Link to Renton Reporter Article

http://www.rentonreporter.com/jumpstory.html?story=news2&pubdate=4/23/2008

(The article is mostly accurate).

Highlight Video Added!

New Student Stories!! (Tuesday AM)

We posted four additional student stories today from the plane ride home. We will be adding more pictures and a few more short video clips in the days ahead. We hope to see you Sunday night at our team reunion from 4-6 pm in the Fellowship Hall! Remember to check out the pictures link on the side bar to the right.

You may also access it here: http://picasaweb.google.com/hccneworleans

Student Stories - Tyler S

So many things to say about New Orleans… The awesome experience, the people, the weather! and the chance to talk to people and love them. The coolest thing I saw in people was their gratefulness that we came down to help them. Even the people that we weren’t helping were so happy we spent a week of our time down here. For me, it seemed like people were more appreciative that we built them a “home” not a “house”. Just being considerate and nice to everyone brightens their day immensely. Everyone’s story is different and they all just wanted to talk about it. It was nice to be there and listen to their stories and understand where they are coming from. Even on this plane ride I miss everyone we had the pleasure of meeting. I really hope that as we come back to Seattle we can carry on what we saw there to our own community and help out. All in all it was a GREAT experience and I’m glad I participated.

Student Stories - Clayton F

Well, I am sitting here jammed with two other people (in three seats) and I already miss New Orleans. This trip was full of so many different kinds of experiences. My family group was Anna, Laura, Mackenzie, Stephen, Jerry, and Jeannie; we worked at the run-down nursing home. The site itself looked like a warehouse, it didn’t look like a nursing home at all. But we all worked hard and we got a lot done, and despite the few “accidents” that we had, we all managed to get out with no serious injuries. This trip was my first mission trip anywhere, and it was a great experience. The stories and events that happened while we were there were almost proof to me that God was working. Throughout the week, we could just see God working throughout all the sites, whether it was at mine or someone else’s. Anyway, this trip was something I will never forget and I am definitely looking forward to the next trip like this.

Student Stories - Kaitlin N

I miss New Orleans already! This week has made a bigger difference in my life than any other, and I’m sad to see it end. When I first signed up for this trip, it was mostly because the option was there, and because I had missed opportunities in the past to go on ones like this one. I asked around to see which friends of mine were going and hesitated when many of them couldn’t come because of school conflicts. In the end, I paid the hundred dollars required to sign up and committed. I wasn’t overly concerned about raising money or doing the packets, and didn’t look forward to the meetings much…I was just going to go. But when God provided almost the entirety of my funds in one day, I realized he wanted me there, and my excitement overcame me. We watched video footage of the destruction and Derek put together a slideshow of pictures from the hurricane, and my heart went out to the people of New Orleans. I counted down the days…and somehow still ended up waiting until the night before to pack. When we got there I was excited to serve, and though I’m exhausted now, it’s a good tired feeling, and I know what we’ve done has made a difference, if only for a few people. On Thursday when we (Ethan, Emily, Cory, Rachael, Morri, and myself) went down to minister in the French Quarter, I met a woman named Yvonka Wilson. She had been living on the streets for two weeks (Lawrence referred to her as a newbie) and was struggling to adjust and to find a place to stay. We prayed with her, and I held her hand as tears rolled down her face. She asked us questions about where we were from and what we were doing, and then asked us, “Do you do this sort of thing back home?” We stood and stared at each other, not knowing how to answer. Truthfully, we all knew the answer was no, but were too ashamed to say it. Her question hit me like a brick, and she and her question have been on my heart ever since. It’s so strange how it can take a 6 hour plane ride and a week in a foreign state to make you realize how much you can be doing in your own neighborhood. I’m sad to be on my way home, leaving behind good friends and warm weather, but at the same time I’ve never been more excited to go anywhere in my life. I can’t wait to see where God is going to lead our team once we’re home. Now that we’ve seen the impact we’ve made across the state, I know the impact we’ll make at home can be even greater.

