The first day I met him, the mission director, Wes, and I
picked him up at his house to go out for lunch. On the way to get Terrence, Wes explained Terrence’s life
story including his current serious medical conditions, narrowly avoiding death
three times recently. I was
nervous meeting Terrence at first.
But Terrence quickly opened up, sharing about his life. It was a very powerful week being with
Terrence. The two of us prayed and
had many one-on-one conversations.
I was accepted and welcomed by his mom, uncle and others right
away. We all prayed together a
number of times.
I thought God really put this Godly friend in my life. He influenced me with his positive and
strong faith in living with AIDS.
Although he has had various operations (including one yesterday)
Terrence is a warrior of God. When
I observed Terrence’s attitude on life, I saw how I need to step up my own
faith. I stress out about everyday
things, but Terrence doesn’t even stress out about the life and death
matters. Terrence calmly said over
and over, “God is in control.”
Terrence is right, “God is in control!”
My disappointment changed to excitement as I repeatedly saw
God at work. We led a Bible study,
dinner and egg hunt on Tuesday evening.
So many kids showed
up! The kids were all able
to hear the Gospel and just have a fun evening. We had heard stories from Hy & Libba about how the kids
wouldn’t often behave and would sometimes even hurt others. Aside from the chaos and a few minor
arguments, the evening went smoothly and all of us came back to the church
exhausted, but happy about the new friends we made. After that night, I had been praying for another opportunity
to spend time with these new friends, and God definitely answered! Our last day of ministry we went back
to Eagle Street, hoping that at least a few kids would show up. We had a whole lot of kids show up, and
we truly had a great time with them without having to worry about an agenda to
follow. We were even able to hang
out with kids who had not been to Hy & Libba’s Bible Study before, which
was great.
This week was another amazing week in my home away from
home. I’m so thankful that I had
this opportunity and I was able to help the people here, as well as being
changed in the process.
One of the most inspiring thing I learned was the life of
Daniel Bembo. This man has lived
more lives than 50 people in just one job. He has had successful kids and he has been successful
himself. It made me realize that
most homeless people have stories.
This really changed how I view others and made me see how much faith the
less fortunate really have.
New Orleans is truly the only place on Earth where you will
feel such things. Being here has
helped me see God even more clearly and see myself more clearly also. I have helped others and now can apply
this knowledge to make a better life for myself and others.
Natalie Steiner.
On this year’s New Orleans Mission Trip, I learned to be thankful for
what I have and that life is short, so cherish every moment. I learned both these powerful lessons
from the incredible children on Eagle Street. Although I came here to change lives and show love, I was
shown love and changed by these kids as well.
There was a little girl who saw me at the beginning of the
day and wouldn’t leave my side until she had to go home. She is absolutely beautiful and loved
to give me kisses. I talked to her
about Jesus and how much He loves her and we prayed together for her to be ice
to everyone and stay safe. Then,
as I was walking her and her siblings home, I saw a glimpse of the environment
she lives in every day. The older
boys were rude to her as my precious friend walked back into her home. Earlier she had told me that she loved
me and that I was her best friend, and now she had to go back and live in such
a hostile environment. When we
were walking away, kids along the street kept fighting, kicking and stealing
each other’s toys, and then my little friend came running up after me to say
goodbye again. It was so hard for
me to let her go.
From this small experience, I was opened to the fact of how
short life is. I only had one day
with this young girl and then I had to give her away. This has really taught me to never take anything for
granted. Any of my friend’s lives
could end without knowing Jesus, and I would have missed the opportunity to
share with them eternal life. I
can’t let my friends miss this opportunity, I need to show them Jesus, because
life on earth is so very short.
Before, at school or anywhere, I used to look at people and
see them swearing or doing something wrong. I thought, wow, I’m way better then them. However, I went to New Orleans hoping
that God would open my eyes. He
did. I became more of a disciple
and less self-centered. I also learned to give second chances like Jesus did.
Going to Hy & Libba’s house helped me to learn to serve
others. I also went to the Eagle
Street ministry house where I learned that second chances are very
important. So many kids have
difficult home lives yet they want to be there and to follow God. God bless them!
