Trip to the South

Matt was going to Mississippi for a work trip, so Savannah and I decided to go with him since we had both served our missions there. It was so fun to go through some of our old mission areas! A lot has changed since the hurricane. It was pretty sad to see how much it affected everyone. We flew into New Orleans, so we got to drive around there too. Most of it all looks good, but there were definately a lot of ruins still from Katrina. We took a ton of pictures, so sorry I put on so many.
Savannah deserves the "Baby of the Year" award for how well she did on the trip. Our flights were all messed up because of weather so they were extra long. Then on the way home our flight was cancelled and we had to stay an extra day to catch a different flight. Needless to say, there was a lot of driving around, waiting in lines, and missed naps. She surprised both of us by how well she did the whole time! Even on the plane!! Anyway...here are lots of pictures:


The Superdome in New Orleans.


This home is right along one of the main drives in Mississippi. I thought it was cool because if you look real close, you can see they have hung an american flag inside the home.


There always have been a lot of homes up on stilts like this, but it seems like there are a lot more now. I think they look cool.


We thought it was funny how high up this trailer was. They are not about to be flooded again.


So sad. 2 1/2 years later this house is still just laying in a pile. You can see the brick chimney and if you look close there is a metal spiral staircase.


The coast line. The trees look like there was a fire, but all the branches have just been ripped off.


We thought we would stop by an old souvenier shop on the coast that we used to go to to buy some stuff. This is what we found.


I don't know if you can read it in the picture. They spray painted "We will rebuilt. Keep Out". A lot of people sprayed messages right on their house.


All over there were damaged homes, where the people were living in a tiny FEMA trailer parked in the yard.


A lot of the homes still had huge piles of trash out in the yard. You could see in the windows that the house was completely gutted out.


This was one of the saddest things for me to see. The greatest older lady lived here. She loved missionaries and would buy us groceries even though she probally couldn't afford it. Her house used to be here. It was completely wiped out in the storm. Now there are only a few trailers parked on the slabs where homes used to be.


The Sissens--A family I taught. He is the only one that joined, but it was so good to see they were doing so well. He works in the Temple on weekends and is the ward clerk. I've lost track of so many people I taught, so it was nice to see some doing so well.