Right before going to sleep, Virginia wrote in her journal and shared it with us
Day One
3:15 am Wake up
Thankful for a ride to the airport at 4:10am Blessed by all the people who got up early to see us off at 5:30am
Tired, we all boarded a crowded plane, but God gave us the friendliest & most gracious flight attendant I have ever met.
She was eager to hear why we were going to New Orleans.
That was the first time I was hugged by a flight attendant when I departed.
Virginia, with a hug from Rayemanette
Excited to meet up with friends and colleagues of past mission trips.
Appreciative to Grace Community Church for providing our home away from home for 7 days.
Nicest guy, Ryan Kling, our supervisor from ReachGlobal, who after telling us what we are going to be doing during the week, invited us to his place for a hamburger and hot dog dinner.
The Lord has made the day and we rejoice in God’s goodness
an early flight, and some early rising supporters met us/took us to LAX. Even Pastor Victor and Rocky joined us for prayer as we were sent off to Louisiana
Flight
On our flight, we met several folks that were curious about our cheerful and interactive group, and one flight attendant, Rayemanette, was very kind and generous with her time and cheer. We became fast friends with her and other passengers, and shared of our volunteering with Habitat and Samaritan’s purse.
Lunch and Old Friends
Upon landing in New Orleans, we thanked God for our good flight, and went to Parkway Bakery and Tavern, meeting up with Denise and Paul from Mississippi, and Chris H who drove down from OKC. Our old buddy Brad from our Mississippi days even popped in to say hi, before returning to his duties at the local Habitat affiliate here in NOLA.
We went to our temporary home away from home, Grace Community Bible Church in Denham Springs and settled in for a quick moment to settle in and meet with Ryan. We also stopped off at Fedex to print up some quickie business cards for the people we’ve been meeting.
Then off to a hamburger and hot dogs at Ryan’s home and a Craig’s devo before our maiden run to Walmart.
1) Where are you going? Denham Springs 2) Where are you staying? Grace Community Bible Church 3) Who are you partnering with? ReachGlobal 4) When are you leaving? Early May 19th, returning May 26th evening 5) Wait, I thought you were working with Habitat for Humanity…. (watch video below)
Going to miss a couple of teammates
Unfortunately, David M and Mathias N will be not joining us on this trip due to unforseen obligations and schedule conflicts, but will be supporting us in prayer. We’ll miss them, but we’re glad they’re putting family and other responsibilities first. As much as each team member’s contribution is important, we can get others to do the labor in their place, but family is important.
Update from Chris C
Chris C
Recently, the team got an email from one of our leaders, Chris C:
Hi, everyone. Our adventure begins in just a few days. I am so looking forward to serving with each of you. It will be a blast. David and Mathias, we will miss the both of you this year but praying that you would experience God’s peace as you obediently stay back to minister to and care for your families. God’s plans are perfect (Psalms 18:30).
I was so blessed yesterday to see our team and all of our prayer partners at the front of the church as Pastor Victor prayed over us during the commissioning service. It was quite a large group up there. It was a good reminder that our ministry has a much greater impact than just those families that we help in Louisiana. We have a whole church family that is sending us and praying for us. We need to make Evergreen proud, but ultimately, our greater calling is to bring glory to God and make Him look good. Let’s be mindful of that as we serve next week. Lastly, I just got off the phone with our site supervisor, Ryan K. Here is some information I wanted to pass on to you.
We will be at three (3) work sites. At the 1st work site, we will be finishing up a metal roof, doing some trim work, and some repair work inside the house. At the 2nd work site, we will be installing laminate flooring and pulling up tiles. The 3rd work site is up in the air right now. So at this time, we may be working on this home or possibly doing some painting at the church that we’re staying at. I told Ryan that we would be willing to do whatever he would needed us to do. Again, I just wanted to remind everyone that we need to be “flexible” when we are in Louisiana.
The houses will be within a few miles away from each other, and about 15 minutes away from the church.
The kids will be off school next week, so we may have opportunities to meet and encourage the homeowners as well as their children.
The weather should be around 95 degrees all week with 55% humidity; standard weather in LA but may be a little uncomfortable for CA folks.
That’s it for now. If you have any questions, please let us know. See everyone bright and early on Saturday morning. We will be meeting at LAX (Southwest Airlines terminal) at 5:00 a.m.
Hot Hot Humid and Stormy
Finally, for an idea of what the weather’s looking like…
This last Sunday was the last team we’d see each other before the airport. But our time at church was also special where we receive prayer from the entire church. Each team member clearly knows that we do not travel alone, and we go with the blessing and direction of our prayer supporters, and God.