Student Stories - Mackenzie F

Wow, this has been an amazing week!! I have grown so much spiritually, made lasting relationships with so many people and have worked very hard! My group was at the nursing home all week. The place was basically gutted but there was still a lot of things to be done. I didn’t think it would be very hard but boy was I wrong! Throughout the whole week I was so physically exhausted but I knew that the Lord would give me the strength to keep on working and glorifying Him. And He did! Although it was a lot of hard work, I had a lot of fun working with my team and getting to know them better. I think that the best part of the trip for me would be when Derek challenged us to go and talk to total strangers, whether it be at Home Depot, Wendy’s or around the neighborhood where we were working. At our worksite we didn’t really run into many people, so we really had to go out of our way to find people to talk to. I had a lot of fun stepping out of my comfort zone and just going up to people and asking them how their day was going. We accomplished so much in so short of time and I am so glad that I cold be a part of it! Now that I’m on the plane heading home, I’m so sad to be leaving all of these people and not be a huge family anymore! We’ve grown so much and I know that the Lord will keep us connected. But, I’m really excited to go home and sleep in my own bed all by myself! Clean clothes will also be really nice! I am so glad God had me go on this trip, it has been such an incredible experience for me.

Student Stories - Colleen J

Well, here I am on the plane home. Physically I am the same as I arrived, except for a few bug bites and some lovely sunburns (sorry Mom!) but spiritually I have grown so much. The (AMAZING) TV in the back of the seat in front of me says I have 2 and a half hours left on this whirlwind of a trip and Emily Yeaton and I are about to watch Enchanted and I’m pretty sure I’m about to get very sad. I have become quite accustomed to seeing these people’s smiling (ha!) faces every morning and I’m not quite sure what I’ll do without them. However, I am also incredibly excited to get home and DO LAUNDRY!!!! Clean clothes FTW! (Parents may want to ask children what this means…) I don’t think I will take my washing machine for granted for at least 6 months. I’m also quite excited to start sharing my story with everyone. If anyone wants to pray for me, it would be that I find the courage and the words to share my faith and my experiences in New Orleans. I’ve been working at Ron’s house all week and it has been so amazing to see the hope that we have given him and the light in his face when he talks about how his house has been transformed into a home. But he isn’t the only one who has benefited from our time together. He has shown a joy and faith in the Lord that I dream of having. I’ll see you soon!

The Team Is Home!

After a long day of travel, the team has arrived home safely. In the next few days we will post additional student testimonies, pictures and videos from our trip. Come back and check it out! And of course, join us Sunday night from 4-6 pm in the Fellowship Hall at church for a complete recap of the week. Thanks for your prayers!

We Are Headed Home (Soon)!

Thank your for praying for the team during our week in New Orleans. We are headed to bed very soon and off to the airport in the morning! The students are bummed to be heading home so soon. :-) What, it has only been 9 days! Tonight we have posted some new pictures off 11 cameras, a student blog and a few fun videos from our day on the airboats (you can read more below about that). Be sure to check them out! We will not have a chance to post any new stuff tomorrow during our travel day, but we will have much more to add when we get home (the few days following) so be sure to check it out! We love you all and look forward to seeing you again soon!

French Quarter Homeless Video

Morri D and Lawrence (Berean Bible Church Elder) led a small group of our students into the French Quarter on Thursday to minister to the homeless that Lawrence has built a relationship with. They began the day in 2.5 hours of prayer, worship and study and then headed into the French Quarter. Here is Morri's brief video footage from their day. (Morri went back without the team later that evening to pull someone off the street and get them into a halfway house. God used her in a powerful way and prepared her through prayer. It is an incredible "God" story and she will share more of it at our team sharing time on April 20th!)

Saturday Airboat Adventure!

