I made it to Main St. Missionary Baptist Church in Biloxi Sunday morning and saw Patricia K. at the main worship at 11 (she didn't preach at the Praise service at 8, as I had hoped, but it was good to be at both services anyway). At the 11:00 worship there were probably 80-90 in attendance. The choir is wonderful, and I felt very much at home there. During the offering (which individuals bring forward), Patricia came over to me and led me up the center aisle to the pastor. He asked if I was a minister, I said yes, and he invited me to sit up front with him, the deacons and the guest preacher. I spent the rest of the service up there (a first for me) and I took the second picture from the top during the altar call. I'm sorry that the picture didn't turn out well. Patricia's title there is 'evangelist,' and during the altar call she goes out into the aisles to invite people to come forward for prayer.

After the sermon, the choir sang one more time, and Pastor Haynes passed me the microphone and asked me to do a closing prayer. I led a prayer and finished up the prayer by singing 'God is so Good.' Afterward, Pastor Haynes asked me if I wanted to say anything, and I said a few words of thanks for being there and about what we of CCLC have been a part of at Bethel.

When I was done at the microphone, Patricia came forward and gave thanks to God for everyone from Cross and Crown who worked on her house last summer. I told her that I would pass that on. Quite a morning, all in all.

In the afternoon, I made one pastoral counseling visit to a lady who lives on the back bay in Biloxi and is still living in a camper in her driveway. I went from there to Sam and Evelyn's house. I visited with them and also went over with them and saw Sam's sister Mary P.'s house (you may have seen updates about that in the Bethel newsletter-that's Mary in the picture with Evelyn- Mary is hoping to move into the house sometime in March). Sam played some songs on guitar, harmonica and violin. I played 'Make me a Pallet on Your Floor.' I mostly wanted to know how they are doing, and we had a good visit. My assignment from Sam is to learn to play "Amazing Grace" on harmonica by the time I return to MS. We'll see.

Sam and Evelyn told me where their son and daughter in law are buried. It's something like 10 miles north and east of where they live. On Monday morning I went up there and found it-there's a picture of the cemetery with their gravesite in the foreground, just above the picture of Sam and Evelyn on their front porch. Sam and Evelyn also told me where Jerry and Collette lived and died in Waveland, and I went back there also. I found my way to Coleman Ave., but I didn't have a street address. I asked a couple of people if they knew of an apartment building anywhere on Coleman, and neither knew. The last pictures are all on Coleman Ave. in Waveland, MS. The flag is part of a war memorial at the end of the Ave.

It is good to remember that these hurricanes took much more than property from people. Through death, but also through the scattering across the country that has happened, and also in ways large and small, so many connections were broken. People came out of the storm, some with more resources than others, everyone stressed all day long, just about everyone very brittle, everyone busy just trying to get through the day, many people living with other families in small spaces. Friendships, family relationships, broken just about everywhere you might look. I look forward to being there in July and possibly to being part of a building project, but I've been looking for people who are doing heart-healing kind of work. I've been so blessed to have found some and to have been welcomed so graciously. I invite you to be thinking about and praying for anyone that you've seen in this blog. Peace

Glen A.