If you were lucky, you had a thin foam mattress pad on your camping bed.

Five-minute showers, breakfast at 7 a.m. sharp -- and headquarters was in green, thick, military-like tents.

These were the living conditions for the 13 teens from Valley Community Church who sacrificed a week of their summer break to help rebuild hurricane-damaged homes in D'Iberville, Miss.

For some of the volunteers, it was the first time they ever did any kind of home repair.

"We never had a hammer in our hands or a paintbrush," Yvonne Flores, 24, said laughing. "We were like little princesses who never did anything."

The teens joining the relief effort were 10 girls and three boys, ranging in age from 12-24, accompanied by their pastor, Roger Visker and his wife.

During the week, they helped homeowners by putting in wallboard and insulation, taping and plastering, sanding, installing roofing and even doing some gardening. The teens also toured the damaged areas and immersed themselves in the community.

For Flores, touring the damage was the most shocking and heart-wrenching part of the trip. On one of the drives around town, she saw a family sitting in their living room watching television. Flores saw them because the house had no wall and she was able to see through to the living room from outside.

"People were living in their houses and they were destroyed," Flores exclaimed "Here we complain because we don't have nice sofas and these people didn't even have walls."

Flores said she was motivated to volunteer because of the help she received when her Napa home was flooded in January.

Rebuilding homes, lives

When the volunteers got to D'Iberville, Flores said they were treated like celebrities. Because they were the first volunteer group from California, locals were excited to greet them.

"(The homeowner) just saw that we were from California, and that we were helping him ... that meant the world to him," Flores said.

The teens worked 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. everyday, and helped to rebuild 10 homes.

According to Flores, many of them were not used to such laborious work for a full shift, but said their motivation kept them energized.

"To see (homeowners) smile after we were done working ... that made us not be as tired as we were," she said.

Visker also took note of their efforts.

"They worked so hard, I was so proud of them," he said. "They worked as much, and as good as they could while they were there."

For Moriah King, 18, the trip offered the chance to go back to her birth town of Gulfport. While there, King visited with family who she never met before, and saw the damage Katrina had done to the hospital where she was born.

"The hardest part was just seeing how everything was almost gone," King said.

Several of the girls who volunteered have already begun to make plans to return to D'Iberville during their Christmas break.

"There is so much left to do and they really need help down there," King said.

Flores said they plan to go back for a week and work even harder to help rebuild more homes.

"I'm really looking forward to that day when we all can go back," she said. "It was an awesome experience."