Life in Pascagoula

(I wrote this back in March, but never posted it....)

Well, I have been down here in Pascagoula, Mississippi for two months. Living in the barracks. Pascagoula has many, many fast food restaurants and a Walmart. There are some other restaurants here that are pretty good. New York Pizza is actually pretty good. But to get to "civilization" as I like to call it, or an area that looks similar to my Metropolitan mind, I have to drive over to Biloxi which is 25 miles away.

CRMD

I work in a Pre Commission office building in Ingalls Shipbuild yards where our Ship is. We have been busy getting ready to move aboard next month. My department, CRMD - Command Religious Ministries Department - has been busy getting the chapel ready and also the other spaces we own: our office, the library (which is the other half of the chapel compartment) and a Recreation Room (and also 2 Fan rooms and 2 ladderwells). We will have to do maintenance on all these spaces since they have valves and gauges and other things that need maintenance.

Our department has four people: Commander Tim Johns (Big Chaps), two RPs (Religious Program Specialist enlisted) and myself (Little Chaps, Baby Chaps). RP1 (first class petty officer) has been in Pascagoula getting things together for months before I arrived here. RPSN (seaman) is learning the ropes. It is a great team and we await the arrival of Big Chaps so our team will be all together.

The Chapel

The chapel is one half of the shared space with the Library. It is not what you think about when you hear the word "chapel." Rather, it is a plain compartment, with a drop ceiling (which hides pipes and valves), two storage closets (one doubles as the sacristy) and some cabinets. There is also a huge network switch where the altar should go. Our job is to give the space a chapel feel. It will take a long time to get there, but we are thankful that we have a dedicated space.

Last month, we received our first load of items for the chapel. Hymnals, candles, prayer books, folding chairs, a portable altar (it we have services on the flight deck or hangar bay) and various items for various faiths. We have a lot more things to get to make it functional. We recently received a wood altar, which is still in the warehouse and we will bring it to the ship in a few weeks.

First Mass!

I had the honor of celebrating the first mass for the crew 9am last Sunday, 9 March (and the second today!). Currently, we have mass in a conference room in the barracks up until we move aboard. What a privilege! Doing those masses in the high school chapel was good preparation! When we get aboard we will have 830 Mass and a 10am Protestant service to start. We will probably (hopefully!) need to add services.

Move Aboard

The next big step is Move Aboard. Next month, the remaining crew will arrive (another 600 people) and we will begin living on the ship while it is here in the shipyards. This will give us a chance to get the last things ready for Sail Around, where we take the ship to our Homeport in San Diego. Then we will be Commissioned in San Francisco. It is a very exciting time to be getting close to Move Aboard, although this is the first time for many of us, so there is apprehension. The berthing areas are being prepared - the crew moved 3200 mattresses onto the ship recently.



Please continue to pray for the crew of the PCU America, LHA-6