This morning started off much later than all our other mornings. I ended up waking up at 8:20…about 10 minutes before devo time! Kati and Angie (and Angie’s 2 boys) brought over boxes of clothes they’d had in storage for a while that needed to be sorted in preparation for a $1 sale to raise money for their ministry. We had a great time helping them with that and then making sack lunches for them to hand out. They have a very deep sense of calling to the street ministry they do. They work with senior citizens, gutter punks, homeless, etc who live on the streets as well as any and everyone they come into contact with. They do most of their ministry in and around the French Quarter.
After our time with Kati and Angie, we set about getting ready to spend some time with Ms Doris. We wanted to help her with her house, but knew there were a lot of projects we either weren’t equipped to do ourselves or we simply wouldn’t have the time to finish. So we brought a gift basket and some dinner and simply spent time with Ms Doris and her family. It was a great time for our team to really see what it feels like to call New Orleans “home”. It was such a blessing to simply be with those women and I know that even though we may not have done any hard labor, we were doing exactly what God wanted us to do.
At around 7:30, we said goodbye to Ms Doris, Elaine and Courtney and headed across the river (you know…the Mississippi River) to the Westbank. There’s a place over there called Mardi Gras World. This is where most of the big floats and props for the Mardi Gras parades are housed. They hosted an all day event complete with face painting, mask making (which we missed out on by about 10 minutes), food, music, and free tours of the prop rooms. The festivities ended with a 6 piece jazz ensemble complete with a 2nd Line (you’ll have to look that one up if you want to know what it is) out to the levee right before the fireworks began. We sat on the levee to watch the fireworks, then decided we should try using kati’s blanket to slide down the hill on. Then we thought we should roll down the hill. Then we realized if one person sits on the blanket and 2 people pull it, you go down the hill a lot faster. It was like being a kid again. :o)
After we were sufficiently dirty and dizzy, Kati, Angie and the boys went home and the rest of us headed Uptown to meet Paul at Camellia Grill for some dessert. For those of you not familiar with the staples of the city, Camellia Grill is one of them. After the storm, the owners moved to Mississippi. People started leaving notes on the doors of the restaurant to “Please come back”, etc. Someone asked the owners if they could buy the restuarant so it could open up again, and the owners agreed. So the new owner hired back all the old workers (the same guys have been there for years and years) and reopened without changing anything at all…except they now take debit and credit cards instead of just cash.
And now, after a minor run-in with Essence Fest traffic, we are home and once again snug in our beds (except me). I want to thank everyone who’s been praying for us. God has really done amazing things for each one of us during this week and I’m very grateful for the opportunity to bring a team to serve a city I love. We’ve all learned so much and have been so inspired and encouraged by the people we have met. I hope you will ask about our trip. But don’t just ask me…ask Karina, Jeny, Heather and Jessie. They have a lot to share.
We only have one more day left, and it’s a pretty kick-back day. We will be making breakfast for a group of ladies in the morning and then doing some sightseeing and shopping in the afternoon, as well as tying up some loose ends and running a couple of errands. We will still look for opportunities on the streets and may even catch up with Kati and Angie while they’re out doing their thing in the Quarter. It will be a pretty early evening because we have to leave at 3:45 Sunday morning to get to Gulfport. I may or may not do an update tomorrow night, so until the next time…
Today has been amazing. Most of the day up until around 3:30 was bittersweet. We had our last day with the kids today. On top of it being the last day, it was, yet again, our most difficult day with them. We had to cut out the entire last segment of the program because they just didn’t want to cooperate with us this morning. I don’t think it mattered much because, really, we were just glad to have the time with them. Even if they were difficult. I’d be difficult too if I had their lives. The most important part is that we did get to develop relationships with them and share God’s love. Jeny was just sharing tonight how one little boy asked her if she loved him and she was able to say, yes, of course I love you. It’s possible that that’s the only time he heard someone say that to him today. Thank God for that opportunity.
