New Orleans - Day 7

Pastor's Portion: I'm sitting in the lobby of the hotel at 6:30 a.m. reflecting on what happened yesterday. The days are going so quickly. Thursday was our day to practice justice. We left by buses at 6:30 in the morning and did deconstruction in Hofmann Triangle. So many of the homes were abandoned following Katrina. People lost everything and could not afford to stay. Deconstruction allows you to salvage what still has value. It was amazing to see all the people who greeted us with thanks and honking horns. Everyone remembers those people in orange from three years ago. On returning from the work site, we went over to othe convention center to the interaction zone. We played a little volleyball, took in a few exhibits, and enjoyed the sights and sounds. We'll be bringing our donation for the 100 wells on Saturday. The Super Dome was rocking in the evening and, once again, we were on the floor. The energy had not diminished. Two young women spoke of their own calling by God and their willingness to follow tht voice. Shane Calibone brought the house down with his presentation on the risks of practicing discipleship. His talk was a mixture of humor and challenge grounded in the scripture. In our time of reflection at the end of the day, their was a real sense of commitment by our young people to take the risk when they get home. Tina will be adding her insights and expired later today. Tina's Turn: This morning, we (rather unenthusiasticaly) woke up at 5 am for our service project. After a send off service, we boarded buses to leave for the work site. When we arrived, we found that our work had already been done. We were then assigned to a different project (deconstructing a house in order to save as much building material as possible), where far too many people were working on the same work. It was hard to find spaces for everyone to help. While we were glad to be assisting, it was frustrating to to have so little work. After our service, we made our way to the Convention Center, which is a huge building with everything from an exhibit on divisions between people to zip lining. At the Super Dome, we had another awesome night of music and speakers. The main speaker was a man who spoke of his experiences as a reformer working for the rights of the poor. He was a fascinating and funny speaker! For community life, we all made our way to a nearby hotel with dances and performances. It was very crowded but still fun. I'll be blogging later tonight about day 8. Keep reading!