Returning to Biloxi

Before we even landed in Biloxi, I experienced the gratitude and kindness  of native Mississippians I remembered from my last trip, talking to a man sitting next to me on the small plane from Dallas to Biloxi, who, upon hearing we were coming down to hurricane relief work, thanked me several times over. I could feel his heart go heavy as we approached the airport, passing over Pass Christian, a town that was very hard hit. 

Now that I'm back, it's a strange mix I feel myself, of gratitude for the chance to be here again, and of my own heavy heartedness, seeing how things are so much as they were in March. Sure, there are good changes. The bridge connecting Biloxi to Ocean Springs is being worked on, much of the debris has been hauled away. But there's still a feeling of so far to go. The man on the plane told me it would take at least ten years to recover.

 Still, it's great to be here with nine other folks from our church, and the brother of one, who has very willingly jumped into our little community within a community. We all worked hard this morning, sweating, sweating, sweating, and drinking, drinking, drinking. At lunch, I took everyone to the tip of the peninsula, to see the bridge and to catch some breeze. Afterwards, we went over to the campsite of Grassroots Volunteer Network, the group whose wing we're working under. The campsite is on the property of a Baptist Church, and we got to meet the pastor, Pastor Davis, who invited us to attend services in the morning, promising some amazing singing. Since we already had plans to attend UU services at the Gulf Coast UU Fellowship, we're going to hit the early Baptist service, and do a double feature Sunday morning!  Then we'll be off to New Orleans for the rest of the day. The work will begin again Monday morning.

 For now, I'm just very happy to be down here again, and feel energized by the enthusiasm the group is already bringing to the trip. Thank you, all!   Eliza