It’s Caleb again. I hope you’re not tired of me yet. I kinda got ‘encouraged’ to blog tonight, and considering i’m pretty much the last one up, i guess it makes sense. The late bird gets the blog i always said. So i’m opening the beak to speak. Catchy, huh?

Let’s see. As our fearless leader Laura already mentioned, on Thursday we partnered with All Nations Fellowship to provide an outreach event to the community/neighborhood of Hollygrove. After three days of walking in the scorching sun passing out flyers, buying 400 hot dogs, 25 2 liter bottles of soda, and moving all sorts of items from the church, we were all set up for the event. In an attempt to create a longer lasting relationship with the attendees of Urban Vibe (the event), it was required that each one fill out an information card in order to get food, drinks, snowballs, etc… This process was also used to enter the children in a raffle for prizes. With the ticket received in exchange for the information (sounds like a secret informant doesn’t it?), the world of semi-warm soda, rapidly melting snowballs, and three meat hot dogs was opened. That’s right, chicken, beef, AND pork all rolled into one 1/8 pound link! What more do you need. They actually were good though. I had two myself and i saw one kid get at least 5 or 6. Becca and I did the burnt, uh i mean the brunt, of the grilling. In her defense though, Sam served a good amount of dogs. It was so nice of her to give them baths, groom them, and take them all on walks. Laura and Jessie made snowballs for a while, with Jessie pulverizing and shaping the ice and Laura pouring either Cherry, Blue Raspberry, Lemon-Lime, or Watermelon syrup on them. As you can imagine, by about the 3rd one, the syrup started to get everywhere. Let’s just say it was a sticky situation. Beth worked Ye Olde Soda Shoppe. Well, everyone else just called it the drink table. But we all know my name has more pop to it. And it’s not nearly as flat. Sarah helped with the sign in station and got lots of digits. Seth, considering his (Holland) prior experience, helped set up all the sound equipment and set. After working for a while, most of us mingled with the attendees, playing basketball, jumping rope, or just talking. Before the end, Becca also shared her testimony with everyone. You go girl. We had a pretty good turnout at the event which was encouraging, and we felt like it went very well. After cleaning up, both the event and ourselves, we went over to Zach and Jarin’s house (Jarin being another friend from All Nations Fellowship) where we all watched Transformers and ate nachos. Our team now loosely refers to ourselves as the Autobots, although I think i’d rather be Megatron… but i digress.

The second part of this blog is brought to you by the fact that it is being written six hours after the first thanks to me falling asleep at the computer last night. Good morning!

On Friday, we had the opportunity to again work with Noah’s Ark Missionary Baptist Church and it’s members. Earlier in the week, Pastor Walker had asked us if we would be able to paint the inside of his sister’s house for her. His wish is our command. We spent all morning and afternoon painting the inside of the house. Surprisingly, we got it all done! It was a brush with greatness. Laura, Beth and I also had the privilege of spray-painting some tables out in the lawn. It was like Baby’s First Graffiti! At lunch, we were served some delicious food by Miss Joy, including these crazy frozen juice cups which turned out to be quite an adventure to both eat and watch. After fixing all the little spots we messed up, we packed up the rollers and brushes (well, just cleaned them; they were hers) and headed down to the French Quarter for some last minute shopping. Jarin, our friend from church, came with us which was a treat. Actually, it was his treat considering he footed the bill for some beignets and chocolate milk at Cafe du Monde. After spending a little time with him, he left for youth group and we headed to dinner with Corey, the owner and director of the house we’ve been living in. The restaurant we went to was Mulate’s (I think). It’s one of Corey’s favorite places to take guests, either because of the great food, or the dance floor and accompanying try-to-sell-their-cd-at-your-table live band. I’m thinking it was the food. Speaking of which, I had grilled alligator pasta, which was interesting, yet delicious. Just the right amount of bite to it. And of course, we all passed around an order of bourbon bread pudding. Don’t worry, the alcohol was burnt off.

