Week 1 in Pearlington, MS...

back to Our Walk of Faith

Mrs. Betty (Greg Thorsen’s wife) picked us up, and we went over to Mrs. Parish’s house. They were loading the little pony when we got there, & Junior wanted to show us the moving truck and all of their stuff that they were loading up! Mr. Lee told us lots of stories on our way over to Pearlington, and Mr. Greg added a little from time to time. He was pretty focused though since he was hauling the trailer. The men were planning on driving all the way through the night to drop the horse off the next morning. They told us that wherever we ended up staying, we had to find Pastor Rawls sometime before we left. We ended up finding lodging at the First Southern Baptist Church of Pearlington. We met Sheila, Dakota, John, DuJuan, Chase, & Cole, a group from Nebraska & Iowa, and Hutch. Are you feeling overwhelmed by all the names? We did too!!! Ha, ha, ha! Thankfully, we’ve been able to get to know each of the people over the course of the time that we’ve been here so it was not so bad!!
We stayed with Hutch in the fellowship hall of the church, and Sheila (who’s in charge of reservations at the church) showed us around. When she told us that others could come, we posted as soon as we could. John & DuJuan let Hutch (on the right of the guy with the "Hutch Wll" t-shirt on) borrow their car, so we went into Slidell, LA for a little supper and to get to know Hutch a little better. He was working in New York City designing scenery & props, but decided he wanted a change. He went home to Massachusetts, and he heard about the need in Pearlington and the entire Gulf Coast. So he bought an Amtrak ticket and loaded up his bike. The train brought him in to New Orleans, and biked in 40 miles to Pearlington. He’s been here 3 weeks, but he’s leaving on Friday. He’ll be back in January to work with Walls of Hope for an indefinite amount of time. Pretty neat, huh?!!
Tuesday & Wednesday we worked with Hutch on John, DuJuan, Chase & Cole Bosarge’s house. They lost almost everything in the storm, so they decided to rebuild in a different location. John has done a lot of the design work and a lot of the work on the house himself. DuJuan owned her own beauty shop, but it was destroyed by a big oak tree. She praises God for that because the insurance company would cover that. The only money they got for their house was a little bit of money for roof damage because the rest of the house was flooded, and they didn’t have flood insurance. Tom is the framer for their house, so he was our boss! He’s a great guy from Ohio…he’s done a great job on several houses in the area, but his real skill is Rummy…we played with him one night after supper…he beat all three of us by about 300 points. Apparently he’s a jack-of-all trades…ha, ha, ha! While we were working, Chris & I learned to use a nail gun. (I learned to hammer a nail in correctly as well!!) We put up hurricane clips, and several types of braces all in the attic. A group of engineer students came in from GA Tech (We thought of you Cox family!!) to help out as well. David worked with Chris & me almost the entire time, and Josh & Sam were working on the Bosarge’s house. I also spent a lot of time cleaning up the saw dust & dirt because Tom wanted everything in order when everyone came back from Christmas.
Everyday for lunch we’ve been going to Pastor Rawls’ church. He said that God appeared to him and told him that they were to serve lunch for the volunteers everyday for as long as they are in Pearlington. So he began asking the Lord who should do it, and He said Mrs. Johnnie. Well, Mrs. Johnnie wasn’t sure about that. She shared that God MADE her come back to Pearlington. She had been living in Tennessee until about a month before “The Storm” taking care of the elderly. The last person she was caring for passed away, and she couldn’t find another job. She didn’t have money to pay her rent, but her landlord told her she could stay one more month. Then she could pay it back when she found a job. Well, she never found a job, so in July of 2005, she came back to Pearlington. Then Katrina hit in August, and they lost everything. She couldn’t find a job because there was no work to be found after “The Storm.” Pastor Rawls believed that God put her in Pearlington to make lunch. When she started, she had never cooked for a large crowd before (100-200 people daily). But God has been teaching her and sometimes even providing someone to work with her. I never would have guessed that she wasn’t a professional because her food is so tasty! She VOLUNTEERS her time daily and tells everyone there’s no other place that she would rather be. Her family tells her to open a restaurant instead of cooking for church so that she can make some money. She just lets them know that God is taking care of all that she needs and she’s doing exactly what He wants her to do. She had been living with her son, but he decided to move to Texas and not to rebuild. So one of the houses that Walls of Hope is working on is for Mrs. Johnnie!!
