Hike For Katreena

Today we started the day off as usual. We rolled off rocks (they like to call mattresses), got dressed, made lunches, ate breakfast, and headed off to work. The only difference from yesterday was that instead of going to S. Miro street, we met up with Mrs. Connie. We spent all morning replanting at least 85 trees. The word tree is an over-exaggeration, as they were saplings that needed to be moved into bigger pots. You'd think that it would be simple, easy work. It was brutal. We shoveled pounds upon pounds of dirt into these big plastic bins, and sprinkled fertilizers over all of them. After lunch, we counted hundreds of items that were for another one of Mrs. Connie's projects. They were school supplies that were going to be put together for a bunch of under privilege kids down here in New Orleans. Once we finished, she told us we could leave, so we left and came back to the Village and showered. Unfortunately, the boys forgot their speaker at the job site, so they drove back. While they were there, Alex decided that he was so hot, he just had to dump the entire ice water bucket all over himself. They then came back and showered. We all loaded up in the van and went to the French Quarter, yet again, and ate authentic Gambian (West African) food. It was possibly the best thing we ate all week. We did a little shopping and came back for closing worship. Now it is time to pack up and clean up before the long trek home.  Down below includes the floor plans for the building we worked on, the board the youth made to leave at the site, and then the youth working for Hike for Katreena.  It was a terrific week, and we are blessed to have had the opportunity to come to New Orleans and serve the people who were affected by Katrina 10 years ago next month. Blessing and Peace Out!

Last day at the Work Site

Today was off at an interesting start. The youth had made 150 pancakes and 100 patties of sausage this morning for the entire mission group. After they had been up for a hour of cooking they all decided to get ready for working at the site then headed on over. They finished sheathing an entire wall, putting up extra beams, and FINALLY finished the sub-flooring. We were off to a rocky start when Madi decided to kick a rusty old piece of metal when caring around a large piece of wood that they were preparing to cut. Since Madi hadn't had a tetanus shot in six years, we had to get her one from an Urgent Care center that took Janice and Madi about a hour to find. Here are some of the photos of the crew that the youth worked with on their last day at S. Miro street:

Day Number 3 Hard at Work

Have I mentioned that we are working hard yet? I don't think I have quite gotten that message across. Just to express our exhaustion, on the way back from the work site several of the youth fell asleep during the 25 minute drive to the village. We had a competition between Alex and David versus Madi and Kaela to see who could put in more nails for the hurricane clips. The winners were of course the girls. Thankfully we finished all the hurricane clips, but we still have the sub-flooring to finish. Today we finally started sheathing the exterior walls. It feels like we have accomplished a ton of work, but when we look around we are still surrounded with so much to do. After a delicious dinner that was prepared by the West End Presbyterian Collaborative youth group, the girls decided to engage in a little thing they liked to call revenge. See it all started on Monday when David and Alex poured a large amount of salt into Madi's water bottle. She came back into the room and starting chugging the water and soon realized what had happened. Madi went back to the girls room and decide to plot her revenge. Soon Kaleigh and Kaela were in on it too. Then the Peace Presbyterian Church from Pearland's girls joined in too. The girls went to Walmart to gather their materials without the boys knowing. The girls all finished dinner early to go enact their little revenge scheme. As you'll see below the boys' room is covered in toilet paper and feminine products... After the fun occurred, the Project Homecoming crew set up prayer stations that everyone got to participate in. Everyone took turns writing different prayers, and praying for others. After a long day, the youth went to bed early because they have to make breakfast for 50 people in the morning. Have a blessed day.

Day 2 in New Orleans

Another hard, but fulfilling day at the work site. We worked on the sub-flooring again, put in hurricane clips to connect the roof to the walls, and finished installing the fire blocks. We finished working on the site early today to take a tour of New Orleans. We learned how the levies worked, broke, and flooded the entire city. We heard several interesting stories from the "Construction Goddess" along with a song she wrote about Hurricane Katrina. As we drove through the 9th ward we could see the devastation that was still all around the neighborhood, but one thing that brought smiles to the youth was this one girl dancing her heart out on a major corner in front of many people. This was one of many God sightings that we spotted today, and it warmed the hearts of all of our youth. Even though she was surrounded by devastation, she still had this large heart and soul that she just wasn't afraid to show. That is just the magical thing about New Orleans; they got hit with this large storm, and still have hope, joy, and soul. They are passionate about their city. After the disaster tour from the hurricane, we went to the French Quarter for dinner and site seeing. We visited the Old Ursuline Convent, the St. Louis Cathedral, Jackson Square, and some other attractions in the quarter.

Senior High Mission Trip Day 1

Everyone had a fun and exhausting first day on the job. We all learned new things to help build a house on S. Miro street. We all engaged in different activities including using a circle saw, table saw, nail gun, liquid nails, and a drill. We were tearing out some floor boards to be able to fit larger boards into the sub-flooring. While the girls were off doing the hard manual labor, the boys were installing fire blocks into the exterior walls. This included measuring, cutting, and screwing the blocks into place. While we were packing up from a long mornings' work, a man dropped by. He informed us that volunteers, like us, had warmed his heart from all the hard work that we had put into building this house from the bottom up. Here are some photos that can show the dedication that he saw today alone:

We did work hard all day believe it or not from all of our silly photos and our big smiles.