Our intrepid group of 23 work campers arrived at the Back Bay Mission late Sunday afternoon. I rounded up three people to help do the grocery shopping for this hungry horde, and then we went to Shaggy’s, our favorite beach dive, for a seafood feast.

Our week began a bit differently than usual. Craig is down with a bug, and so is the Executive Director, James, so our Monday briefing was shorter than usual. Pam, our house mother, let us know there’d be a large truck arriving this morning to distribute food, so they need a number of people to sort and bag. As you can see, it’s really cold down here, and windy today.

A couple of others decamped to one of the houses we built last year to complete small chores like installing doorknobs. Yet another small group went to Gulfport.

Among our 23 we have six first-timers, two of whom are not from First Church, but were invited by friends. More later, when I have more images to share.

We have some time today before we leave for the airport, so everyone airdropped all their photos from the past couple of days.

Thursday was a productive day at both houses, with perfect weather.

Thursday evening we rewarded ourselves with a great meal at the Half Shell Oyster House, which has become a tradition.

The forecast was for rain on Friday, so the plan was to go to another site for indoor work — more flooring and painting. However, the prediction improved by Friday morning, so the crew hot-footed back to Dixie Avenue to try to finish the rehab house. By day’s end it was 95% finished.

Once again, Craig donned his chef’s toque and made us a sumptuous shrimp boil, accompanied by Jack’s outstanding biscuits and my always-on-the-last-night mac and cheese. Our flight leaves around five Saturday evening, though the Chadwicks and Murphys are leaving at dawn and Derek and Sean have a 10 a.m. flight. The rest of us can sleep in and polish up the mission house for the next group arriving Sunday.

As always, it was a terrific week. First-timer Ally did a superlative job as our spiritual leader, sharing pitch-perfect reflections before dinner each evening. Jim, as usual, effectively wrangled the site workers. And we provided much-needed support for the food pantry, Micah Center and Loaves and Fishes.

It was exciting to hear from Craig about BBM’s ambitious plans for building affordable housing and executing their vision for transitional housing via tiny bedrooms on wheels and tiny houses. As always, we heard stories that tugged at our heartstrings about people living at the edges of Biloxi society, left behind by municipal government and invisible to most of the faith community here. Probably most heart-wrenching to me was hearing about the effects of homelessness on women, who become victims of rape, abuse and sex trafficking.

RayRay, who runs the Micah Center, observed that “you’ve got to be spirit-led to do this work.” She describes their guests as “good people who’ve made bad choices.” Micah is a haven for these folks, so much so that some people come to the center to die.

Our hearts are full as we begin the journey home tomorrow. Friendships have been newly made and old ones strengthened through our shared experiences.`We’ll be back again next year!

We were jolted awake just after midnight by the tornado horn. The rain had been slashing furiously for hours, the wind howling — and the temperature, which had been in the low 50s all day, rose to around 70 during the evening. This morning Pam assured us the Mission House was the safest place to be (since we would have had to go outside to get to the basement anyway).

The morning dawned bright and beautiful. Before heading to the worksite we heard from Dionne and Kevin, who work on transitional housing. BBM has a prototype tiny bedroom on wheels that would provide a first step for a person who has been living outside for years. The next phase would be an actual tiny house, then one of the duplexes the mission has built over the past several years.

Then it was back to Diane’s house to wrap up her flooring and painting project and put all her furniture back where it belongs.

In the afternoon the crew installed some windows in one of our other projects; they will be there for the balance of the week and also working on the house next door. These projects — siding and roofing primarily — will be weather-dependent, and more rain is on the way.

Ginny, Lorie, Ally and Lori helped out at the Micah Day Center and Loaves and Fishes, which has a new home (you may recall they were serving lunch from the BBM parking lot last year).

Meanwhile, I continued on kitchen duty, making and delivering lunches, grocery shopping (that needs to be done almost daily) and making tonight’s dinner. After polishing off our carrot cupcakes, everyone settled into their post-prandial activity of choice: reading, crosswords, a new jigsaw puzzle, RummiKub and cards.

Hump day tomorrow!

It’s January, and that means we’re back in Biloxi to help the people of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, under the auspices of the Back Bay Mission. Traveling at this time of the year is always risky, but for the past several years we’ve been blessed with fair weather for our trip to and from. This time our luck ran out.

