Impressions of Mennonite Disaster Service

See also Impressions of New Orleans

As mentioned below, I spent a week with Mennonite Disaster Service working on hurricane/flood cleanup in New Orleans. One of the reasons it ranks up there as one of the best experiences of my life is due to MDS. MDS is really quite a unique organization since it involves/is supported by so many different varieties of Mennonites/Anabaptists. Our group was made up of 15 college students and three staff members. The other groups in our unit for that week were a group made up mostly of middle-aged couples from Eden Mennonite Church and a group of seven new order Amish young men, as well as their sponsor/driver, a 43-year-old former Amish man. Our leaders were Mennonites from Canada and Colorado, and also a Weaverland Conference couple from Pennsylvania. What a great mix of people! It was so fun to watch all of the groups come together as one, and we had a blast together. A couple of nights, the Amish guys and the college kids went down to the French Quarter and Bourbon Street, and I heard lots of memories shared from the college students in our room at night and on the van ride home about the great time they had with the Amish guys. The best new friendships I made were with Dan (of the Weaverland Conference couple) and Lister (the sponsor/driver for the Amish group).

Some might say that MDS is not as organized as it could be. However, I enjoyed this more relaxed style. Not to say that our days were relaxing though! We put in full 8- to 9-hour days of manual labor. The “relaxed style” I was referring to is that in the mornings, everyone would sort of be in charge of assigning him/herself to a work group, you might not know what tools are going to which work site, etc. So the feel was both relaxed and hardworking at the same time. We also had a lot of fun at our work sites. The work may have been hard and sometimes gross and always dirty, but we all enjoyed each other. Some of the Amish guys had volunteered with another Christian organization and commented that they strongly preferred working with MDS. Apparently with this other organization, you are treated more like an employee—hours are incredibly strict and you are expected to get a certain amount of work done each day. You might get to socialize for a bit after supper, but people are expected to be in bed early, and there is a “lights out.” Not so with MDS! :) I mean, we were respectful of a 10:30 quiet time, but that was not really much of a problem since we were all pretty tuckered out after a day’s work, and the next day would begin again in just a few hours.

Anyway, I loved working with MDS and hope to do it again when I can. I would also love to “retire” into MDS.

See also Impressions of New Orleans