After dinner, our focus was put to cleaning the house we’ve been residing in. I was personally on bathroom duty. Surprisingly though, it was my choice. Who knew? After cleaning the house as well as the van, we talked for just a bit and then headed to bed (mine being the couch and computer). Now it is seven in the morning and Laura, Jessie, and Seth are soon leaving to return our beloved van and pick up the rental cars which will be transporting us for the remainder of our trip. Today, we are going to Dauphin Island, Alabama to relax on the beach and such, and then continuing up to Seminary, Mississippi where we will be staying for the rest of our time in the South. Seminary is largely unexplored and unchartered so we have no idea what we might encounter. Therefore, we may or may not have internet, which means this could be the last blog (it’s hard to accept, i know). But all hope is not lost. If this is the last one, hopefully you’re not disappointed and if there’s more, i hope they bring you a paradise of words.

Thanks for following our trip and for your thoughts and prayers! We love seeing your comments and knowing you care to read and support us.

Off to the beach,

Caleb

God has been moving in very, very powerful ways.  We are constantly in awe of Him and what he is doing in this city, in the ministries we are working with, in our team, and in individual team members.  I cannot explain it with words, only praise.  He is so good and so holy.  He is our creator, father, friend, and king.  He is almighty.  AMEN!

Laura

It’s only my second post but already i feel like an accomplished poster. So buy me and put me up on your wall!  Actually, that would probably be a little thumb-tacky. Anyways, i have been given the task of filling you all in on the last few days of our lives…

Yesterday, which was Thursday, was our last day of painting the inside of the new building of All Nations Fellowship. At the end of four days of painting, we were able to finish the main auditorium/sanctuary, the current tool room, and another office room. The team of fearless painters in the smaller rooms consisted of Sarah, Beth, Sam, and myself (and Jessie helped in the office a lot). The two smaller rooms seemed like a relatively easy task at first but each proved to be more of a challenge than originally thought. They both took a lot of time to touch up, not to mention the closet… However, we know suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, good stories…. or something like that. Each little room created some great situations/tales. First and foremost, the tool room. This room was danger incarnate. From rusty saws and wooden trim to large exploding light-bulbs to faulty step ladders and flying paint, this room was always exciting… not in the best way possible but exciting nonetheless. And then there was the small office. This room was dangerous for another reason: almost no ventilation and six hours of painting. Sounds fun, right? Well actually, it kinda was for us. I’m not sure if it was the fumes or something else, but we were all laughing uncontrollably 95% of the time in there.

Meanwhile, Becca, Seth, Laura, and Jessie finished the main room. This consisted of the tedious task of priming al the window frames. If my math and memory serve me right, there were 102 windows to prime (I hope none of them read this and correct me). Needless to say, they were all ready for some prime rib when they were done…

After our last day of painting, we had the opportunity to enjoy yet another delicious home cooked meal by the talented Melanie, who is Pastor Anthony’s wife. Chicken móle was the special (and the only option). After finishing a few helpings and three cups of tea, we loaded up the van and headed out on our adventure. Zach and Myrinda are two of the workers/missionaries at All Nations Fellowship and they agreed to take us out to the swamp lands (hold your breath it gets better) for some fun. Zach took Seth and Jessie out on his canoe for some fishing. Seth was ecstatic. They didn’t catch anything, but that’s ok because….. they almost got flipped over by a gator!! There they were, drifting to the will of the swamp when upon them came a huge splash, right next to the boat. They all instinctively backed up… to the left…. all of them. This resulted in them almost capsizing. Luckily, they were able to balance out. The rest of the team, myself included went with Myrinda on a walk/tour of the swamp on a boardwalk type thing. This included large 2 inch spiders (sorry Sarah), dragonflies galore, a few gators, and cool little caterpillars. Well, cool until it ‘stung me’. I must admit, however it was kinda fun. Bitter-sweet, like dark chocolate! (But without the anti-oxidants). The entire walk was beautiful, especially the end. It ended with a view of miles of swampy fields and a orange sunset. Don’t worry, it was the pretty type of swampy fields. At the end of both our adventures, it started pouring rain and storming. The lightning was electrifying. Luckily, just figuratively.

