Day Two

We spent today in the neighborhoods by Stewart's Diner and House of Hope Fellowship church. We talked to the people in the neighborhoods, cleaned up trash and debris, and handed out fliers for Thursday's Thanksgiving dinner. One man we came across, Ben Gardner, had just lost his daughter and burried her last Saturday. As we talked with him about the Thanksgiving meal he shared his loss with us telling us that his daughter had been responsible for cooking their Thanksgiving meal every year and no one knew the recipes she cooked with so their traditions had changed forever with her passing. We asked if we could pray with him and he was so appreciative and receptive to our presence and our prayer... so there we were, a group of total strangers, praying in the driveway with a man we had just met.

After lunch we gathered the food that the kids had raised in their food drive at school, along with a couple of additions and put together food packages for delivery to three separate families that Pastor Gerald and House of Hope Fellowship church had helped us to find. The kids were so excited to deliver the food to these familes. At each stop they anxiously jumped out of the car each wanting to help carry the food in to the recipent family. It was quite a site to see our caravan of cars pulling into these neighborhoods, and a group of 14 people jumping out of the car in bright green shirts. People who had seen us earlier in the day recognized us by our bright green shirts. As we were driving to the last two houses we passed a group of cheerleaders who were fund-raising on the street corner. Recognizing us instantly by our green shirts, the girls cheered and yelled "Yah, green shirts" as the caravan passed.

The last two houses were down the street from one another so we spent a little bit more time in the neighborhood talking to the people who were hanging around outside while the kids put together a pick up game of ball in the street. At the last house we met Ms. Clarice, a 91 year old woman who fully plans to make it to 100. Despite having very little, Ms. Clarice was so full of life and had a clear vision for the future. She thanked us for the food and blessed us as we went away.

It was so nice to get to talk to the people and hear their stories. We met so many wonderful people today, We set out hoping to encourage and build up the people in the neighborhoods we went into, and ended up being encouraged and built up equally as much by the people we talked to (well with the exception of the guy who chased Chuck off with a machete).

We spent the evening in the French Quarter with Mark Lewis from EFCA and his family. We got to hear Mark's story and how Touch Global came about as well as the vision and plan for the future. We also got an unexpected call from Chuck's sister who will be traveling through New Orleans tomorrow. We've made plans to meet up with Christiane for breakfast tomorrow morning and will have the unexpected blessing of sharing some time with family we don't often get to see this holiday.