Youth Mission BLOG
The real scoop about what's going on in New Orleans
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
New Orleans Day 2 and 3!!!
Hello from Allie and Cj again!
In the past two days, the youth group has been doing community service type projects for Vintage Church. Some of these projects are fun and others are messy.
Yesterday, we met with Matt and Sarah from Vintage Church. They are basiclly our leaders for the week. We do whatever task they have in mind to help the city.
Our task yesterday included visiting members at a nursing home and picking up trash off the streets. We enjoyed talking to all the interesting people at the nursing home and have made connections with them. We have enjoyed this the most.
Picking up trash showed the people of Uptown, a district in New Orleans, how much we cared about their city. They wanted to know the reason we were picking up trash and that lead to talking about the church and God.
Todays activities were very similar to yesterdays activities. We passed out flyers, cleaned bathrooms and windows, raked yards, and picked up more trash. It was kind of messy but totally worth it. The conversations with the people we encountered were very successful in letting them know that Christ was behind all of our services.
We believe God has much planned for this youth group. We know that Christ is behind everything we do, even if we don't think what we are doing makes much of a difference. We are anxious to see what God has planned to us next.
Please continue to pray for us on our trip!!!!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Hello from Allie Owen and Cj Brighy from the youth!
Wow! God has shown how amazing he is!
We left at about 5:30 from the church to start our journey. For about
4 hours, we drove slowly because we knew our bus had a problem.
Finally, in Corinth, Mississippi, our luck ran out and the bus broke
down! All of cheery spirits soon turned to frustration, because we
were unsure of the next steps to New Orleans.
The woman at the gas station called a friend that she said may be able
to fix our bus. Her friend, Roger, came and told us to come to his
shop. Let me explain this friend to you, he had many rings and did not
look like the man for the job. All of us had an uneasy feeling about
the future.
When we got to the shop, all of us looked into the yard full of broken
toilets and other unpleasant junk and our jaws dropped. This was not
part of our own personal plan for us!
We waited for about an hour for them to tell us that the bus would at
least be an overnight job. This was the last thing we wanted to hear.
Roger's workers were Mississippian rednecks with many body piercings
and tattoos. Being lil church kids from Calvert City, we had our
doubts and worries. We were wrong. These men were a blessing from the
Lord. Roger said he felt the Lord telling him to offer us his motor
home to take to New Orleans. What a kind offer!
A new idea arose between the workers and the chaperones of the trip.
We could call a local baptist church and ask for their help in getting
to New Orleans. The ideal situation was for us to borrow their churn
bus to go down there but we knew that would be a big commitment for a
church to make.
Thankfully, Oakland Baptist Church generously gave us a bus to use.
This bus was more than any of us expected. It was new and had a flat
screen TV in the front. All of us were speechless.
On the ride to the church, God showed himself once more. Roger's son,
Richard, took Greg Norhcutt to Oakland Baptist. On the car ride there,
Greg asked him about his tattoos. Richard told him that he was
tattooing Solomans temple on his arm. He then began telling Greg
the story of Solomans temple. In later, discussion, he also said how
he felt God lead him to play in the worship band at his church.
We take their ministry to us as an example of what we will be doing
the rest of the week for the people of New Orleans. We know God is
always in control and has a plan for us. God is amazing and he works
in mysterious ways!!!
Please continue to pray for our youth group and adults!!
Please foward to all church members
