New Orleans mission trip - having fun

Our mission team left New Orleans on Friday morning. Some of the group came on back Friday night, and the rest came in on Saturday. Today I thought I would post some of the humorous pictures I took during the week. Although we worked hard, we also had a lot of fun, as you can see.
Woody worked hard installing a toilet, so he had an excuse for sitting down on the john-- I mean, on the job. I was caught by surprise in this picture while eating ice cream. We kept playing pranks on one another and acting silly. Julie wanted to recycle the paper lunch bags, so a prankster glued the inside of the bags together so that the next morning when Judy started to make our lunches, the bags wouldn't open. One day they packed a bag for "Sam" and "Roger," when we had nobody on our team by that name, and in one of the bags a mustard and peanut butter sandwich. Somebody tied James's shoes together, and James said he figured something would happen to him, since he was the main instigator of many of the pranks. Items would disappear and then reappear later.
Several times we would get lost, and every time we got lost, we seemed to end up circling the Super Dome. It got to be a joke that we had to come see another side of the Super Dome. Becky got a tiny cut on her arm, and Woody acted like it was a major injury in need of a tourniquet. We saw a poster advertising a concert by a group called "Slighty Stoopid" and that phrase became a favorite phrase if we did anything dumb. Dan the coffee man really enjoyed the coffee and beignets at the Cafe du Monde. In fact, Dan also enjoyed the coffee at the Community Coffee House, and the coffee at Celebration Church, and the coffee at Cracker Barrel, and anywhere else he could find coffee. And I had to include this picture of Glenn pointing to home in the map at the seaport ministry, mainly because it reminds me of all his funny expressions. Here are a few of his quotes:
"Elvis is dead, and I don't feel too good myself."
"I'm like Daniel Boone. I've never been lost a day in my life. I've been bewildered for weeks at a time, but never lost."
"We the unwilling, led by the unknowing, have been doing the impossible with nothing at all for so long that we are now qualified to do anything with nothing at all."

New Orleans mission trip - Thursday

Today was our final day of work at the two homes where we were doing repair. Lester and his crew got a lot of cabinets installed, and we even did a little painting in the home on Leonidas Street. The work on the house on South Claiborne seemed so painstakingly slow, but the paint is now stripped from the boards and trim and doors, so the next crew will be able to paint.
We shared gifts with the neighbors at each locations who allowed us to use their water, etc. Mrs. Williams, the neighbor on South Claiborne, was really excited to get her gift. We had prayed with her earlier in the week.
After dinner, we went to the French quarter and got some beignets (French donuts) in the famous Cafe du Monde near the Mississippi River.
Tomorrow we head home!

New Orleans mission trip - Wednesday

We worked hard at the job sites on the two homes, today, and then we visited the seaport ministry in New Orleans. As you can see in the picture, they have computers and games and lots of Bibles in 75 languages for people to read. They also have telephones, and they give seafarer's a ride to Walmart. They have more ships come through the port of New Orleans than any other port in the world.
There's a picture of our whole group in front of the map at the entrance to the seaport ministry, and a picture of the chow line at Celebration Church where we are lodging.

New Orleans mission trip - Tuesday

Today we continued work on the two homes. The work is hard and slow. The team on South Claiborne continues to strip paint from boards. The team on Leonidas Street was installing cabinets and fixing wiring. Judy is feeling better today (she was not feeling well yesterday) and she worked with us.
Tonight we went door-to-door again for the new church in Kenner, in suburban New Orleans. We left information at 55 homes, including 37 homes where we talked to people in person. We found 12 prospects for the church. I shared the gospel with a Muslim family who listened politely and took a Christian CD from us.

New Orleans mission trip - Monday

Today we began work on the two homes in New Orleans. The work is tedious and slow. Some of us are stripping paint from boards and trim in a house. Others are fixing things under a house, a threshold, and getting it ready to put in cabinets. We met the daughter and granddaughter of the homeowner, Mrs. Graham (see the picture above.)
Tonight we went door-to-door visiting in a neighborhood in Kenner, a suburb of New Orleans, representing a new church, Crescent City Rock. The church is a Southern Baptist church plant meeting in a local YMCA. We talked to people in 30 homes, left information at another 25, for a total of 55 homes, and we found 4 homes that are good prospects for the church. The area is heavily Roman Catholic. Pray for Pastor Jim Louviere (LOU-vee-aye) as he starts this new church. (You can see him above wearing an LSU shirt and talking to James McElveen.)

New Orleans mission trip - Sunday

Today we left our hotel in Mobile, Alabama, and drove to church services at First Baptist Church, Biloxi, Mississippi. We ate lunch in Slidell, Louisiana, then we drove to our lodging at Celebration Church, located on Airline Highway in Metairie, about two miles west of the New Orleans city limits. Compared to where we stayed last year, the lodging this year has less privacy, as we have to share a bunch of bunk beds in a large room, but the building is nicer and nearer to New Orleans and our work site.
There are two other groups staying here to do mission work. One is from Maryland, and another from Massachusetts. In the pictures above, some of the group from Massachusetts are unloading. Some of the other church group volunteers are also repairing homes, and some of them are doing VBS and other ministry in New Orleans.
Celebration Church owns a big shopping center, and they rent out shops on the right end of the shopping center, and they have their church on the left side. They have a second location where they currently have worship, as they repair this location's worship center. After orientation, we drove to the two houses we will be working. Pictured above is one of the houses we will repair, located on Claiborne Avenue in New Orleans, and then there is a picture of the view from the rocking chair on the porch of another home we will repair, looking across the street. We met the neighbor of the first home, and they told us the homeowner is named Mrs. Green, she is 70 years old, and she and her family live with her in another part of town until they can repair their home and come back. Pray for Mrs. Green, and pray for our witness to Mr. and Mrs. Williams, the neighbors who were so friendly.