Wednesday morning we were running a little late, but God was in that too…Tallie & Chad (father & son) are part of Christian Ministries out of Arkansas. They came to the church hoping to find someone because they were dropping off toys, t-shirts, and other Christmas gifts to all of the smaller, country churches that they could find in this area. They would have missed this church completely if we had been at “work” on time. Their timing was incredible as well…the group from Nebraska/Iowa was going to deliver toys with Santa that afternoon!! They invited us to go, so we had to leave work a little early. Sheila (from Pearlington) started out with her kids, Santa (aka Charlie) and Mike, Margaret & her kids (also from Pearlington), and us all in the back of her truck. Amber, Nick and Marissa caught up with us and Diane followed in their van. We had tons of fun hanging out with them and distributing toys with Santa!!
Wednesday night we went to prayer meeting at the church where we were staying and then we headed over to the community Christmas service at Holmes Chapel United Methodist Church. There were at least 6 churches represented, and it was a service like none other that I’ve ever been in. While we were waiting for it to start, we met Ms. Sam, Lula, & Rosalee and learned of how their house had been rebuilt. We also met Mrs. Henrietta and her daughter Ms. Kitty who needed work done on their houses. Oh my…There was singing and praying and PREACHING. Five preachers brought a message about 10 minutes each, oh but the Holy Spirit was all over that place. The community came together…black, white, young, old, residents, volunteer relief workers, Baptist, Methodist, AME, etc…to praise the Lord! That’s what church is supposed to look like!! We finally met Rev. Rawls and talked with his wife Idella. Wow!! The pastors are pictured left to right: Rev. Bobby McGill—Holmes Chapel, Rev. Frederick Fields—Mt. Zion AME Church, Pastor Willie Rawls—First Baptist Church, Rev. Tony Chapman—Ambassadors for Christ, Pastor Borzzell Langham—New Hope (who has new hope because he’s in remission from cancer that was supposed to take his life according to the doctor), and Rev. Tommy Hart—Parker’s Chapel Baptist. After the service, everyone was invited to the fellowship hall for a huge supper. We met Jaylin & Avery, Pastor Rawls’ grandsons, they were pumped up about learning a few words in Spanish and because they were going to be on the internet!! We were also able to talk with Mrs. Henrietta quite a bit. She’s going to be 82 on Dec. 29th, and she’s still working full-time as a teacher for Head Start. She’s hoping to retire at the end of this year after 40 years of service!! Oh, and she just quotes scripture when she talks!! We are really excited about the possibility of working on her house!! We left church and it had started to sprinkle, so we hustled…
Thursday it kept on raining all day and I mean rained…the roads started to flood and the Nebraska/Iowa group decided they’d be better off staying up at the fellowship hall with us that night. The church is on higher ground and closer to the main road. We ate dinner together and shared stories and played a few games before going to sleep. The whole crew is pictured around the table (clockwise from the bottom: Nick, Marissa, Mike, Amber, Diane, Charlie, Hutch, & RE)
Friday everyone left, so we thought we would be alone for Christmas…God had other plans though. Since Tom had gone home, we didn’t know where else we could help out so we went up to the Pearl-Mart to see if they needed any help since they seemed really busy on Thursday. (Pearl-Mart is a “store” where people from Hancock County can get 2 bags of groceries 3 days/week if they are still in need.) We didn’t find anyone there, but there was a group from Virginia who we met the day before at the resource center. Their church, Halesford Baptist, sent them down with tons of supplies and toys and presents to distribute to the residents of Pearlington. We found them and met the group…Melissa, Mark, & McKinley Robertson and Dexter Hurt (l to r pictured with us). They didn’t need very much help either, but they invited us over to Walls of Hope to chat and eat lunch. Walls of Hope is a non-profit organization that is helping people rebuild their homes. One day a lady was standing inside of the shell of her new house, and she said, “These walls bring such hope.” That’s how they got the name. At lunch we met Gene Butterfield (the director), Gene Tyler (his son), and Mike & Terri White. (We saw Mike & Terri at the community church service, but we didn’t get to talk to them. They moved here from Iowa and are working as FULL-TIME VOLUNTEERS for Walls of Hope. So we aren’t the only ones crazy enough to give up everything to serve the Lord!!) (pictured with Gene Tyler and their dog, Daisy) As we learned more about Walls of Hope, we’ve come to realize that it would be a great organization to partner with for regional missions trips some time in the future!! (On a side note, Gene’s parents started an orphanage in Colombia, South America that is still operating today…one more contact…are you surprised anymore?!!) Miss Mississippi and her family were coming to spend the night and to work on Saturday, and everyone was going out to dinner Friday night. Chris and I were pretty excited when they invited us to go with them. We had a great time with everyone at dinner. I ended up riding “home” with Taryn (Miss Mississippi), Kathleen, Victoria & Jim Foshee (l to r with us by the fountain), so I got to hear the story of how each of them came to know the Lord.