Karina was finally able to come out and gut with us a little bit today. I don’t think she expected it to be such hard work, but just like the rest of the week, she was a total trooper! We ended up calling it quits early again today…no, there weren’t any more tetanus shots. There was a pretty big storm headed our way, so we needed to get all the tools in the truck and back to the office before it started. Metal and lightning don’t mix.
Tonight, our team decided they wanted to invite Ms. Doris out to dinner with us. Ms Doris is a 78 year old woman who volunteers at BBC; we’ve been working in her territory everyday this week. So we took her and Angela out to La Madeleine (the most amazing place ever) and the girls were able to get to know her better and hear some incredible stories and life experience. Between dinner and meeting Ms Doris’ daughter and granddaughter when we took her home, we heard a lot of their Katrina story. Their house is in the section of town that was only roof tops after the storm. Although they had evacuated to McComb (Mississippi), some other family members decided to stay at Ms Doris’ home during the storm. They ended up getting flooded out and having to break through the window in the attic. The woman and 3 children were picked up by a helicopter, but the 2 year old was left because there was not enough room. The other adult rigged up a boat from an old tire to put the child in and swam to the interstate bridge that’s about a mile from their house. They all survived, but as Ms Doris had told us earlier, she “lost a lot of people to that storm”. And she still smiles and laughs and loves her life. She works at BBC because she feels like she’s been given so much that she just wants to give back and meet people who can influence her life and vice versa.
When we did our high’s and low’s tonight at debrief, Ms Doris was almost everyone’s “high” for the day.
So now we are all (sans me, of course) tucked away safely in our beds. We don’t have our next assignment until 9am (praise Jesus!), and it’s being delivered to us! We’ve been up and ready by 6:45 everyday so far, so the girls are all very excited for a little extra rest tonight!
On a personal note, God has been teaching me a lot this week about the power of a prayer said in faith. He’s answered a couple very specific prayers of mine instantly this week. He showed me tonight that I talk a good game when I’m leading other people, but when I’m on my own, I have a serious lack of faith. He also showed me that my prayers are effective with others and that he listens to me at those times and that he can (and wants to) listen to me when I’m simply praying for me.
I pray I can learn that lesson and live my life knowing that my God is the one with the power and He is constantly on the lookout for me…just waiting for me to ask. After all, He is a Good Father.
My eyes are starting to shut. Goodnight to you and as always, there will be more tomorrow…
It’s before 11pm on Day 4 and all but 2 of us are in bed already. Welcome to the middle of the trip! I’d say it’s because of all the hard work, but I think it’s because the girls had their first tastes of Nawlins snow balls tonight and they all crashed from the sugar high!
Our day started, once again, with VBS. Our time with the campers has been precious. Even though it’s so hard to keep them interested or even under control at times, we really enjoy spending time with them and are very sad that tomorrow is our last day with them. If you are a guy and are reading this, I want to encourage you to find a way to come work with these kids. The director of the camp has expressed to us the kids’ need for good male role models. The majority of the campers are boys, the majority of which are from single family homes where all they have are their moms. It’s really hard for all these boys growing up without fathers and they need men to look up to…if only for a week.
In the afternoon, Karina and Heather stayed back at the office. Karina was with the kids and Heather did some work for Angela and used the opportunity to pick her brain about Kenya (Angela’s the one I’m going on the trip with in September), her non-profit and life in general. Jessie, Jeny and I headed out to the house with Kyle (BBC) to do some more work. We cleaned out a couple rooms and worked on tearing down the last bit of dry wall and insulation. We posed for a few pictures hanging from the rafters; and then the day wouldn’t have been complete without the garage door almost falling on us and a group of construction workers coming to help the 3 damsels in distress. Luckily, there were no more tetanus shots.
