Home Visit

This week I get to start doing home visits to people who Lagniappe has helped. I am so excited about this! Our goal when doing these visits is to follow up and maintain relationships with the people in the community. And seeing as Lagniappe currently has over 800 work orders, there are more and more families that have been helped by Lagniappe, thus a growing need to maintain these relationships. Here's one story of a relationship that God has blessed me with:

Two weeks ago I was in Wal-Mart getting pictures developed and while I was in the craft section, a woman that worked there started a casual conversation with me (how are you? Where do you work? Where are you from?). After I told her that I work at Lagniappe and am volunteering all summer she began to tell me how thankful she and the whole town are for all of the volunteers and the work we are doing. She then proceeded to tell me her story of how she survived hurricane Katrina and broke down in tears while doing so.
This whole community is still hurting from the storm. You can see the pain and weariness in the eyes of people around town. Most are thankful for the volunteers, but some are bitter and can’t get over the fact that such a thing would happen to them. No matter what the people’s attitudes are, I love talking to the locals and building relationships with them. One of the things I like to do to get involved in the community is going to a local coffee shop and visiting with the owner and the regular customers. I also enjoy going to 2nd Saturday (all the shops downtown stay open late on the 2nd Saturday of each month and have snacks for the customers, everyone is excited and there are many opportunities to talk to the shop owners).
Last night I had to go get some things at Wal-Mart and I stopped by the craft section to visit my friend. Please be praying for my relationship with her to grow and that I would be a source of encouragement for her while she is facing these hardships.

I am ready for the week to start! Sunday we have 300 volunteers coming in and they will be here until Friday night or saturday morning. This past week was a semi calm week because we only had 110 volunteers. All of the volunteers were gone by this morning so I was able to put their tools up, go shopping, and then head to the beach. We also have 2 interns from last summer that came back to help in the tool crib so this week is going to be smooth sailing. :)

Lagniappe has about 400 active work orders (meaning we are in the process of getting material and workers for these jobs) and another 400 work orders in our computers that we will hopefully get to soon. Lagniappe is also building several houses fully funded and worked on by Lagniappe volunteers. We have started building 3 of these houses. One is being framed this week and the other house is getting a foundation. Our third house just got approved so teams will be clearing the land to prepare for the foundation. It is so encouraging to see these houses coming along!

Bad attitude

I had an amazing weekend this past weekend! I went home for two weddings, for one of the weddings I was a bridesmaid. :) I also just found out that one of my best friends from Auburn is pregnant! Congratulations Alyssa and Carl!! God has truly blessed me with a content heart right now. It would be hard being happy for my friends that are getting married and having babies if I wasn't content with what is going on in my life and where I am. Even though I am so excited to be at Lagniappe for the summer, I've been having trouble staying positive.
When I came back from my wonderful weekend, there was a group here that has pretty much taken over Lagniappe. This team that came in, Group Works, is an organiztion for youth groups from all over the country to come together and help others. They are practically renting out Lagniappe for the next month, and things have been a struggle. There seems to be an extreme lack of communication on their part and our part. They have their own interns that were meant to be doing our job and I don't think they knew that us, Lagniappe interns, were already here doing those jobs. Needless to say, some people's toes are getting stepped on.
Even though I don't usually show my frustration on the outside, in my heart I am not a happy camper. Please be praying for me to remember that God loves me in spite of what a wretched sinner I am so that I can show that same love to these volunteers. And please pray that the staff here will continue to encourage each other and remind each other that we are here not only to minister to the community but also to the volunteers that walk through our doors.
To end this blog on a happier note, One thing that I am excited about is that the girl interns have decided to start praying together in our bunk house each monday and thursday night before we go to bed. We prayed together for the first time last night and it has really helped me feel closer to these girls and I am excited to know that they are praying for me throughout the week as I am praying for them.

Some pictures of the facilities

These are 3 of our 8 volunteer bunkhouses that are located on Lagniappe's facilities. Behind the last bunkhouse is the tool shed, where I work.

Just some bunks in the bunkhouses. Each bunkhouse houses about 44 people.

This is actually the guys restroom (I did not take this picture, it's from the website), but this is what both bathrooms are like. Bathroom stalls are up front and shower stalls are in the back. Showers are operated by pulling a cord to let the water out. :<

Here is a bird's eye view of half of the tool crib.This picture is from Lagniappe's website and was taken a while back so the tool crib is actually much more cluttered than this. We are looking at getting more shelving/storage.

Breaking Away

This week is my Saturday off and I decided to come to Fairhope, AL to stay with my grandmother, Mormor, and to visit my Aunt Elsa and Uncle Vince. I absolutely love Lagniappe but sometimes I feel like running far away. It becomes overwhelming with all the volunteers and the messes they leave behind. However, no matter how far I run away, I always find myself running back. One of the reasons I love Lagniappe is because it is a place for broken people. At Lagniappe we don't have to pretend we are perfect people, we say to each other "Its ok that you aren't ok because I'm not ok either". I think this is also a reason I go running to family. True family already knows that you aren't ok and loves you in spite of it all.

Wow, we've been checking in teams all weekend and the number of volunteers this week is going to be around 250. Next week we will have a full camp (350 volunteers) and camp will stay full until the end of July. I'm glad the numbers have slowly been increasing because it is hard getting used to so many people being here. It isn't that stressful during the day when teams are at their worksites but it is when they are all trying to check out or check in tools and when everyone is trying to shower or get ready in the bathrooms.

Monday nights we get a little break when we go to Bible study at a staff member's house. We are going through the book of Galatians, but won't be doing it this week because most of the staff is gone to general assembly in Memphis. Last week we studied Galatians 2 and discussed that the purpose of the law is to show us our sin and make us realize how much we need God's grace. I often think that I am generally a good person and forget how great a sinner I am. I am constantly needing to be reminded of my need for grace!

Weather Channel

http://www.weather.com/multimedia/videoplayer.html?clip=6815&collection=videocoll26&nav=141&from=abramsandbettes%20
Lagniappe was featured on the weather channel this past thursday night! The whole feature was about Bay St Louis taking the hardest hit from hurricane katrina, how the city is recovering, and what the people's mindset is as we head into another hurricane season. I hope this video gives y'all a better idea of what our facilities look like and what the town looks like.
Just a little extra info, only 70% of the Bay St Louis residents have moved back since hurricane katrina.
Please be praying that God will give the full time staff and us interns the energy to keep up with the teams that are coming in on a weekly basis. Help us to also remember that we are not perfect and that we are broken people helping other broken people.
*I just fixed the link so it should take you straight to the video. Sorry about the confusion.