In conclusion, God opened my eyes to have a servant’s heart
and to give people second chances.
I hope to return next year and I hope you decide to come
along as well.
Austin Stevens.
What I thought of me before missions trip: evangelist. Was
I wrong? Heck yes. Before coming, I tried to prepare
myself for what is to come. I
simply cannot because what I thought was completely wrong. The biggest thing down in New Orleans
are the people. You walk down the
street, and see all different ethnicities and how they are integrated. The kids most forgotten are the most
impactful thing.
Jason Keaskowski.
Before this week I always thought life was only what I have experienced
around where I live. This trip has
shown me many reasons to think and see outside of that box. Our trip started off with a very long
ride from Chicago to Mississippi that I thought was going to be a
nightmare. Our group of
leaders/teens did not let that happen.
They were perfect and I realized right away that we all had the same
goal in mind and that was to show the love of Jesus to all.
Heather Morrison.
I am not new to missions trips, but that did not mean I was not going to
let this one affect me. I learned
something new on every mission trip and I was excited to see hat God’s plan for
me was on this trip. Eagle Street
had a special place in my heart and I have been touched by the children every
year but nothing big happened until Thursday. The kids always impacted me and it was awesome to see how I
made a difference in the children of Eagle Street.
Marilyn Harrison. I
kinda knew how these people felt, nowhere near what I probably went through but
lose enough. God has brought so
many wonderful things on this trip and made many things possible. I really feel like I could just really
connect with people here because I’ve been through similar stuff they are going
through. I’m really thankful for
God and what He did for me. This
mission trip gave me a lot. Some example are new friends, a closer relationship
with God. The sad part was saying goodbye and seeing all the kids cry and the
people around us just thanking us for what we do, but it’s really what God
does; we just preach His Word and He shines through us. I really enjoyed this trip and hopefully
God can make it happen for me again to go. I really think each of us on this team grew a lot closer to
God than people think and I really hope you would consider going on a mission
trip.
"Pepe" Nick Battaglia. Every
year I go on these missions, I can see new ways that God works through me. This year I saw Him use me to get to
the kids. I was able to bring
someone to Christ today and it felt good to do something like that. I am glad that I was able to have such
a huge impact on this child’s life.
I was glad God was able to use me to allow this child to have a better
life in Christ, and hopefully someday he does the same thing for someone else.
Kim Keaskowski.
I really didn’t know what to expect coming into this trip. My hope is that God would use me and my
family to change lives, to serve and work as we were needed. We definitely did that, but something I
wasn’t expecting so much is how much we would change personally and as a
family.
Andrew Keaskowksi.
My mission trip to New Orleans this year was an amazing experience. One thing that made it a great
experience was on Sunday when we fed the homeless. This was helpful in my spiritual journey, because I met this
guy named Willie, and he really touched my heart. He shared stories with us and when we left he started
crying, because he knows that he has no home to go to. That was just part of this experience
that was amazing.
Abby Burgett. I
have always been interested in missions because I love to help people, and this
missions trip was the one God wanted me to go on. A mission trip had not been presented to me till New Orleans
2013, that I as a freshman could attend.
I truly do believe that God put me on this missions trip for a reason
because my life has been changed.
Morgan Walker.
Loving people as Jesus loves people s hard, but it is well worth
it. This trip I kept asking God to
help me see people like He sees them.
When you see each and every person as a child of God, as His beloved, as
His masterpiece, you start to treat people differently. You see the brokenness in people’s
lives. I can’t count the amount of
times my heart was broken on this trip.
I saw deep hurt and need.
It was hard, but worth it.
It drew me closer to Christ.
It made me see what God was doing in people’s hearts and in my own.
Kayla Keaskowski.
My favorite part of this trip was feeding the homeless and painting
things. My least favorite part of
the trip was when we had to leave the little kids,, and Hy & Libba &
Terrence and Traechelle and Isaac.
The person that I had most fun on this trip was Destiny (age 3). The funniest part of the trip was when
we did the hot sauce competition.
I had fund when we went to the French Market. I got a snowball but it was nasty. It was watermelon, but it just didn’t taste like
watermelon. I also got a fan, a
real fan. It is really cool. Jesus let me do all of these things on
this trip.
