New Orleans - April 9-15

A Life of Love

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 23:00:00 -0500

Our final full day in New Orleans was amazing from beginning to end. We got to sleep in an extra hour which was much needed by everyone! We went straight to work at Brock’s house to continue our work and get as much finished as possible. Fortunately, even though it was still a beautiful day, this morning it was cooler and offered a more comfortable work environment. This was great considering that we were wearing the same shirt for the third day in a row! We worked on trim, railings, and touch-ups. We got to use a new color today – black oil-based paint that we will be wearing for days! We were given an opportunity today to talk to Brock and he was able to teach us a lot about different ways to paint and he offered a lot of encouragement. At the end of the day, our reward came in seeing and understanding that the effect of our work on Brock and his family and the community was so much more important than the actual work itself.

Late afternoon, half of our group stayed behind to put on some of the finishing touches on the painting and the rest of us headed to the housing projects for the Challenge Circle. Today we were really given a glimpse of life in this community. As we pulled up, we observed the police arresting a teenage boy. At the same time, however, it was awesome to see the kids again and their smiling faces. It was certainly more challenging today as the kids were rambunctious and difficult, but it gave us an opportunity to understand the importance of the attention and love that the children need. The group that stayed at the house had the opportunity to pray with Brock and talk to his son Fred.

After all of our hard work, we tried as best as we could to shower and clean-up from the painting. For our celebration dinner we went to a really fun Cajun restaurant. There was a live band and a dance floor. We met a really nice couple who taught us how to dance and soon we were all on the dance floor. We made our best efforts at dancing and tried some great Cajun food, including alligator!

Our night ended with a “family” meeting on the patio to discuss the week and all that we had learned and hope to take home with us. We are coming back to Greenwich with our eyes opened and a realization of how fortunate we are. We see that there is so much that we can do in our own country and we know that with our faith and the resources we have we can really make a difference.

- Skylar & Lisley

Another Day

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 23:00:00 -0500

Today we continued our regular routine of working from about 9 A.M. till 3 in the afternoon; while the activities scheduled were pretty much the same, we got to spend some more time with the people we were working with after familiarizing ourselves with them yesterday. It was a bit warm outside today so we took frequent water breaks and had the opportunity to converse with Brock, the homeowner, and his grandson Freddy. Getting to spend time with the both of them was fun and interesting, it also served as a way of seeing and understanding what life was like in their neighborhood.

My personal favorite part of the day was the Challenge Circle. Challenge Circle is a time when we get to interact and play games with some of the kids from the projects of the inner city. Yesterday I got to meet a few kids and play a little football with them and I really felt like I got to know a few of them much better. After our fun time at Challenge Circle, we headed over to the yellow house where we had a delicious dinner of red beans and rice cooked by the very locals themselves.

As we ate, our friend and work instructor, Ben Doherty joined us, and we reflected over our days work. So far we had managed to paint almost the whole of the exterior of the house in the same mustardy color we used the previous day, except for the few windows that still needed to be painted white. As we conversed over our delicious dinners, we each felt a tingling sensation in our chests, the feeling of accomplishment and success. Many of us came here without any knowledge of how to paint or climb scaffolding, however over the past two days we had almost mastered both these feats.

As a reward, our dear leaders, Lee and Danielle the Canadian, took us to a wonderful 3d animated movie called, How to Tame Your Dragon. We all loved it and I believe that there would have been no better way to end such a great day.

-Greg & Nick

Expectations

Sun, 11 Apr 2010 23:00:00 -0500

Too often we separate ourselves from others. Our expectations of the day were nothing more than a timely paint job and a couple of games with the neighborhood children. However these beliefs quickly changed after Pastor John’s sermon this morning, which assured us that what we were doing would make a huge difference in the community. His sermon also sent us the message that most things on this trip and in our lives won’t go exactly according to our expectations.

