By Carolyn Krause

Twenty-five hurricane-damaged homes in Biloxi and Bay St Louis, Mississippi, were partly "renewed" between Christmas and New Year's Day, thanks to the efforts of 181 Presbyterians from East Tennessee, including 11 members of First Presbyterian Church of Oak Ridge. For many of these Presbyterians-including 110 students-the hard physical work in the service of others was also an opportunity to renew their faith.

The Presbyterians laid down shingles on the roofs of 20 houses, completing work on 15 roofs damaged by Hurricane Katrina last summer. They also cleaned out five other houses that had soggy carpets, muddy furniture, and mold-covered walls. "The primary focus of our trip was to put roofs on homes that had been previously cleaned out," said Rick Kuhlman, leader of Presbytery of East Tennessee Disaster Mission Trips. "However, we did muck out five homes. We need to get these homes dry so we can proceed with rebuilding the insides."

The 181 East Tennessee Presbyterians represented 26 churches and consisted of 113 males and 68 females. The group had 71 adults, 54 college students, 49 high school students, and 7 middle school students.

Kuhlman led two groups of University of Tennessee students from Knoxville and Chattanooga last fall on Hurricane Katrina relief mission trips. He is planning his fourth mission trip to Mississippi for college students and adults over spring break between March 18 and 26. "We need drywall specialists, electricians, and plumbers," he said. Anyone interested can contact him at BigHooah@aol.com .

The adult leaders from the Oak Ridge church for the Christmas trip were John Drake, Dave Mullins, Syd Murray, Walt Porter, and Dan Terpstra. The college students were Paul Drake (Oberlin College), Jordan Greenlee (University of Arkansas), Claire Harris (Vanderbilt University), and Sarah Terpstra (Maryville College). The Oak Ridge High School students were Daniel Harris and Drew Mullins.

"We worshipped, ate, and slept in the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Gulfport, along with 50 high school students from Canada," said Dan Terpstra.

All participants paid their travel and food expenses. The East Tennessee group brought its own cook, Mike Kirkland. A retired executive chef and college food service provider, Kirkland was assisted by volunteers from the group in cooking breakfast and dinner at Westminster Presbyterian.

"The Canadian youths, who were also booked at Westminster Presbyterian, were included in our roofing blitz," Kuhlman said. "We had nine roofing crews working simultaneously." Three construction professionals and Habitat for Humanity volunteers trained the group on the first morning on how to perform specific jobs. Safety was emphasized. Habitat for Humanity volunteers served as the crew chiefs of the nine roofing teams.

The bulk of the money for materials, ladders, and tools came from donations by church members to the Presbyterian Church USA, which provided $500,000 to the Presbytery of Mississippi. "We had worship and a speaker for each of six nights," Kuhlman said. "We brought our own praise band led by Ethan Norman from Kingston. After worship, groups of seven to nine persons who had worked together during the day discussed their feelings about that day's events. "The youths in our midst will never look at another disaster the same way again. As a result of these mission trips, I believe more volunteers will respond to future disasters."

The Oak Ridge church members posted their feelings as part of the "blog" on the church web site (www.fpcor.org). Claire Harris wrote, "Being here for the second time gives me a little perspective. I can tell that progress has been made; more stores and businesses are open and all the traffic lights are working. People are beginning to rebuild. All this is encouraging, and yet it is unbelievable how much there is still to do."

In her blog Sarah Terpstra described the devastation in Biloxi as a "ghastly spectacle," a "heart-jerking scene," and a "full-blown war zone." "When something so big and horrific has devastated these people in such a thorough way, how can a person as small as me do anything of importance?" she wrote.

Sarah was impressed by Sylvia, a sweet woman who lived in a FEMA trailer with her husband and son while waiting for their house to be cleaned and repaired. "Her possessions were not as important as her family, community and faith," Sarah wrote. Sylvia told Sarah about her terror when she, a non-swimmer, felt walls of water from the ocean and bay creep up her body.

"We arrived each day expecting nothing in return for our efforts on their house, yet Sylvia and her husband provided us with clean bathroom facilities, cookies, chips, cold drinks, and a ready smile," Sarah wrote. "Sylvia even bought a mechanical back massager and worked on our tight muscles during the lunch break. She taught me about optimism, compassion, hope, generosity and faith. She seemed to be the one healing us, but we're not the broken ones--are we?"