Anna Locklear.
I was always an introvert when it came to playing with kids but this
week God changed that. Since we
had options every day, I always chose to go to Hy and Libba’s to work on their
house. To me, I thought that was
going out of my comfort zone, but it wasn’t.
Julie Quandt. I
have known many people who love the Lord, but few who are so tirelessly
committed to sharing that love with others the way our friends and missionaries
Hy & Libba do. Through working
with them, I became poignantly aware of just how far I had let daily routines
lull me into complacency. I was
challenged during this trip to love both the very small and adults in a way
that not only reflected Jesus but was Jesus through me. He showed me that if I do what he leads
me to do, even if I feel exhausted, He will give me the strength.
Kayla Yarbrough.
I used to think I knew what was going on in life but it turns out I only
knew some of it. This past week in
New Orleans has opened my heart and eyes so much. We came here to help change these people’s lives, but it
ended with them changing our lives.
Lura Quandt.
Before this mission, I didn’t really know what God had in store for me,
but boy, did I get an earful! Two
of the people we aided were Hy and Libba.
These two amazing people taught me to think of others before
myself. These two people own two
housed on Eagle Street, where they minister up to 100 kids a week. This week we helped paint, clean, and
wash parts of their house. I felt
like that was such a small thing we could do, in comparison to what they do
every week. I really saw that God
wanted me here for a reason and that he didn’t just send me here as a
mistake. Also, the kids on Eagle
Street really did change my life.
These sweet little children, some in junior high, live every day not
knowing if they will eat that night.
God really showed me that I don’t need the “best” things to be happy
because I have all I need. These
kids don’t which breaks my heart.
Walking the kids home was the hardest part because we don’t know what
will happen to them. I wish I
could just take them all home with be, but I can’t. God doesn’t want us to feel so sorry for them that we miss a
gospel sharing opportunity, He wants us to be positive about their future, and
we can when we share Jesus with them.
I feel so blessed with this amazing opportunity I got to have. Now, I hope all of you all see we need
to make a difference and I hope you all join missions as well!
Paul Polelle.
There have been many points in my life where I never felt God and His
Presence. I have had times where I
felt better off without Him, living my life, boy was I wrong. I have grown up in a home where God has
always been center, but not always to me personally. It was one year ago, I was baptized in the name of Jesus and
that is one of my biggest turning points in my life. Every since I was baptized, I have notice my life has
changed for the better. God is
everywhere in my life now and I can see that clearly now. He’s always been there, even when I
wanted nothing to do with Him. I
realize now that I was never truly alive until I accepted Jesus in my life and
made Him Lord of my life and was baptized in his Holy Name.
Alaina Bowman.
40 hours in the car within one week. Try it! You’re bound to see a different side of people if you go
with 27 people. I did.
Sam Gerken. I
knew that lots of the kids on Eagle Street didn’t always use the best language.
I did not think that it meant even a little toddler would be swearing at
everyone.
Brandon Keaskowski.
I am sharing this to you to show how an active relationship with God can
make a difference. This New Orleans
Trip 2013 really meant a lot to me.
Demonstrating the love of God was a big key. The big theme for our trip is LOVE AS JESUS.
Natalie Steiner.
On this year’s New Orleans Mission Trip, I learned to be thankful for
what I have and that life is short, so cherish every moment. I learned both these powerful lessons
from the incredible children on Eagle Street. Although I came here to change lives and show love, I was
shown love and changed by these kids as well.
There was a little girl who saw me at the beginning of the
day and wouldn’t leave my side until she had to go home. She is absolutely beautiful and loved
to give me kisses. I talked to her
about Jesus and how much He loves her and we prayed together for her to be ice
to everyone and stay safe. Then,
as I was walking her and her siblings home, I saw a glimpse of the environment
she lives in every day. The older
boys were rude to her as my precious friend walked back into her home. Earlier she had told me that she loved
me and that I was her best friend, and now she had to go back and live in such
a hostile environment. When we
were walking away, kids along the street kept fighting, kicking and stealing
each other’s toys, and then my little friend came running up after me to say
goodbye again. It was so hard for
me to let her go.