New Orleans mission trip begins

We have a team of 14 volunteers from First Baptist Church of Rincon, who are going on a mission trip to New Orleans. We are on our way. Today we drove to Mobile, Alabama, where we are staying overnight. On the way through Georgia, we stopped at Lane's Packing near Fort Valley for some peach ice cream, of course!
On Sunday, we will drive to First Baptist Church of Biloxi, Mississippi, for worship at their early service, then continue to New Orleans. Work begins on Monday.

Operation Noah - Thursday

We finished work today, although there remains work to be done before the Jackson's can get into their home. Lou, the crew chief from Operation Noah, said that we had given this couple hope that it can happen and they can eventually get back into their house. They had been trying to do a little here and there and hire a few work crews when they had the money, and they were discouraged and feeling they would never get into the house. But we got so much done this week, that they now have new hope. Becky took a "Before" and "After" picture of the outside of the house, and the difference inside was even more dramatic. "Glenn's Wall" is now painted and looks great, as do the baseboards and tile in many of the rooms.
We took up a collection and bought a Home Depot gift card for Mr. Willie across the street, as a thank you for him letting us use his water all week to wash our hands, wash our brushes, etc. He was touched, and we hope that we left a good witness to him as well as to Julie and Tony Jackson. But the other part that was such a blessing was how our team of 12 got to know each other. We had devotionals together each night, sharing and praying. We joined hands to pray over meals and enjoyed fellowship as we ate together and worked together. We came to help rebuild New Orleans, and we are leaving with a new bond built with one another.

Operation Noah - Wednesday

We had a great day on Wednesday and got a lot done.
Julie, the homeowner, came by again with her daughter and granddaughter (picture with Frances). They were really excited and grateful to see the progress we are making. They showed us pictures they took after the hurricane, showing how devastating it was before they began renovating. I just wish we could finish the house this week, but it will probably take at least one more team to get the house ready for them to live in it.
A man came by from the power company and stopped just to thank us for what we are doing and to say that he knew the couple we were helping, and that "if anybody deserved help, they do." It has been so rewarding to play a small part in the rebuilding of their lives.
Pray for safety as we are climbing on ladders a lot to paint outside. Also pray for the neighbor across the street, "Mr. Willie," who has really warmed up to us and today invited us all over to his house. He is Roman Catholic. I did not have an opportunity to talk to him about his personal faith, although we did talk about his attendance at a local Catholic church.

Operation Noah - Tuesday

Today we got a lot of work done at the house, which is located in the Upper 9th Ward of New Orleans. Glenn built his sheetrock wall to cover a huge hole with a lot of help from Frances, and Dan and James also put down a lot of baseboards and thesholds. Most of the rest of us painted or helped them with those projects. Julie and Debra spent a lot of time painting the baseboards. Bob scraped the ceiling of the porch and Bob, Milton and Becky painted a lot outside, while Mary, Pat and Greg painted a lot inside.
There are a lot of druggies in the area who will steal anything to sell it for drugs, so we had to keep a constant watch on our supplies, and after we finished we had to take it with us or hide it so they couldn't look in the windows and see what was there. We may have hid the equipment from the thieves, but the love bugs found us, and we had them even get into the paint!
The owners, Tony & Julie Jackson, came by to see the work and we got to talk to them. Julie came in the middle of the afternoon after getting out of class. She is going to school to be a nurse. Tony got off work early from his job at a container company, and came by to see us in the late afternoon as we were finishing for the day. Here is a picture of Julie with James, Mary, Dan, Milton and Becky, and a picture of Tony with Brother Bob.
We learned that Tony & Julie's home had about 5 feet of water inside it after Katrina. The water was actually 8 feet deep, but the house is about 3 feet off the ground. They went to Texas, then Hurricane Rita made them flee Texas and go to Georgia. After over a year and a half, they were able to come back, but they are having to rent a place in East New Orleans while they try to fix up their house. He said, "We go two steps forward and then two steps back," because their house has been broken in twice. The thieves even stole his door. The good thing is that his neighbors watch his house and report anything to the police.
Tony and Julie are Baptists, although Tony admitted to me that his work had kept him from attending church much. We prayed with both of them, and Tony was eager to get a "Here's Hope" New Testament in modern English. They were very excited about what we were doing and very appreciative. Tony said, "Everybody here knows what Operation Noah is." Since June of 2006, there have been 25,000 volunteers with Operation Noah in New Orleans who have completed 1735 jobs, including 169 homes completely rebuilt, 18 churches completed, and 407 people have accepted Christ as Savior!
Pray for the safety of our equipment from thieves, and pray for Tony & Julie as they rebuild their lives.