June 29, 2016

First full day on the missions field? Check. This morning, our own (overzealous chef) Pastor Wes as well as Jen prepared us breakfast of pancakes and bacon. After breakfast and some brief worship, we split off into two extremely, extensively chosen groups: girls and guys. Well, girls plus Wes and guys. The girls (Karen, Surina, Ashley, Destini, Wendy, and Jen) and Wes ventured to the local Walmart to seek out supplies for the night's Bible study dinner as well as the kids's crafts. The men of the group (Kent, Bob, Mark, Elijah, Brooks, and Connor) trooped off to Hy and Libba's house to do the work of picking the unattainably high figs off the front yard tree, recruiting local kids for help in aforementioned fig picking, and helping move cabinets around the under-construction home.

Later in the day, select team members (Bob, Kent, and honorary Traechelle) assisted Hy and Libba with transporting the Bible club city kids to the church for the dinner/lesson even through the annually warm rain of the city. Meanwhile, back at the base, the girls (and Wes) worked hard on preparing the actual meal and the lessons for the night. The study and the dinner itself ran smoothly and actually rather harmoniously. It was a true New Orleans culture kind of night -- comfort in community, good food, and lots of laughter ringing throughout the room. Thanks to Wes and server helpers Libba and Brooks, we feasted on the option of either freshly grilled burgers or hot dogs, mac and cheese, freshly sliced watermelon, corn on the cob (freshly dunked in a butter and oil mixture), apples and, afterwards, the kids were able to decorate their own dessert. The theme of the night stuck to patriotism as the crowd-favorite holiday, the 4th of July, is quickly approaching in less than a week. Therefore, the kids decorated butter cookies with red, white, and blue frosting.

After singing "God Bless America" and unanimously reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, Karen spoke rivetingly of God in an everyday aspect of patriotism: the one dollar bill. The show of money made more kids's backs straighten than when a mom walks into a supposed-to-be-pristine dining room on Thanksgiving Day. Karen focused in on the "In God we trust" printed opposite the famous portrait of George Washington. She held up her dollar bill stack and announced, "All you have to do to receive one of these is give me the answer to one simple question that's--". But she never finished because a girl at the end of a table shot out of her seat and had already answered Karen's question with her own answer: "JESUS CHRIST IS MY LORD AND SAVIOR!!" In which case, everyone in the room lost it and the remains of laughter echoing down the hallways.

Thanks to all for the prayers covering us, both in requests and praise reports!