The Curious Caves: Love That New Olreans

We spent July 29th-August 4th in New Orleans with a few of our college students. At the beginning of the year, we decided as college leadership, that it would be important for us to go on a mission trip. But where to? After some conversations with ministers at our church, we decided to go to New Orleans because of prior relationships that were established. It was our first time to be on the planning end of a trip and I was more than nervous on a few occasions- making sure paper work was done on time, gathering student money, planning when to go where in the city, etc. It was a learning experience!

There were 10 of us all together... 4 leaders and 6 students. We drove one 12 passenger van and our little Corolla. We stayed at Annunciation Missions which is a church that has several rooms full of bunk beds and dorm style bath on the hall. They fed us breakfast and dinner and sack lunches that we took with us to our work site. James and Jean are the staff members there who pretty much keep the place running. They were so welcoming and did anything they could to make us feel at home. James is originally from the Lower 9th Ward where the levy broke during hurricane Katrina. He took us to the neighborhood and showed us what remains. There are a few houses rebuilt, but mostly lots that have seven years of overgrowth on them. The levy has been rebuilt and there are even houses just across the street from it again. We were so thankful to James for letting us hear his story and ask questions about a very traumatic time.

We worked with a church called Vintage Church. They have a couple of campuses in the New Orleans area, and the one we helped at was in an area called Metairie. We quickly learned that the people of New Orleans stick pretty close to their neighborhoods. So even though the church got it's start uptown, the people of Metairie weren't interested in going too far from home and decided to join with a church in the area that was dying out. They have been remodeling and working to build the church for about a year. Now that they have a good body established, they are starting to reach out and invite the community to come visit. Our work with them was two-fold. First, we went into the community to spread the word. We went to a park to pass out water bottles with the church label on them. Our kids were nervous to start conversations in this way, but they were champs! On another day we went to a local mall and passed out business cards with the church info on them. This was also nerve wracking for us, but it was amazing to hear our group talk later about how they surprised themselves and were able to do this so easily. Some of them are really excited to keep practicing their new skill of sharing Jesus with people!

The other part of our work at Vintage church was to help them update what will become the children's area. They are a church of growing families and need classrooms and space for the kids that are growing! We painted and painted and painted. Door frames, walls, doors, ceiling grids, and maybe even ourselves a little. I was so proud of the way that everyone stayed busy the whole time and really got a lot accomplished.

The best part of the trip for me was to watch our students get to know each other and love each other! We have been praying for unity and commitment among our students and from day two of the trip it was easy to see it start to happen. We are excited to move into the school year with this momentum and are praying that the many members who didn't get to go on the trip will catch the enthusiasm of the other students. It has been neat to hear the students share about what they learned. Totally worth a few nerves leading up to the trip!

I think we all fell in love with the people of New Orleans. They have such a welcoming and thankful spirit. Everywhere we went, people expressed their thanks for our help. They were so willing to share their stories and city with us. We can't wait to go back! Here's a few pictures of the fun. :)