Dear Friends,

It has been another good day in Gautier. We began, as we always do, with prayer at 9:00. The contractors have beaten us by nearly 3 hours, arriving around 6:00 a.m. to begin work around the church. The plan, as we discern it, is to get the church building functional. So, the contractors have almost finished putting up sheet rock in those areas of the church that are usable at least temporarily, as we work with our architect and decide which parts of our building are salvageable long term and what new buildings need to be designed. It is just amazing to walk into rooms now that have been sheet rocked. It is so hopeful. Looking at 2x4's and loose insulation for four weeks has been painful. Never, has sheet rocked looked so good. I hope to have some pictures for you soon.

This afternoon, I began with a visit with some of my session members to just see how they were doing. They are remarkable folks, my friends. They are organized and working very wisely (and very hard, by the way). What a blessing.

I then visited one of our most devastated families. They only have the slab of their house left (see below). They blessedly shared that they had a contract on a new home just a few blocks from their previous one. It is a start and a blessing. Their house had been in the family for 50 or 60 years with all sorts of family memorabilia, so it has been hard for them to grasp the totality of their loss.

We prayed and laughed.

I pray all of you all are well.