Day Two: Worship and Touring Gulfport

This morning we attended worship with the congregation of Handsboro Presbyterian Church. During the children's prayer, Reverend Castleman invited the kids to teach the rest of the congregation the very earliest creed ("Jesus Christ is Lord"). Afterwards, the children helped collect canned food for the homeless shelter.

After services were concluded, we all toured the coast area around Gulfport. Its difficult to describe the devastation, sense of loss and emptiness along the road we traveled.

It was sad to view the remains of St. Peter's By the Sea Episcopal Church. St. Peter's was completely gutted and the entire first floor was wiped away. We have a special connection to the church, as Handsboro Presbyterian is serving as their temporary home for worship while they rebuild. Their services at Handsboro preceeded our 11am worship (above: The former St. Peter's By the Sea Church)

A strip of about four city blocks in from the waterfront was completely leveled by the wind and storm surge. People have compared it to the path of a tornado one hundred miles long.

Along the way, we passed block after block of foundations without buildings, driveways without houses. Many of the structures that were still standing were damaged and falling down. The quick video below shows a part of the road along the ocean and a damaged hotel along the way:



Not much of the debris remains and most of the rubble has been carted away, but here and there you see leftover pieces and boarded up buildings. Lots of new development and construction going on, in stark contrast to the empty lots and structures in partial ruin.

It was a sobering afternoon.

Later in the evening, we had an orientation meeting in the sanctuary at Handsboro. We'll receive our assignments tomorrow.