Hope Givers

We wanted to get out as early as possible today since it was our last day and we still had a good bit at John house to finish. We got up, ate breakfast, and were in the car by 7:30am. We got to the House about 8:00am and we all gathered in one of the downstairs rooms. We took a little time to get organized and get the teams split up so that our work could be more effective. After a time for prayer for the day and the house we got started.
John had requested that Jake Martin work directly, so Jake was really excited. We just about finished the upstairs of the house and when you look around it seem like you were right in the middle of extreme makeover. People everywhere you look talking and borrowing tools and hammering, it was crazy. John mentioned that he wanted to get us lunch today so that was awesome. Everybody worked really steady and hard. I think we got more work done this morning than some of the other full days. I know John really appreciated it cause he mentioned it several times, "man you guys are awesome."
At lunch time John brought over a whole pot full of spicy jumblia and we destroyed it. It was so good I hand Jenna get the resapie from John. It was like a sausage and shrimp Jumblia and it was kinda spicy. Some of the crew work through lunch and just kinda ate on the run and others took about 30 min.
Before lunch Jake told me that John was asking him a lot of question and sharing a lot too. It almost took us all by surprise. They basically were talking about Christ most of the time. John said that he thinks of himself as a Peter. Someone who makes plenty of mistakes but love God. Later on I John was talking to one of the other leaders of Noah and told him that he is a Christian. Its amazing the impression that we get from people cause they are different from us. The neighborhood, the environment, the experiences that John has been through have made him hard toward some things. Definitely more rough on the outside then us, but exactly the same on the inside. Just a man with a heart that cant survive with out Christ.
Don from Noah stopped by and helped us gather all our tools and clean up. It took us about an hour to pack everything and get ready to leave. Jenna and Hannah had the assignment of getting a photo album ready and a couple of pictures frames for us to give out as gifts. Matt Short had already provided us with bibles to give out so we put those in the package. When we were all done cleaning up we gathered in the main room to say a few words to John. It turned into a time of John saying a few words to us. He told us, "you know the world is a mess, but for the first time you students give me Hope." He probably said that about 5 times, "You kids give me Hope." He told Jake earlier that our group is what true Christianity looks like. We had a word of prayer for John and his home and said our good buys. I honestly wish that I could stay and help him finish his home. He is a really good man and the high light of the day was seeing a genuine smile on his face. The kind of smile that makes you smile cause you can just feel the joy in the other person. It was awesome.
We packed in the car and headed to the warehouse to drop off the tools and then went back to the church for a quick change. We had plans to go visit Mr. Chris and Margery so we were kinda in a hurry. We got over there about 5:30 and were greeted with his big dogs (super friendly) and them. They had a huge spread of BBQ chicken and beans and sausage and more waiting for us. Everybody was petty hunger and the smell was amazing. We sat and at and talked for about 2 hours. The shared stories of the community and what has been going on. The neighborhood actually look a lot better than last year. Most of the debris had been picked up and it didn't feel as empty. It was great to see them. We even saw the plant we gave them last year on there table and it had grown. It was really special.
Well everybody was pretty tired so we decided to head back to the church instead of going back downtown. We stopped by a Bubble Tea and Ice Cream place on the way home. Bubble Tea is like an Asian style tea/coffee drink. Its different but really good. We were there for like an hour just hanging and having fun. After everybody got there order and we were done we started heading out. I felt like I should give the guy behind the counter one of these life/death cards that had the gospel on it. We ended up talking and I found out that he grew up Catholic, like me. I started to share with him about John 3 and he was very open. He was asking me questions and we went through the gospel. A few costumers came in and interrupted our conversation so I went outside. I really didn't want to miss this opportunity so we stayed and waited. Jenna reminded me we had a couple of those bibles Matt Short gave us, thank you Matt. We waited around and had prayer. When I went back in he was still really open. He received the bible and was really open. I told him how he could be born again and ask if he wanted to. He said yes. We prayed and he pray (with out me telling him) "Jesus I have sinned. Forgive me. I want to be reborn. Come to me. Ok." It was awesome. We talk some more about reading the Bible and I placed a marker in John 3 and we read that story together. He said he never read the bible before but he wouldn't have taken the bible if he didn't promise to read it. Praise God. We have been praying for Salvation and I believe that God is and will do so much more simple through all the work that has been done down hear but tonight He allowed us to see one first had. Praise God.
We all came back to the church and the serving team was waiting for us at like 10pm. It awesome. They had nachos and games and prizes waiting for us. We spent the rest of the night having fun and sharing. I am almost in tears right now cause this is so beautiful. The Kingdom of God. Amen.

