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Rehoboth An affirming fellowship of
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Dear Pastor Scott, Linda (a neighbor without transportation), Guntis and I arrived home safe and sound after 5 days on the road. We left New Orleans on Sunday 8/31 when they instituted mandatory evacuation. We were fearing the worst so we took both cars along with the cat, dog and bird. Felt much like Noah must have when he loaded the ark. We went first to Munroe , LA where my son Mike (who lives in greater Boston ) was able to go on line and find us a one night stay. The inn keeper was shocked to say the least when we walked through the door. He thought he was sold out. That night I was able to go online and find 4 more nights in Natchez , Mississippi . According to weather reports the storm was still headed north and west. Well during the night it changed course and headed east. We ended spending 27 hours without electricity or air conditioning in a hotel with sealed windows and no generator. Due to the fact that I had emptied out the frig. and freezer into out boat cooler we had food. I went to a farmers market I noticed on our way into town and found a terrific young man who had started up his charcoal smoker / grill on the lawn next to the market. He was busily cooking in the rain and wind and serving people. He cooked all of our uncooked steaks and fish. We had some great sausage with us that had been sent down to us from Dartmouth earlier in the summer. They had never heard of Linguica or chourico. We did a bit of a cultural exchange showing them how to do it on hamburger buns and in scrambled eggs. Good books, good magazines and friendly folk made our "evacucation" as we call them an OK experience. We returned to NOLA on 9/4 to find that we were spared. We lost 3 specimen trees that were about 20 feet tall and shaded our court yard. Somehow they all twisted off or uprooted in a way that spared the house and the screen porch. The palms looked sad with broken and twisted branches. We had a minor roof leak that we think was wind driven rain and a crushed gutter. Our Container vegetable garden survived because of all of the rain. Plants are lush and green. Regretfully no vegetables. The okra took the hardest hit as that is a tall plant. Had we stayed we would have had electricity as our neighborhood had only minor outages. Our most harried time on the trip was a tire blowout from hurricane debris. The young state trooper was great. He assisted us with changing the tire and taking us to a Sams Club they had opened to service motorists with problems such as ours. Judith Hunt another Rehoboth native is a neighbor of ours. Her home received no damage and Judith returned to the city unscathed. I have not seen Noah Morris another former Rehoboth resident who is also an Algiers resident. In Peace Anne Kotch Dear Friends Karen Molly & I arrived home around 5:00 last night. We have had electricity for awhile. Because our Gov. Jindal has been working so hard with local officials the sewer problem is much better. We can shower and wash clothes. We had a large tree that had its roots pulled out a foot, but it is standing. Our back fence was half blown over, but our neighbor thinks we can get it back up staright. We lost lots of limbs, but that is all. We feel very blessed! I am sitting in my office & everything is fine. We lost a little facia on the front of the church but no big problem! The band was practicing their original music they will be playing tomorrow during our Service of Thanksgiving. We have a Baptism and also Communion. It is good to have some activities that bring a sense of normalcy to everyone. I have heard from a number of you and I will be telling the folks in church. I spoke with our Conference Minister this morning and he said what we feel at Good Shepherd - a sense of connection with not only our brothers and sisters in the UCC but so many churches and individuals. God created us to be in community. You have given us that gift and we appreciate it so much. No wonder our band could write a song about God is good all the time! We send our love to all of you! At the end of Communion we have a Benediction that says, "Pray continiously, give thanks no matter what happens for by God's Grace NOTHING can utterly defeat you!" We can say that with a lot of conviction at Good Shepherd, but we have all faced hurricanes in our lives of one sort or another. When the light appears after the darkness we know God is still creating new days of love and hope! Peace SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR - AUTHOR - RETREAT LEADER I am writing this letter on Thursday, September 4 still from Shreveport . Molly our youngest daughter is on the hurricane recovery team for Capitol One. They have been working in the office at Shreveport so we are staying with her. We are planning on returning home tomorrow - Friday. We have electricity in the Church and also in our home in Destrehan. In fact Noreen is in the office today. Hip Hip Hooray! We are very fortunate because a lot of the area is still without electricity. The big problem is getting the electricity up and running for the hospitals that are still out of power. The next big issue is the sewerage system in Jefferson and St. Charles Parishes, this is where the Church is and where we live. Governor Jindal, who has been doing an outstanding job, is