After lunch today and our morning debriefing, we took a break and surprised the students and took them 45 minutes out of town to a 60,000 acre water preserve where we had high speed airboats standing by for them! They were so excited! For two hours they got to tour through the "brush" and marshlands looking at and holding alligators! It was an incredible experience. We will post more pictures soon, but here is a video of some of the airboat ride that we had a video camera on, playing with alligators and our fearless leader Morri holding one! There is also a video of Rachel R and Dave C. Actually, every one got to hold one. Enjoy! Stay tuned - in a few hours we will post more video and pictures from the week. Off to our evening debriefing session. The students just finished swimming and relaxing.

Student Stories - Emily Y

Alligators are fun! Our leaders wouldn’t tell us what we were doing today until we got there, although some of us knew bits and pieces of it already. We went to the Asian Super Buffet for lunch (or, in the case of my work crew, went back) and got to visit a bit more with some of the people we’d been working with this week. They all told us how much they appreciated it and us and how helpful we’d been, and there was lots of crying and hugging and whatnot. It was quite nice, and everyone ate ridiculous amounts of food. Then we drove for a while and none of the students had any idea where we were going. But we were not disappointed. We got to take an airboat tour around a very large swamp. My family group ended up with a hilarious tour guide, who caught us a tiny turtle (see pictures, hopefully), which Kaitlin wanted to bring home*. He told us his name was Captain Monkey. I’m really hoping that’s true. Anyway, he’s lived in the area since he was five years old, and he knows the area like the back of his hand. We were introduced to several of the alligators (Baby Snaggletooth, One-Eyed Willie, etc.) and heard about some more (Hollywood and Elvis). We got to hold a little one that he’d had in the boat for about a week as well. I’m not going to lie, we had some trouble getting Derek to hold it. But since the girls had all done it, I don’t think he really had a choice. And then Ethan saved the boat from imminent doom**. *Note to Kaitlin’s mom: She’s planning on buying one when she gets home. **Note to everyone: That’s not true. But Ethan says that if there had been danger, he would have saved us.

Friday Evening Update

Hello everyone! We had a busy day today finishing up on our project sites and then toured New Orleans. We saw where the levees first broke and the went into the lower 9th ward and the New Orleans Memorial. Water in this area rose 6 inches a minute and eventually was over 13 feet high! We went to a house that looks just like it did the day after the waters receeded. It was powerful. Jam still on the shelves and the house destroyed and moldy. It was devastated. We took a ferry across the Mississippi and got pastries down in the French Quarter which was hosting a jazz festival. After dinner, we headed to the hotel to begin our debriefing. Dave C, HCC Missions Director flew in and will be helping us process our experience. We updated a few pictures today - more to come tomorrow and additional video. Please pray for the student and leaders tomorrow as the look back over their experience and learn how to share what they saw God do and what they can do as they head home to based on what they learned here. We love you all and look forward to seeing you soon! Thanks for praying!

Student Stories - Eric O

Hello, my group this week was the one that got to move around the most. This was good for me and my short-ish attention span! The first two days we spent at the school. I don’t remember exactly what it was called but it was a charter school for Pre-School through 8th grade. It is in a very poor area so most of the students there are in need of some loving. Justin and I spent our first day with Pre-School and 2nd grade. The second day we spent with just 2nd grade. The kids were very friendly they were really easy to feel comfortable around. There was one point when Justin and I were at recess with the Pre-School when one of them asked me to lift them up and put them down like a “Rocket Ship”. I did that once (complete with sound affects) and before I knew it I had about 32 children wanting to pick them up. These are some tough kids and apparently they really wanted me to pick them up, because they were beating up each other to get to me. Not wanting any violence, I had them form a line. Thank God Justin was there to share the load or else I would have never made it. The next three days we spent at a Deaf Church in Down Town-ish “Nawleans”. The pastor John of course was deaf and it would have been really hard to communicate with him if it wasn’t for Clarissa. She is very good at signing and she did her best to teach the rest of us some. But at least John can write or type on a computer if we really didn’t understand. You can learn more about the Church on a video blog hopefully soon, but while we were there we helped put a stage back together, garden and Stain a floor of one large room. David C did a great job of bouncing back and forth between the two jobs since both needed his supervision. I am almost out of time but if any of you would like pray for me it would be that I really hear God’s voice when it comes time for me to give my gift card away. I have been a little anxious and discouraged that I haven’t had an opportunity to do this yet but oh well. Thanks again but now I’m excited to go to sleep, because I get to sleep in for the first time in forever. Thanks again!! Love Eric!!!!!!!!

