Tuesday, July 1, 2008

NOLA Day 3

I'm going to try to make this a little shorter than the previous 2 days because, quite frankly, it's late and I'm tired.

Today went really well. VBS was good this morning. Our team heard a couple of stories that really helped give us a glimpse of what life is like for these kids. One child, Calin, lost his mom just 4 weeks ago. He's 7 years old. We've all noticed him being very clingy and affectionate with us, but now we know why. Please pray for him.

Karina was feeling well enough to come with us today, so she was able to be there for the VBS. However, by the time VBS was over she was starting to get that worn out day-after-the-flu feeling. Since I had to get a tetanus shot anyway, we dropped the other 3 girls off at the house, went to get my shot (we went every direction except the right one to get to the clinic, by the way), then headed over to the BBC office to see if they needed any help. We weren't there for more than 10 minutes when I got a call from Arthur (the Volunteer coordinator working with the other 3 girls) saying that, (1) Heather stepped on a nail, so you know the clinic you just went to? Yea, she needs to go now...and (2) The dumpster still had not shown up at the house and we can't do anymore work until all the stuff we've already knocked out can come out of the house. So that was the end of house gutting for day 2.

It worked out really well, though, because we were able to come back to BBC and play with the kids for a while before heading back home a little early to shower and take a quick tour of the Garden District before Kati, Paul, the Petersons and the Homs joined us for some of Ray's famous Shrimp Pasta.

After dinner, we all sat around the living room and heard Paul's "Katrina story". Not only did Paul grow up and live in Gentilly (a neighborhood demolished by the floods), but he was in college at the time at Tulane University, so his story has some different elements to it. We also got to hear the story of how he met his fiance shortly after returning from the storm. For a group of girls, that was a great addition!

At 9, we broke for a few minutes so our team could officially do a short debrief so everyone was free to go to bed. Jessie's been having a lot of problems sleeping this week. She's very literally exhausted and needs to sleep more than anything else right now. We prayed over her and her bed and we haven't seen her roaming in or out of the room yet, so my (our) hope is that God is showing himself faithful to our request.

A few of us took a quick trip out to Morning Call in Metairie for Beignets, then I took a liberty as the leader and driver of the car and swung by my adopted Mama's house to wake her up (as I usually end up doing when I come to town) and say hello. I can't come to this town and not at least see her for 5 minutes.

Now everyone is sleeping but me and I'm very quickly heading in that direction. Thank you to those who are reading these (very long) updates and keeping us in prayer. The team is really starting to function like a team and I'm really proud of us. I look forward to seeing what God does in the next few days in the girls and in the people around us. Keep praying!

Until tomorrow...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Leeann and girls. We are praying for good health for all and believing god is using you to change the life's of
unbelievers. I am so bless to know you girls.