From this small experience, I was opened to the fact of how
short life is. I only had one day
with this young girl and then I had to give her away. This has really taught me to never take anything for
granted. Any of my friend’s lives
could end without knowing Jesus, and I would have missed the opportunity to
share with them eternal life. I
can’t let my friends miss this opportunity, I need to show them Jesus, because
life on earth is so very short.
Spencer Moulton.
Well, how to start!
N’awlins is just a special place.
When I say special though, I don’t necessarily mean amazing in the
positive sense. Rather, when I use
the term “special”, I am referring to a “special” mixture of both magnificent
and horrendous elements. While
NOLA is a unique, culturally rich and surprisingly integrated city, it’s been
consistently drenched in crime with a lingering secular and extremely “lost”
aura.
I came to New Orleans expecting and hoping to change lives
via Christ, and some of that was done this week by the grace of God, through
the power of the Holy Spirit, but more than that, my relationship with Christ
was perpetually altered. Meeting a
man at Ozanam Inn was spectacular.
He initially seemed like a man predestined in my mind to be without even
the most remedial of biblical knowledge.
Instead, he challenged me with key passages of Scripture. But he was missing something huge: what I call “the fulcrum of the
Gospel.” He believed ultimately that salvation came through living a perfect
life as Christ, which I believe he knew was impossible, so he had reached the
terminal point in turning towards agnosticism and completely doubting the
possibility of being saved. Then,
I told him about grace, but he was hesitant and seemed to have disregarded what
I had just said; nonetheless, we embraced each other and I prayed for him right
there and then.
For the remainder of the trip, I came across even more
amazing people like Terrence, a boy named Malik, Hy & Libba, and yes, my
own team members. We were blessed
with spiritually enriched conversation and enjoyable interaction. Overall, I hope and pray that in the long-run,
I take more away from this trip than the last time I took a mission trip
here. In fact, I do believe this
experience had intensified my thirst for the Lord through prayer and time in
the Scriptures. Praise God for the
people of N’awlins, for LAMB Ministries, and for all the people involved over
the years in rebuilding and spiritually investing in the unique people who
inhabit this “special” city.
Logan Walker. I
used to be afraid of the homeless but when you just talk to them and get to
know them, it makes you see that they are people just like you and me. There was a homeless man named Willie
that I really connected with. He
showed me that even if you are at rock bottom, you can be a strong
Christian. During this trip I also
learned how terrible these people have it here, sometimes they don’t get food
for days, some don’t have homes, some have to reassure their children that they
will get their next meal. I also
learned that I have to love everyone I come in contact with no matter how hard
it may be.
Kent Beckman.
It’s awesome how I go to New Orleans expecting to change it and it changes
me instead. This week has been
pure awesomeness. I had the
privilege to serve the Lord in so many ways. I got to serve, talk, and relate to homeless people. I got to help out Hy & Libbawith
odd jobs in their house and was able to connect /love kids on Eagle
Street. It’s so cool how you can
start a conversation or connect to someone by doing something as simple as a
wave or by saying hello. Playing
basketball with kids on Eagle Street, giving a high five to someone in Café du
Monde because they like the Blackhawks, talking to kids on Eagle Street. These are moments of my life that I
won’t every forget.
Jen Locklear.
Perfectionist. Cynic. Yes, those both describe me. Even as a Christ-follower! New Orleans for me this year gave me
the opportunity to face these head-on.
God used many situations to show me the error of my ways.
My inner perfectionist was challenged when I helped make
house repairs for some precious folds, Hy & Libba McEnery. It wasn’t enough! Not enough, I thought. But they were grateful. Ever so grateful. It didn’t have to be perfect. It was better.
The cynical attitude reared its ugly head many times during
the week. Seeing students,
especially the teen ones, wearing uniform pants that were six inches too
short? Heartbreaking. Hearing a mom comfort her children with
the extra food we were able to send with them? Too much.
The need is so great! Such
an uphill climb. But when those
sweet spirits are lifted, and we can speak/show love to them, it’s the best. A difference has been made. Bye-Bye, cynicism.
