The Lord has blessed us with so much since we arrived in New Orleans to serve these people. As we heard in our lesson this morning, we are here as wounded healers. Instead of looking from appearances that we are "doing the right thing" we are doing it because we truly have a compassion for people. He said Jesus served looking up at people and from his knees, not looking down at them. I have seen Jesus literally everywhere. He is in the voices of the counselors who have come at the direction of Kea Hampton to calm the storm of emotions and be a ear to the people who have so much pain. I have seen him in the workers in the warehouse under the direction of Lana Cagle, Traci Pierce, Markus Mathis and Daniel Gilbert. They have worked tirelessly and everyday, all day. Beki Gilbert, the church secretary is our center of the universe, keeping us all informed and I expect she must answer at least 1000 questions a day. Todd, the minister here has been assessing the needs of the flock and providing the listening ear and shoulder to cry on for weeks. Jesus has been walking around the building in the form of Janet Hines, who has been our director and coordinator. She has also given her heart to every person she has met that came through the door and made sure they got the help they needed. Tim Hines is our logistics coordinator and makes sure that whatever needs to get done, gets done. We have unloaded over 150 semi trucks and we send out over 30 trucks of supplies a day to the badly hit areas. As many as 15chainsaw, tree cutting teams armed with nurses, social workers, supplies have been leaving the building daily. Jesus has been holding hands, wiping tears and holding up the wounded. They have been driving trucks, transporting us to where we need to be. Johnathon Hines and Pat Dallant have been invaluable in transporting people and supplies where they need to be and checking on the shleters needs. We have had as many as 120 volunteers sleeping the the building on any given day. I have been blessed to coordinate the medical care for the shelters in this parish and have been sent so many capable physicans and nurses to aid in that task. There were over 1000 patients in my care when I arrived and now we are down to less than 100. Thank you all for your help and prayers.

gayle