Where He leads...: June 2007

Week 2 of MissionLab can be summed up in one word "incredible"! And it truly was. I guess getting kinks ironed out the first week helped the second week go a bit smoother. One thing that I had to learn is that I can't (and don't have to) do everything on my own. I loaded my own self up with a lot of responsibility the first week, and had to re-learn the importance of delegation! And more importantly, I had to lean on God for strength, patience, and endurance… all of which He provided this past week.

MissionLab basically offers groups an opportunity to come to New Orleans as part of a customized missions experience. And during the summer, the youth camp even has all the bells and whistles of summer missionaries, worship bands, camp pastor, and amazingly great cafeteria food! But a major aspect of the program is the flexibility of ministry sites. Groups work with me (the Ministry Site Coordinator) to design their week in the ways they want to serve while in the city. Some spend a lot of time in daycares, food shelters and nursing homes, while others may spend all their time on a construction site, working with a homeowner or in a local church or school. To give you an idea of my workload, I have a spreadsheet on my computer that currently has over 140 requests from homeowners for various projects they still need help with. Their needs range from yard clean-up and landscaping, to gutting and sheetrock, to roofing, fencing, and beyond. The key is to match volunteer groups with the skills they have and those required at any given mission site. In a perfect world, I'd have an unlimited supply of skilled volunteers, but that's typically not the case. We do, however, have groups on occasion that have leaders and even high schoolers who have the ability to do some of the heavy construction jobs.

Our ministry sites come from a variety of sources. For example, as many of you know, MissionLab has a radio spot on the local Christian station (Lifesongs: www.lifesongs.com -- you can listen live) at 9am & 4pm CST. I'm typically the one being "interviewed". There was a young lady by the name of Dana who caught the very end of a segment the other week. She heard about MissionLab and the work the volunteers were doing. Although she didn't get all the information while she was listening, she got enough information to inquire about it and eventually tracked us down. She called our office and told me of her need. Dana is 9 months pregnant, lives alone, and her house was all but destroyed from Katrina. Her immediate need was a fence for her two dogs that would need to live outdoors once the baby arrives. I told her I'd try to schedule a group for the end of the following week. We had some skilled roofers in that week, and the homes they were supposed to work on fell through because of various issues. They needed me to find a new worksite for them. I remembered Dana had mentioned needing help with her roof, so I called and asked her if she could get the materials by the next day. She was unsure, but called her sister who jumped at the opportunity to help since volunteers were present. That week, a group from First Baptist Church North Augusta completed Dana's roof and took up a donation from the students to buy her a lawn mower and weedeater to manage her yard. The next week a group from Bethel Baptist Church in Snead, AL installed a wooden fence around the back perimeter, built a kennel for the dogs, and raised about $200 as a love offering. They invited Dana to the worship service we put on at First Baptist Church New Orleans Thursday night. She came and I had a chance to meet her. She's the cutest thing ever. Wednesday they will induce her if she hasn't already had her baby. She is interested in getting plugged into a church here, so I'm going to keep in touch with her and try to find her a church family to encourage and love on her. Pray for her, her soon-to-be baby, and others like her who still need encouragement and repairs over 20 months after the hurricane.

This week has started off well. There was a major thunderstorm today that slowed down some of the work, but hopefully the rain will hold off enough throughout the week so that progress can still be made. I got to see one familiar face today and a beautiful Big Orange "T" on the back of a Blount County bus! There was a group from First United Methodist Church in Maryville, TN along with one of my favorite Maryvillians, Dale Ross. He called me this morning to remind me they were in town, so I drove by their jobsite to say hi and see the Habitat house they were working on in the 9th Ward—a rough, but desperate area. I also phoned in a favor through some of my National Guard buddies to take some extra strolls through the neighborhood throughout this week while they're working there, so they stopped by and visited for a while.

