So last night my roommates were talking to this one mom who had come to drop off her kids and needed to spend the night. I had been reading and just needed to "rest" my eyes. right. I fell asleep on half of my cot curled up at the bottom. They went to bed at about 11:30(I fell asleep about 9) and I finally crawled into my sleeping bag. That means I slept for almost ten hours last night. Oh well, I probably needed it after all that work.Our work for the day started at a hotel on the other side of town by I-10. It didn't seem bad at first. But just wait. We had six people, old gloves from the last team, four stairways, seven flights, no mops, two buckets, and two spray bottles. And our team was supposed to bleach everything so the walls could be spraypainted. It was not a good situation. But the bad part wasn't the work. It was the creepiness of the place. The type of scary where you don't want to go anywhere by yourself. Some of the rooms were pitch black which just made my imagination run wild, parts of the halls were dark which is almost worse than it being completely dark, and some of the windows were broken from the storm which made noises and blew the drapes around alot. Ok, so it doesn't sound scary reading this but it was. It was. Just trust me. Words probably can't describe it. Nevertheless, we are fearless and split into three groups. So I was working with our team leader, and we got floors seven and six done then decided it was ridiculous. I know its selfish to say, but I came to make a difference in the city and help rebuild someone's life and home. Not increase the profit of some business. I shouldn't think that way because somebody out there has to tend to the less glamarous jobs, but honestly, its what was running through my thoughts. So then, the manager wanted us to clean up the third floor since that was were Crusade had been staying while they were gutting out Light City. Personally, I would never stay in a hotel like that. Too sketchy. Unless it was extremely dire circumstances. Actually, sleeping under the overpass was more inviting than this place so maybe not. I am getting distracted...By the time we started the third floor our seventh team member showed up. We were in and out of those rooms so fast, our leader couldn't open doors quickly enough. It was that spooky. All we did was collect trash and strip the beds. Some of the rooms were completely trashed, and the paint was all peeling. From one of the rooms there was a view of the Superdome. It looks like a big UFO spacecraft. The craziest part was we started finding rooms that people were still staying in. Very strange. Sketch flags going up like crazy. By that time it was lunch, and we couldn't get out of there fast enough.
Lunch was interesting because they ran out of any plates or trays. I had to go up to this one girl and ask for her plate. The food wasn't exciting, too many beans, but the peaches were splendid.
After eating, a few of us were waiting to leave for our new assignment and came up with a team name and little cheer. Its really awesome.
Our new assignment was a house a mile or two from the levee breaks. It's a pretty big job for six of us. We lost one guy tonight. He flew home to be with his family since his aunt passed away. Back to the house though...Most of the furniture has been cleaned out, but the mold is really horrible. The house had been flooded up to the roof, then the water level went down a couple feet and just sat there. So the black mold has been growing in huge patches all over the walls and doors. The house is two bedrooms and one bath with a living and family room.
The first step to properly gut a house is to turn off the gas, water, and electricity. So, I thought I would be helpful and check the backyard for the gas reader thing. It wasn't back there, but I did find nifty garbage bins that I figured would be helpful for taking out all the debris. As I was leaping around the knee high grass, I didn't see the board with nails. Yep, that's right, I stepped on a nail. I yelled "ouch" as loud as I could. No one came, and I was still nailed to the board. Once I got my sneaker unstuck, I thought everything was cool so I walked, kinda limped actually, around the house, passed the garbage bins to my roommates, and hopped the fence. I said, "I don't think it broke the surface or anything." Wrong. I took off my shoe which has a nice hole in it now, and it had this big blood spot. So did my sock. There's actually not much you can do about it either since it's just a puncture. I got it rinsed off and baby wiped(that sounds so weird but it helped absorb all the blood). It hurt like crazy, but I was definitely in shock so I didn't even cry. I just had a water break then got back to work, shuffling around of course. Its on the side of my heel so I don't like putting alot of pressure on it.
We managed to get alot of work done. Cleaned out the kitchen-lots of icky levee water. Pulled up the carpets. Emptied the closets in the kitchen and hall.
We got back, showered, ate dinner, and I took a nap. It was incredible. Then I had a good chat with some other gals. We talked for almost an hour about everything-natural disasters, class colors, yes it was complete randomness. Then it was group meeting time. The funniest guy shared about dreaming big. The power kept going in and out. But I think it was more of a God thing. There is just something so passionate and touching about singing a cappella. It gave me the goosebumps. Well and maybe the fact it was windy. But I prefer the God moment over being cold. He taught from 1 Corinthians 11:1 "And you should follow my example, just as I follow Christ's." The message was just something I really needed to hear. Just the fact that God has put these crazy ambitions and dreams within my being for a purpose. Although I don't know what my future holds, I can trust God's plan and be consumed with His peace. God knows what He's doing so I can stop stessing.
Oh, I just found out the guys went to the French Quarter without us. My friends are a little upset. Me on the other hand doesn't really mind. I would have missed the message of dream big! And Bourbon St. kinda scares me especially at this time of night. Well, that was long. Congrats if you made it through everything. I'm signing off for now.
