Wonder Voyage 2009 Summer Blog

Our rowdy group was up early and ready for some serious demolition. This was the first time any of us had been in a house effected by Katrina, much less gutting one. The boys went in with sledge hammers and took out all the walls, ceiling fans, and kitchen (including the cabinets and stove). The girls were truly touched when the daughter of the homeowner stopped by and they were able to give her some pictures and crystal that we found and were able to salvage. Down the road the other half of our group worked very hard and with much satisfaction we were able to take out 2/3 of plaster from the roof and walls.

After heading home and eating some delicious jambalaya we hopped on the ferry for a scavenger hunt throughout the French Quarter. Group two won the day and we were rewarded with a fast food lunch tomorrow instead of sandwiches. YUM!

On Sunday, June 21st, we attended a worship service at All Souls in the 9th Ward. For us it was an opportunity not only to be with some of the people we serving this week, but it was also a chance to be reminded that the Church is less a building or a particular setting but the community of faith gathered as Christ’s body. We joined our hearts and voices with the parishioners of All Souls as well as other mission groups visiting from elsewhere in the country.

Following Holy Communion we had equally inspiring fellowship with members of the community who cooked and served us lunch. Many of them warmly and openly shared with us their experiences of Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath. As many thanked us for our service it occurred to me how remarkable the easiness with which they embraced and blessed us. We saw with our own eyes and heard from their personal accounts the great challenges NOLA continues to face and yet what remains from their experience of the day are the abiding love of God and hope in him which their wonderful community shared richly with us.

NOTE: Our blogs from New Orleans this week will be written in the form of letters to Madeline- a team member from St Lukes Dallas who was prohibited at the last minute by health issues from attending the trip.

Dear Madeline,

Well it’s Monday and we are putting ourselves into service 100%. This morning we are working at New Orleans Mission; it’s a homeless shelter that serves men, women, and children. They work as hard as they can to change these guys lives by teaching them skills and instling God’s  love and hope in them.  Awesome,huh?

So this morning half the group is cleaning up the food pantry and the other half is cleaning up the donations room. It makes me think, what  are we doing to donate the first fruits of our labor? Are we giving  away that we want to eat or wear- or are we saying to ourselves, “I hate this I’ll give it away?” If we are all children of the Lord – and  He has no favorites- then we all deserve the best.

God loves us all – and he certainly loves you, Madeline. Sometimes, like the guys at the NOLA Mission, we wonder if He’s paying attention.  But He is- always is.  He loves us and adores us and wants His best for us. It’s up to all of us that know that to show that love to others.  I thi k we are going to be showing a lot of that love this  week. Wish you were here.

Sara and the St. Luke’s Gang

The harsh realities of Katrina that the team from Saint Michaels and All Angels had begun to digest became even more of a reality as they awoke and headed for their first full day of service in the Lower 9th Ward. All Souls Episcopal church, which is currently housed in a vacated Walgreens, is a newly founded congregation in the 9th Ward that has been established strictly as a community outreach.

Throughout the day the team served through cleaning and preparing the sanctuary for Sunday’s service, painting houses in the area, moving 100s of pieces of 12ft sheetrock, and gutting a Reverend’s garage. By the end they were tired but happy with the service they were able to provide.

Before heading back home we made one more stop where the levy broke almost four years ago, drowning this entire section of the city in 8ft of water for over three weeks. As the team witnessed the devastation that is still rampant in this area they were challenged to think about the relics that were lost in this disaster. The invaluable trinkets that served as memories that were washed away, reminding everyone on the team that the memories they are building now will never be forgotten.

The lively group from St Michael’s and All Angels arrived this evening in Algiers after an unexpected tour of New Orleans while getting a bit lost. They were greeted with an unfamiliar game of cabbage ball, a warm meal, and a walk to the river.

Another unexpected suprise awaited them. A blues band was playing in the park by the river, as some celebration was taking place. It was amazing for the group to relax after a ten hour bus ride with the classic southern blues tunes, a good meal, and the sunset behind the French Quarter that is just on the other side of the river.

After many introductions and laughs and darkness was falling, we walked them a little ways down river past the party. As it was time for more serious introduction to the trip, they went through an encounter called Harsh Realities which attempts to help them empathize with the people of New Orleans and relate it to their lives. The response was intense silence and encouragement as the group returned to the house and prepared for the hard work to come, and the connections with the people they now wanted to make.

