entering Louisiana Well, we made it to Louisiana yesterday! The “problem” is that we made it only to Baton Rouge, and that only with much babying and coaxing of the RV for the last 40 miles. We believe that the fuel pump needs to be replaced (inside the gas tank - yuck! :) ). We made it to a mechanic’s last night and he let us “hook up” (water and electricity) so we could spend the night in the RV. That was great - except around 2 when a train came rumbling through 50 yards away! :) The mechanic ordered the part and hopes to get the RV fixed tomorrow (we hope so too).

So today was a “not-as-planned” day, but we did a lot. We found a Red Cross site for evacuees and were able to hand out almost all the tracts we had (Hurricane Katrina - Why? tracts). We tried taking a picture of a policeman sitting reading the tract but all we had was Jeremy’s cell-phone camera, so it didn’t turn out. Everyone but one person accepted the tract quite willingly.

After that we headed down to New Orleans to see the effects of Katrina. Both Jeremy and I were surprised at how little wind damage there was there - although there were 2 to 3 feet watermarks everywhere. Most of the damage there seems to have been water damage. A number of businesses on Canal Street and the French Quarter were reopened and there were lots of people and cleaning crews around.

As we kept on driving on Hwy 10 east, however, the damage was incredible and progressively got worse. There was no one around and buildings were torn apart. Businesses were not opened and there was not much activity around them. The worst of the damage, however, was after we had to veer off of 10 and onto LA 11 because of the damage to the Interstate 10 causeway.

shelter dome bumpers halfway houses HELP housestacks the Jessie B

These are just some pictures so you can see a little of what we saw. The need here for rebuilding (both buildings and hopes) is great. We want to give these people hope in Christ as we seek to help them with humatarian needs.

Thanks for your prayers for us. We will be staying at a camp tonight and will hopefully get our RV back tomorrow. Please pray that we can find a suitable campground - many of them have no room (turned FEMA evacuee camps) or can only take us on a weekly basis.