Day 4 Working hard for the money

This should actually start at the end of day 3 because as i was finishing that blog God was just working. The servant team hear (the ones that cook all the food and take care of the facilities) are a group from Alabama. They are truly wonderful people and the students are really growing to love them. Katie and Kayla were talking to two of the older ladies for about and hour. There was some crying laughing and it finished with about a 15 min prayer time. Amen.
It was just a little bit harder to wake up in the morning. A couple of the team has been feeling sick, so sleep was feeling good. One of the team forgot to set the alarm so we had some scrabbling, it was funny to watch. We all pack up about 7:30 and headed out. We decided to switch some of the team around since Team 1 was almost done with all the dry wall and Team 2 still had tones of dry wall left. James said that they would be finished with there house but the afternoon and he was right. The house looks awesome. I took a small video and will try to add it if possible. It was about a 2000 square foot house that they finished. Don, the team leader, was really impressed with the quality of work. We never got a chance to meet the owner but her really close friend stop by and was taken back. We gave him the bible we had for her and Brandon spent a good bit talking to him outside. He said that Stephanie is going to try to come by the other house tomorrow.
At the second house it was an awesome day. We got a lot of work done and finished the main room up stairs. Each room in the house has about 15 foot ceilings so it a much harder task and if you have ever put dry wall on the ceilings you know what I mean. John was there before lunch and started to work with us again. Brandon had a great idea of packing him a lunch and he really appreciated it. He was like, "Man you pack this lunch for me? For me?" It was cool. He told me that he was going to share about his experience with the Hurricane tomorrow so that should be awesome. He has been through so much, 3 faulty contractors, one took 50,000 basically all he had. You can only imagine.
With the rest of the crew coming over at lunch we were able to get a lot more finished and started working on the downstairs. The student did a good job with there attitudes. Its really easy when your tired, and there are 10 people in one room working to snap at each other but they really did good. Please continue to pray for this kind of unity. We wrapped up about 4 pm and headed back to the church. We had to clean up quick cause we were going down to the french quarted.
After dinner each night the whole crew here does a devotion. I had asked Hannah if she would play worship and for Jake to share. It was awesome. Hannah played "How great the fathers love for us" and Jake shared his testimony and serving in the mist of suffering. One of the staff came up to me and was in tears afterward, truly touched by the Lord.
We wanted to have a little fun tonight so we headed down town for some sight seeing. It was tons of fun. Just walking around seeing the Hardrock cafe, the Presbyterian, some cannon, and we all at at cafe du mond. We also ate with a homeless person/my wife. See photo bellow. The student loved it and took a lot of pictures. We stopped by a gift shop and got a few nick nacks and were headed home. It was lights out as soon as we got back. We got a hold of Mr. Chris form last year and will be going to his house for a BBQ today. Were really excited about that. So please be in prayer for that and for our last day with John. Pray for Salvation.

Day 3 Open doors.

