Greetings.

The Geis (Dave and Sherry) van left this morning about 7 and dropped Bobbie Lio off at the airport.  Her plane was to leave at 11 a.m. and arrive back in Pittsburgh at 5 p.m.  Our OPC van and the Elfinwild Church van left Long Beach about 8 a.m.  The travel through Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee went well and with no incidents.  One in the Elfinwild Church group was sick along the way, but she survived the remainder of the trip without too much discomfort.  We arrived in Bowling Green, KY about 6:30 p.m. central time and are settling in as I write this brief log.

We debriefed some of our experiences along the way today.  We all share a fondness for the folk from the Elfinwild Church.  We were well suited to each other and blended effortlessly.  We spoke of our first impressions and how they had changed as we became more familiar with one another.  These teammates were so much a part of our experience we could not imagine the mission-work trip without them.

There were also some challenges: people who had different approaches to our common spaces and needs and a few personalities which required additional patience and forbearance.  All in all, however, these issues were quite minor and, on the whole, insignificant.

There were other impressions that we shared:

- while people were trying to be clear, the magnitude of need and the organization required to coordinate all these volunteers left us feeling that we could have benefited from greater communication about some aspects of our jobs;

- we continued to be impressed by the warmth with which we were received by the homeowners;

- the Long Beach residents did not appear to be frightened by the new hurricane season (perhaps the coastal version of "lightning cannot possibly strike twice in the same place");

- our OPC eight and Elfinwild's eight workers impacted five houses, but, in each case, we were one step in multi-stage projects to return peoples' lives to normalcy - the road ahead is long and challenging for them;

- we often saw large vans with church names printed on the side; the level of response by Christians is making a significant difference in this recovery effort.

After checking into our motel, we traveled to a nearby restaurant that was packed with families who had come here for a soccer tournament.  I questioned whether I could endure the loud noise and the long line.  My fears were not realized.  We enjoyed our supper together and some of the restaurant staff sang "Happy Anniversary" to Bob and Bea who had celebrated their 53rd wedding anniversary while we were in Long Beach.

On this our last night as your missionaries to Long Beach, Mississippi, I think of Matthew 25 and how Jesus taught his followers to respond to the needs of the people.  He so identified with his creation that he said, "inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters you have done it to me."  We continue our journey homeward but I come away from this mission trip thinking that we must continue such work in our area and as far as God gives us the ability to reach.  As one of our team said, "It is like a drop in a bucket, but one that causes ripples, the effects of which only God can measure."

Steve