This site has been designed to comply with web standards and does not look good in older non-standards compliant browsers like Netscape 4.7.
We recommend that you install Firefox or another standards compliant browser.

UMCOR Bright Spots

IN TODAY'S ISSUE
October 12, 2006

We Need to Give God the Credit

Recovery Work Forms Lasting Relationships

This Week's Quote

Recovery Stats

Awakening To God (Slide Show)

WE NEED TO GIVE GOD THE CREDIT

By Susan J. Meister, Gulf Coast Communications

The directions took me from the ruins of Gulfside Assembly along the devastation of Beach Boulevard in Waveland, MS. I drove inland a few blocks, then turned one right and a left down a lane.

Miss Colleen's new home is painted pink with a special message over the front door. Susan Meister/UMCOR

To a pink house. Pink? Yes, pink.

The red-head homeowner, Miss Colleen, is just plain colorful. In big pink letters over her front door, a sign reads "Thank you, Jesus." She loves her flower business. She has two new companions, goats Barbeque and Sausage. She appreciates the help from the United Methodist Church and volunteers who have traveled to Mississippi. And she is outspoken about where God is in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

"We have been awakening to God since the storm," she said. "Not enough credit is given to God."

God Gave Them a Heart to Give

Miss Colleen is very clear as to why others are helping her. "God gave them a heart to give," she exclaimed.

Miss Colleen, in her words, was "adopted" by case manager supervisor Annette Zeiderman. On the day we met, Miss Colleen was busy giving back to the staff at Camp Gulfside, arranging beautiful roses on the tables on the cafeteria and helping clean out the refrigerator.

Camp Gulfside, the site of historic Gulfside Assembly, works with persons in Hancock and Pearl Counties in Southwest Mississippi. Hurricane Katrina came ashore with terrifying force directly through these counties, including the towns of Waveland and Bay St. Louis.

Miss Colleen is grateful for the help she is receiving through the Mississippi United Methodist West Gulf Coast Recovery Center to restore her home and her flower business. Because she doesn't have a shop, she arranges and sells flowers three nights a week out of her current home, a FEMA trailer parked on her property. She is busy working to schedule other business, and has three weddings booked.

A Real Blessing

Goats Barbeque and Sausage help keep the grass mowed in Miss Colleen's yard. Susan Meister/UMCOR

"It is like a dream," she said, "people from the church helping, the grants, the gift cards, the laughter, the hugs - it is a real blessing."

Twenty-five trees fell on Miss Colleen's property and the lot is so uneven that she decided to get goats to help keep the grass under control. Enter Barbeque and Sausage. Their fate is unknown once Miss Colleen gets a new lawn mower, although their names may harbor a prediction.

"[Before Hurricane Katrina] I believed, but never took time for God," Miss Colleen confessed. "But the storm and what has happened has humbled me. We need to give God the credit."

TELL-A-FRIEND

Please pass this email on to your friends who aren't yet acquainted with UMCOR so they can learn about our long-term recovery work in partnership with the annual conferences of Mississippi and Louisiana.

For more on the United Methodist recovery work visit these web sites:
UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief)
UM News Service
Mississippi Conference
Louisiana Conference
Texas Conference
Alabama-West Florida Conference

BE SURE TO RECEIVE OUR BRIGHT SPOTS EMAILS. MAKE UMCOR YOUR BUDDY! Some Internet Service Providers like AOL, Yahoo!, Hotmail, and Juno use email filtering software that allows you to add email addresses to a "buddy," "trusted," "safe," or approved list. Please add umcor@gbgm-umc.org to your list so that our messages don't end up in "junk mail" or the "trash."