Amazing things have been happening here in the New Orleans area, even as another storm bears down on the gulf coast. We are hard at work cooking, clearing yards, removing downed trees, handing out donated goods of all kinds, and most of all praying with and witnessing to both local people and disaster responders. The people in many of the local communities are starting to return, some to resume their lives, some to find there is nothing left. Many of them are thinking about God and their relationship to him more than ever before in their lives, and we are so blessed to be among them, handing out supplies and telling them of God's surpassing love, even in the face of such a disaster.
The Friend Ships disaster relief ships "Hope" and "Mersea" docked together across from downtown New Orleans
A meal from our kitchen!
Half of our team joined with the friendships ministry to move a second disaster relief ship, the "Mersea" to the Gretna docks from Lake Charles, Louisiana. It was a mostly uneventful two day sail, and we saw first hand some of the damage to our nation's oil producing facilities, as well as many wrecked barges along the banks of the Mississippi. Besides the cooking and field work there has been lots of unloading and sorting through donated cargo as well as performing maintenance tasks on our equipment as well as on the ships. In addition we are praising God that we have now been able to put our 24 passenger bus into operation, thanks to some long hours by our friends in Iowa who repaired it and drove it down here.
If you or anyone you know is interested in participating with us here, and don't require much in the way of creature comforts, we would love to talk to you about it! Interested parties can email or phone us at the addresses below.
I apologize for these updates being rather brief, but spare time is rather limited as you can imagine, I hope to put another update out in a week. We continue to praise God for your prayers and donations, we pray that you would continue to remember us in this way as this project goes on, as this is starting to look more like a marathon than a sprint!
Here are some pictures of our recent activities, as well as a few repeated from last week for any who may have missed them.
Unloading cargo from the deck, and storing donated food in a refrigerated container
Burkes delivering cleaning kits to local neighborhood , Mike handling dock lines on the "Mersea".
God's commandment with ruined superdome looming in background.
Street Scenes in New Orleans.
Boat trying to be a car, and a car that could not be a boat! (note water marks to roof level).
Roof tarping crew heading out, and an oil rig wrecked by loose crane barge. (note entangled crane)
Cooking and helicopter landing on the "Hope" (USS Iwo Jima in background)
Kia dealership and a message from a shop owner.
Wings Of Love
Ministry
"Serving People Who
Serve God"
3818 E Libra Pl, Chandler AZ 85249 (480) 917-3608 email to: info@wingsoflove.org www.wingsoflove.org