Day 6: Going Home

It's our last day of this amazing trip! It's bittersweet. In less than 12 hours, I could be using running water, but on the other hand, we have to say goodbye to our new friends, Mouse and Kevin and the other longterm volunteers as well as the students we had served along side of. We hugged our new friends and got into the car, sad to be leaving but excited about the thought of a hot showers. As Stacie, Adrienne, Carrie, and I drove those long hours, I felt like we really were sisters. We had experienced so many fond memories like cracking dozens of eggs into a bucket for breakfast, pulling frozen gizzards out of turkeys, making the drive one night to the construction trailer where we were able to finally take one shower during our trip and having the warm water run out just as the last person was getting into the shower, and countless other fun memories. I felt so blessed to have experienced it. Carrie said to me one day, "I love my life, there is so much variety" as she was flipping burgers. It's so true. I feel very thankful that I have the privelege of being a missionary with Campus Crusade. Not only do I get to change the world every day by influencing and developing the staff that reach college students all over the world, but I get to take a week and minister love and hope to people in New Orleans in their time of need. I am thankful that my family has never had to endure such hardship as losing our home and belongings. I am thankful that my parents are still alive and I get to continue to work to develop relationships with them. I'm thankful that I have salvation in Christ. I'm thankful for more things today after this experience than I was a week ago. God be all Glory and Honor. Thank for reading my little blog. Hope you all had a Thankful Thanksgiving. :)

Day 5 : Thanksgiving Day!

<- Shawn the Chef deep fried 30 turkeys in this huge vat.


Today is our busiest day. We started early in the morning cleaning up the tent, stocking the store, preparing the Thanksgiving meal, and generally running around in all directions getting ready to serve Thankgiving lunch and dinner. I ended up being in charge of organizing the serving of the meal. It was very hectic and crazy to try to serve that many meals in a very short period of time. It was a flurry of servers and food, but we finally got in the groove. It was a very good day.

That afternoon, we were resting for a bit when Kevin asked us to get in our car because we were going on a little trip. What I didn't know at the time was that one of the students from Boston is a very talented woman who is getting her Masters Degree in Art Education from Harvard. She had mentioned to Kevin that she would love to work with kids. So, Shawn, our chef, was taking us to the housing projects! Shawn knew many of the families there so we decided to go on a Thanksgiving visit. We met a wonderful family who welcomed us into their apartment with open arms and warm greetings. We were able to sit with them for a bit before Shawn took off across the field looking for one of his favorite little buddies. Shawn found his little friend, Maleik (pictured right) along with about 10 other neighborhood kids who all followed Shawn like he was the Pied Piper. We all decided to run down and meet the kids in the grass area outside and before we knew it, there were a ton of kids all running around us. I've never run around with so many kids on piggy back before. It was SO much fun. We were able to finally pull ourselves away to get back to the camp after promising that the girl from Boston would be back in a couple of days with art supplies to do a big art project with all the kids. It definitely was the highlight of my time in New Orleans.

We finally got back just in time as the Pastor Tim was finishing up his evangelistic Thanksgiving sermon to the crowd in the dining hall. It was such a blessing to be there as several hands went up to indicate their decision to receive Christ.

What a day!

Day 4: Oregon Kids

Today, many of the college kids left but more keep coming. As an added blessing to my heart, two groups of college kids from Eugene, Oregon arrived. They attend Univ of Oregon (where I serve with Crusade in my first assignment on staff) and Northwest Christian College (right across the street from UO). They did wonders for the "store" and worked so hard that it made my heart proud. :) Here they are bagging buckets and buckets of dried nectarines. (It's interesting the kinds of donations that come in). Also a group of students from Boston arrived just in time for Thanksgiving.

We took a bus tour of the city today. We were able to go to the world famous French Quarter, where business is back to normal and fully operational, only a few miles away from some of the worst damage. It was such a stark contrast as we ate beignets at the famous Cafe DuMonde and then took a tour of the 9th District- one of the worst hit areas.

Day 3: Out in the neighborhood

Today, we are able to get in small groups and go out into the community to minister. We filled our cars with food and water and hit the roads. It was so hard to see all the destroyed homes knowing that each home represents a family and lives shattered. We came up to two women sitting on the steps of their home. We went up to ask how they were doing and offer some encouragement and prayer. They were sisters who were waiting on some people to come and help gut out their parent's home. Their dad had been evacuated to a hospital in TX since he was undergoing cancer treatments when the hurricane hit. One of the sisters told us through tears about how they didn't have flood insurance and they couldn't pay anyone to gut their home. We were able to pray with them and offer some comfort. It was so amazing that no one would refuse our prayers. We would ask big burley construction workers if we could pray for them and they would put their stuff down and hold our hands in a circle so we could pray for them. Hearts are so tender and ripe for the Lord there.