Thank you, God, for this week. Thank you for being patient with this cynical
perfectionist. To God be
the glory.
They changed how I view people and how to approach people’s
background story. These kids made
me realize that what my real story was.
How I got to this point in my life and how I ended in Faith Church. A simple run around the yard can offer
a variety of testimonial opportunities.
Kids pull every emotion out of me and I believe Jesus works
through the kids to gain from me.
They can get the best and worse of me and they help me grow through God
and they help me grow when I need to grow. Then there are times that I need to stop back and
learn. This is how I think God has
worked through me.
I was very nervous about our first day in New Orleans
because we were going to be serving/loving the homeless people of New
Orleans. Within five minutes of
being at the shelter, my nerves were put to rest once I lifted them up to the
Lord. I was able to speak with and
become friends with many people who the only difference between us was I had a
home and they did not. The two
people I was able to connect with were a homeless couple named Derrick and
Kayla who were amazing people and shared the same love and need for Jesus as I
did. Before that I looked at
homeless people as not one like me but now they are my brothers and sisters in
Christ.
The next four days were filled with hard work and much joy.
Each day we were able to bless a family with some much needed improvements on
their home and their mission house.
We were also able to interact with many kids from the ages of 1 to 18
who come from broken homes to hear what our missionary family Hy & Libba
about the love of Jesus.
These two people are two of the most amazing people I have
every met. They reflect what God
wants us all to be above whatever I could have imagined.
The most amazing and powerful person I met on this mission
was a man named Terrence. He is 21
years old, weighs 95 pounds and has AIDS.
Never would I have thought that I would be friends with someone who has
AIDS. But once again God proved me
wrong. He has been on his death
bed a few times and always stays positive and never scared of what tomorrow
holds for him. He is a great man
of Jesus and played a huge role from her on in my walk with Jesus.
I truly believe that any one who has ever questioned if they
could ever do some thing like this should do it. I guarantee this has changed my life forever and can’t wait
to have this kind of opportunity again.
Praise Jesus for all His work He has done in my heart this week.
Thursday was a day full of prayer for me because I was an
intercessor, my job was to pray all day about anything. I prayed for Terrence and the kids on
Eagle Street. As it turned out,
God answered my prayers. Terrence
came out of surgery ok and God had a plan on Eagle Street. Thursday afternoon I came across a beautiful
8 year old boy by the name of “Dreads”.
He looked and acted like an angel.
Playing basketball and having a tickle fight put the biggest smile on
his face. He was as happy as could
be. Later on he proclaimed his
love for Jesus on Hy’s daily radio show.
He put a smile on Austin’s and my faces. Taking him home was hard but I told him “God will always be
by your side”, hugged him and left one hour later. I took another group home where I crossed Dread path once
ore. At first I wasn’t sure if I
impacted him but when he ran and jumped in my arms, I knew I made a difference
in his life. I now know that God
has a great plan for Dreads. It
was hard to leave Dreads but I knew he had Jesus in his heart and leaving him I
had a good felling. I’ll miss the
kids on Eagle Street but I know God is working in them.
Every day this week, God had answered all my prayers. My
goal for this week was to share the Word of God and that had happened. I think I saw this most when the
children were at Eagle Street.
Being able to tell every one of them about God was awesome and I really
hope people can do the same thing.
I’m glad I as ale to help kids see God.
Another time I felt close to god was when everyone had gone
to the homeless shelter and begun handing out food. Jut sitting thee and listening to what they had to say was
the greatest thing. Even though
most of these people had nothing, they had Christ and that’s all that
matters. Each one of them know
something about the Bible and learning about it was great. I really hope I get the opportunity to
come back next year so I can continue to show grow spiritually by all the
people.
Going on this mission trip not only grew my prayer life in
amazing ways, but also taught me that there is more to life than following a
schedule and making sure things get done.
I’ve learned that God wants us to love people, to spend time getting to
know people. Building that
relationship with people will allow them to see Christ through you and
ultimately open doors to have conversations about needing Jesus in your life
and spending eternity in Heaven.
