Hello friends! This week has been yet another blessing in my life!!

An awesome praise of the week: out of the youth groups that came, we had at least 9 accept Christ. And there were many others who were reported to have accepted Christ at the various sites this week. God is good, all the time!

I had the privilege of being assigned to work alongside First Baptist Church of Umatilla, FL. And as I share with their group last night, they were an amazing encouragement to me. Ive been praying and waiting on God to reveal to me where He wants me after this summer, and this week, God just reminded me to serve Him and love others now. He WILL tell me His plans at His timing, meanwhile I should follow the example of Umatilla as they serve Him by serving others everywhere they go. FBC Umatilla was not afraid to dive in and get dirty, sweaty, and silly for Jesus! We spent most of the week at Belle Reve, an AIDS hospice here in New Orleans. Residents spend anywhere from 12 months to 11 years or more at Belle Reve. As one of their staff puts it, these men (and women) do not go there to die. But rather, they go there in hopes to learn what is necessary for them to get better and to learn how to better take care of themselves independently. Our ministry there this week was wide-ranged. There was a gigantic warehouse at the back of the residence that needed to begin being cleaned out. They have received numerous donations, which are all well and good, but when you dont have the manpower to sift through them, they can be a burden. Hopefully we were able to lift a chunk of that burden. There was a pantry that needed to be cleaned up and organized. A couple of our guys tackled that small space. The garden that Umatilla had worked on during a previous summer camp had been destroyed during the Hurricane. Two large trees had been demolished leaving two large and rooted stumps in the ground. The boys and men worked tirelessly to remove them. They succeeded with one, which was again a huge help to Belle Reve. We worked to clean up the floors of this late 19th century home. Walls had been painted with no dropcloth laid on the floor, so you can imagine the mess. One day I spent a few hours on a 10 foot ladder scraping chipped paint on the ceiling. That was a fun workout. And the last day, most of us had time to kick back make hemp Jesus loves _____ necklaces for the men, watch Rush Hour 2, and play Dominoes. Harry was the Dominoes champion and a complete sweetheart. He was hard to understand because of some speech problems related to his illnesses. But he was a blessing. He was working alongside us as best we could and applauding us for our work. Working in Belle Reve reminded me of Jesus ministering to the lepers, the weak, the poor and needy. It was awesome to see this group of young people rush in to do whatever task was needed no matter how great or how mundane. Not once did I hear a complaint. This group had requested to work in the AIDS hospice. And unfortunately, they will probably be the only group to work there this summer. It is suggested to most the groups as they sign up for Mission Lab. But for whatever reason their answer is always no. I thank God for giving me a heart to help those who so many others refuse to help. I pray everyday that God will give me His eyes and His heart for the people in this world. Without Gods vision, we will be hindered by our own blindness.

Lord, open our eyes.