It is 12:32 am and I should be asleep! Bedtime in NOLA is 11pm, and at least I am in my bunk, but I couldn't go to bed without writing about tonight.
First, let me just say I am sorry for being the main author of this blog. We prefer to have students write it, but this year there just has not been time! We are busy busy busy all day every day. We get up at 6am to get ready for the work day. We have devos (personal guided devotion times) at 6:30am. Breakfast is at 7, along with lunch making and anything else we need to get done before heading out the door around 7:45am for the work site. We are on site from about 8:30-4:30. We get back promptly at 5:30 to eat dinner in our disgusting dirty clothes (you really cannot believe how filthy we are by the end of the work day.) Then its showers, followed by worship from 8-9:30/10 and an hour of free time/getting ready for bed. See! Very little time to blog. But the great thing about it is that we are getting so much done on the sites and so many great things are happening in our students' hearts as well!
Today I had to take junior Clara Kerrone to the ER because she has a sprained ankle. Clara is a trooper. She did not want to stop working to be taken care of (her injury did not occur on the work site) but we made her go. When we were talking for a moment before she headed off to X-Ray she told me that she was "going back to work. And I am working tomorrow, I don't care what they say! I want to work!" I smiled and said, "We'll see what the doctors say." Later, after she had her new splint and crutches as we were walking/hobbling to the car, she spotted a man in a wheelchair who was a double amputee feeding pigeons. She turned to me and said, "What do I have to complain about! He is so happy and his injury is much worse than mine. I don't need to feel sorry for myself." Then she hopped in the van and insisted on returning to work. On crutches. That is what happens here. Students rise to the occasion and then some. Of course we got the all clear from the doctors first and are keeping a careful eye on Clara, but she can't wait to work on our last day tomorrow.
This evening when we gathered for worship it was obvious that the Lord was going to do great things. Branden Hendrix talked about the trouble with sin in our lives and about the grace of the Lord. It was just so great. I can't even tell you how great! So many of the kids dedicated or rededicated their hearts to Christ tonight. I will admit that I shed more than one tear seeing and hearing about the way that God is moving in the lives of our teens. Two students told me earlier today that they don't want to leave New Orleans. They are just going to move here. And that was after spending the hottest day we have had, with a heat index of 109 degrees, doing manual labor in a house with no power or air conditioning.
What a week! Tomorrow is our last day on sites and the students are ready to kick some tail! They will work so hard to get as much done as possible and they will return with full hearts at the end of the day knowing that they have made a huge difference in someone's life. Please pray for continued safety on the work sites, for a strong finish and for the fresh commitments these students made to the Lord! Parents, thank you for letting us have this time with your kids! Each one of them is wonderful and I feel very blessed to know them.
Until tomorrow,
Hannah
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