Reflections on New Orleans – Part IV

If you remember a couple of years ago, there was a big media splash on what Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were doing to rebuild houses in the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans.   Below are some of the houses that have been built.

    The colors are very New Orleans but some of them truly look like they forgot to part of the house together.  Interesting!

The roof on this one is the oddest thing.  It’s mesh, so what’s the point and it sags down to the ground in the back.  Kind of makes me go “hmmmm…”  :)

This yellow one I kind of like.  I like the way the porch wraps around it. This one was the oddest one of all.  If you look really close you can see where the back of the house is elevated and then the siding slopes down in the front.  The sides of this one were blue and then the indented front which you can’t see most of was a mint green.

These are a bit strange for my taste but I guess they’re still a house for a family.

Reflections on New Orleans – Part III

Projects are a big part of these trips but more important are the relationships that are formed in the process of the work.  
  The relationships established with the home owners are wonderful as stated in the previous two posts but the enhanced relationship with God and amongst the other team members is absolutely priceless.  

First and foremost, it’s incredible to watch people grow spiritually and increase the intensity of their relationship with God.

Alot of us go with the “human” thought that we’ll be blessing the people of New Orleans.  While that may happen, God sees to it that working with and for those people ends up blessing us more in the process.   It’s incredibly humbling to go to a complete stranger and say to them “I’m here to serve you, what can I do?”   The bottom line is, God is much more about growing us spiritually than He is about what we’re doing while there.  The work is only the vehicle.  While reflecting is when we see that since we stepped out of our box, God has blessed that step tenfold. 

To further increase spiritual growth, there are 25+ of us living for a week or two(in some cases) in 1000 square feet with only two bathrooms.   If two bathrooms for that many people doesn’t test a person’s faith, I’m not sure what would!  It’s amazing seeing the growth and bonds between the team members.  It doesn’t matter where you are financially, personally or spiritually, the playing field is leveled in a hurry with those kinds of logistics.  Let’s just say there aren’t a lot of secrets in that kind of environment.   We pray, we joke, we laugh(alot) and we fellowship.   If someone is struggling, it doesn’t take long for another person to see that and come around them in friendship and prayer.   How a person can become so close to others in such a short time, close enough to feel like family is truly a “God-thing.”   
  We have a lot of team members who return year after year and when they do, it truly feels like old home week.   I can only think of a few people over the years that we don’t keep in close contact with.  Our church is a large church with multiple campuses so without trips such as this, most of us would never meet so this creates a relationship bond amongst the campuses as well.  It’s easy to fall through the cracks of a large church, but it’s events like these that seal up those cracks.   For DH & I these trips have given us a “real” church family that we felt was lacking before.  

If an opportunity arises for any of you to go on a short-term outreach of some type, I would highly recommend it.  You will never be the same again!  It will definitely ruin you for the ordinary!

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As a side note, speaking of relationships….

The girl in this picture is our sweet niece, Amanda and Josh, the young man is the son of a friend I went to high school youth group with many years ago but had sort of lost touch with.  Amanda’s parents are DH’s brother and sister-in-law who have co-led all of these trips with us.  

They both went on last years trip, Amanda during the first week and Josh during the second week so they did not serve in New Orleans together.  This year they were there serving together. 

Here’s their story…Josh saw Amanda at our joint team meeting last year before we left, went home and told his Mom (my old friend) that he was going to date that girl. :)   He saw her again in the airport as Amanda was coming home from New Orleans and he was headed there.   He called her during the week he was there, they went out on their first date a couple of weeks later, proposed to her this past fall, served in New Orleans together this year and will be married on September 4th.  How cool is that?  We’re so happy for them.  Now, that’s what I call forming a relationship!

Reflections on New Orleans – Part II

Brian’s house…since i was cooking for the team, I only met Brian once when he came for dinner.  When we arrived in New Orleans, Brian gave our team “poetic license” as he called it.  He didn’t care what we did but was anxious to have his home back.  This home was Brian’s childhood home.  Brian wasn’t necessarily the poorest of the poor.  He could afford supplies but couldn’t afford to hire the labor and had health problems that prevented him from attempting most of the building himself.   

Our team sheet rocked, taped and mudded installed windows
cleaned up the yard
and befriended a wonderful man.
Brian loved to share stories of being a photographer in Vietnam.

Brian treated our folks to South Shore Bakery donuts almost everyday.   Who wouldn’t want to work at Brians? 
Krispy Kremes eat your heart out! 

The last day our team worked at Brian’s, they gave him a key to the first locking door Brian has had since Katrina.  
  The only electricity he had was coming from an extension cord off the pole and water still had not been turned on, but he was moving an airbed in and sleeping there that evening.    Can you imagine being displaced from your home for over 4 years?    I might have slept there that night too if I were him.

Reflections on New Orleans – Part I

New Orleans is both a beautiful city and not so beautiful city all rolled up in one.  

There are so many beautiful homes, especially along St Charles Avenue. 

There are fun little neighborhood cafes

and nice parks.

Then there is the low income side of town which is the area of the city we tend to see most when we are there. 

But even amongst those areas, there is beauty.  Beauty in the people. 
   
Before we left for New Orleans in December, DH & I were both pretty well convinced this was going to be our last trip.  Oh, we might return at some point.  We have made some wonderful friends there but as far as leading teams, we were all but certain this would be it. 

Then along comes an Albert to change our mind.  Albert is a 79 year old man whose house we helped with.  Albert is still a working man, even at 79.  Albert is one of those people who have fallen through the cracks after Katrina.  Albert didn’t receive much aid to start with and then was “taken” by two different contractors.  They took his money, did a slipshod job, took off and he never saw them again.    Albert was left with a house that didn’t meet codes (yes, there are codes in New Orleans) and had to pay someone a second time to complete/fix the work the first two contractors were supposed to do.

Our team was working across the street at Brian’s house
when Albert put the pride of re-building his home himself on the shelf, walked across and asked if we thought we would have time to help him with some sheetrock.  We referred him to the project director with His  Hands 2 Go.  After some discussion, it was decided a portion of our team could work on his home the second week we were there.  Our folks helped him with sheetrock, windows, gave him a locking door, yard clean-up and completed a small, lockable shed behind his home.
   This 79 year old man worked right along side our team the whole week, including digging a ditch.

  I don’t think there was any one of our folks who didn’t walk away incredibly blessed to be able to work with this man.   

If you want to read more about our trip, check out the outreach blog at http://crossroadsconstruction.blogspot.com