Tonight, we led worship for the Bible Study BBC leads on Wednesday nights. There were a lot of blips (forgotten words…technical issues, etc.), but I think it was a cool realization for all of us that none of that time was about how “good” it was. Every person who had a song or word of encouragement tonight was speaking through the Spirit (people besides us). And everyone in the room was looking for God. Not mistakes.
Just as an update, Karina is mostly back to 100%. Her throat was still hurting today (which is why she still hasn’t gutted the house). Jessie slept last night and woke up feeling more like herself than she has in a long time (definitely since before this trip). Praise Jesus! Scripture says that the prayer prayed in faith can heal the sick and I think it’s true. :o) Even though she wasn’t “sick”, any of you who have gone through sleepless nights knows it can be worse than sickness!
I’m about to head off to bed and get some much needed sleep. I’m exhausted! Tomorrow’s our last day of VBS and I can already feel the relief. I know that sounds bad, but I struggle to not feel anxious when I’m in charge of something that takes a lot of planning and is not a set-in-stone type of thing. But I really have enjoyed the challenge…and redeeming myself from the first time I directed this particular VBS program. I think I’ve proved to myself that I CAN handle it. Go me. :o)
I have a responsibility…one that is not put on anyone but myself. The responsibility is to bring people’s attention to the realities that still exist in New Orleans as the entire area continues to try and rebuild.
Already, I know that some will have stopped reading this post…which makes me sad and angry…because I have to ask the question why? Why have so many moved on? I think its because people do not understand the realities. Right now we have a team gutting a house, feeding homeless people, and doing a VBS…all in an effort to not only help people rebuild…but to help them overcome and give hope when so many have been so deeply scarred by the experience…especially the children.
I want you to take a look at this trailer for a documentary called Katrina’s Children. I want you to understand the realities that exists because that is the responsibility I have. The need is overwhelming and it has been almost three years. We have moved on, but so many have been unable to…which is why I ask you to continue to pray and help in whatever ways that you can.
Thanks to Kim Bechtel for bringing this documentary to my attention so that I can share it with all of you.
Revolution will be leading another trip the week after Christmas. If you are interested it’s never too early to sign up.
I’m going to try to make this a little shorter than the previous 2 days because, quite frankly, it’s late and I’m tired.
Today went really well. VBS was good this morning. Our team heard a couple of stories that really helped give us a glimpse of what life is like for these kids. One child, Calin, lost his mom just 4 weeks ago. He’s 7 years old. We’ve all noticed him being very clingy and affectionate with us, but now we know why. Please pray for him.
Karina was feeling well enough to come with us today, so she was able to be there for the VBS. However, by the time VBS was over she was starting to get that worn out day-after-the-flu feeling. Since I had to get a tetanus shot anyway, we dropped the other 3 girls off at the house, went to get my shot (we went every direction except the right one to get to the clinic, by the way), then headed over to the BBC office to see if they needed any help. We weren’t there for more than 10 minutes when I got a call from Arthur (the Volunteer coordinator working with the other 3 girls) saying that, (1) Heather stepped on a nail, so you know the clinic you just went to? Yea, she needs to go now…and (2) The dumpster still had not shown up at the house and we can’t do anymore work until all the stuff we’ve already knocked out can come out of the house. So that was the end of house gutting for day 2.
It worked out really well, though, because we were able to come back to BBC and play with the kids for a while before heading back home a little early to shower and take a quick tour of the Garden District before Kati, Paul, the Petersons and the Homs joined us for some of Ray’s famous Shrimp Pasta.
After dinner, we all sat around the living room and heard Paul’s “Katrina story”. Not only did Paul grow up and live in Gentilly (a neighborhood demolished by the floods), but he was in college at the time at Tulane University, so his story has some different elements to it. We also got to hear the story of how he met his fiance shortly after returning from the storm. For a group of girls, that was a great addition!
At 9, we broke for a few minutes so our team could officially do a short debrief so everyone was free to go to bed. Jessie’s been having a lot of problems sleeping this week. She’s very literally exhausted and needs to sleep more than anything else right now. We prayed over her and her bed and we haven’t seen her roaming in or out of the room yet, so my (our) hope is that God is showing himself faithful to our request.
