09/07/2020
IF the WIND GOES WHERE YOU SEND IT, SO WILL I.....this phrase was chosen back in January for the frontside of our Honduras mission t-shirts. Of course, none of us knew that in a few weeks nations would be closing their borders due to Covid 19, schools and businesses would be shut down, peaceful protesters and violent rioters would hit the streets of many of our cities, or that the strongest hurricane in 150 years would hit the coast of our beautiful state.
And so we were sent...not to Honduras, but only 84 miles down the road to Lake Charles, LA. Our hope was to provide a small comfort in the form of a hot meal to those affected by Hurricane Laura.
As our team drove through the destruction caused by the hurricane, we were left speechless...it looked like a war zone with one house destroyed but the next unharmed, countless huge trees uprooted and deposited on homes and buildings, metal roofs 50 feet up in the branches of trees, and piles of debris everywhere you turned!
I thought about all the prayers that must have been lifted to heaven during those hours of the early morning when one could only hear the howling wind in the darkness, the eerie calm that comes in the eye of the storm, and then the fear as the southern wall of Laura hit these homes again. Of course, all of us, who live in the South along the Gulf of Mexico, know that after the winds calm and the waters recede, the plaques of mold and mildew, mosquitoes and flies, and heat and dehydration begin....
At this point, our hearts are full of sorrow and sympathy as we drive to Our Lady of Good Counsel Church and begin setting up to cook for the people of Lake Charles and for those who are working to restore it one building and electrical pole at a time.
Then the true beauty of Louisiana came shining through, the beauty of her people! The residence, who have not had electricity and some no running water for 10 days, came out to help us feed their neighbors. Those who received our hot meals were so appreciative and politely would ask if they could take some back to their elderly neighbors. A gentleman drove up with a young child and told us of their apartment complex which had been terribly damaged so we gave them supplies for him and his neighbors. And if we offered something they did not need, they were sure to leave it behind for the next person who did. None of them were in despair, but instead, embodied strength, resilience, and dignity. The humility, generosity, and love of neighbor in the midst of their suffering was quite evident. These virtues embodied by the people will rebuild Lake Charles and the rest of Louisiana, which was in Laura’s path, brick by brick, home by home, business by business!
All of you affected by Hurricane Laura will remain in our prayers. Your suffering does not go unnoticed. Your are being purified for greater things because...YOU ARE A LIGHT TO THE NATIONS!
OUR LADY STAR OF SEA,
Pray for us🙏🙏🙏