The coffee was great this morning and so were the pancakes. A couple of students were up early this morning seeking the Lord and reading their bibles. Thats is always a blessing to see. We hit the road and headed straight to the job site's so we got there a little earlier. Jerry Wayne got the whole group fired up in the van with a little Hardcore christian music, always a wonderful choice a 8am :). Team 1 Headed straight in the house and started working. They have finished most of the large drywall areas so today was a little more tedious. Kayla and Katie were busy on the mud and the tape as the rest of the crew was hanging drywall.
At house number two we were waiting for the owner John to get there in the morning to open up the house and we started to pray together. It was great timing because that is when John pulled up in his car. Not that it was a huge deal but I really thought it was good that he was there. He ended up staying with us to work the entire day, it was great, we really got a chance to build a relationship with him today.
OK so funny story of the day. At one point the girls down stairs ( Jenna, Hannah, Ciera, and Rachael) were listening to classical music. John had asked Tony to help him hang some dry wall. All of a sudden Tony says, "I cant stand this music and more I need some Rap." John started busting out laughing so hard, it was awesome. From that moment on Tony's new name, given to him by John, is RAPPER. You doing OK Rapper. Hey Rapper come help me out with this wall. I love nick names.... Rapper
All joking aside it was a great tool to help us build a relationship with him. Toward the late after noon John stopped the ice Cream truck and got us all ice cream. Its just great, I mean John is a hard man, and lives in a hard community but these students are opening doors.
At one point there was a plumber (sean), neighbor (Ronny) that we had a chance to share Christ with. Sean said that he was working with a pastor but were still going to pray for him, not sure if he is saved. He will be there tomorrow. Ronny was a short man with tattoos all over his are and a couple on his face. He was sitting outside his house watching his kids play on bikes and run around. He appreciated that Life/death tracks that we gave him and he said that he would pass them out to his friends. He also said that he would stop by to say hello. Lets pray that the door opens for that.
Both team worked really hard again. It only day 3 but everybody was crash out in the van on the way back to the church. Team 1 is almost completely finished with there house and it looks amazing. Hopefully they will be done tomorrow and we can all team up to help out at Johns house. The owner of the first house Stephie is suppose to stop by in the morning. This could be the only time we get to see her, so we will be giving her a bible tomorrow and telling her we love her.
Back at the church we at some dinner, an awesome roast, mashed potatoes, green beans, roles and dessert. Today is my wonderful wife's Birthday and the serving team had baked here a cake and also got her a gift. It was like a cross make out of Iron, its beautiful. The are really special and have taken a person interest in our group.
After dinner they pulled me of to the side to ask me about our youth because they were so taken back. They said they had never seen a group like ours. That was really encouraging.
We had a little free time and then met again for some share time. We had a lot to pray for tonight and that spirit in the room was great. We looked at the passage Matthew 25:34-40. Worshiping God is not just about prayer or reading your bible or coming to church. Worship everyday life of feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, visiting the sick, and more. The challenge is to live this life not just when your on a mission trip but every day. One student was really burden for her family and really just want to tell them about Jesus. She said she loves them so much and was just burden. Another was crying in the hall afterward because she was overwhelmed with the love she felt this week. She shared with me later and just really moved in here heart. Its funny we come down here to minister to the people of New Orleans and end up ministering to each other.
Some of the crew headed to bed early and a couple are not feel to good. Please pray for my wife Jenna and Jill they are both not feel too good.
We will have a chance on Friday to get together with Mr. Chris and Margery ( one of the families we worked with last year. I talk to him on the phone and he said he want to cook for everybody.
Pray please pray. Pray for Salvation. God has opened a lot of door into lives. Please pray that we can lead the to Jesus.