Today, we spent the day helping out at Noah’s Ark Missionary Baptist Church as part of our Friday routine. We did a little of everything, including buying and cramming into our van 60 bags of mulch and then proceeding to spread it around the church, cleaning, baking, helping distribute food at their food bank, making phone calls, and purchasing supplies for the first annual Little Women’s Tea Party! (I just made that name up, I’m sure theirs will be better) Which brings me to my next point: the proliferation of urbanized colonizations from 1998 to…. oops, wrong paper! Tomorrow we are putting on a tea party for the girls of Noah’s Ark. There will be tea, apple juice, Sprite ®, chocolate covered strawberries, cheese and crackers, and who knows what else. It promises to be a fun event for both the girls attending and our girls who are putting it on. After that, we are going on a boat swamp tour! But that is a tale destined for another day.

Today was also Jessie’s birthday! Breakfast was incredible! Frosted flakes, just how the birthday girl ordered. After lunch however, Jessie felt a little sick so she rested and felt better… just in time for her party! We stayed in for the night but had some of her good old friends from All Nations Fellowship come to join us. It was a fun event of fellowship, ice cream, dancing, dominoes, and looking up pictures of enormous animals online. It was a whale of a time. Happy Birthday Jessie! May nobody invade your personal space again for the rest of your life.

All in all, being able to work with Zach and Myrinda this week on the All Nations Fellowship building was a lot of fun. They have both been a huge blessing to us. We’re looking forward to partnering with them again next week.

Well, time is far spent and this post is already way too long for most of you. Congratulations if you are reading this right now. Oh and for my college friends, I believe this post is long enough to be a term paper so if any of you are interested, send me a check. (Note to parents: I don’t actually sell papers…….. i like to consider it trading). Until my words meet your brains again, farewell.

Blessings,

Caleb

The building was a fixer-upper (as my parents would say ) to say the least, but God has blessed them abundantly.  Week after week, volunteers have come in to help fix up the church.  Not only that, but free supplies keep coming as well.  It seems that no matter what the task, God sends volunteers fit for the job and the supplies to complete it.  For example, within the month a team is coming in to drywall the upstairs of the church and they already sent the supplies ahead of time!

Our time these past two days has been spent painting the auditorium Bonjour Beige.  Sarah, Beth, and Sam are thrilled to be painting…they have been wanting to the whole trip!  Becca and Jessie have found themselves back on a the scaffolding again, and loving it!  Seth and Caleb are always ready for whatever task comes their way.  It is hard to believe at one point it was just the six of us girls…these two boys have blessed us beyond belief with their love, laughter, and support.

Miss Melanie (the pastor’s wife) has been cooking wonderful dinners for us.  We have gotten to know Pastor Anthony a little bit, but have spent a lot more time with Myrinda (the church secretary and volunteer coordinator) and Zach (who happens to be her boyfriend and the associate pastor of the church).  We have all loved hearing about their faith journeys and how they ended up in New Orleans in particular.  I have the utmost respect for the ministry this church in doing.  Pastor Anthony jokingly said today that he wishes he could hire me, and I sure wouldn’t mind being part of a ministry like ANF.  They see a need and meet it, whether it be hurricane relief, a food bank, a daycare, after school art classes…and they do all of these things for the glory of God and to share the gospel.  Truly inspiring.

Your prayers are always appreciated, and we asked that you are diligent in your prayers in these next couple of weeks.  On Thursday, June 11, we will be partnering with the church to put on a youth event.  This event will be a concert with food and prizes, which we pray will open up the door for share the truth and good news of Jesus Christ.  We will be preparing for this event Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  We will be hanging out in parks with kids and going door to door advertising.  At the concert we will lend a hand wherever is needed, mingle with the kids, and two of us (we do not know who yet…we are in prayer) will be sharing testimonies.  Please pray that God works through us so that we may share his love with many.  Please pray that we are bold in sharing this love and that this event is solely to honor and glorify God.

