NOLA Week one - The first Teams!

The intern crew (minus Ryan, plus Carrie)

The first week of hosting volunteer teams is almost over. It has been quite the adventure! We hosted two large teams this week; one from Green Bay, Wisconsin and one from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. All told we had almost 60 volunteers! Oh, and Tristan is here! The final intern has arrived and now our family is complete! This week was absolute craziness at times, but everything worked out well in the end. God is very good. 

My week was rather spread out all over the place, as I continued learning aspects of the ministry. I spent Monday and Thursday morning in the office with the ladies, particularly Jessica, to begin training in my role this summer as volunteer coordinator. I'm definitely still adjusting to my schedule and responsibilities, but it is stretching and challenging in a good way. At this time I am in charge of creating the cleaning schedules for the volunteer teams, picking up Starbucks pastry donations, and pulling/distributing the volunteer t-shirts. I really enjoy putting together the cleaning schedules. I have to take all the numbers, organize them into the proper groups and then assign them to different duties throughout the week. It's like one big puzzle! :) 

Ronald Lewis

On Tuesday I joined the discipleship team in a tour of different parts of New Orleans. We visited several homeowners at the work sites, had a surprise visit to a Mardi Gras Indian culture museum, saw the Wetland Triangle, and drove around the upper and lower Ninth Wards. Meeting Miss Pat was one of the highlights of that day. She lives in a duplex, with one side completed for her to live in and the other side still a work in progress. She is a believer, and has such an exuberant, passionate personality. Her love for her "Papa" and her desire to share that love with anyone she comes in contact with is contagious! It was humbling to see someone living in such a different circumstance than I am used to with a joyful, grateful attitude. 

The Mardi Gras Indian museum was mind boggling. I had no idea that there are so many sub-cultures attached to Mardi Gras, nor how diverse it all is. Everything is pretty much a huge conglomeration of the different cultures that had a presence in the New Orleans area. Ronald Lewis runs this little museum, and he is a wellspring of history and stories. I encourage anyone to venture down to the Lower Ninth Ward and visit this little known spot. His trailer is chock full of costumes, masks, pictures, books, and other memorabilia. I even got to try on a very feathery head dress! 

I tried on this head dress. :)

Driving around the Upper and Lower Ninth is sobering. Each neighborhood is unique and varied. You'll see a perfectly new house right next too a dilapidated house, next to an empty, grassy lot, where a house used to be. Much of these neighborhoods are still empty. People simply didn't or can't come back. So many homes stand unfixed or uninhabited. There is great need here. 

Breakfast with the volunteers.

Sylvia and Lee Ann!

Most of my week revolved around mealtimes with the volunteers. The whole intern team worked so hard at serving, helping Lee Ann (the cook), hosting, and just interacting with the teams. It was fun, but made for VERY long days. I love being there to serve. It's so nice to be able to find ways to use my God-given strengths! Last night was intern-declared "superhero night", so we all wore our superhero t-shirts and led the teams in a superhero prayer! We find all sorts of ways to have fun. No challenge there. :) 

So far this has been one of the most challenging, stretching, and growing experiences I have ever walked through. It's kind of scary at times and definitely hard, but I remember praying for God to grow me in my faith and bring me closer to Him. All of this is so obviously an answer to that prayer that I can't help but praise Him. Thank you, Jesus, from Whom all blessings flow! 



 
Ways you can be involved: 

PRAY:
*Strength and grace in the coming weeks.
*Safety this weekend as the intern crew travels to Minneapolis for training.
*Blessings and growth for the incoming teams next week (we have three!).
*Energy and resources for the staff as they begin next week without the interns.
*Continued faith in God as I walk forth in His will.

GO: 
*Consider bringing a team here to New Orleans, or Staten Island, NY, or Estes Park, CO. 
*Consider an internship-couple months or a year or two! 

GIVE:
All staff and interns are support funded. This means they raise financial support from friends and family like you so they can live in this ministry. Everyone is in need of continued support.

Just message/email/text me if you have any questions. I will answer them or put you in contact with someone who can! 

Reach Global Crisis Response Website

https://reachglobalcrisisresponse.wordpress.com/

Me, standing by one of the levees in the Lower Ninth Ward.