i'm back . . . kind of . . .

Yes, it's true. I have made it back to Colorado. It may be a week or so before I actually post any type of thorough account of what occurred in Louisiana while we were there, but I just thought I'd let everyone know that we made it back safely. My heart is focused on Boulder and will be until God changes that. I long to see God move in this city and to draw all of the people who seek connection with a higher being to himself, and I believe he is doing that through the work of his church. But this past week, though my heart was still in Boulder, there was definitely a piece left in Lousiana. It's difficult being back here, knowing there are still thousands of people, including precious children, sleeping in cots in the middle of sports arenas. So I'm back, but not completely . . . my mind and heart are trailing fairly far behind my body in their return to this place.

In brief, here's a little bit of our story . . .

Andy and I left for Louisiana on Sunday, Sept. 18 and arrived on Monday evening, after an overnight stay with a friend's parents in Plano, TX. The first couple of days were spent in Lafayette, serving the people at the Cajun Dome (about 1800 evacuees). The third day was spent trying to figure out where to place ourselves for the inevitable arrival of what we knew could be yet another category 5 hurricane. We were given several optioins, and we at first thought we'd be going to Mandeville, a city just north of New Orleans, but at the last minute, we decided to go to Baton Rouge, a place we knew would be hit much harder by the hurricane than Mandeville, but a place we knew we might be more useful. One of Lousiana's largest shelters is in B.R., the River Center, and PRC, the organization we were working with, was planning to start serving there. What is usually a 45 minute drive took us 4 hours, as many people were evacuating to the east, not wanting to experience another Katrina. We finally made it to Baton Rouge, and eventually figured out where we'd be staying, where we'd be serving, and who we'd be working with. One thing I learned on this trip: flexibility! So the next five days were spent in Baton Rouge. Rita did hit even closer to us than we had originally thought. Praise God she had dropped to a category 3 by the time she hit land. Though it was only a category 3, I must say, I never want to be in another hurricane--ever. Very terrifying. But really, Rita wasn't the most important aspect of our trip: it was the people we served in the shelters. But I could write a book, telling all of the stories of the people we came into contact with. And I do plan to write about that on here sometime soon, as well as everything else that went on from the time we got there to the time we left . . . and maybe even a little about the time since I've been back. As I've told some people, I still feel like I'm trying to figure out what happened down there. It was one of the most intense, life-altering weeks of my life, and I know that there are faces and voices that will never fade from my memory. Never before in my life have I met so many people in such a short period of time who have lost everything--absolutely everything--yet still have so much hope. The Bible says that "these three remain: faith, hope, and love." And it's true. Even when all seems to have been lost, those three remain, and the people of Lousiana proved it to me. Quite humbling, to say the least.

Well, I've already written more than I planned to for tonight. If you want to see some pictures, I've posted a few that I took on my .mac site: http://homepage.mac.com/mandyrutherford I didn't take many because we weren't technically allowed to do so in the shelters. Stay tuned for more thoughts on the trip sometime later this week . . .