Mission Trip to New Orleans

I just returned from a mission trip to New Orleans last night....exhausted yet refreshed. Fourteen from our church treked our way to Celebration Church in Metairie, Louisiana to help them with hurricane relief and to gut houses.
We arrived on Saturday, March 18 around 7 p.m. to find that there was nothing opened to eat because everything closes around 6 p.m. We ended up eating at the local Chevron station....yummy....but the cool thing was about 10 p.m. when someone came in with tons of Popeyes Chicken to eat.....what a God thing! Check out www.celebrationchurch.org for more info. on their relief efforts...they are doing a great thing.
Sunday morning we woke up at 6:30 a.m. and we went to the early church service at 8 a.m. We were out of church by 9:30 a.m.!!! That was way cool, so we went to Wal-Mart and then took a tour of New Orleans. That afternoon we went and gutted out a guys house...his name was Anthony. The floodwaters were about 7 feet high, so we took out sheetrock which was moldy.
We met so many people from so many states...Arkansas, Georgia, Alabama, California, Washington, Arizona, Kansas. There were about 240 at the peak of the week helping out in the relief center and gutting houses.
The people of New Orleans were so appreciative of our efforts. People who didn't even know we were helping would come up to us and just thank us for helping their city....I guess we really stood out ! :)
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we went out and gutted houses. One house we went to still had all of the moldy furniture it and so we had to remove it. The food from September was still in the fridge and the fridge accidentally opened and it royally stunk....I've never smelled anything as horrible as what was in that fridge.
Wednesday afternoon we took the afternoon off to go down to Bourbon Street. There was an eerie feeling all through the afternoon....it is a wicked place...I'm sure it is even worse at night.
Thursday we were at the relief center and I believe for our students was the highlight of the week. We had some students in the clothing tent and some in the food tent. Some were friendly shoppers who helped people go through and pick out food. During this time, they had an opportunity to hear stories of the hurricane and how people have coped with them. As I walked a lady out to put her groceries in her car, she just started crying. She had been through a lot since the Hurricane and needed someone to talk to. Two of our students led someone to Christ.....that is what it is all about!
I'm hoping we can get a mens group to go down in the fall to help out. It will take years for New Orleans to be restored! Could you pray for the people of New Orleans?
It is amazing how God uses things like mission trips to put things in perspective. Honestly, I didn't want to go even though I was leading it. I didn't want to be gone from my family again, but God used this great opportunity to minister to me and he usually does. This mission trip reminded me of the hope that I have in Christ and regardless of the circumstances, He will always be my refuge........throughout this trip, I reflected on the Psalms and Davids trials and how he continually took refuge in God......isn't He amazing?