Definition: Mudder – one who uses mud (drywall joint sealing compound) to seal joints in drywall so as to create a seamless appearance in a wall or ceiling.

Examples of “mudders” (but not necessarily “expert”) are Covenant members Dave Arnett, Dick Cannon, Hugh Comfort, Nes Cumings, Jim Haraway, Don Schwartz, Frank Szofran, Stuart Turner, and Dave Weible.

Those nine made up Covenant’s third mission team to the Gulfport, Mississippi area to help with Katrina recovery efforts. All those listed above had been on at least one trip to the Gulf Coast except rookie Dave Weible.

We left Huntsville on Sunday morning, March 4 and arrived in Gulfport late in the afternoon. We stayed at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Gulfport. WPC has been hosting volunteers since shortly after Katrina struck on August 29, 2005. Water from the hurricane’s flooding stopped within 5 feet of the church and church members took that as a sign that they were to become involved in supporting the relief effort. Since then, the recovery leaders have estimated that more than 8,000 volunteers from all over the country and representing many different faiths have stayed at WPC!! Westminster Church estimates that there will be a need for volunteers for another eight years and the church is prepared to host the volunteers for the duration.

On Monday morning we were given our assignment and drove to the work site. We were only 2 ½ blocks from the beach, an area which was basically wiped out by Katrina. The house we worked on appeared to have its original foundation and floors. Other volunteers had done a lot of exterior work and some interior work.

Our job was to “mud” the drywall in the entire home, sand, mud some more, sand some more, prime, and paint the final coat. And two of our team constructed an archway. The house had 6 rooms including 3 with 11-foot ceilings. It took us most of three days of hard work to complete our tasks. Our team of mudders was joined by a team of painters from Christ Presbyterian Church in Carlsbad, CA. The painter team consisting of four women, including the co-pastor and the wife of the other co-pastor, made quite an impression on our team both with their skills at painting and their harmony as they sang a lot of hymns while they worked and sounded good doing it!

Near our work site, we found homes that had been rebuilt and were occupied, including one that Jim Haraway found out had been moved into 2 weeks before. We also found empty lots which were being prepared for building, and lots on which nothing except debris removal had been done. Hugh commented that, on the last mission trip, there was no undergrowth; now that is coming back.

Our home owner, Ola, and her teenage daughter have been living in a trailer since Katrina and are looking forward to moving back home. The daughter wants to finally be back with her friends. Through our efforts, they were three days closer to their goals.

Several of our mission team left late Wednesday afternoon to return to Huntsville; the remaining team members returned Thursday morning. The entire team was glad they came and hope to come back again.

Every evening we met for a devotional (Hugh, Dave Arnett, and Frank each did one evening) and then talked about the day’s experience and our plans for the following day.

During our time at WPC we met teams from Rock Prairie Presbyterian Church in Janesville, Wisconsin (more on this team later), Christ Presbyterian Church of Carlsbad, California (just north of San Diego), Regis University, a Catholic college in Denver, Colorado (they were on spring break), and a team from Americorp. There were also several couples who had been there for some time.

Where did we stay at the church? Six of us shared a trailer, the other three stayed in a “pod”, a plastic tent covered by a blue tarp. The pod could sleep 6 in bunk beds; the beds were particle board covered with air mattresses. Other sleeping facilities available included a bunkhouse with separate sides for men and women. We could have stayed in the bunkhouse with the students from Regis University and Americorp, but thought that the trailer and pod would be a bit quieter.

The current leaders of the relief effort based at Westminster, Lynn and Martha Lee, each have their own stories to tell. Both are members of WPC who lost their homes to Katrina and benefited from volunteer work efforts to rebuild their homes, then decided to repay the kindness shown to them by taking on leadership roles.

A major bonus of our stay was the fact that Rock Prairie sent down three teams, each for a week, plus three cooks who did all the cooking. They fixed us dinner Sunday through Tuesday, hot breakfast Monday thru Thursday, and provided all the fixings for lunch every day, all for $20 per person. As our base support person, Janet Szofran, pointed out when we returned, we had a productive, no-weight-loss trip!

One of the highlights of our trip was the opportunity for several of our team to make the 10 o’clock news, in a good way. A TV reporter from WLOX arrived at our site on Tuesday with a camera, interviewed Lynn, and then took a lot of “action” film of our team at work. Most of us were too tired to stay up to see the newscast. We are hoping to get a copy so we can see how we look as TV stars!!

We didn’t have anything to do with it, but, just outside the entrance to our pod at the church, some volunteers were completing work on a new playground for use by the WPC children. The playground had been planned for before the hurricane and the necessary equipment purchased. Katrina put a halt to those plans, but now it is done.

The entire project team expressed the belief that this project is important. Hugh Comfort said it best: “When we asked about how long the recovery would take, the ball-park estimate given was 10 years. I think we should continue to support this effort for some time. It is really a good, non-threatening way to get adults involved in mission service. Working conditions are good compared to foreign countries and the needs are real. Because we can drive to it, we are making more efficient use of financial resources by giving it to them than in spending it on airfares to takes us to a far off place; and the time required to get there is relatively small. It requires about the same skills required to build a Habitat house and so we could look to some of the younger participants in that activity as potential recruits (with a little arm twisting). Given the climate down there, spring and/or fall seem like good times to take a team down (as we have been doing).”