I should be heading to bed now.  We are now in the second half of our trip and beginning to get a little worn out (but a good worn out!), so we are making sure that we get good nights of sleep.  We want to be as prepared as possible for whatever God has for us.

Tonight I was going to log on to write about my love and connection to this city…but I would have written a short novel.  This is my third time serving here in New Orleans and I am more in love with this city and its people every day.  I know that so much that goes on in this city breaks God’s heart, but I see God’s intimate involvement with the city and the hope that only he can bring.  I am constantly in awe that God involves us in his kingdom that is present, being ushered in, and is yet to come.  We are such broken people, but God invites us to be a part of his plans.  I am in awe that I am the daughter of the God most high and the Creator of the universe.  I am in awe of the supernatural joy, love, hope, and peace God has given me.  I am in process about so many things, but I do know this:  we must love God and love people.

I want to take this time to give a special shout out to Team New Orleans Summer 2008 and Thanksgiving 2008.  You have all helped shape me into the woman I am today and shown me attributes of God that I knew nothing about by just being who he created you to be.  Lesa, Holland, Allegra, Charity, Brent, Dom, Tim, Jena, and Kimy, you have touched me and touched this city with your love for God and your love for people.  Please do not let New Orleans be a one time event for you.  This city needs your prayer daily.  The ministries we worked with thrive off your encouragement, hard work, and common love for Christ.  So many of you helped send me back, and your contribution as one who prays or as one who support financially or otherwise is equally important to the one who goes.

Dad and Mom, I love you!!!

I am actually going to bed now…it is past midnight and Sam and I are the only ones still left up.

With a heart overflowing with joy,
Laura

Laura

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Hello loved ones, 

We have been having such a wonderful time these past few days! Yesterday we spent our last day at Ferncrest Manor volunteering with the elderly residents. We were so blessed by the stories the residents told us and the laughter each and every person brought to our lives. Some of the stories of our day at Ferncrest were : Laura’s trip around the backyard area pushing Lois in her wheelchair and chasing pigeons on their way around, Donald trying to escape from the nursing home to leave with us, having to say goodbye and Mr. Grand Pre tearing up when we said goodbye to him! Leaving Ferncrest was bittersweet because we formed such beautiful relationships with the residents in our short time there and we knew how much we would miss being there. After leaving Ferncrest the girls decided we were tired of looking like we had worked all day and we got dolled up to go out for dinner (the boys didnt need to get dolled up because they always look nice). We took the streetcar down the middle of the most beautiful street that was filled with huge trees and old Southern style houses and ended up at Superior Grille. We were impressed by the Mexican food in Louisiana at the Superior Grille even though Chipotle sounds sooo good right now! Caleb conned me into eating an extremely out of control hot pepper and the entire table came together with their own solution to save me from the fire that was taking over my mouth! Anyways, last night was a lot of fun and a good way to relax after an emotionally draining but enjoyable few days at Ferncrest.

Friday May 29, 2009

Today was one of the best days we have had since being in New Orleans! We spent most of the morning working at Noah’s Ark Missionary Baptist Church doing yardwork and gardening around the church for Pastor (pronounced paaasta) Walker. We got a lot of our work done early and because of a few circumstances (not having the tools we needed to work all day) we were able to return to Ferncrest for family fun day. God completely orchestrated our day so that we could spend more time with our friends at Ferncrest. We ate snoballs, talked to our sweet friends and dominated the Ferncrest team at volleyball (even though they kept messing up the score in their favor haha ). We finished up our volleyball game and headed over to Pastor Walker’s cousin Kim’s house to help her with yardwork. Miss Kim is a beautiful woman of faith. She and her husband’s house was completely destroyed from Hurricane Katrina and after much distress just three months ago they finally were able to reclaim their home and begin working on restoring what they had lost. As much devastation as Miss Kim saw she continued to pray and seek the Lord through it all which is a great testimony for us to hear. After working until about 7:45 pm tonight on her yard she took us for a drive to the end of the block where we witnessed the most breathtaking sunset from the levee. We ended the day with a Target run (SO EXCITING) and some home baked cookies (which had the texture of peanut brittle, but that is no ones fault haha ). 

