Leader's POV

**Written on June 29 - internet connection failed when we tried to post! Thanks for your patience!**

Writing to you this evening are 5 of the 10 leaders. It's 11pm and we are TIRED. We love your kids, but by the end of the day each one of us falls gratefully into bed ready for 7 hours of slumber before spending another day with your perfect holy children.

Branden Hendrix, trip speaker, has this to tell you:
"I am excited to see God at work through devotionals, worship, talks and small groups. But more than anything I am excited to hear about kids opening up their lives to Christ and looking at what they need to change when they get home to continue having a strong relationship with God. God is definitely moving here."

John Dilworth says, "I am amazed and impressed at the skill level and dedication of the students. I am also really enjoying the small group discussions we are having and how much the kids are opening up."

Stacy Geyer adds, "I am amazed at how much pride the kids take in doing a really good job. And they do a really good job! The kids really care about wanting it to look just right. It's cool! And of course there has to be laughter in the house... so it’s a good thing I am there!"

Kenneth Hubbell, intern extraordinaire, wants you to know this:
"I am thrilled about the genuine relationships made with each other and I am hopeful that these relationships will carry on into the next year, providing a strong foundation of faith and perseverance for the future."

These leaders are reporting the truth to you! Students are really growing in their faith and working hard at the sites! They are tired every night and fall into bed, usually. It has been a wonderful week so far. I am so glad that we decided to come to NOLA one more time. I can't wait for you to hear about it from your kiddos on Saturday, and I cannot wait to go back to the site in the morning! Peace to all of you back home,
Hannah

Keanu's Bathroom Adventure

Junior Keanu Rivera writing this blog entry.

On a New Orleans work site we are required to accomplish and perfect many jobs, but none are quite as tasking and physically demanding as dry-walling. Today myself, Morgan McAlpine, Roslyn Martin, and Maddie Theiss took on this tedious task and began an adventure which will go down as possibly the most daring feat of NOLA mission work ever: installing dry wall on a bathroom ceiling.

To begin our job we first had to cut out our pieces of drywall with razor thin precision. After crafting this amazing piece of drywall we went to place it on the ceiling, a job that was left for only me and Madi to do because the rest of our group were on one of a seemingly infinite amount of poop breaks. While fitting the drywall to the ceiling we quickly realized that we had no where near the strength to accomplish this task without our team members. We realized this when our arms gave out and the large piece of drywall came tumbling down and hit me on the head (causing me to go into, what I believe, was a momentary coma). I soon recovered and the rest of my group arrived, all satisfied with the poops they had just taken, and we went to once more fasten the drywall to the ceiling. After positioning the drywall perfectly and grinding it down to make it a perfect fit, we finally felt that victory was in our grasp... Little did we know we would have one more twist in our path.

We had forgotten to cut out holes for the air duct and light fixture, defeated we trumped back to the drawing board and put our minds together to carefully construct our ceiling. Finally, with help from the circle cutting master Kirin Foster, we had it! Our work group crowded around to watch this piece of artwork be fitted. Slowly the drywall rose through the air and fit snuggly into place. Cheers erupted from our spectators as we laughed and cried with pure joy. We were heroes, champions, victorious winners. This glory lasted only momentarily however, as we realized we had only done one piece of a bathroom ceiling's dry-walling and we still had several to go...

Thank goodness we get to go back tomorrow for more dry-walling!

Day One is In the Books! On to Day Two!

Sorry for taking so long to update the blog. What can I say? NOLA time flies like crazy! It is weird to think that we have been here for almost two days and that we are heading to our work sites for the second work day in just a few minutes. There is so much to tell. There are so many great stories waiting for you. But right now we are about to head out. There is not enough time to tell the stories. That will happen tonight, I promise! We will post at least one story written by a student, but for now, we have to fill our water bottles with ice, hydrate, and head out! I will leave you with just a few pictures of the first two days. More tonight! We covet your prayers and miss you all back home!
Peace, Hannah

On the plane, ready to be in NOLA! Spencer, Kate, and Sierra


Kenny and Jacob at orientation


Trista and Kirin on the work site! It's hot!


Courtney and Tyler Porter install a tricky piece of drywall with a local neighbor who wanted to help the cool big kids for the day.

Getting There...

We leave in two and half weeks. Oh man. Here we go again. One last time in the Big Easy.

Every year as I prepare for this trip, I can feel my excitement growing over the months. First I am excited to start planning with the adult team. Next we start our team meetings and that is a big excitement. Then... the fundraising begins. That is one of the hardest parts of the trip for sure, but with each event that passes and with each students' total rising, my excitement grows. When the intern begins (this year its Kenny), I know that we are just weeks away and I am at an almost fever pitch with my excitement. I cannot wait for June 26. That day needs to be here.

And in two and half weeks it will be!

NOLA here we come!

