Betty, Tom and Jeff Brayer, Sean Clancy, Pam Hatch, Carol and Jim May, Erin Miller, Neal, Jane, Laura, and Eric Smith representing St. Mary’s of the Lake along with folks from the First Presbyterian Church of Ontario recently returned from New Orleans.  Those from St. Mary’s would like to thank all, who contributed in helping them finance their journey. Below please find excerpts from Pastor Cheryl Galen’s sermon she shared with her congregation about the trip. Now, with some distance from the event of the hurricane, many ask can anything good come out of Katrina?  For Denise, a resident of St. Bernard’s Parish whose recovery we’ve been following over the last couple of years, ‘good’ is finding out you really can get by with just 3 changes of clothes, ‛good’ is learning that you, who have never had to depend on others for food…you can stand in line for food stamps. ‘Good’ is discovering that you can lose everything and not lose yourself.  ‘Good’ is knowing that people thousands of miles away, are praying for you, and that they will come from afar to help you. Can anything good come out of Katrina? Come and See. For the residents of the area in which we worked this week, ‘good’ is sitting down to a home-cooked meal at the Olive Tree Camp, along with a group of strangers who have become friends. One couple told us that the house that is being repaired for them is soon to become a motel for extended family members still scattered in distant places, waiting for a place to live while their own homes are being rehabbed. And we heard about another couple who, after receiving assistance with their home, is now donating one paycheck a month so that others can be helped in the same way. Can anything good come out of Katrina? Come and see....what grows from scraping stubborn adhesive residue off of a concrete floor and hauling sheets of drywall up a flight of stairs, and flipping pancakes by day and  burgers by night.  From the conversation that emerges when you’re doing mindless work from the random outbreaks of silliness that happen when your muscles are sore and you are sleep-deprived. For us, especially ‘good’ was the deepening of relationships across generations. One of the most satisfying elements of our experience was the chance for college students, middle aged adults and retirees to mix it up.  Apart from our families, that doesn’t happen too often. But whether it’s in the dormitory room that you share or in the kitchen while preparing meals or loading the dishwasher, whether on the work site or out and about in the French Quarter, we learned a lot about one another and had a unique opportunity to walk alongside one another, sharing our stories of faith and life.     Good is also about the deepening of empathy and the stretching of faith. Our week of tackling difficult, overwhelming work and seeing slow progress gave us a lot of appreciation for those who’ve been living this recovery journey for 3-1/2 years. It can test one’s patience.  It can try one’s soul….to have to do something you don’t want to do. Or to bump up against someone else’s way of doing things and to adjust. Sometimes our skills were lacking, sometimes tools or supplies were lacking, sometimes direction was lacking, sometimes heat was lacking, most of the time sleep was lacking.  There were set-backs and disappointments but there was also the incredible experience of walking alongside the residents who are trying to take back their community and rebuild their lives. It is said that faith is believing in spite of the evidence and then watching the evidence change. And that is precisely what is happening on the Gulf Coast Submitted by Carol May                            January ‘09