SUNDAY

            …And the epic adventures of MCC’s Biloxi trip begins! After long flights and drives, the entire MCC crew has safely arrived at Seacoast United Methodist Assembly (SUMA).  Back Bay Mission has a very large group, so we are staying down the street.   At SUMA, we are staying in two dorms that Olivia said, “Have a very camp-ish feel.”

Sunday’s story began by waking up at what felt like the crack of dawn for some of us (aka 6:00-7:00AM) and enjoying the sunrise, running, or just waking up. At 7:30 breakfast was served in the cafeteria.  Cathy, the cook prepared bacon and pancakes for us, along with coffee, juices, cereals, etc.  After a nice breakfast to jumpstart our day, everyone split up and got ready for the day.  Some went for walks on the beautiful beach right across the road from us while others searched for an Internet connection or went back to the bunks for a quick shower before our day to New Orleans.  Lynn and Abbie went for quick jaunt down the beach and were fascinated to find a sea turtle.  Unfortunately the turtle was dead…  We still found it pretty interesting!

Our three cars left around 9:15 for New Orleans with a stop past Clementine and Lucious’s house from several years ago on the way.  It looks like they have moved into the house and out of the trailer, which has been parked in the front yard since our first trip down.  After passing multiple Waffle Houses and billboards advocating spaying and neutering your pets, we made it to Louisiana! 

            New Orleans showed us the two extremes of Louisiana now:  a well restored, built up French Quarter, but also districts still trying to rebuild from the destruction from four years ago.  Bourbon Street is thriving with tourism while the outskirts of the city have driveways that lead to empty lots and front stair with no houses.   Many of the houses still have the marks used after the storm to assess survivors and abandoned properties.  It was surprising to see that so many of these marks were still on homes and hadn’t been painted over.

            Everyone enjoyed their time in New Orleans and got a taste of the city (especially when we found a Starbucks!).  Abbie and Lynn met a few locals who shared their wisdom about the city and how Katrina affected them.   Dave saw a funk band called MoJo Man playing in Jackson Square for the Ironman competition.  He found it amusing as the band competed against the Kaliope music coming from the paddlewheel boat docked in the river.  The Cutlers met up with Kate’s sister-in-law, Kaya, who joined us for dinner.

            Dave, Jack, and Hal impressed us with their driving skills when we hit a nasty rainstorm as we crossed back into Mississippi.   Tonight, we had a meeting at Back Bay to meet everyone and see the new dorms.  The old trailers are gone and the new dorms are beautiful!  During our meeting we met the other group joining us at Back Bay.  They are from Portland, Connecticut and are a very large group.  

Half of the group ended the night with a necessary trip to Walmart and we all gathered around Dave and his guitar for a sing along.  Tomorrow, we will find out our work assignments and start the work we came to do! 

Blessings from your crew in the South,

The 2010 Biloxi Crew 

And 'God be with you till we meet again'  from your Biloxi bloggers, Abbie and Lynn