Soon enough we were at the work site, painting a house a delightful pea-green color for a couple named Brock and Gail and their family. They came out multiple times to ask if we needed a refill of paint or a new brush and were very grateful for our help in getting their home looking great. Soon enough the side of the house was painted, and the pain in our calves and knees were proof of our hard work. We expected to get little done and for this to be a timely process, but through teamwork we almost completed a full coat of this house’s paint job in one day.

After leaving the work site we met one of the church’s staff members named Jeremy. Jeremy told us he was a rebel. Our automatic response to the word ‘rebel’ was that a rebel is bad and that they went against everything else, causing trouble. Jeremy told us that he was a rebel that went against what everyone else was doing. While everyone else was around him is doing bad things, he rebelliously does good. He was inspiring and changed our view of the world ‘rebel’.

The final and most important part of today was playing with the children late afternoon in one of the projects. Although it is hard to describe every child who came to play with us, every one of them was more than happy to join in. Not only were they excited for the attention that we gave them but for the love that they know we all share with God. We had an incredible opportunity to share the Gospel with them in a very small way that we hope will have a big impact in their lives.

-Brea and Noelle

Exploring New Orleans

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 23:00:00 -0500

Today we were able to sleep in—kind of! After breakfast we started the day at a southern Baptist church, where there were two other groups of people, one from Danielle’s home country (Canada) and a youth band from California.

Following Sunday morning church, we stood in a packed trolley to the French Quarter of New Orleans. We had beignets at the famous Café du Monde and enjoyed the fun atmosphere of New Orleans. After we ate, we explored the French Quarter by gift shopping, walking around, looking at the street art and listening to the live music. On our walk back to the trolley, we found a stand with free crawfish and took advantage of the delicious seafood.

We came back to the hotel for a quick change and then jumped back into the van to see the destruction of the hurricane in St. Bernard’s Parish, where many of the houses were completely destroyed and now all that stands are the foundations.

At 6pm we arrived at the church that we will be working with this week where there were groups from different towns all over the country that would work with us. They talked to us about what we would be doing in the next couple days and we got to know the different people. We all separated into groups of 3 to 4, and started a prayer session, where we prayed for our town at home, for the sins in our nation, and for energy and protection for the next couple of days.

For dinner we went to the a restaurant called Mother’s where a police officer greeted us and handed us our menus and we got to enjoy some delicious local good – jambalaya, gumbo and fried seafood! After dinner, we had a group meeting, where we talked about the day, and prayed. Can’t wait for tomorrow!

-Chelsea and Alissa

The Fun Begins

Fri, 9 Apr 2010 23:00:00 -0500

We had a great start to our week today! Waking up at six-thirty was challenging but everyone was excited for the day. We all got dressed in our work clothes and headed downstairs for breakfast. We loaded the van and were off to the nature center! When we got there we were greeted by the volunteers there who told us what we were going to be doing for the day. We spent the rest of the morning pulling weeds from around the growing trees so that they could get enough water and grow. After the storm most of the trees had fallen down and they were trying to restore the nature center so that it would go back to how it used to be.

After working very hard for three and a half hours we went back to the hotel to wash up before lunch. For lunch we went to Domilise for po’ boys! This was exciting because many people had never tried them before and they are so good!

After lunch we drove straight to the lower 9th ward. This place was very badly hit by the hurricane and many houses were still not taken care of. There were a lot of lots where there used to be homes that were now empty. We went to see the levees and it was unbelievable to see what used to be there and it was clear that it wouldn’t have held up the water.

After the lower 9th ward we went to Wal-mart to go shopping. Then we got ready to see Lisley get baptized. This was really cool and the lake, Pontchartrain, was beautiful. We headed back to the hotel and got ready to go the dinner at a Mexican restaurant nearby. After dinner we went back to the hotel and had a little free time until it was time to go to bed. We are all excited for another fun day tomorrow!!

~Krista

We’re Here

Thu, 8 Apr 2010 23:00:00 -0500

Not much to report except that we made it safe and sound. With a 7:30 AM call to work, tomorrow morning will come quickly, however.