Sometimes the English language falls short in providing the exact word for a particular situation.  As we leave New Orleans and wave goodbye to the outstanding team from Believers Fellowship, one word is exactly appropriate: bittersweet.  Not many other languages have a word like this, and it describes exactly what we feel.  While we are looking forward to going home for a bit of rest, we always find it hard to say goodbye when we have spent a week in community sharing meals, smiles, laughter, tears, and prayers.

The Believers team worked hard, played hard, and prayed hard.  They spent several days driving in a van without A/C in 90 degree heat and really didn’t complain.  They shared the love of Christ with each other and with the people of New Orleans.  They displayed grace, joy, and forgiveness as well as some pretty spectacular dance moves.

Our prayer for them as they travel back “across the entire country,” is that they continue to display the amazing love that we witnessed this past week; we pray that they never forget they are ‘masterpieces’, and that they live fully those masterpiece lives that God created them for.  If the last week in New Orleans is any indication…it’s going to be an amazing summer.

Sometimes in our day to day lives, God sends a person to remind us He is watching over us. These people always seem to show up just at the right time.  This week in NOLA we met an angel named April.

When the team left Minnesota, it was about forty degrees.  It wasn’t until they reached Missouri that they needed a little air conditioning and realized the AC on their rental van was on the fritz.  Needless to say, by the time they reached the city of New Orleans they were HOT! 

We contacted a local Chevy dealer to see what could be done.  After hearing the story of why the team was in town, and the amazing work they had done on Monday and Tuesday, our angel named April put the van at the front of the repair line.  When the repair took longer than expected, April aranged for rental cars free of charge so that the team would not miss their opportunity to see alligators.  She worked on the team’s behalf for 2 days to make sure that they would not have to make the trip back home in a sweltering vehicle.  All the while she smiled and expressed her appreciation to the team leader for bringing the kids here to help the city get back on its feet.

We give thanks to God for His reminders of love.  We give thanks for our angel named April.

Over the years during our visits to New Orleans many of the Wonder Voyage staff have lamented the sad condition of what we lovingly call “the Pigeon House.” This is a beautiful, historic structure just down the street from the large pink house where we stay. Abandonded for years, the Pigeon House got it’s name from the pigeons that took up residence in it over the years. Inside and out,the house was swarming with pigeons.

Today our Believers Fellowship team was able to participate in the rebirth and revitalization of this beautiful building. A local couple has purchased the structure and is going to use it to house a neighborhood youth mentoring and community center. Equipped with hammers, crowbars, and enormous amounts of energy, our team knocked out walls, pulled nails and hauled debris. It was hot, it was dusty, it was fantastic! How cool it was to participate in the process of resurrecting a building that will build into the lives of young people in this community. We can’t wait to return tomorrow to finish what we started.

Sometimes when a team goes out to serve they are a huge blessing to the ones whom they serve. Other times they turned out being blessed by whom they serve. Today for our Believers Fellowship team in New Orleans, it was one of those other times. We spent the day serving at Fairhaven Ministries outside Covington Louisiana. In addition to being a home for children, Fairhaven also has a large ministry to people in Romania and to people right here in Louisiana.

The best part of any trip to Fairhaven is the time we get to spend with Johnny & Cissy Huffman. The stories they tell of God’s abundance and faithfulness are so inspirational. One can’t spend a day there without leaving fired up and ready to heed the call.

The team loved hearing the stories of how God provides for this ministry, and after our huge workday yesterday, the lighter work and Johnny’s amazing stories added up to a day full of blessings for the team.

Wherever Wonder Voyage teams serve, they go in with this attitude: ‘we want to do the jobs that no one else wants to do.’

Usually this offer gets met with a bit of skepticism. Today in New Orleans our Believers Fellowship team went the distance in ways that left the staff at New Orleans Mission astonished and begging us to come back again this week.

Our first clue that this would qualify for an episode of ‘Dirty Jobs’ was when our site supervisor said gloves, masks, and eye protection were necessary. He said we were going to clean a vacant lot…

Nothing really prepared us for the sights, smells, and crttters. It was a vacant lot alright, but it was a vacant lot that has been, until recently, used as a homeless encampment. Our job was to remove everything so that the lot could be mowed and turned into a park.

“Everything” included old appliances, clothing, household items, toys, tires, matresses, linens, food, bottles, garbage,lumber, and various unmentionable items. It was stinky, hot, distgusting, and difficult work, and yet not one person complained. The team’s amazing attitude was a witness to the staff of the Mission who definitely didn’t want to do the job alone.

Our board member, pastor Joe Morrone and the congregation at Believers Fellowship should be proud of these young people. They were amazing! They came, they saw, they conquered the job that nobody else wanted to do!