Where He leads...: Making an impact

Making an impact

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March was a very busy time for the relief efforts in the city of New Orleans. Thousands upon thousands of volunteers poured into the city during the various Spring Break weeks. MissionLab hosted over 400 of those volunteers. The groups ministered in a variety of ways throughout the local communities. One of our groups traveled 24 hours from Amherst, Mass. to be a part of our program and help rebuild the city! Praise God for servant hearts like theirs! Each group, whether large or small, made an enormous impact in the lives of so many!

During the past couple weeks our volunteers have roofed, pressure washed toilets, painted, cleaned up yards, played with kids to relieve daycare staff, helped in the rebuilding process of a local church, installed new flooring, tore off rotten siding, and of course... various gutting projects (among many other things!). One group was able to gut a family's home who has relocated to Alabama but still has the stress of dealing with the flooded mess. I received a card thanking MissionLab and the volunteers for (in her words) "doing something we never thought we could have done". There are so many needs in nearly every neighborhood here in New Orleans.

On a personal note, I had a special visit from my mom and her aunt Gwen. Of course we spent some time in the city, eating some scrumptious Cajun food, driving by the old homes, and seeing the French Quarter. But I also put them to work! :) They went out one day with a MissionLab group on a gutting project and learned that about a billion nails go into building a house and all of those billion get to be pulled back out when a house is gutted for rebuilding! One morning I was able to get away from the desk and help them on a yard clean-up project. We teamed with the men's ministry at Bethel Colony South. This corner lot had become a common location for vagrants and drug-users. The neighbor called Pastor Mel and wanted the yard cleaned up to discourage them from squatting there. Several hard hours later, we had it spic-and-span. We were all sore the next day. Mom and Gwen enjoyed building relationships with the men at Bethel. These are men that you don't usually find yourself partnering with normally, but a great out-of-your-comfort-zone experience that I believe is so valuable. Connie, the neighbor, invited us in her home to a beautiful table setting with red beans and rice she cooked for us as a thank-you. It was so delicious! A cancer survivor and a great mover-and-shaker in the community, Connie shared with us and encouraged us to embrace life and make an impact during whatever time we have on this earth.

At MissionLab our motto is, "Learn missions. Do missions. Be a missionary." Missions is not just about leaving your hometown, crossing the country or crossing the globe to help others. Missions is serving God by serving others WHEREVER you are. We encourage each individual that comes through our program to not only take the memories of the week back to his or her hometown, but to take back with them the habit of serving others and furthermore, to make it a lifestyle.

Some things you can pray about during the upcoming weeks:

- Safety for our groups traveling.

- Safety on job sites and ministry sites in the city of New Orleans.

- Stamina for our team as we guide them and meet their logistical needs.

- That lives will be changed in our groups as well as throughout our city.

- A personal request: Last week my uncle Jimmy was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The mass has metastasized to his liver. He started chemo last Friday. Please pray for Jimmy and his family. Pray also that God will heal him spiritually and that Jimmy will open his heart to the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

It is such a blessing to know I can count on you all for support through encouragement and prayer. You are all so appreciated.

I want to close by letting you read some reflections from Mercy House (the college group from Amherst). They brought along a group journal to record their experiences throughout the week. It's such a blessing to me to hear firsthand how the ministry of MissionLab is able to bless the hearts and encourage the lives of so many in New Orleans and throughout the United States. There are many challenging days ahead, and these are reminders of why I am here and the fuel I need to keep on truckin'.

I hope each of you finds eternal purpose daily in all that you do. Let me encourage you to keep on truckin', even when the road gets rough, remember... when you turn your life over to God, He promises that He is always with you (Deut 31:8) and He has a plan for YOU (Jer 29:11).

"Todays work was tiring (plus I guess my arms are pretty weak). It was interesting talking to the lady whose backyard we cleaned yesterday. Hers was the most heartbreaking story ever. She lost pretty much everything due to flooding and now she is having a really difficult time getting the insurance company to pay her. She has no kids, no husband and she is having to do all the legal stuff by herself (because the lawyers are charging ridiculous fees). At least we were able to do our little bit to love these people. And thank God for Missionlab and Beacon of Hope. God bless 'em."

"When Hannah talked to us one morning about making God Lord of your life I realized that this is a serious area I need to work on. And she said that she'd been a Christian basically her whole life, but had not been properly discipled and I was like, Dude! Me Neither....so I am excited to learn about these things with the people at Mercy House."

"I have learned so much on this trip so far not only about others but also about myself. For me this has been so much MORE than the charity work, I have opened myself up more to God in this one week than I have possibly in my entire life. The only times that came even close to feeling this good and this close to God were over 8 years ago. I'm so glad I came."