A few of us took a quick trip out to Morning Call in Metairie for Beignets, then I took a liberty as the leader and driver of the car and swung by my adopted Mama’s house to wake her up (as I usually end up doing when I come to town) and say hello. I can’t come to this town and not at least see her for 5 minutes.
Now everyone is sleeping but me and I’m very quickly heading in that direction. Thank you to those who are reading these (very long) updates and keeping us in prayer. The team is really starting to function like a team and I’m really proud of us. I look forward to seeing what God does in the next few days in the girls and in the people around us. Keep praying!
Today was our first full day with VBS in the morning and house gutting in the afternoon. After pouring so much time, effort and worry into our VBS preparations, they paid off! Everything went GREAT! The kids were very rambunctious, but still willing and excited to learn and be involved with us. It was difficult to manage some of the kids tempers and energy, but after talking with the Camp Director, it’s easy to understand why the kids struggle with aggression. The psychologists they work with have said time and time again that aggressive outbursts are a normal result of what these kids have experienced as a result of Katrina.
It breaks my heart to think about what the kids have been through. Not only with the hurricane itself, but the resulting turmoil in the lives of their families…the divorces, the arguments, the losses, etc. It’s easy to have patience with them when you think about how hard life can be these days in the Big Easy.
After VBS, we got to hang out a little bit while the kids ate lunch before changing and heading over to our house-gutting assignment. The house we are gutting is just around the corner from the BBC office and belongs to a woman named Frane. She stopped by while we were working today and was very excited to meet us…as we were her. Our work today was pretty easy. All we had to do was knock out dry wall and tear down door frames. Jeny and Jessie got to go up in the attic and kick down the ceiling (how fun is that? If only I were a foot shorter). Heather used her height to her advantage and knocked out the higher bits of dry wall. I ripped apart a closet (that, by the way, was covered with furry yellow moldy growth) and bathroom and some of the aforementioned door frames.
After all that, we headed home for some showers and red beans (a traditional New Orleans Monday dinner) with the Petersons and Kati Sheperdson. Kati was able to tell the girls about the volunteer work she does with the homeless people in the city as well as her “Katrina story”. And then we headed out to the French Quarter so the girls could see a few sites. We saw Bourbon Street (only a couple blocks), Royal Street, Jackson Square, St Louis Cathedral and a few other things before debriefing the day at Cafe Du Monde and praying over the city from the Riverfront. There were also a few choice encounters with street performers and restaurant husslers (that’s what I call the people who stand outside with menus trying to get people to come in).
Now we are safe and sound back at the Petersons getting ready for bed. Pray for us as we wake up tomorrow for another full day with the kids and the house. Pray we have opportunities to talk more with our home owner as well as the few neighbors that are around. Pray that we can impact these kids lives in any small or large ways God would have for us. Pray that tomorrow evening is another enjoyable time for us to talk, get to know each other more and encourage one another and the people who will be with us.
My wife is currently leading a group of girls on a mission trip in our beloved New Orleans. As I am hoping many people are praying for them I also wanted to be able to post Leanne’s blog here so everyone could now how it’s going. Enjoy.
Day 1
Today was our team’s first full day in New Orleans, and boy was it a FULL day! We started the morning with some devotions and then headed off to Franklin Avenue Baptist Church. For those of you who are not familiar with FABC, it is a staple of New Orleans. There are thousands of people who attended this church before the storm…most from the parts of the city hit the hardest by Katrina. When Katrina hit, many parishors went to Houston. So many so that Franklin Avenue was meeting in Houston and now has basically planted a church in the Houston area. The Lead Pastor was actually in Houston this morning. We heard “The Bishop”. And for those of you who’ve been to a black Southern Baptist church, you KNOW-ah we went to CHURCH-a THIS-ahh MORNIN’!