It really breaks my heart to see a place like New Orleans
that is such a broken and lost city. That is such a tiny part of the world that
we live in. The need to do
missions is huge. Spending Spring
Break in New Orleans was truly a privilege!
The second thing that was really touching to me was meeting
Terrence. Terrence is 21 and he
weighs about 117 pounds. The
sickness that caused him to get so skins is AIDS. The first couple of nights that he was over I didn’t really
talk to him. But when dinner was
over on Wednesday, I sat down next to him, and we talked for awhile. Thursday was a day when Terrence was
going to have surgery performed on him.
Because of that, Wes took 3 interns to go to the hospital and visit
Terrence. I was one of the three
that was able to go, and I was so glad I did.
Before Terrence’s surgery when we were there, he was so
happy and ready to go to surgery.
But when he left, he was crying, but I can tell they were tears of
joy. Praise God because the
surgery went very good, and at about noon Terrence called Wes to say “God woke him up. If I hadn’t met Terrence, I wouldn’t have had as great of a day as
I did on Thursday.
One of the most powerful things that happened was meeting
Niah. Niah is barely two years old
and I met her walking through the Eagle Street neighborhood. We stopped at this one story house that
was split in half so it was livable for two. Then there she was, little Niah walked out of that house and
my life was changed. God put Niah
into my life, so I could have an impact on her and she on me. I whole-heartedly believe that.
I got to spend the rest of Monday night and Thursday night
with Niah. She loves to laugh, be
held and loves running around.
Most importantly, I taught her about Christ. By the end of the night I could hear her say, “Jesus loves
me.” I took away from that that
God is hope. Our hope that He
gives us to walk through life, our hope that God, only God, is our rock and
salvation. Mission trips are an
amazing thing and I highly recommend them to those considering going on
one.
I also learned that the people who are hardest to show
unconditional love to are often the ones sho need it the most. On the night we hosted a Bible study, I
met Roshan. He is three years old
and he was having an angry melt down.
I tried to get him to come sit with me and he kicked me and called me
stupid. Later when we were about
to eat dinner I saw his brother trying to calm him down. I walked over, picked up the screaming
three year old and started singing to him and bouncing him on my hip. His mom called and he started crying
harder and saying he wanted to stay and I told him if he was good then he
could. I carried him to get his
dinner and then I cold tell that he was still overwhelmed by all the people so
we went off by ourselves. We
became best friends. He didn’t
leave my side until his grandfather picked him up. I told him goodbye and that I loved him and he said he loves
me too. This little boy had been
almost scary he was so upset and angry and a few hours later he was giving me a
hug and telling me he loved me.
The love of God changes us. The people who need it the most are often the people we
don’t give it to because it’s harder.
This trip challenged me to open my heart to be able to see as God sees
and love as God loves. I know I
will make mistakes but I am choosing this mindset as a way of life and trusting
God that He will do the rest.
On Monday night we were looking for kids to tell about our
Easter Egg Hunt the next day. So
we went in groups and passed out cookies in the neighborhood. Truthfully, I was terrified, and was
thinking of all the bad things that could happen. I knew that if we take a leap of faith for God, He would
protect me, and He did. God really
opened up my heart when we saw kids wanted to learn about God and knowing the
situation they were in they needed to learn about God.
After that, I still went to Hy & Libba’s thinking that
was my “calling”, but Thursday night God changed that. While walking around Eagle Street we
met 4 boys who haven’t gone to Eagle Street in awhile so they came with
us. I really connected with
Stanley, a 10 year old who was the same size as me!
We were talking and playing with the Playdough most of the
time. But when it came to the
piggy back races he got really excited.
So we lined up and raced, we obviously came in last because I was
running with a person the same size as me on my back. Afterwards he told me he had so much fun which made me smile
from ear to ear. God really showed
me that these kids have nothing but are ecstatic when you take them on piggy
back races. God can open anyone’s
heart, and that’s why you should consider joining the next mission team!
While I truly have a long way to go, this trip helped me to
start breaking down walls I have constructed . It challenged me to reach out and talk to those around me
about the love of God and His saving grace – to do so whether that person is
poor, riddled with AIDS, a frightened child or their hardened parent. Each has ultimately a need for Jesus
and I can help bring the gift of His love into their lives if I just allow
Jesus to work through me.