DAY 2 "How did that foot print get on the ceiling"

Rise and shine and give God the glory glory...... I knew i could get you to sing the second verse. It was a bright and early start this morning at 6am. Now I know most of you parents think that is impossible but I have the pictures to prove it. We were all greeted with the smell of a hot breakfast. The food down here is always great, sausage, eggs, grits, biscuits, and my personal favorite hot coffee. After breakfast you can pack your own lunch. All the food has been provided by the convention and you can pack as much as you want, its great. Warehouse picture
We loaded up both vans and headed to the warehouse. Its about a 30 min drive from the church but its not bad early as you avoid all the traffic. The warehouse is also an old church gutted out to hold supplies. Our team leader Tony greeted us and helped us get all the tools and supplies we needed. We made a little small talk as Tony was with us last year. He moved his family down here about 2 years ago to help rebuild New Orleans. That is a common story with all the warehouse workers. Don moved down 3 years ago. He was a full-time pastor and move down to help rebuild. God opened a door and he is pastoring and serving down here full time. Adam is about my age and move down to start a church 3 years ago and has been helping with NOAH the entire time. These are truly dedicated people. First House before pic
So we got some T squares, and drywall knifes, and some screws, and headed to our Job sights. The location is a little different this year. We are in Zone 2, "the Texas Zone". They call it the Texas zone because everybody that oversees this zone has moved down from Texas. The area does not look as destroyed as the 9th ward did but still needs tons of work. The dynamic is so different. On one corner is a house you think might cost 300,000 and on the next on that looks like you couldn't give it away. We arrived at Mrs. Coopers house about 9:30. The outside was not to bad but inside was completely empty, just a bunch of studs and electrical. We did a quick walk through and then left the team in James Wyble's hands. He is the crew chief for team one and extremely skillful. Team 1 is James, Jill, Brandon, Heather, Jerry Wayne, Travis, Taylor, Katie, Kayla and Jacey.
Team 2 Me, Jenna, Ryan, Jake, Zach, Toney, Christina, Ciera, Hannah, Rachael head over to Mr. Williams house. The second house is a huge house. Two stories but about 8 bed rooms. Inside it looks about the same as the first, almost completely gutted. The house was a lot older than the first. It reminds me of a house you might find in downtown Lynchburg. After a quick lesson on spackling and taping. We split into two main groups. One crew was in charge of hanging drywall the other mudding and taping. We paused about 1 hour into our work to unload about 145 pieces of drywall, we are all coming home with muscles, including the girls.

At the other location a gentleman named Travis came buy to help oversea. He gave have the crew a lesson in mudding and they all got to work. Brandon said he has never seen the student work so hard. Its funny, he said they really didn't talk a whole lot just worked really hard. About noon we all stopped to take a lunch break. We were all sitting outside as a gentleman came by and started talking. Not really sure if he was speaking English but Jake, Zach, and Christian couldn't understand anything he was saying so Zach simply said, "just nod and smile." It really does feel like you are in another country. After lunch we steadily worked until about 4pm except for a quick Ice Cream Truck break, nobody can resist that music. The owner of the house came by a couple of times but only for a min. He seems like he has been through a lot. Toward the end of the day he came by and was talking to some of the girls and sharing his lack of enthusiasm about New Orleans, yet "it keeps drawing him back." He started to share a little about the hurricane with Ciera and you can tell it was emotional. He seems hesitant to talk with me, as if he know what I am going to say, so I haven't pushed my limit. I did ask him if he would like us to pray for him about anything and he responded, "strength and faith. But if i really had faith it would be all the strength i needed." Wow.... He is right.