Thanks everyone for your love and prayers. We are excited about starting our first week of church rebuild for All Nations Church next week and our weekend of rest. 

The End, Beth 

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I hope this post finds you well. It finds me spraying a smelly t-shirt with Lysol in order to have something to wear tomorrow… Anyways, things are winding down here for the night after another long day. I’m personally still adjusting to waking up at 7 in the morning. I have the utmost respect for all you early risers, especially Mom (shameless plug). The last two days we have had the privilege of volunteering at Ferncrest Manor, which is an assisted living home in the Eastern part of New Orleans. We didn’t have a real clear idea of what we would be doing other than that we would be helping out with activities. When we arrived, Miss Cherry, who i think is the activities director, showed us to the activities room (that’s a lot of activities, i know) where we would be spending most of our time. Our participation thus far has included, in no specific order, creating the monthly event calendars for June (the prettiest they’ve ever had they say), helping serve some nachos at the nacho party (even more fun that it sounds), attending the rosary prayer and Bible class, helping pot some vegetables, painting nails, and even helping facilitate the tri-weekly high stakes game of Bingo. Becca did a great job of calling out the numbers. However, the most important thing we have done is simply spending time with the residents. Our main priority has been to socialize as much as possible. Laura made the point that the relational aspect of our ministry at Ferncrest is much more important than the task aspect. Many of the residents really enjoy talking to someone new and we fit the bill perfectly. So many of them had interesting stories and wisdom to share with us. For example, Sarah spent 2 hours today talking to one lady about everything from the weed-choked statue of Mary in the courtyard to war. We have been blessed to interact with so many of them including Thelma, Mary, Joyce, Rosalie, Donald, another Donald, Milton, Maroy, Theresa, Gertrude (the oldest attendee of the Bible class at 101), Alvin, … the list winds ever on. And of course, there’s Lois. From her singing and dancing to her youthful spirit, we have all enjoyed spending time with her. In the same manner, she has realy enjoyed us visiting for the last few days, which is encouraging to us. We will be returning tomorrow to Ferncrest to volunteer for our last day of relational ministry and we are all looking forward to it.

Because it is Wednesday, we also helped out at another event called Wednesday at the Square (original, huh). Every week during the summer, there is a live concert in Lafayette Park/Square (not sure which). This week it was put on by the Youth Leadership Council, though whether or not that is consistent is unknown to me. We worked the water and soda stand, which began with us taking two tickets from the customer. Quid pro quo, we gave them the desired cold beverage of their choice. For our team, it was a chance to help out in a larger setting, which we enjoyed. After a few hours of serving there, it was back to the house for a quick run for 5 of us, debriefing, and an early bed time… Oh wait, that was two hours ago!

Thanks for reading, we really appreciate your support and prayers.

Blessings,

Caleb

I’ve been set to the task of trying to tell you all that we have done this weekend since we returned from St. Bernard’s Parish. Hopefully my description will do it justice. I will try my best, but the reality is that words cannot do this amazing city justice. I speak for the team when I say, “We wish you were all here to experience this with us.”

Saturday afternoon was dedicated to resting since we were all so tired from the week of working on Miss Sandy’s house. Some of us sat on the porch, talked with Pastor Corey (the pastor of the Baptist College Missionary center here at Tulane) , and played games with his daughter Alexis. Others of us (me included) elected to take a much needed nap. Pastor Corey then made a delicious and authentic Cajun dinner. We had rice and sausage from his home town. It was very good, but also very spicy. We are all thankful for the wonderful hospitality he and his wife have already shown us.