I'm excited for this weekend because I made a last-minute decision to get myself to West Tennessee for less than 48 hours and spend Saturday with my mom, sister, brother, and granddaddy (3 of which I haven't seen since Thanksgiving or Christmas). I'll leave Friday night, missing the evening service, fly to Nashville where my bro will pick me up and take me Dyersburg, I'll spend Saturday with the family (as soon as my sister and mom get there from Maryville that morning) and then I'll take a 4am train back to New Orleans to arrive for the beginning of Week 4 by 5pm! It'll be a whirlwind, and it's a chunk of money for just one day, BUT… like the commercials say "some things money can't buy". And you can't put a price on family… especially mine. :)

Blessings to you and yours.

Talking with a lady who organizes some of the work we do to clean up local parks, etc.

A precious pup at one of the homes our groups worked at

Week 1 of "my summer" has ended, and Week 2 kicked off with new groups having just arrived Sunday. For those of you who need a refresher… "my summer" is defined as MissionLab Youth Camp. From June 3rd until Aug 4th, we run 8 weeks of summer camp (excluding the week of July 4th). This is an extremely intense time for my ministry here. I'd like to say that everything went smoothly this past week, but to be honest with you, this was a difficult week for me. It was physically draining, and when you're pulled in so many directions, your weaknesses shine through a little more than you'd like them to. Basically, this week taught me many things about myself that still need improvement. So pray with me as I continue to ask God to transform myself into the woman He created me to be.

There are so many amazing stories I could report from the volunteer groups this week. We had groups out gutting homes, cleaning yards, playing with children at daycares, leading activities for nursing home residents, singing in the French Quarter, helping with backyard Bible clubs, and more. We even had one group take the initiative on several occasions to set up a free lemonade stand! Ice cold lemonade in this hot and humid city is a wonderful blessing! It also provided an opportunity for the students to listen to the stories of survival and perseverance that so many residents of New Orleans and the surrounding areas still want to share.

The responsibility I have this summer has grown tremendously since my time as a summer missionary last summer. I am embracing the new challenges. This past week I had the opportunity to use my "position of authority" in a special way, and I can only thank God for that opportunity. There is one house that was on the list for the week to be gutted. The house belongs to Ben and Janet, members of a local church here. The pastor had contacted me weeks ago and requested help for this couple who lost everything during Katrina. A team is coming to donate sheetrock and labor later this month, and they desperately needed the house gutted before the sheetrock and volunteers arrive. I had scheduled one youth group to gut their house, but after they saw the house and the mold, they did not feel comfortable gutting it without "professional" masks and suits. Knowing, 1) that couldn't force the volunteers into an uncomfortable situation and 2) that this house was a priority, left me with a problem. I was determined to at least try tapping into my resources to see if I could help out the situation. I called in a favor with a friend who has some heavy-duty respirator masks, and I called Pastor Mel of Bethel Colony South (the men's ministry) to see if he had masks and/or men to help with the job. The next day I would go to the house myself and gut it with whatever help I could find from a couple summer staff. Turns out, our whole summer staff team wanted to go (minus Stacy who was sick) and Pastor Mel gave me three of his men for the day. I borrowed masks and bought suits for all of us. We worked HARD!! When I took off my suit at the end of the day it looked like I had been swimming. It was hot, but we accomplished the task well enough that the youth group was comfortable going in after us to finish the job (since we'd removed most of the moldy sheetrock from the walls and ceilings). So I was excited that I got to be a part of the physical labor I love so much here, and especially because God used me and the resources I have here to accomplish something that would have otherwise been an obstacle to complete.

There are adult teams here as well. A couple of the summer missionaries buddied up with them when they arrived Sunday night. The senior ladies of the group started asking them all kinds of questions and it ended with the ladies telling our guys that Wednesday night they'll come over to the guys' dorm and cook us all chicken and dumplings. One of the ladies said, "We'll even stay up until 9 o'clock!" :) So we're all looking forward to that! Thank God for Grandmas!!!!

I'm excited for this week and all that God has in store! I can already tell a difference in myself this week in terms of my attitude, stress level, etc, and I can only praise God for that. Continue to pray for me and the MissionLab staff as we coordinate the summer and lead these students and chaperones into an effective time of service and worship.

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