Saturday, we met the rest of the Virginia group, and we all went to Mrs. Henrietta’s and Ms. Kitty’s houses to tear off tar paper. Kim, Andrew, McKinley, Chris, the Forshees and I all worked on that while some of the guys worked on changing the doors out in Ms. Kitty’s house. At lunch, I met Gene’s wife, Jane, and his daughters, Ashley and Jacqui. We also met Kim’s husband, Lyn and their other son Jordan. (After spending some time with them we learned what a hilarious group that family is!!) Pastor Rawls asked if Taryn would speak to the group and play a song for us on the piano. She shared about her faith in the Lord and how He had helped her achieve her goals. She gave thanks for parents who raised her and her sister in the church and who always support them in whatever they are doing. Then she played such a beautiful rendition of “To God be the Glory” I almost cried!! So we’re asking everyone to pray for her in this coming month…she’ll be competing for Miss America on January 29th. It would be such a huge platform for her to use in sharing her faith. When she finished, Pastor Rawls asked if there was anyone else who wanted to share. Amanda (the VA crew) volunteered to sing “O Holy Night” a cappella. I was really impressed because she hit those high notes beautifully!! Then Pastor Rawls told us about a Christmas morning service that he would be going to & he invited anyone who wanted to attend to talk with him. We found out that it was a 6 am Christmas day in Poplarville, MS. We could go, but we would have to meet him at 5:15 in Picayune, MS (which is about 28 miles from Pearlington). We thanked him for the info…we really wanted to go, but we didn’t know anyone who would be willing to leave at 4:45 on Christmas morning to go to a service an hour away. We prayed about it and left it in God’s hands.
After all of our lunch break, the crew divided up…about half of us when to deliver presents to area families and the other half went back to work on the houses. I rode with Jane, Jackie, Amanda, & Andrew to make deliveries. A little girl named Haley befriended Jacqui while we were out and about. She even wanted to share her popcorn with her. It was so cute to watch them play together! (Chris went back to watch ECU in the bowl game…so sad that they didn’t win…but at least he got to watch it!!) I got to talk with Adrienne and Sam a little late in the afternoon, and John entertained us all by launching fruit and other projectiles with his potato cannon!! (Chris wants one now, but he thinks he should wait until we get home to get one! Ha, ha, ha!!) Adrienne & John’s parents gave me ride back to the church, so I finally was able to talk to Rob and Mary Beth. That evening we got to hang out with the whole VA crew because they invited us to eat supper at the house where they were staying. Dexter taught me some tricks for my Palm and “beamed” me a couple of programs, then Chris and I came home.

Pictures and their descriptions left to right 1) the house across the street from where we are staying 2)Jackie (her husband Donald isn't pictured), Donald, Danielle, and Mileah 3) Donald & Jackie's house being built by Walls of Hope 4) Damage done by Katrina 5) These are the steps to the Catholic church...the church was moved into the street and hasn't been rebuilt yet. 6) The entire Post Office was destroyed...not even a brick can be found. Now Pearlington residents have to drive about 20 miles to the nearest Post Office. The boxes in this picture are for the people who used to have mailboxes...none of them have been put back up yet!!