Student Stories - Ethan K

Hello everybody! This week I have been working mostly inside at Ron’s house but since we finished most of the work early our family group split up and did some different things. Yesterday (Thursday), the team split up so that some stayed and worked with Ron, while the rest of us went with Laurence (a pastor at the church where we are staying) to minister to the homeless in the French Quarter. It was an absolutely incredible experience. We started out with a time of Bible study and worship to prepare ourselves for the day, which ended up lasting for three full hours! What is amazing though, is that God was totally speaking to all of us through this time and our fears were lifted up to Him. From there we went to McDonald’s, bought 25 cheeseburgers and went down to give them to the homeless in the French Quarter. Listening to the peoples’ stories really impacted me and I was continually blessed as we shared prayers with them. Today (Friday) our whole family group went together to the New Orleans Mission. The Mission ministers to the homeless in the lower city providing food, shelter and medical care to those in need, having centers for men, women and families. In addition, it has a discipleship program for men who have struggled with substance abuse, providing them food, shelter and biblical teaching as they serve in the building for a full year. Kim, the volunteer coordinator at the Mission, showed us around the facility (which was absolutely incredible due to the work of many volunteer groups) and split up our group into a gardening team and a clothes sorting team. I was a part of the group sorting the huge bags of donated clothes into labeled boxes (which we did with great efficiency if I do say so myself). However, I have infinite respect for the gardening team for working hard in the hot muggy weather while we were in the air-conditioned dining room. All in all, it was a blast throwing clothes around and trying on everything from humongous dresses (the girls that is…) to thick flannel lumberjack jackets. What a good and enjoyable experience. It was incredibly uplifting to see what is going on in the city to help the homeless after connecting with people living on the street yesterday with Laurence. I’m sorry that I ramble on so, but there is just so much to say! God is working within us in some incredible ways! Needless to say there will be much more to share when I get home.

Much love,
Ethan

Thursday Evening Update

The team spent more time on the work sites today and did a good job. The weather cooperated and it was really warm. We uploaded some of the student pictures tonight, but there will be no video update today. We spent some time shooting video with our better camera and it takes much longer to process and we are headed to bed here soon. We have an early morning tomorrow. We will spend the morning on the work sites and then have a levee tour tomorrow afternoon and head to the French Quarter. Thank you for praying. We are doing well and it was a good day. We will take some more time tomorrow to give you a fuller report of our experiences. Good night!

Wednesday Video Update

Today the teams worked hard. There were several special moments on the different ministry sites that we shared together tonight at our debriefing. In addition, some of you may remember "Pam" from the HCC James Series videos we did this past fall. Pam and her family live two blocks from a major levee. They were displaced, flooded with 7+ feet of water and were out of their home for 5 weeks. It was a total loss. They came home to a destoryed house and several months later because of the massive stress, Pam's husband suddenly died. Pam has endured brain and breast cancer as well as losing her house and her husband. She came tonight and shared with the team her story and God's continual faithfulness and goodness in her life through all of the hard times. It was powerful and a good reminder to us all about priorities and our trust in Almighty God at all times. We have linked a video of two of the work sites from today. This is from Jeannie, Jerry, Weston and Keri's family groups. Thank you for your prayers. We are seeing God at work in our lives as well as the lives of those we have come to share our lives with. Our debriefing tonight was particularly open, honest and challenging. The students and leaders have a lot to process. Please continue to lift them up! As you have time, please read the student stories and look through the pictures for a fuller picture of what is taking place. (All of the pictures are from the student cameras and what they are seeing through their eyes).