The blizzard predicted to dump nearly a foot of snow on Connecticut had us obsessively checking our weather apps and wondering if our flight would be cancelled. Most of us stayed overnight at hotels by the airport to avoid a white-knuckle drive to arrive at 4 a.m. on Sunday. But Delta assured us that the flight was on schedule to depart at 6. Alas, then the plane had to be de-iced and the catering truck delivering water (required on every flight) got stuck in the snow on the tarmac. A couple more mishaps stretched the delay to 90 minutes past our departure time, eating up the connection window we were counting on in Atlanta.

Our plan was to fly into Gulfport, right next door to Biloxi and a much easier drive than the 90 minutes from New Orleans that has been our usual. However, there were no seats available on flights to GPT on the later flight Sunday or on any flights Monday or even Tuesday. So our only remaining option was to drive the 5 ½ hours — which turned into over 6 ½. Meanwhile, we learned that Delta was sending our bags on to GPT. Needless to say, we were tired puppies by the time we arrived and collected our bags (though Delta’s baggage claim was closed by the time we showed up, a kind airport employee took pity on us and unlocked the storage room). So much for Gulfport airport being the easier option.

Thus ended Patience Sunday, to be followed by Patience Monday, when Craig met with us to introduce new staff members and catch us up on BBM’s latest efforts to help the unhoused in Biloxi. He has three projects for us this week, but bad weather is predicted beginning Monday afternoon, so Monday and part of Tuesday are dedicated to helping homeowner Diane, who needs carpet pulled up and replaced with engineered hardwood.

Right on schedule came the rain. The crew returned just ahead of some serious thunder that shook the mission house. Tomorrow they’ll put the finishing touches on Diane’s house; then, assuming the weather clears, will start on the other two projects.

Today Lori and Ginny went to the food pantry to help them get organized. We’re joined again this year by Elizabeth from southern Indiana and her friend Trish, who motored down from Batesville with a van full of clothing, shoes and miscellaneous non-perishables for the Micah Center and the food pantry. We assisted in sorting some of these donations.

Tonight I’m watching the usual cards, cribbage and crosswords, while avid fans are tuned into football. It’s a congenial group, as always, with ages ranging from 18 to 75. But tonight they’re uncharacteristically quiet — a hangover from our trying day yesterday, maybe?

Good night for now.

Thursday dawned bright and sunny, but thunderstorms were forecast for late morning. Jim’s crew high-tailed it back to the worksite to try to finish the roof before the rain set in.

Meanwhile, Sarah, Mary, Anisa, Lorie and Sue set off for Sam’s Club to purchase some items to donate to Loaves and Fishes, and got stranded when the brake fluid totally drained out of Sarah’s car. Diana leapt into search and rescue mode, arriving just as the rain started. After a harrowing drive through torrential rain, lightning and thunder, we arrived at the mission house, getting totally drenched just running from the parking lot. We were lucky, thoug, as dangerous storms and tornadoes raced across Alabama, Georgia and northern Mississippi, leaving death and destruction.

Our intrepid roof crew, however, finished off the roof just as a few drops started falling and were able to escape the worst of it.

Our Thursday tradition is dinner at the Half Shell Oyster House. Since there was no trip to New Orleans this year, everyone came.

Before we knew it, Friday came, along with it putting the finishing touches on Miss Corlis’ house. It’s so satisfying to actually finish a job.

For our final dinner, Craig cooked a sumptuous shrimp boil for us, comprised of shrimp, smoked sausage, corn, potatoes, pineapple and mushrooms; and we added mac and cheese, Jack’s famous biscuits and salad. Brownies and ice cream topped it all off. A meal to remember! Home tomorrow after a satisfying week of fellowship, hard work, many laughs, friendships made and renewed, and the knowledge that we have done good work for the people n the Gulf Coast.

Patience Monday wasn’t so bad this year. The main project, in Gulfport, involves removing and replacing a roof and rebuilding an enclosure for the owner’s washer and dryer. Shingle removal is brutal, but this crew is up to the task.

As you can see, the weather is great!

Meanwhile, for the kitchen crew, the hardest thing about Monday is the big grocery shopping. Two hours in Winn-Dixie.

Last night we went to our favorite beach bar, Shaggy’s, for dinner.

A tired crew wolfed down dinner and is now watching football, playing cards or doing Spelling Bee or Wordle.