It was good. You can check out their website and see a videocast of the service every week. I think Heather might actually leave Revolution to watch the FABC broadcast. :o) Not really.
After coming back to the house to change, we headed out to lunch. We had some amazing Po’ Boys. The girls even liked the alligator sausage. mmmmmmm
And then it was time for “the tour”. It’s hard for me to imagine what this is like for someone who’s never been here before. I’ve been doing the same tour since October 2005, and even though it’s almost 3 years later, it’s amazing that the sights can still create deafening silence, awe and sadness in those seeing for the first time. New Orleans is coming back. But she’s coming back slowly.
When the tour was over, a few of us stayed at the house to relax for a little while while 2 of us headed out with Janet to Sam’s club and to pick up our rental van (which is like a Mazda Miata compared to the Giant White BBC Beast we’ve been driving since last night) and then a final stop at Wal-Mart for some VBS supplies. Once we got back home, Jessie (with some help from our hosts) cooked up some wonderful Spaghetti and salad, we ate and then did some planning for tomorrow.
We are so tired and the week hasn’t really even begun yet! Tomorrow is the first day of our 4-day VBS as well as our first taste of gutting a house. We are all excited, but praying we are energetic enough to give it our all. Karina had a fever of 102 earlier, but it looks like God is answering our prayers and it’s down to 99 as of an hour ago! Praise God!
As for me, I’m just along for the ride. I don’t know what God has in store for this week. I certainly didn’t expect my own emotions to be all out of whack just by being here, so I have to really let God have control of everything or I’ll just fall apart like I usually do when I get overwhelmed.
So when you think about us, pray for us. Pray for the kids we’ll meet tomorrow. Pray for the people whose house we are working on. Pray for us to have soft hearts and humble, teachable spirits. Pray that we grow to love one another and enjoy one another as teammates. Pray that we stay healthy and well-rested. Pray that God gives us joy abundantly. And pray that God is glorified through our short stay here in New Orleans.
So here I sit watching “Idol Gives Back” and I am dealing with a barrage of thoughts. I struggle. Not because of the awareness being brought to the forefront or the millions of dollars being raised to make a difference in lives around the globe…but because I can’t help but ask..where is the church?
I am so glad that God is doing such amazing things through the generosity and creativity of people around the world. I am inspired by those individuals, organizations, and churches that are leading the charge in meeting the needs of those around them. At the same time…I still ask the question…where is the church as a whole?
Now I know there are those Christians, there are those churches that are actively involved with changing the world. I know there are those Christians those churches that are in the mud - cleaning wounds - touching the untouchable - providing for those in need - sharing love and encouragement - and serving in whatever way that they can. However, the reality is - in the fallen world in which we live the need is overwhelming and instead of leading the charge in taking care of those in need…we somehow focus our attention on us. On our stuff, on our needs, on filling our buildings, and starting programs that benefit us.
The sad reality is that most Christians watching “Idol Gives Back” will be more moved and excited that they closed the evening with “Shout to the Lord”, then the need and opportunity that the show was bringing to light.
It’s as if we are blinded.
I hope that those that watched or will watch “Idol Gives Back” will give and give generously…But I also hope that people will be willing to not only give money but they would be willing to step up and go.
In the next 12 months what will you do to make a difference?
Don’t know where to start…well let me be a resource. Here are just a few of the things I am connected to;
Long Beach Rescue Mission
Trips to India
A new orphanage and ministry in Kenya
Missions in Russia
Wrapped in Love
Adopt a Block
Rebuild New Orleans
Metro State Hospital
Long Beach AIDS walk and awareness
Home building in Mexico
Christian Outreach in Action
Tutoring
TESOL
Local Home Renovation
Medical Missions in Haiti
Bellflower Convalescent Home
Royal Family Kids Camp
and several others…
The time is now. The opportunities are everywhere. The people are waiting. What will you do?
