Answered prayers

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the fourth in a five-part series on the efforts of Palm Harvest Church volunteers to help victims of Hurricane Katrina in Pascagoula, Miss.

Felisha Coleman has a voice that rumbled like a clap of low thunder through the gym of Victory Praise and Worship church in Pascagoula, Miss. Volunteers who worked this week to repair Felisha’s and her father’s homes this week sat as silent as stones on folding chairs as Felisha, 27, closed her eyes and sang gospel songs Thursday night with tears rolling down her cheeks.

“We really appreciate your help,” she said. “It was so amazing to see all these wonderful people in our house.”

Seventeen-year-old Gina Decker’s Costa Mesa High volleyball sweatshirt is covered with plaster after working all week alongside her father to rebuild Felisha’s and her father Pastor Terry Coleman’s homes in Moss Point, Miss., near Pascagoula.

Both houses sustained severe flood damage in Hurricane Katrina. Gina and her dad, Pastor Mike Decker of Palm Harvest Church in Costa Mesa, have worked long hours this week to help another pastor and his daughter in need.

“Meeting her (Felisha Coleman) made me think because she’s a real person who hasn’t had any help,” Gina said.

Felisha Coleman, a single mother of two and college student, came to the gymnasium, where 67 house building volunteers from Costa Mesa and beyond have slept on air mattresses for the past three nights, to thank them the best way she knew how — with a song.

“Lord, I worship you, because of who you are,” she sang as volunteers choked back tears.

Felisha Coleman’s father used to gather his children when they were small every evening at home and have them sing for family worship services, he said.

“I’ve heard her sing before, but I’ve never heard her sing like that,” Terry Coleman said, tearing up. The pastor on Friday watched a video of his daughter singing to the volunteers.

Terry Coleman lives in a FEMA trailer in his daughter’s front yard. Two doors away, the pastor’s ranch-style brick house was flooded with 4 feet of water during Hurricane Katrina. Felisha Coleman’s home is riddled with mold that makes her 5-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter vomit.

She and her daughter prayed this week for someone to remove their walls.

Volunteers had to wear masks while working. They tore out the old drywall in Felisha Coleman’s house, sprayed for mold and replaced walls and ceilings. Volunteers textured the walls and ceiling of her father’s home and replaced electrical wiring.

“When I heard Felisha sing, her voice was so amazing I wondered what her daughter would sound like when she grows up.” Decker said. “When I was inside the house, I was coughing and my throat hurt after half an hour. We could have another singer, but the kids can’t breathe.”

Working together this week with his daughter to help the Colemans has been a rewarding experience, Decker said.

“This is something we’ll always be able to share together,” Decker said. “I’ve been more emotional on this trip than ever before, and I think it’s because I’m not just a team leader and a pastor but I’m also a father.”

Gina, a senior at Costa Mesa High School, has what Decker calls “an adventurous spirit.” She and her dad plan to go sky-diving to celebrate her 18th birthday later this year.

“I knew it would be bad here, but I wanted to see what it was like for myself,” Gina said. “You can’t see how bad people’s houses are here from the outside, but it’s really bad on the inside.”

Working side-by-side this week has had special meaning for Decker because Gina will leave home next fall to attend Taylor University College and Seminary in Edmonton, Alberta.

“I hope this will be a learning experience for her,” Decker said. “I hope she’ll never be afraid to put things on hold to help people.”

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.