We loaded up the truck with all our tools, John had about 1000 dollars worth stolen last week, so we thought it would smart to pack ours up. We headed over to the other location and I was honestly blown away. Team 1 did AMAZING.
They nearly finished half the house. It wasn't a rushed job either the lines were very clean and so was the mudding. I don't think i have ever seen Katie so exhausted but she was smiling so that's good. In fact everybody was smiling the whole day. We all pack up and headed back to the church. It took about 40 min with traffic and we arrive about 5:45. Dinner is served from 5:30 to 6:30 every night but since were the only group right now they waited for us. The dinner was soooooooooo good. Jamblia, rolls, and apple cobbler with vanilla ice cream. The serving crew is really sweet. A group of adults in the 60 with great cooking skills. :) After dinner one of the servant team member shared a small devotion about the power of the word and prayed over our group. We had free time until 8pm and most people took showers and got ready for the night.
At 8pm we all gathered in a room we found upstairs large enough to hold all of us. We take this time to simple focus our heart on God. I just took a second to tell the student how proud of them I was. Honestly if you are a parent and your reading this blog you should be really proud of your children they did an amazing job today. We also look at the passage in Luke 9:23-26. Read it if you would like to follow along with us. We will have one everyday. The challenging thought is that Jesus is asking us to deny ourselves everyday of our lives. Not just when we are on mission. We are called to be selfless people as followers of Christ. That means we have to deny our main enemy (at times) SELF. We started into a time of worship lead by Hannah and Brandon and it was a sweet time. You could sense presence of God. After worship we had a open prayer time (any one can pray out loud if they want too). It was amazing. Hannah had shared about a book she read on prayer and it has really stirred my heart towards prayer. Truly Praying that God will move in these peoples lives. After our time together the student were free to hang out until lights out. Some went straight to bed, which makes me laugh, and others hung around playing cards and laughing together. It was a great day.
P.S This is just a bonus story for enjoyment purposes. So I come down stairs after dinner and before our worship time and Tony Gunny is playing the piano. No really playing the piano. It was a moment of shock for me. I had no idea that he could play. I felt like I was in a move or something. He had a big cheesy smile on his face as he played with two hands some melody. It was awesome.

Round 2.... April 13, 2009 DAY 1

We started our Journey this morning at 3am, actually it was started over 4 years ago when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast. Four years later they are still in the process of rebuilding. No matter how many times you come down hear and see the destruction it is still an unbelievable site. Its also unbelievable that there are still people moving back and needing help and this is why we are here, all 20 of us.
We all met at the church to pack up the two vans, both 15 passenger, with people and supplies. I was proud to say that I was not the last one at the church this year, that's what getting married will do to ya. The excitement kept most of the student up for at least 15 min and then each one slowly started to drift off to sleep. Brandon Haggar one of our student leaders and myself started off the driving. About 5 hours into our drive we decided to visit the golden arches for breakfast. Nothing to exciting except buy one get one free egg mcmuffins. We ate quick and hurried back in the vans in order not to break the sleep cycle. We made a total of about 6 stops along the way. I know it sounds like a lot but with a 16 1/2 hour drive and 20 people there are a lot of bathroom breaks to take.

I love this group of people that I am with, they are all amazing. I am so blessed as a youth pastor to have the leaders and students that I have. I never get a complaint or argument when we do things like this together, which i believe is simply a sign of there spiritual maturity.
Its actually really funny seeing the first impressions our team gives to people when we first meet them. It usually begins with a blank stair and big eyes, that are usually following Jerry Wayne's hair. :)

But honestly I wouldn't want to be with any other people.
After the Long trip we arrived at Hope view Baptist church. Hope view is an old church that was destroyed in the flood and has now been converted into a housing facility. There is a main eating area in the center and two floors of rooms that wrap around the eating area. Its almost like dormitory style housing. We were greeted by Mrs. Nichole Ross, she is that main administrator on location. She was actually with our group last year so it was great to see a familiar face. She is an amazing women with a sincere passion for the Lord, like most people who are volunteering there time down here. We also meet a group form Alabama who will be serving and cook all the food for us this week. Everybody serving down here is a volunteer, its really awesome. I was speaking to Terry, an older gentleman with a thick accent who has been serving down hear for the past couple of years. He was pointing out the spot on the wall, about 12 above the floor, that the water had risen in the building where we are now staying. Its a very humbling thought.
Well after about 10 pizzas, some instructions about tomorrow, and a late night game of doge ball in the kitchen, it was time for bed. We had a time of prayer simply asking God to use us.Please be in prayer for our team. We are really burden for the two families that we will be serving. Pray that God opens the door for us into there lives and that they will be saved.