New Orleans - 12

Hey Guys,
We had our last full day in NOLA today. Our groups finished up the work they were doing with the various organizations. Gumbo had their last day with NENA working in the Lower Ninth Ward. We worked on Mrs. Bobbie's house, which was the same house we worked on yesterday. We finished getting the yard flattened out which was a big project. She was so grateful, and her thankfulness really touched a lot of our youth. During our Family Time tonight, many of them shared about how seeing people who have so little be so thankful has really showed them how true faith can look. We also watched a video that Pastor Mike brought us which was pictures of the storm from the various news outlets set to music. It was a very powerful experience. Seeing the pictures that some of us had seen before we came, and now seeing them after having seen the actual destruction of the area first-hand made everything seem more real and tangible.

VBS had their last day today. From the beginning we weren't sure how many kids would show up for that, whether we would get 5 or 30, but after everything was over, the final count was 48 kids. It may not seem like a lot to a big church, but Pastor Mike was talking about how huge a number that was for a small church in the middle of the city in New Orleans after Katrina. All of the families had been touched by how happy and excited their kids were too. One of the parents asked for information on how to get in better contact with the Church because of the ministry of the VBS and Sports Camp.

To close out our time here, there was a BBQ (the church does it Monthly) where the whole neighboorhood was invited, we specifically invited all of the families from VBS and the sports camp to come, and many of them did. It was a fantastic time of fellowship and community bonding.

After that was all said and done, we set about cleaning the church. We have just now finished almost all of the tasks and are headed to bed now. (everyone else is in bed as I write this) Bright and early tomorrow we will leave for Wichita Falls, TX where we will spend the night tomorrow night before heading home on Sunday. Keep an eye out for short cell-phone posts while we are on the trip back indicating our progress.

We've had a fantastic week and almost everyone is sad to leave. It really does feel like this week has flown by. We have done so much here, and yet there is still so much to do. I'm headin to bed. Good night.

-- Spencer Norman, High School Assoc. Director