Student Stories - Clarissa A

Today we had an opportunity to go and do some work at a deaf church. I was very excited because I knew enough signing to actually communicate with some deaf people. When we had arrived, we had met with one of the pastors who was deaf. He wrote on pieces of paper to communicate to us. But once I communicated with him through sign language, he had signed more with me to communicate with the rest of the group. As a group, he had to scrape the floors because it was stained with paint and they needed to paint over it. It was a fun experience because we were put into groups and having a fun time trying to figure out how to get the paint off the ground. Pastor John, and Dave worked on the alter in the actual church. The church was very torn and dirty and full of damage. However, we are trying our best to help clean the place, and to provide these people a better place to meet in. During our lunchtime was when we were actually having a real conversation with the deaf pastor. I had personally learned so much just speaking to him. He is such a nice guy and he had appreciated us trying to sign with him. I was basically the interpreter for my group and him because I know the most sign language. It is just so interesting signing with him. He talks about how the hurricane killed about sixteen people of his congregation. Eight of them were deaf, and all who died were very old in age. It was also fun going to home depot and trying to start conversations with people. By the end of the day, we all felt very accomplished and pleased with what we had done. We look forward for tomorrow of spending time with the pastor, and the new experiences God has in store for us.

Student Stories - Kaitlin N

Oh haaaaaay Renton. It is darn warm in New Orleans, if you didn’t know already. Anyway, this week, so far, has been amazing. There is no place I would rather spend my spring break than here. This week we’ve been working on Ron’s house-nail guns, lawn mowers, rakes, the works. It’s so cool, because we’ve come down here with the mentality that we’re going to help people, give them hope, and that they will gain a lot from the time spent with us…but we’re gaining so much, too. This morning was our last at Ron’s house (for some of us at least), and before we began our work we held hands in a circle to pray. Before we prayed, Ron told us how grateful he was for our presence there. He told us that there are days when he feels as though he’s alone, and then a group comes in and lifts his spirits. He told us that we came to remind him that he is not alone, and that God has a plan and a purpose for the storm and the repercussions of it. He also told us that not only does he have a group of believers to remind him of this, but that each one of us has a group ready at our sides, as well. This spoke volumes to me! Back home I’d been wrestling with the feeling that I was alone in my struggles, and that I didn’t have anyone to share them with, and this opened my eyes to the incredible body surrounding me. It’s strange to think that God is working in our lives through this as much as He is in the people of New Orleans. I miss y’all (sorry, I couldn’t help it), and appreciate your prayers! Momma, could you tell Celene I’ve been thinking about her a lot, and that I miss her and Mathis and love them? They’ve been on my heart a lot today. Father dear, you’d be proud-I’m beastin’ it out here! I carried a bookshelf, by myself, from back to front yard the other day! (: P.S. I LOVE MY FAMILY GROUP.

Student Stories - Rachel R

This whole entire week has been so joyful and amazing. At the start of the week my group was at the charter school, then we visited the French Quarter, and now today we worked at a deaf church. This was a total God thing that Clarissa A was in our work group, because she could sign to the pastor of this church. The people that worked on the sit with me tried to communicate with John. Yesterday night Derek gave us an assignment that we have a $50 gift card to Wal-Mart, to give to someone totally random. The goal is for us to look for people to talk with and pray with that we would normally walk right by. If we discover they have a need we can meet - we can help them! It's so cool! At first I was really nervous and scared, but Clarissa and I really supported each other to have a great conversation with this lady, Francis. Hopefully during our time limit I will be able to find the right, deserving person to give the money to that will meet a need in their life. Thank you for all of you prayers and keep on praying for our safety and team bonding. I love you all at home! God bless!

