Destination:   Gulfport, Mississippi

     On June 23 through June 30, 22 missionaries, 20 from Union Avenue Christian Church and 2 from Missouri traveled to Gulfport, MS to work with a Disciples Mission Station in the continued aftermath of the 2005 hurricane season. 
      Check out the links at the bottom of this page.   You will find a link to a photo album of our mission trip.  Photos are added from time to time so please check back often.  Also, at the bottom of this page you will find a link to God's Katrina Kitchen, which we visited.  This is a soup kitchen under a tent located directly across from the coast.

Seven out of this group went in 2006 and chose to go again this year.  Below, a few of them have reflections to share with you about their mission last year and why they have made the decision to go again in June 2007.

It was an honor to be able to go last year on the mission trip.  I feel we all need to give to others as much as we are able.  The trip was both fun and a lot of hard work.  In my heart, I feel whatever I could do to help someone in need, I would do.  The shock of seeing how little time it took to level houses, schools, churches, buildings, roads and leave people homeless and not knowing what was coming next in their life made my heart break and my eyes fill with tears.  After working over that week and talking with the people there, I knew that those who stayed would build back up the area and would do whatever it took to do it.  The people's spirit was strong.  I also felt a great joy with every piece of drywall I helped put up and every screw we placed was helping someone to get back to a normal life again.  The people were grateful for just about anything that we could do for them.      The up and coming mission trip will let me again give to others in need help however I can.  The fellowship time with other members of our church and friends will help me work towards what I feel we all need to do with part of our life - - helping others who are in need of help.  I also look forward to being able to see just how much more has been done in the area.  I hope what I have put into these words will help others on their journey into their own feelings and thoughts on how we all can share our gifts with others.  I can say I feel honored to be able to go on this mission trip.  I thank everyone who has supported these trips and those to come.                                                   ANDY WARRING

After I heard about Katrina in 2005, I had a place in my heart to help the victims.  Thankfully Debbie and Sean Vanslyke had the same feeling.  After a great deal of work from Debbie and Sean, a team was formed and the rest is a wonderful memory.  When you see the massive clean up effort in person (which is being done by thousands of church families just like ours) one realizes that we can't stop yet.          There is still a lot to do.  I am available in the summer to get away and help so "color me gone".  The mission trip is not only time to help others.  When you are able to focus all your efforts on God's work, it helps you grow as a Christian as well.  I am looking forward to this years trip and I hope everything goes as well as last year.           Thanks to everyone who has supported the trips.  Without you this would not be possible. Yours Through CHRIST, BOB SNEED

"Pack a bag fast, we have to leave the house!"      When Sean told me this that icy night last December, I had a panic moment.  Is this a grab the pictures and run moment?  What do I take?  Leave when? How do I choose?      The forecast had been bad.  The ice was expected.  Losing power that cold winter night was expected.  Sean spending most of the evening on the phone and then having to go into the office was expected.  But when he went out to start the truck, he came back in and told us it was too dangerous to be in the west part of the house.  He didn't know how much more ice the old oak tree could withstand.  That was unexpected.  Then, a few minutes after leaving, he was back.  Pack the bag he said, the road out is almost closed.  We need to leave now.  Having to leave our home was unbelievable.      As I stood deciding what to do, I wondered if this is what it was like for those in the hurricane.  Pack a bag and run for safety, wondering what will be left when you get back.  As the truck slowly weaved between bent and fallen trees, we could only pray.      As scary as that night was, everything turned out okay.  We were all safe.  Though not together, we were in contact by phone.  The house wasn't damaged.  As bad as it was, even the worst was only a minor inconvenience compared to what we had seen and heard from the Gulf Coast.      It's hard to grasp the magnitude of what the storm did to the Coast.  For miles and miles, community after community, lives were changed.  Homes were completely destroyed, families torn apart, jobs lost.  Imagine, everything you know and do, every part of your life, changed.  As difficult as it may be to watch the news, it doesn't begin to explain the emotion you feel as you drive through the area and hear the personal stories.      As the sun set one evening, we relaxed on the sand and watched two tow trucks pull down the remaining supports of the First Baptist Church.  Located on the beach, the large brick building stood, but was heavily damaged.  You could look right through the grand, high ceilinged sanctuary.  Around us were others, members of the congregation, watching the remains of the church where they, family and friends were baptized, married and eulogized, cashing down in a cloud of dust.  It was an emotional evening for us, and it was not our treasure that was being forced down after standing up to the storm.     But, I guess the lesson is that the church, along with other buildings spreading for miles both east and west, will be rebuilt.  The church's website shows plans for a building that will be built farther inland, no doubt grander than ever.  The building may be gone, but the faith was not destroyed.  And that is why we go.  We go to help where there is faith but not funds to rebuild.  The people we work with do not have other options like savings or insurance to pay for building materials and labor.  Time and time again, we hear and read that it is the people of faith that are leading the rebuilding efforts in the Gulf Coast.  It is lots of little groups like us, supported by congregations, family and friends like you that slowly give some sort of normal life back to the residents.  Slowly, jobs are returning, homes are being repaired or rebuilt and a new sense of normal in being restored.      This year it is the Gulf Coast.  Next year we don't yet know where the need will be, but it won't matter.  We'll go.  Please join us. Debbie Vanslyke

The Uacc Mission Trip of 2006 is a memory I will forever cherish as one of the saddest, but also one of the most uplifting times in my life.  Lives were devestated, but the people were starting again.  And you have to start somewhere -- with prayers and maybe one day with a box of nails.      I'm proud of what we accomplished last June and I'm excited to see who else we can help this summer.                                                                     Amanda Vanslyke

  ROAD TO GULFPORT PHOTO ALBUM