Recently, we had our last meeting before our trip, going over logistics for the trip (May 19-26). This is a new location, and a new organization for us, so it’s a whole new venture for all of us. We also appreciate the effort of our out-of-town team members (Chris H, Denise and Paul) have been making to stay up to date, including watching videos of our meetings.
Kids’ Church
The next day, Patrick led the team in a teaching for Kids’ church, a special service for the younger part of our church family. We participated in singing/worship and the kids prayed for us at the end.
This weekend, we participated in the Children’s Message portion of our church. Nate took the information from our support letter and made a simple way for the kids to remember to pray for us, turning each of our prayer requests into a way to prayer for us.
Videos
Support Letter
As always, we appreciate your prayer support, and if you’d like to learn a bit about our team (especially the newbies), click on the Support Letter below and read up on our team!
For 2018, we will be serving in Denham Springs, LA, just outside of New Orleans, and we will be partnering with ReachGlobal
In 2007, a small team from Evergreensgv.orgpartnered with Habitat for Humanity in Biloxi MS and we were known around our church as the “Katrina Team.” In 2015, in response to tornado devastation in Moore, OK, we felt led to serve in Oklahoma City, once again with Habitat for Humanity.
For 2018, our team feels called to Denham Springs to perform similar rebuilding/recovery construction work, but how we found our new partner is an interesting story .
Over the years, our annual trip has changed in where, who and sometimes even how we serve.
We’ve not always been building new houses, it’s sometimes been doing rebuild and repairs. Our team members have some repeats, but we have often a lot of new faces. Team membership has even grown to include our previous site supervisors from the Habitat affiliates that we befriended.
But we’ve always tried to serve where and how God was leading us, as Craig describes in the video. We prayerfully ask God to lead us, and then we try to have the confidence to take the next step in that direction.
This year, our steps take us into new territory, so we carefully steward your prayers and care, as we again partner with you, serving whomever and however God has in store for all of us, this time in Denham Springs.
On 6/11/2017, the team shared with our friends, supporters and some of the Sunday school classes.
In our last official event as a team, we had an overview of the trip, then four newbies came up to share their experiences.
Craig K – Team Intro: (1:15) Jeff H – Recap work performed (5:02)
Kevin T (via video) (8:29) :
was on the road, but wanted to share his story both of how circumstances allowed him to go on the trip, and what he learned as part of that process.
Brandon (19:32) :
spoke on the opportunity to go on the trip, previously knowing few people on the team, and moments of quiet, humility and God’s goodness during the trip
Roz (30:29) :
had an unexpected healing moment that could only come in community of church and a supportive family.
Kevin L (45:10) :
shared from the perspective of a dad, and how that related to his relationship with his Heavenly Father, God.
Video (52:39) :
And we wrapped it up with Jimmy’s video, ending in Chris H’s touching prayer on our last day on site.
Thanks to Gary M for shooting and editing this video!
We had our team presentation at church this morning, and we’ll have video of the testimonies and sharing soon.
But we wanted to share with you the video portion that we presented, a 15 minute recap of our trip.
Thanks to Jimmy for editing the video, and for all who contributed to the videos and photos during the trip, and for Gary editing from home while we were out in OKC
Packing up is always bittersweet. It’ll be good to go home, but sad to leave Hilltop and our adventures in OKC.
Hilltop offered a hot breakfast that the early risers took advantage of, it was nice to spend as much time as we could with our hosts. But whether early or late risers, we all made it to worship service with Pastor Matt.
We said our goodbyes to our Hilltop family, packed up the cars, and headed to a Tarahumara’s, a Mexican restaurant, but with our ethnic point of view, sounded like a Japanese name. Food was great, and Jeff gave them a high rating on Yelp because they accommodated our large group rather well.
We said goodbye to our friend and teammate, Paul, who has been associated with our team since 2010. Hugs and pats on the back, we sent one of the cars to drop him off at the airport,
The rest of us arrived at Will Rogers airport and we got through to our gate with little problems. Most of the team were asleep on the way back, with John and Alice working a crossword puzzle in the back.
LAX
Upon landing, Craig offered a brief prayer, and we assembled per our tradition, with the (once) “newbies” in the front of our group, and we were greeted by our friends and family. We saw our teammates, who were carrying 2×6 lumber only a few days earlier, melt when they hugged their families.
Whether we like to admit it or not, it really is nice to be greeted by smiling, familiar faces.
Team member Lorin, who had flown back home two days earlier for some personal business, made a sign that read “What took Y’all so long?”
A group photo, and that drew to an end of the trip. Some familiar and newer faces on the team, but we ended as family. Drawn together by a shared desire to bless others, in the name of our God.
A few team members might share a few more reflections over the next few days/weeks. Stay tuned.