Good Morning from New Orleans!

After an evening of heavy rain, the sun is back out this morning. Thank you for your prayers! We are headed out to our work sites in a few minutes. (The pictures and video have all loaded now - we had some internet issues last night). Have a great day!

Our Very Own "Gardening with Morri"

Check out our very own Morri D and special guest Rachael M as they transform a much deserving yard into a beautiful landscape paradise! This team spent time helping Ron and his wife transform their house into a home with some special loving touches.

Video Footage from Charter School Team

Here is a brief video from our team serving at the local charter school and the students they worked with on Monday and Tuesday. Thank you for praying!

Leader Stories - Jerry M

Here we are at the end of day two in New Orleans and as to be expected, reality is setting in. Some of our preconceived notions are being realized, while others have been firmly dashed. My family group of seven has been part of a large, on-going project to gut and clear out a good sized nursing home (25,000 square feet) which was flooded with five feet of water during the storm. Imagine having to remove everything from a fully functional nursing home: beds, clothes, walls, studs, ceiling tiles, furniture, light fixtures, the kitchen sink, everything --soaked with flood water, then sitting for two years, in a closed building. For the past few months, over 400 believing volunteers have been sent by the Berean Bible Church to work at the task. We have been involved in the final part of this cleanup. Over sixty truck size dumpsters of “stuff” have already lovingly knocked loose, carried to the nearest door or window, and tossed outside.

So, how do we see God working in all this? Several ways come to mind so far. First is the construction boss, a young man assigned by the building manager to oversee the gutting of the building and clearing of all the debris. As far as we know, he is (not yet) a believer. We talked with him several times at the job site and by the look on his face I get the sense that he just can’t quite believe what is clearly happening right in front of his eyes. Sixty plus dumpster loads of foul, rotten, smelly, cockroach infested debris have been handled and removed from this building by all ages of people who traveled from all over the country and paid their own way for the privilege. The reason he hears from each of these diverse groups is that they just want to help out and they love Jesus. His eyes get wide when he talks about how far groups of workers have traveled and how in spite of the dangerous work, there have been no significant injuries to any of the volunteers. Could God be working on his heart? We sure think so. For the parents of the students, you can be proud of the way your sons and daughters have represented Highlands and our Lord. They have worked hard, conducted themselves well, and been a joy for us as leaders to work with. We are really looking forward to the days to come.

Leader Stories - Morri D

I am having a BLAST!! What a privilege to serve the Lord with these hard working students! We are on our second day of a project in which 2 family groups have united to try to make a very small home liveable for a family that was displaced by Hurricaine Katrina. It had become necessary for the homeowner, Ron and his wife Yolanda and their 2 children to move out of a FEMA trailer due to respiratory problems they developed. They purchased this tiny home and had hopes of moving in until they discovered that it was infested with termites!! Ron had to totally remove ALL of the interior walls, leaving only the brick shell. Ron had been attempting to reframe and rebuild the interior of the house, but the progress was so slow that he had become discouraged. Ron also struggles with not only asthma, but diabetes. When talking with a friend, he became aware of the teams from around the country who were coming to N.O. to volunteer their time to help others in need. He made connections with Doug at Berean Bible Church and here we are! The students have been pouring their energy wholeheartedly into this project! Hour after hour, they have worked without complaining. Some of the things they have accomplished include the breakdown and removal of two sheds and yard cleanup outside. Inside projects involved reinforcing the studs by nailing new brackets into the wall studs and nailing in new roof trusses. I can’t forget to mention that the large box turtle that had his aquarium cleaned! Many of the kids helped remove a jungle of weeds in the front yard and created 2 flower beds. With some of the funds that had been generously donated, we took several runs to Home Depot to purchase cement garden bed borders, topsoil, and enough plants to fill the flower beds. The homeowner was so grateful for the hard work the kids did over the past 2 days! He kept saying that there was no way that he could possibly repay us for all the help we provided. The least he could do was to take our two teams out to lunch to his favorite restaurant, Asian Super Buffet! After filling our tummies, we were re-energized for this afternoon when we planted all the plants in the two front garden beds. When we stood back and looked, none of us could believe what an improvement had been made! We just know that when Ron and Yolanda drive up, their hearts will be filled with gratitude to God for His faithfulness and providing a hard working team who were willing to expend their energy to make life a little more bearable for him and his family.

