Sunday April 2, 2006 -- A flight from Boston

Sunday morning, the team was just getting up, when church personnel came to start getting ready for the worship service. In Boston, I was getting on a plane to come down to Waveland.

The Sanctuary at The Lutheran Church of the Pines is nearly complete. Air conditioning works; the carpet is in; and pews are installed. Finish work needs to be done.

Flying in to Gulfport, you could see the damage on the ground, starting from 50 miles out. Many homes and buildings had the large blue FEMA tarps on top, as a temporary fix. Just north of the airport a grove of pecan trees was flattened.

The airport terminal itself suffered significant damage to the windows and exterior. The floors tiles were gone, and parts of the ceiling were still open.

But this was mild compared to the increasing scale of the damage as we approached Waveland, the epicenter of the storm's landfall.

Damaged signs along I-10; broken light poles at the exits, broken trees everywhere. Approaching the town, there was significant damage to many mini-marts, stores, and homes along the side of the road.