At the time, few in Acadiana had heard of Scientology and knew little of its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, who gained some notoriety in the 1950s as a science fiction writer. In a 1956 essay on Scientology Fundamentals, Hubbard described the religion as "an applied religious philosophy."

"The term Scientology is taken from the Latin word 'scio' (knowing in the fullest sense of the word) and the Greek word 'logos' (study of)," he wrote. "In itself the word means literally knowing how to know. Scientology is further defined as the study and handling of the spirit in relationship to itself, universes and other life."

But the works of its members, including those in Acadiana, continues to change that perception as the church grows in size, outreach and number.

The Lafayette Mission reported 25 members before hurricanes Katrina and Rita roared ashore last fall. Membership here more than doubled in the months following the storms.

"The numbers still seem small, but Scientology is not about numbers," said Pace, who hosts Solutions for Acadiana, a weekly Scientology-based talk show that airs from 11 a.m.-noon Sundays on KPEL 105.1 FM. "It's job and purpose is to help people stop struggling and start living through the use of the right technology."

The two storms forced thousands into shelters across the Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas Gulf coasts. Scientologists from the Lafayette Mission were there.

Known affectionately among shelter residents in Calcasieu, Lafayette and Vermilion parishes as the "yellow shirts" for the yellow T-shirts each wore, Scientologists provided shelter, food, supplies, counseling and other much needed support in tandem with local, state and federal officials.

Scientologists also linked outreach efforts with Baptist, Episcopal, Methodist, Roman Catholic and other Acadiana denominations to ensure the spiritual, as well as the physical and mental, needs of each displaced evacuee were met.

The Lafayette Mission's outreach gained enough momentum for its executive director, Kay Carson, to open the Church of Scientology Mission of Lake Charles earlier this year.

The new mission, 536 Kirby St., Lake Charles, has two part-time and three full-time staff members who offer a bevy of services to parishioners. Thus far, there are only six names on the official church roll, but scores of others who have not yet joined attend classes, services and other ministries offered daily by the mission.

A weekly service, held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays, draws about 20 attendees each week, which gives Carson and Pace hope for the future of the mission.

"We realized the people of Lake Charles and Calcasieu Parish needed and deserved the technology, the proper tools to overcome the stress of rebuilding their lives," Carson said. "We saw the devastation, the chaos Rita left behind. We wanted to bring sanity, a safe place and restore some order any way we could."

The Lafayette Mission's outreach also extends to Biloxi, Miss. Pace and Carson were there last August, days before Hurricane Katrina made landfall.

The pair gave a seminar at a hotel within a stone's throw of the Gulf of Mexico shoreline to residents interested in starting a mission. Days later, only the slab remained to mark where the hotel, obliterated by the Category 4 storm's winds, once stood.

Still, residents opened a mission in Biloxi this spring, bringing the total number of Scientology missions along the Interstate 10 corridor to five: Lafayette, Lake Charles, Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

Plans are underway for an official church to be constructed in Baton Rouge by 2008, but nothing, Pace said, is set in stone.

"People continue to see our good works in the region and recognize Scientology as something positive, something truthful," she said. "It's that, not the negative comments, that we concern ourselves with at the end of the day."