Southern Comfort, continued
Southern Comfort March 2009
Presbyterian Southern Comfort Trip December 4-11, 2007
Day 8
December 11, 2007
Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home 1
At FISH Camp in Lulling, LA this morning, twelve Southern Comfort team members arose at their usual breaking-of-dawn hour to put the finishing touches on packing their belongings and cleaning up their sleeping quarters (blue pods) before heading to the airport for the return flight to the Finger Lakes region of Central NY. Simultaneously, Steve, Haley and Scott packed up their car to begin their two-day trek back to their southern Cayuga County homes.
Kim and I arrived home in Auburn early this evening. We stopped at our local grocery store to pick-up some staples. The sound of our Westminster clock chimes striking the quarter-hour, and Deacon, our cat, were familiar greetings as we entered the house. After a quick supper and a hot shower, we're going to casually fall asleep in our comfortable bed. Ah, the comforts of home!
That is the paradoxical ending to what we've witnessed during the past week. There are so many people along the Gulf Coast still in the process of doing what needs to be done to get back to the homes after the damage wrought by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the summer of 2005. There are many reasons why this is so: people have relocated and distance makes it difficult; people are waiting for Road Home funds or insurance settlements; local officials have yet to make decisions about what neighborhoods will or won't be allowed to rebuild; health issues, family crises, or just plain waiting for contractors. Everyone has a different yet similar story.
Yet, to be fair, we did see many homes that have bee re-occupied and many homes in the process of being rebuilt. Although, several in our group estimated that in some neighborhoods there were eight of ten homes that were still vacant.
In our conversations while waiting to board our planes, we spoke of what we'd accomplished and what remains to be done at the two homes we worked at. We contemplated on when we should plan the next trip.
We relished the thoughts of returning home to see loved ones and to catch-up in planning for the coming Christmas season. We realized too that we need to tell our stories about what we've experienced.
So please, ask us; and contemplate how you might be involved in the next Southern Comfort Mission & Ministry project.
Thank you for your prayers and support.
Paul Dungey
1. Payne, John Howard; Home Sweet Home; http://home.kiski.net/~maury/poems/sweethome.html
Day 7
December 10, 2007
This was our final day to work on "our houses before heading home on Tuesday." Two team members departed for home today. We saw them off at the airport and then went to our worksites.
The Curran St. crew made great progress by finishing the drywall mudding in several of the rooms and actually got a coat of paint on two bedrooms and the hallway.
The Kentucky St. crew finished installing siding on the house and got a lot of exterior painting done. A second coat of paint went on the new siding on the front of the house, and a first coat of paint went on the porch pillars and porch ceiling.
There is still much to be done at these two homes, but we feel satisfied that the goals we set for ourselves earlier in the week, we're for the most part, achieved.
It would have been nice to have completely painted the interior of the Curran St. home, and it would have been nice to build-out the interior hall archways at the Kentucky St. home. We have to step back and realize that we can only accomplish as much as we can do in the period of time that we have.
 Several times during the week, we've heard stories about being patient. Those who are working at restoring their homes have shown us that the only way they can cope, is to be patient: waiting for the process of tapping into the Road Home funds, waiting for an insurance settlement, waiting for the home to be mucked-out, waiting for permits and approvals, waiting for contractors or volunteers to come do/or help with the work. Patience is a virtue!
Yes, we would have liked to "git-er'done" while we're here, but that's not being realistic. We did a lot of work, and we made significant progress, which goes a long way toward enabling a family to get back into their home sooner.
I give thanks to God for the call to serve our brothers and sisters. I praise God for drawing a group of Godly servants together to work in unity, as the body of Christ. What an awesome bundle of talents, skills and energy has been gathered together to serve and glorify God.
What an awesome, God trusting faith community that has supported and prayed for our Mission and Ministry. Hallelujah!
As we prepare to pack and go to bed on the eve of our return trip home, we're thinking about the stories we need to share when we get home. We know in our hearts that we're being called to return to continue this recovery effort.
Please pray for us and our Southern Comfort Mission and Ministry Team
Goodnight and God Bless!
Paul Dungey
Day 6
December 9, 2007
Today we traveled to Pearl River at the north shore of Lake  Pontchartrain to worship at Northminster Presbyterian Church. We had been invited by Pastor Sue Loper, former pastor of a NYS church who traveled with Southern Comfort when we came to Mississippi in February 2006. She's now serving as the interim of the Northminster Church. Following the service we enjoyed southern cuisine at its finest: church members prepared jambalaya, seafood bisque, red beans and rice, salad, gumbo, crawfish pie, and dirty rice, all topped off by pecan pie, chocolate cake, cookies, and brownies for dessert. Church members set up tables for the meal while we made Christmas ornaments of the fleur de lis, red beans and rice, and a candy cane.
 Pastor Sue and two church members traveled with us back across Lake Pontchartrain through Chalmette and the lower ninth ward before heading into the French Quarter for some sight seeing and shopping. We admired horse or mule drawn carriages, street musicians, and a Hanukkah parade. Some slogans on T Shirts include "I Parked my Chevy on the Levee and the Levee was Gone," and "New Orleans, established 1718, reestablished August 29, 2005."
We bought cookbooks, and souvenirs of New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina. Before returning to FISH camp, we sampled café au lait and beignets (powdered sugar covered donuts).
We are so grateful for the gracious southern hospitality shown to us by the members of the Northminster Church, and appreciated this day of Sabbath. Tomorrow Heather and Shaun return to Pennsylvania and we return to our houses to complete as much work as we are able on this trip.
Kim Dungey
Day 5
December 8, 2007
from Haley Zabriskie
Today was a little bit different here in more ways than one. First of all, it was suddenly sweltering with highs in the 80's and loads of humidity. The mosquitoes were back after a brief cold weather hiatus.
We also all decided to work at the Kentucky Street house to help the team there get a good jump on what they were working on. Some painted, some nailed siding. The homeowner brought us a fabulous lunch, Cajun cuisine of course. It was fun working as a big group but at the same time, it's interesting to see how attached to our own projects we become. The Kentucky Street group loved having our help because they saw a giant leap forward in their progress. I found that I was missing the site that my team had been working at because of  course I wanted to see as much progress as possible happen there too! We all have a sense of ownership, which I suppose isn't that unexpected but still something that maybe you don't realize until you face the prospect of leaving the project "unfinished."
Some of our group toured the most devastated areas of the city by car today and passed by at least one house that they had worked on last year, "mucking out" as they say. They were truly dismayed when they saw that nothing has happened with that house since that time. The family must not have returned. It isn't certain what has happened to any of the people who have not come back. They may have relocated, they may have died. There are still so many unanswered questions.
It is easy to be overwhelmed by it all, to feel unproductive and inefficient, pointless. But then God sends you a little gift in the form of a brief interaction with a grateful neighbor or an opportunity to give someone on the street a few dollars, or standing back from a difficult project and realizing that you're not sure how but you did it! And you KNOW you're doing His work.
I have a sense that when I'm wearing this blue shirt, I'm wearing God's armor through the streets. I feel safe and protected and people respond to all of us differently. Paul (Dungey) said tonight that when you walk with God, things happen that you would never see coming. I think that none of us could have expected what we've encountered, the joys or the challenges, and seeing it unfold before us has truly been a miracle.
Haley Zabriskie
For Days 1-4, click here
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