No, that's not a sequel to the movie with super buff guys. It's the number of MissionLabbers that came through New Orleans this past week. 500! That's the biggest week on record. And what makes it more incredible is that it was a Spring Break week. MissionLab typically sees large numbers during their summer camp, but this was pretty remarkable for a week during the Spring. When I was in New Orleans back in January, I had heard that they would probably have a busy Spring. I made a mental note to try and get down here to help out during that time. While it's exciting to see so many groups come to MissionLab during the Spring, there were two things that made it a bit more challenging... 1) MissionLab doesn't have extra helpers--such as the summer missionaries who come during the 9-weeks of summer camp and 2) the seminary was on Spring Break this week, so the cafeteria staff was also down. Needless to say, they had no problem finding places for me to plug in. I helped serve breakfast and dinner in the cafeteria, lent a hand to Stacy and Sarah in the office, checked in on groups at their ministry sites, and even got to hang out with a group all day Friday down in the French Quarter.

I'll be heading back to Tennessee tomorrow, but before I leave the Big Easy, I thought I'd post some photos from the busy week.

Remnants of Mardi Gras

Remnants of Katrina

An apartment building near campus still mostly untouched since Katrina

Eddie, one of my good friends at Bethel, and his daughter.

Hanging out in the Quarter with 1st UMC McKinney. That gold and silver dude scared me half to death as I walked by. He sits still waiting for innocent passers-by like myself to walk by and then jumps and screams at them. Needless to say, I also jumped and screamed!

Stacy and I spent our last day together in the French Quarter. It was such a beautiful day!