Student Stories - Alex M

Hey hey! Today was pretty sweet. We returned to Melda's house to continue fixing the numerous exterior projects that we had started the day before. Melda was very touched by our kindness that she decided to bring us some spicy fried chicken in addition to the lunches that we had already packed. And if I can tell you just one thing it would be this: you have never had fried chicken until you have had THIS fried chicken. It was like an explosion of, well, chicken in your mouth, only not with that disturbing image. However, despite being distracted by the exploding chickens (and by this I mean the flavor of), we were still able to connect and talk with Melda about her experiences. Through our discussions we learned that she was a very caring, compassionate, and composed person, especially after what she has gone through. She told us of her husband, who has since died, and her four sons, the youngest of them being in their twenties. We met Trevor a few hours later when he stopped by the house after work. Like Melda, he was very touched by our work and extremely grateful. Melda's house is a mess of exterior work that requires numerous and quite tedious jobs, but one must never judge a book by its cover. Upon entering her house we saw that it was well painted and furnished and looked completely incredible. On the wall there was a replica of the "Last Supper" which was cracked and ripped and stained in many places. Upon asking as to the state of this picture Melda told us that it was the only thing that survived Katrina and that she still keeps it as a reminder. When I think of Melda I think of a person who has been through some of toughest challenges that any human being can face and yet still rise above all of these challenges and smile. I think that I have learned more from Melda in my time here than she has learned from me or from any of us. In her I see the strength to overcome and the courage to keep moving forward. I look forward to the upcoming days that I can spend talking to and learning from her as well as any chance I get to share with her the amazing love that I have found in Jesus. I hope you all are having as great of a time as I am and I love all of you more! Disclaimer: No chickens were harmed in the making of this blog.

Monday Night Video Update

Good evening from New Orleans. We had a great day today serving in New Orleans. We are wrapping up and heading to bed. It is not often the students ask to go to bed. :-) Hopefully you had a chance to check out some of the pictures from yesterday and we are in the process of adding more tonight from today. Be sure to read the three student stories "in their own words" below on the blog. We really appreciate your prayers. Thanks for the e-mail notes of encouragement. We will pass them on tomorrow. We had a fun debriefing tonight. We also took some time to clean up our host church. It looks awesome! We laughed hard and enjoyed sharing and comparing stories from our day. A brief video blog from Pastor Derek & Cory V at one of the houses is linked below. Have a great night. More tomorrow from New Orleans!

Student Stories - Cory V

Well, today we woke up at around 7:20, or at least I did because of Mr. Koch’s annoying cell phone alarm, and had a chance to shower and eat a cereal breakfast. Most of the morning before we left I felt pretty glazed over and exhausted from sleeping on cots that looked like they came from the Vietnam War and being up late the evening before. Next my group lead by Mr. Koch and Derek Nelson headed out about 15 minutes away to the house of a man named Ron B, a pretty tight last name by the way although I’m not quite sure how to spell it. Anyways, Ron gave us some background on the house and how he had come to own it. After many problems with contractors and getting loans for the house, Ron was finally able to buy it. Unfortunately, what the past owner had described as “some minor termite damage” turned out to be a whole lot of termite damage. Ron was forced to rip out all of the sheet rock and pretty much start over on rebuilding the inside of the house. Along with the challenges he had to face, Ron, his wife, son, and daughter all suffered asthmatic like reactions to the formaldehyde in their FEMA trailer. Because of these reactions, Ron was not able to much work on the house without having side affects that really limited his ability to get a lot done. So, he called Berean Bible Church and they sent us over there to help. Ethan K, Dan K, and Rachael M ended up working in the house most of the time while I, Tyler S, Emily Y, Kaitlin N, Colleen J, Morri D, and Derek N ended up working outside, tearing down the foundations of two old, rotted sheds. There was an abundant supply of green lizards, geckos, cockroaches, and other creepy crawlys to keep us company out there among the rotted wood and dirt, but we finished the day with only a minor nail-to-the-foot injury suffered by Tyler. In all, I believe we got a considerable amount of work done and I believe Ron and his wife felt really blessed by us being there to help out. I’m excited to go back there tomorrow and hopefully make his house even better.

