time built in too. At the end of each day, there will be "Club Time" for the teens. This is a time where the teens get to decipher what happened during the day, and how they saw Jesus at work. We have gospel reflections, sharing, praise, and laughter. It is a great way to be relational, while showing God's love to others. Of course, the adults will have reflection and prayer also. They will be meeting at the church, and we will be upstairs in our chapel.

That's about all I have to share for now. If you make comments to this blog, and ask questions, I will do my best to answer them in blog form, so that everyone will get to see the answer. (Unless of course, it is of a personal nature. . .then I'll just try to email back.) We are really looking forward to going, and special THANKS! goes out to the parishioners of St. Michaels who supported us financially, emotionally, and spiritually. We love you and are happy to be a part of your parish family.