Another email from the New Orleans team, this one from Meghan from just a couple hours ago…

So it’s Thursday morning, our last day of work, and we are definitely exhausted…ready for the day, but definitely exhausted. Yesterday my group and another group worked on Tony’s house (Tony is one of the church leaders who has recently bought a “house”), and it’s a fixer-upper to say the least. We ripped up vinyl from the kitchen floor which took about 7 hrs with at least 4 people working, some of the boys pulled piles and piles of insulation and wood down from the ceiling, Jon and Anton had a group on the roof pulling nails and laying shingles in the hot sun for hours, and Kyle put up a wall all by himself! It was definitely tiring, but the progress was incredible! We’re all so glad to help someone who has dedicated his life to working with the people down here in New Orleans.

I think we’ve all been learning that while we are being stretched outside our comfort zones (whether we prefer working directly with people or doing physical labor) God still does an amazing work through us. I have heard so many of us say “This isn’t my favorite thing to do, but if God wants me to I’ll do it,” and the positive attitudes are paying off. With 4 days of work, we can barely make a dent in the destruction still rampant in New Orleans, but we can help and we can restore hope.

Most of our work has been directly for the church (painting doors and building walls), and it’s awesome to know that we’re providing a means for them to keep up the tremendous ministry they are doing down here. As we all shuffle around the church with glazed over eyes this morning, I’m praying that God will just give us the strength we need today to finish the work he has for us. I guess as long as we’re tired, it means we’re giving this trip everything we’ve got and I praise God for that!

The trip hasn’t been all work and no play however. Last night we went down to the French Quarter, ate beignets and coffee at Cafe du Monde and went through all the shops trying on feathery masks and laughing at the funny shirts. The sense of community in our 56 person group is incredible. I know group unity was something I was worried about and prayed about for months before the trip, and those prayers have been answered.

Please continue to pray for that as we travel home tomorrow and Saturday, since minivans are pretty close quarters…Also pray for us all as we work today that God would give us strength we didn’t know we had, He has been so faithful this week and given us so many opportunities to worship Him with our hands. Thank you for your prayers, they have kept us going in ways you may never quite understand. We’ll see you all at home, and you might want to pray that we’re a little less sweaty, smelly and gross once you have us around!

-Meghan

Earlier posts in this series:

• ignite prepares for new orleans trip
  
• new orleans update #1
• new orleans update #2
• new orleans update #3
• new orleans update #4