Mission Trip to Mississippi (2)

January 25

It’s 4:45 in the morning and my cell phone alarm rings. One eye opens just enough to see where my phone is so I can turn the alarm off. I say to myself, “It’s too early. Why so early? I just want to sleep.” But I roll out of bed driven mostly by a large dose of Lutheran guilt, “I promised to do it, if I don’t do it it won’t be fair to the others who are also waking up as part of the kitchen crew.”

Today has been an interesting day – at least as far as the food has been. Arriving at the kitchen, three get right to making 160 lunch meat and cheese sandwiches (relief workers get hungry on the job). At the same time we are working to refill the decaf coffee, regular coffee, hot water, iced tea, sweetened ice tea and lemonade. Simultaneously, there are 36 pounds of hash browns being cooked on the grill. Once cooked they are put in the oven – replacing sausage patties which must be cooled and crumbled. The grill now becomes the home of onion, green pepper, mushrooms, crumbled sausage and scrambled eggs. Once cooked they are put into 240 tortillas and rolled to become breakfast burritos.

Whew, breakfast is done – but the dishes must still be done.

It’s a good day – we all get an hour off from 9 to 10 a.m. to take a shower or a nap.

Then it is time to get going on lunch. We boil the leftover turkey carcasses from last night’s dinner and soon, with the addition of carrots, celery, potatoes and herbs we have about 12 gallons of turkey soup. Add that to leftover turkey slices served open-faced on bread with gravy, and a side dish of corn and no one goes hungry.

For tonight we were planning a pasta bar with linguini and penne along with meatball marinara, pepperanada and alfredo sauces. Add salad, applesauce, garlic bread and ice cream and dinner will be complete. A small problem arises: we realized we have little meat, no cheese and almost no fruit for tomorrows “take along lunches.” We wait for the Sysco truck to arrive and when it does it has almost nothing we need. So…we go to the powers that be and they get back to us with a handful of WalMart gift cards worth a total of $300. Unfortunately that means we have to shop for all the food now. That means we don’t get back until after 3 p.m. which means we only have about an hour and a half to do all the dinner cooking for about 150 people.

With the help of a great crew (all our regulars plus 3 or 4 other from our group) we somehow pull it off. The food is good, the people are well fed and VERY thankful.

As I write this account at the kitchen counter, I’m aware that eight members of our group are busily cleaning the kitchen. Four of them have been up since 5 a.m. Four more spent the day working very hard either at clean-up sites or at the distribution center (and they didn’t sign up for the kitchen gig – but they are here and they’re not complaining – at least not out loud).

It all feels so much like a team effort because it IS a team effort. We cook so others can eat so others can have their homes fixed or receive the necessary goods which it takes to keep on living in a hurricane ravaged area. The whole team effort is very impressive, but who’s team is it? Is it our team? Christus Victor Lutheran’s team? Ocean Spring’s team? Mississippi’s team? The victim’s team? Hmmm…how about God’s team? A team brought together by the love of God in Christ Jesus. A team which as been led to focus on the other instead of the self.

What a blessing to travel 1100 miles. What a blessing to have a place to lay our heads. What a blessing to have an alarm go off at 4:45 a.m. What a blessing to be associated with such a wonderful group of people. What a blessing to be just a tiny little part of such an incredible outpouring of God’s love.

Many of you have contributed to that blessing through your gifts and your prayers. Thank God for You.

Pastor Jay Schrimpf

The following pictures show one of the work groups. Yesterday showed the other work group.

Mucking out the house.

How many times do you see a wheel barrow in the house. Lots of rubbish to remove!

Here is where all that rubbish ends up - at least temporarily. Dump trucks will come by and pick up everything left curb side.

Another view of what has to be hauled out of the houses.

Don't get in her way - she looks dangerous! I am not sure why she is beating up these bricks, but I am sure there is a reason. If I find out - I will come back and tell you why!