One thing that made a huge impact on me this week was when
we went to go feed the homeless at Ozanam Inn. It was so much fun and so heart breaking at the same
time. The people there were so
grateful and happy to see us and just be able to talk with us. I really enjoyed sitting and listening
to all of their stories. It really
amazed me how some people literally had nothing but are still just so
happy. I learned at ton of things
that night one of them was that the word “homeless” means something completely
different to you when you can picture a name and face when you hear it.
One more thing that impacted me greatly this past week was
every single one of those children on Eagle Street. I really wasn’t that much of a kid person before this trip,
but those children taught me more in a few days than I could have ever
imagined. I didn’t think that
walking some of the kids home Thursday night because I had only known them for
a few hours. Some of the children
were the sweetest kids I’ve ever met ad others not so much. Every single one of those kids taught
me that they are NOT bad kids, they just come from broken homes. They taught me how to love the
“unlovable” and to just give them a chance and love them with an open
heart. These kids come from such
broken homes and they are just desperately looking for attention and people
just simply love them. It’s really
sad and eye opening to see how little they haveyet they still smile and laugh
so much of the time.
This experience has made me fall in love with missions and
want to do them again. I was
nervous at first but this has been such a life changing experience.
I want to challenge you to go on a mission. You will be amazed and changed forever.
Another part of my life where I have been blessed by Jesus
and have been changed by accepting Him into my life is that He has lead me to
leading small groups of jr. high boys at my church. Let me just say that I have never been so grateful to have
been called to lead the most amazing group og guys by my Lord. I still can’t believe the God of the
universe chose me to lead the most loving, energetic, funny, down to Earth,
heart warming boys anyone could ever meet. They are a true gift and blessing to me and it’s impossible
for me to imagine my life without them.
They all hold such a special place in my heart and I truly love each one
of them. It’s so amazing to see
each of their different personalities and qualities that make them so unique
and special to me.
I could go on forever on how much my life has changed since
I accepted Jesus Christ into my life.
I tear up writing this now reflecting on everything that God has done in
my life. Every time I think about
it, it blows my mind that the God of the universe is holding me in His hands,
always loving, forgiving. The best
part is that He is mine for eternity and that His love never runs out on
me. I can’t wait to see where God
takes me in my future because I know it’s going to be somewhere great.
One of my favorites is after we took an afternoon in the
French Market and piled back into the van. We talked about what we saw and did. If there is anything about New Orleans
that’s a little different than home, it’s that people are very open about their
very different lifestyles. As we
talked about that in the van full of teens, we took time to pray for them.
As a youth leader one of my hopes is that students will
understand people need Jesus and Jesus is enough. If we can look at people who are homeless, stricken with
AIDS, or have chosen a different lifestyle and instead of looking away, but
looking into their eyes, we will be able to see the world through Jesus’
eyes. See people with a heart that
needs to know they are loved.
Jesus can teach us that anytime He wants to, but it’s
something special when you can learn that lesson with a group of people who are
trying to Love As Jesus too!
I met a little boy named Keryon. He was only 2 years old. He was so adorable but also very shy. He came on Tuesday and never really
talked to me. He also came back on
Thursday. I saw him running around
playing with the older kids as I walked up to him. I heard him swearing at the older girls, it broke my
heart. He was just a little baby
and he probably didn’t know better.
Later, I saw him playing with a little girl his age. They were just playing catch and acting
how 2 year olds should. It made me
realize that these kids just needed love, they just needed to know God loves
them and that they can be little.
God showed me that they were just kids but forced to grow up so
fast. It showed me that I need to
enjoy being young and be thankful God let me enjoy my childhood.
This mission trip has taught me so much and I can’t wait to
come back!
One of the biggest events that has happened to me on this
mission was when we were feeding the homeless people. I met this guy Juan.
He was amazing! He made me
realize how lucky I am.
While on this mission I felt very heart broken and changed
because of all this poverty. God
just always put us in the right place at the right time. I can’t even explain all the things
about this AMAZING experience.
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