putting this problem as a top priority. He is trying to bring large generators from anywhere around the country to work the lift stations which pump the sewerage to waste plants. People are told not to use much water for fear of sewerage backing up into peoples homes. This is our big problem. The other possible solution would be to bring waste trucks to remove the sewerage out of the holding tanks. We shall see. The other problem related to electricity is no gas. Without gas the generators won't work. Some improvement is taking place. Please continue to lift this up to God! I have been talking to a number of our members and as far as I know everything is fine. Minor damage, much better than the last time. I hope to have a service of Thanksgiving at 10:00 AM (No 8:00 AM Service) this Sunday where we can share our stories of how God continues to be good for us! One of the ways this has been true is all the contacts from our friends around the country I have received. We know we are protected by your prayer and thoughts. You are family! Words cannot express your THANKS! You will be part of our service on Sunday. In my quiet time recently over and over again I have read words of being out of control in life. It is good to realize this fact especially in a crisis. At the same time we can learn so much of who God is in our lives and where real power lies. May we all embrace this as we continue to bring God's kind of normalcy into our lives. I am not sure when this email will get to you, but it is already sent in spirit! Peace, Pastor Gary Thanks to many of you for thoughts and notes.... >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> [So far the use of the cots and mattresses is the only expense
we know of that we MAY have as we help in the wake of Gustav. But will stay in touch...] >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> [emails from UCC friends from the NOLA area....] Hi Shantia, Thanks. Our family is safe. Sharon Wetzel Please keep praying for us as there are several other distruabances in the eastern atlantic maybe become hurricanes. Don't know how many more times I can do this in my lifetime especially now with this new baby. i wish you all well. Love, Karen Nauck My youngest son Brett and my new granddaughter, Delilah and big
brother Nathan are in Baton Rouge where Melanie's parents live. I begged him to come with
us but it was a no go. I put them in God's hands. George, my oldest son and my other new
granddaughter, Marlee and the big brother's Avery and Carson are in McComb ,MS with his in
laws. I pray they will be safe also. My new grand daughters are 4 weeks and 7 weeks olds.
Meanwhile Wayne and I, my mom, sister, her husband and the dog are in Birmingham. We are
very safe with my sister Anne in Birmingham. My siste Barbara went to PENSECOLA WITH HER
HUSBAND, DAUGHTER AND SON IN LAW. I always told her she was directionally challenged. I
told her to go North not East or if East head on over to Tallahassee. Excuse any wayward
capital letters but I'm on the laptop and the cap lock keeps getting in the way. We did have a laugh today at lunch when my sister asked Wayne
about burying the refrigerator. It became a big discussion and relieved a little stress.
For Katrina we had bad connections on the cell phone and I understood Wayne to say they
buried the refrigerators when they were finally able to go back in to the city when all
they really did was to bury the food in bags in the yard. You have to imagine extremely
stressed people never in this type of situation believing anything even if it wasn't
probable. I really thought my 2 nephews had worn themselves out digging holes big enough
for the refrigerators and 2 freezers. IT'S AMAZING WHAT A MIND CAN BELIEVE when it is
stressed. For the first time I didn't bring all 5 containers of albums
and pictures. Wayne wasn't bringing his truck and my van couldn't fit all of them and us
also. So they are up high. We didn't flood for Katrina. I just hope this isn't one of
those times I could hit myself in the head and could have had a V-8.. JUST LITTLE MORE
HUMOR SO I WON'T THINK ABOUT Y PICITURES AT HOME. But even though we've had a little humor we are glued to the tv
like it is a drug. We are hoping for the best. I'm not sure I WILL HAVE USE OF THE
COMPUTER. Wayne and I are staying in a hotel until Monday (our choice) not sure if I can
connect to someone's wireless when we go to my sister's. They only have dial up through
the university. Anyway if you don't hear from me again for awhile WE LOVE ALL OF OUR
FRIENDS THAT WE MET BECAUSE OF A FATEFUL STORM THAT HIT 3 YEARS AGO AT THIS TIME and ALL
OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS THAT WE HAVE SHARED SO MANY LIFE'S EXPERIENCES WITH. Gee after
reading that it sounds like this is my last email ever but I JUST MEAN I am very thankful
for all the people that have made my life what it is today-meaningful. Also sending out
this email is de-stressing me for now. Maybe I will be able to get to sleep now. (REALLY SORRY ABOUT THE INTERMITTENT CAPS) GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME AND ALL THE TIME GOD IS
GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sheila and family |
Sunday Service Times: 8am Fellowship 10am Worship Good Shepherd Church
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Rehoboth Congregational Church - United Church of Christ 139 Bay State Road, Rehoboth, MA 02769 508-252-4545 |