Marathon

This year the trip is more like a marathon than a race. In years past we would have been home by now; sleeping in our own beds, showering in our own bathrooms, doing the mountain of laundry that follows a mission trip. We stayed this year to take part in an event called Feed The Multitudes, which feeds and cares for thousands of homeless and needy people on the 4th of July every year here in NOLA. I am really hoping it will be an amazing experience for the students and leaders alike.

Right now we are getting ready for church and eating breakfast. It feels like a luxury that we slept in until 7:45 this morning. When we come to New Orleans we are hosted by a church here that we have come to love: Celebration Church. Five years ago Celebration lost their building to the Hurricane Katrina and they have not been back to their main campus since. They have been very fortunate to have an alternate church campus - the Lord really provided for them. Anyhow, today is their homecoming. The building renovation is finally done and today is the first service back home. I could not be more excited to be here for this day.

As I have been reflecting on Celebration's five years away from their church, I have been wondering what it would be like for us at home. Where would Marine View meet if we lost our entire campus? What would church feel like if we lost 80% of our regular attenders? I just cannot imagine. It would be so hard. Celebration has made it through, however and they have even grown as a church. Most of their regular attenders have never even been to this new/old campus becuase they became a part of the congregation after the hurricane. They way that God has restored this congregation and this building is such a picture of the work He is doing in this city. It is Sunday - the day we remember the resurrection of the Lord and the day that this church is being resurrected. Let us worship.

LAST WORK DAY!!!

Good morning Washington! Today was probably the hardest day to get up and out of bed. The girls in my room have gotten really comfortable with each other, so we were up super late last night doing the usual girly things. It seemed super fun at the time, but no effense to the girls, I am regretting it now! Just kidding, I love the girls in my room. The mission trip this year has been so awesome. We haven't had any major drama, no little cat fights; everyone has grown together as a group! It has been really cool.

We are leaving in about an hour to go to our work sites. I work at the home of Mr. Lu Grange. He is always around his house, so we have had the pleasure of getting to know him, along with his family too. My group at the site is Team Win, consisting of myself, Kirin Fostor, Grace Shinn, Courtney Davis, Tyler Foster, Nathan Laske, and "Big" Mike Clark. This group is by far the best work group I could ever ask for! At first I thought that the guys would go off and do their own thing leaving us girls to ourselves, but we have all grown so close. Some may argure that we are too comfortable together now, but it has been a blast. We even have a team cheer, so ask us to show you when we get home (: Besides the best group ever, I was also blessed with the best site supervisor ever too. Thad (his full name is Thadius Maximus!) has been so great with us. The first day, we split up boys and girls, and Thad took us girls to work with him. From the very beginning, he was super funny and friendly with us. And he has been more patient than we could even imagine. We have been working on putting up dry wall, which is EXTREMELY hard if you have never put it up. Us girls are pretty weak, so we struggled a lot with it at first, but he was always willing to help us at any time. Sadly, we had to say goodbye to him Wednesday because he had to switch houses with another person, but he will always be the coolest supervisor ever!
Last year, I honestly couldn't wait for the last work day to come, but this year I am kind of dreading it. I am going to miss my group and getting to work with them all day! But we have already planned some more missions for when we return, so you will see more of us(:

After working, we will come home, shower, eat dinner, and hang out until bedtime. Also sometime today, we will be delivering our secret pal final gift and revealing our cover to them. I have Jeff Baklund and he has NO idea, so this should be fun >:)

I have 2 minutes until devos and I haven't had breakfast yet! I will check in with you when I get home!

Love,
Katelyn Dilworth

ps HI MOM AND DAD! I LOVE YOU!!!

Senior Thoughts

Today is July 1st. My best friends birthday, and the 4th work day here in NOLA. I am doing drywall. Sanding, mudding, sponging, sweeping, and odd jobs. This is my first, last, and only year to be here in Nawlins with Marine View. I am very regretful that I didn't go before but I am using this chance to its full potential. This is an amazing experience. The people here are amazing, they are all thankful, all friendly, and all have a story to tell. On Tuesday we found a stray pit bull, I named him Sniffles, then Geoff Stowe and I found him a home. Today Tank, the pit bull at our work site, got loose and I had to chase him down, catch him, and use my bandanna as a leash. It was exhausting.

Everyday there is something special that happens, normal insignificant things that seem extraordinary here. I have felt closer to God, closer to the team, and closer to the real me, ever since standing in that airport at 6 am. Time here goes by really strange, sometimes it feels like we have been here forever, other times it feels like its only been a few hours.

The food here is great, I'm more full than I can remember, and after a few hours the weather doesn't really bother you. On Monday it started pouring down rain, it was like a mini monsoon, but it was still warm, it was great.

I honestly feel like we are one big family, we are living together, eating together, sleeping and sharing and conversing together, its a wonderful experience.

I really didn't plan any of this, I just typed what I thought, but I have to go, its almost worship time, and Dave Martin, the birthday boy, is going to dance, ha ha.

I love you Mom, Dad, and Kayla.

Post written by Josh Adrian