Student Stories - Arianne E

So many exciting things happened today, and I can’t wait for the rest of the week. My group had the opportunity of being able to work at a school full of children grades pre-k through eighth. It was a public charter school here in New Orleans. We had an absolute blast helping the children, while some others tiled the floor in one of the bathrooms. The little kids are so cute with their curly hair and huge smiles. They liked to attack and hug us, and the teachers at the school were grateful for our help. It was so fun and we’d all love to work with them again. We are going back tomorrow.

Student Stories - Anna U

Today was incredible. My group and I had the job of cleaning out an abandoned nursing home that had suffered severe damage and was completely gutted. Besides the abundance of cockroaches and one severed rat head, the job wasn’t all that bad. We spent most of our time cleaning out broken pieces of glass, wood, metal and insulation from the nursing home. We got a ton finished. I had the chance to talk to some of the neighbors around the area, and they were very grateful for us being here. It is amazing to see how God is using this storm to bring people together. I can’t wait to go back tomorrow and see how much more we can do for the people here in New Orleans. Thanks for praying!

Sunday Pictures - Update

We are having a problem uploading our pictures. We are attempting to resolve the problem before heading out to our worksites today. Otherwise, we will have to delay the pictures portion until this evening. Thanks for your understanding! Our internet connection is slow and spotty and is dropping out on us. Not the ideal for uploading video and pictures. More later! Pray for us today as we serve the people of New Orleans! The team is all up, cleaned up, has eaten breakfast and is getting ready to go! Have a great day!

Sunday Pictures!

If you would like to access the daily picture album, you can click on the link on the sidebar called "Daily Mission Trip Pictures & Videos". You may also reach it by clicking here: www.picasaweb.google.com/hccneworleans

(They are in the process of loading at 11:00 pm Seattle time and will be available in the next hour).

Sunday Night Video Blog Update from Pastor Weston

Pastor Weston gives us a quick update on Sunday!

Sunday Night Update

Thank you for praying for us! We have had a good day and are now settled in at Berean Bible Church here in New Orleans. The weather was great today! We got up this morning, had breakfast at McD's (always fun with 35 of your closest friends) and then headed off to Biloxi (80 miles away). It was interesting to see the progress (or lack of) in the different areas we served in the past. We had some down time for lunch in Biloxi. The team visited the Katrina Memorial, stopped at Betty's house (who we helped 2 years ago) and prayed for her even though she was unable to join us today. She is with her mom in Baton Rouge who is ill. Please keep her in your prayers. It was powerful for the team (those who helped her and those who are here for the first time) to be at her house today. We stopped off at Wal-Mart and picked up some necessities (pillows, etc) and then headed back to New Orleans. After picking up our luggage at the hotel (they graciously stored it for us today) - we headed to dinner and then onto our host church. We had an orientation with the leadership here, some personal bible study time and received our work projects for the week. More on that tomorrow. We had an extended time as the team before bed tonight praying and talking through what we have seen God do so far. We are up at 6:30 am and then at breakfast at 7:30 am and off to our worksites at 8:00 am. Tomorrow we will give you a fuller picture of the different project sites. We really appreciate your prayers. Check back tomorrow!