This type of ministry is really on the hearts of Kevin and Mouse (pictured with me). They are the two leaders that Campus Crusade sent to organize all the college students who come to serve. They are WONDERFUL. Kevin just came off an one-year mission with Crusade in the Carribean and now he's living at the Good News Center and helping to run the facilities. Mouse is a sweet and beautiful servant. She decided to take a break from college to serve at the Good News Center. They both have taken on incredible leadership at such young ages. It was a blessing to be able to encourage and ministered to Kevin and Mouse. One night, the Sisterhood girls kidnapped Mouse and Kevin and took them to one of the only places we found open, a Raising Cane's fast food restaurant. Oh well, at least it was a break from the camp.

Day 2 : Cooking up a Storm

Each morning we start with a devotion by Jerry Davis, the director of Good News. Then we organize and get to work. There are about 90 of us today with Crusade students from New Mexico, Missouri and Ohio who have all sacrified their Thanksgiving holiday to be here. Today we're serving meals and getting the Distribution Center stocked. We call it the "store" but everything is free. It's so cool to see the donations that really do make it to the hands of the people who need it. When I volunteered in Orlando to collect donations, I wondered how all this stuff would actually get to those in need, but we are amazed at how it keeps coming day after day.

We are serving over 300 meals each lunch and dinner. Most of the people who are coming for meals or supplies are people who are working to rebuild the city. They are the ones who have stayed or come from other places with no place to live. Most live in tents on the City Park property. They have no running water and can't cook their own meals. They have given up alot to stay or move here to help rebuild. Some people who have lost homes are just starting to come back to see their homes. We hear their stories when we sit with them in our dining room over meals. Scotty (pictured with me) is one of my favorite guys. He's got a very tender heart for the Lord. He comes here for every meal, not only for the hot meal we provide but for the spiritual encouragement and fellowship.

Cooking for this many people takes alot of work and ALOT of food. Tonight Carrie and I literally flipped hundreds of hamburgers in our little portable kitchen. Look at all those green beans!

I am so impressed with the servant hearts of our college students here. One of the girls from New Mexico State shared with us how she led a Mongolian construction worker to Christ using a Russian tract and a translation dictionary. The next day, when he came back, anther student shared with him about the filling of the Holy Spirit using that dictionary and lots of drawings. I love our students!

Day 1 : The Road Trip

Me, Stacie, Tawnny, Carrie, Adrienne

The 11 hour road trip was much better than I expected in our rented Minivan. It was actually really fun. Rick (the Crusade coordinator in Orlando) actually called us the Sisterhood of the Traveling Face Masks. :)
The Sisterhood is made up of Stacie, who is petite, cute, bubbly, very organized and best of all, she's from Washington! Then, there's Adrienne. She's beautiful, smiley, she loves to travel, and really loves to get involved in the lives of people. Carrie is one of our National Directors, kind of intimidating at first until you realize very quickly how sincere and genuinely caring she is. She absolutely loves people and people love her. She is an amazing woman. Finally, there's Tawnny. She's on staff with Crusade in New Mexico and she met us there. She's very sweet and has a very tender way of communicating with people. That's the Sisterhood. Of course there's me. I don't know the girls as well as they all know each other but I like them already and know that we will get along very well. I didn't know it then but we would soon become the Sisterhood of the No Showers. :)

As we drove into LA and got closer and closer to the areas affected by the hurricane, we were amazed as we passed huge billboard posts snapped in half like toothpicks. It was hard seeing the devestation even from the road. We found our way to the Good News Camp, which was set up on the corner of City Park. As soon as we got out of the car, we were thrown into the flurry of activity.

Before long it was time for bed. We quickly transformed the huge tent which is our dining area into our sleeping quarters by putting up cots and turning on the heaters. Being from the NW, you'd think that I would love this "camping out" stuff, but I'm actually not really good at it. Give me running water any day. Well, at least we have Port-a-potties. :)

Thanksgiving in New Orleans

I'm going to New Orleans for Thanksgiving!!! I'm kind of nervous and excited at the same time about the week of Hurricane Relief work. Ever since I heard that we were sending our college students on weekend trips to the Gulf Coast for hurricane relief, I've had a desire to go. It something that's been on my heart for a while. I think I just really desire for my Thanksgiving to be meaningful. Since I wouldn't be going home for Thanksgiving, I hope that God could use me and the little time I'm giving to Him for His glory in New Orleans. That's my prayer this week. Besides, it takes away the possibility of fighting the crowds on the busiest shopping day of the year. :)

My heart does tell me that it's the best way for me to spend Thanksgiving. I'm getting more and more excited. Please pray for me that I would be Spirit led and be an encouragement and servant to the needs in New Orleans.