Sunday morning we went to Noah’s Ark Missionary Baptist Church where we met Pastor Walker. This sunday was the celebration of his 11th year at the church, which was a really encouraging thing to witness. The love the congregation holds for him was evident in their gifts and the way they talked about him and his family and his character. Even though I hadn’t met him officially yet, after the service, I was convinced that he is a great man who has an even greater concern for the people and the city around him. I am excited to talk with him more and learn about what he is doing to help rebuld New Orleans. Being at Noah’s Ark was an envigorating experience. The congregation’s heart-felt worship drew us all in and connected with us in different ways. Some of us enjoyed being able to worship freely and felt spiritually refreshed after the service. For me, the most impactful thing was just witnessing the joy on the congregation’s faces when they worshiped God and talked about their experiences with him. I love hearing about how other people have connected with God and I gained glimpses of some powerful testimonies.

Then, after a picnic lunch at Audobon Park, we went to walk around in the French Quarter. There were some enjoyable moments like browsing the stalls in the open air market or walking through a print shop or watching a street acrobatic show, but there was also a heaviness present in all our hearts. So much happens in the French Quarter that is not glorifying to God. It breaks my heart to know that most of those people have emotional and spiritual and relational needs that are not being met, so they try to fill their desires with temporal things. I want so badly to be able to give them the hope that I have found. Overall, it was a good experience, but also a trying one. I felt like I could glimpse God clearly throughout the day in moments where the clouds would be exceptionally beautiful or the light would hit a balcony in just the right way. I firmly believe that God’s grace covers all and that he has not abandoned the French Quarter.

Today (Monday, for those of you keeping track), we woke up to an amazing thunder storm! We were hoping to help Pastor Corey with work around the house, but those tasks will have to be postponed for a less precipitous time. Instead, we went out to lunch with Pastor Walker. It was encouraging to me to hear him talk about the economic needs of the people that need to be met, because that is the way I feel called to make a difference. He talked about problems with developers coming in and rebuilding houses for people, but making them too expensive for the old residents to afford. He also works with a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center that helps people escape the temptations of the city by having a rehab center in the wilderness. His dedication to helping people who are in need astounds me. Then, this afternoon, our team walked over to the Tulane campus and prayed for the students there. I felt called to pray for those people who are broken inside, but use temporal things as a solution to the pain. My heart breaks for those who do not know the permeating joy that a relationship with Christ can bring and I am praying that Pastor Corey and the other Christian centers on this campus will be able to reach out and bring hope to this campus.

All in all, it was a wonderful, but trying weekend. God is making his presence known here and I believe that he will continue to reveal more and more of himself and his desire for this city as the days go on. Tomorrow we are going to Ferncrest Manor, an assisted living home in East New Orleans, to help out in any way we can.

Please continue to pray for our team as a whole. We are all processing so many things, about life and our relationships with God and our purpose in missions, but my prayer is that these things will not distract us from our original goal: to serve God by serving his people and to serve his people by showing his love. Thank you for your prayer and support!

~Sarah

P.S. I told my Jr. High girls small group that the next I posted, I would do a shout-out to them. So here it is:  Girls, if you are reading this, know that I love you all so much and have been praying for you!

We were blessed to be in the company of Pastor Rustin and his wife Jeannie. They are awesome people! They fed us (so good!) and provided housing at the church. The church building was such a blessing, and encouraging to know that volunteers did it all. The church relies completely on donations–and you should see how God has provided! As the week went on, we became much closer to Pastor Rustin–and his entire extended family! Those relationships were the most valuable things we found in Saint Bernard.

During the week, we worked construction on Miss Sandy’ house. The drywall had been put up, so we sanded, then mudded, then sanded, mudded, and sanded again! By the end, we completed most of the rooms and put orange peel on a few (way to go Seth!). Again, getting to know Miss Sandy and her family was so important, not only in understanding the city, but in figuring out God’s purpose for this trip.

Thank you all for your support and prayers! Continue to pray for team unity, that we can treat everyone with love, and for sensitivity to God’s voice. Also, a few of our team members are experiencing physical pain, so pray for healing, strength, and diligence to pray for one another.

With love,

Sammie

P.S. I just have to add… crawfish and sweet tea are AMAZING!!!