Since the team arrived home Saturday night I have been in my car a lot. On Sunday I drove to Bremerton to have lunch with my family and today I drove to Seattle for a seminary class. As I've been driving around I've found myself reflecting on the scenery. The most remarkable sight has been the normal (yet always beautiful) views of the evergreen trees that give our state its nickname. In New Orleans, the most remarkable sight is quite different.
Of course you would expect that, as it is a different climate and region with its own vegetation, but the sight that stuns me when driving in New Orleans is not beautiful, but sad. Every where you go there is still destruction. Houses that used to be homes are now empty uninhabitable shacks. Sometimes there isn't even a house anymore - the demolition has already taken place, so all that is left is an empty lot with a foundation. One street my team drove down every day had five such empty lots in a row and that wasn't all.
Hurricane Katrina destroyed homes without prejudice, so from affluent neighborhoods to the lowest of slums, New Orleans is still a city that cannot escape the results of the storm. People have asked me several times why we keep going back to New Orleans. They seem to be wondering why the city isn't finished being rebuilt or if there is still work to be done. There really is. These people need us to remember them, to pray for them, and most of all, to keep coming back to them. Though we have only been home for a few days, I am already counting the days until we get to go back...
Peace, Hannah
That's part of your mission too; to continue to make people aware that there's so much more work to do and that, no, New Orleans is not back to what it used to be. Kudos to you for being passionate about their story!
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