We made it home today about 5:30 pm making great time! Everyone is tired but the consensus is that the week was a huge success. We’re looking forward to leading in worship tomorrow morning, completing our tour, and hopefully finding some lost items! It seems with every trip there are always some items that are left and some items that are missing! Hopefully, everything will balance out in the end.
Thanks for your prayers and support–we look forward to sharing with you soon!
It’s almost 7:30 a.m. and we’re beginning the loading process and eating some breakfast before heading for home. I wanted to once again commend our students for having great attitudes and an awesome work ethic but I would be remiss if I didn’t say how incredible our sponsors have been. They have chipped in to do whatever was necessary to make this trip a success–driving, loading the trailer in high humidity, cooking, cleaning, interacting with the students, ministering, encouraging, and reminding! Thanks to each for their unique contributions on our 2008 Choir Tour/Mission Trip. I hope this trip was a blessing to each of them as well.
Again, I’m hoping we’ll be arriving around 5:30 pm today and going to spend the night in our “host” homes. We’ll look forward to seeing our families on Sunday morning.
Well, it’s 10 pm on Friday night and we’ve had a great day! First, we ended up getting off from Long Beach a little late due to trailer light problems (quickly rectified by switching vans) and then I left my shoes! These inconveniences made us a little late getting to NO so we had a shortened tour at the seminary. However, one of my good friends, Dr. Benjamin Harlan, was on campus and came to Leavell Chapel to hear us sing and then he took a turn and played some tunes on the piano. Really amazing stuff! Dr. Harlan is not only a seminary professor but also a composer and instrumentalist–he really enjoyed hearing our group and was most complimentary of our singing!
As soon as we left the seminary, we hurried to the airboat swamp tour (running through a McDonald’s for lunch) and had a great experience. We were able to see several alligators, watching the guides feed a couple of them right out of their hands. The guides also had a couple of baby gators on the airboats and we were able to hold them and get several pictures. It was great!
Then, we hurried to our hotel while Todd Burke and Joy Lintelman rushed Perla Santoya to the airport so she could catch a flight to Houston for a piano festival. We were running behind schedule but since her flight was delayed 45 minutes, it ended up working out perfectly. Hopefully, we’ll see her again on Sunday morning when we lead in worship at MLBC.
Finally, we ended up going to the French Quarter for supper and sightseeing. Tracy, Carter, and I took our two seniors out for supper (Rebecca Niven and Amanda Shelton) at Bubba Gump Shrimp. We ate wayyyyy more than we should have but everyone in the group left room for beignets and coffee at Cafe Du Monde. Right before we left, we sang portions of two of our songs on the sidewalk and had a couple of folks stop to listen. Next year, we’ll have more songs that we can sing spontaneously in those type of situations.
We’re looking forward to getting back to Mesquite. We hope to arrive around 5:30 pm but will try to keep everyone updated by cell phone. We’ll leave around 8am but will drop Todd Burke off on the way as he has family nearby and his wife is already in the area.
Thanks for your prayers and please continue to remember us as we travel!
We’ve had a great day (part of what made it great was the long afternoon nap!) and we’ve just completed a wonderful supper of grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. Now, with our full tummies, we’re waiting until a little later to go spend some time on the beach. We haven’t had an opportunity to check out the beach and we’re going to have some fun for a few minutes then start a bonfire. The beaches here are still being reconstructed and there are very few people on the beaches these days. Again, everything is a little different from what you’d normally expect for a waterfront area during June.
We’ve had great response from our supervisors at FBC. It was exciting to see workers laying sod today in the very area that our crew worked preparing the topsoil on Monday and Tuesday. The work crew yesterday had to battle mud from the rain on Tuesday night. The crew today got to do most of their work during a very nice rainstorm–they were soaked to the skin and their assignment was to water the young trees on the church property! Needless to say, they did an excellent job.
After we return from the beach, we’ll do our final clean up and get ready to pull out about 8 am tomorrow. We have a very full day including a tour of the New Orleans Seminary campus, a swamp tour on airboats and spending some time in the French Quarter. An update on tomorrow’s events will probably come later tomorrow night.
You have much to be proud of with respects to our students. They have conducted themselves well and been extremely flexible when having to adjust to schedule change. Please continue praying for travel safety–we’ll be taking Perla to the airport tomorrow afternoon to fly to Houston for a piano festival. She plans to rejoin us on Sunday morning for our final concert of this year.
We had a great day today with so many exciting events! First we worked for FBC Long Beach and our students did a great job as always–the crew working at the church facility had to battle mud since we had a good rainstorm last night. However, they persevered and worked very hard.
Following our work assignments and before lunch, the pastor of FBC, LaRue Stephens, treated us to a tour of the new facility. It is impressive! They’ve gone to great lengths in the area of security for their children and youth plus the building is designed to become a disaster relief staging area in the case of an emergency. Everything is connected via CC TV and they have the most amazing kitchen! It is capable of producing 5000 meals 3 times per day if necessary! Unbelievable! Hopefully, some of the pictures will give you an idea of how well the leadership thought through the design.
This afternoon, we sang for Boyington Nursing Facility and our kids were well-received. A couple of the girls got a little too hot (they like to keep these type of places pretty warm!) and needed some water and rest but they recovered quickly. Immediately following this concert, we drove almost to Louisiana and sang for FBC Pearlington. Their facility was almost completely destroyed by flood waters and subsequently, they’ve established an incredible food pantry, multiple showers and are able to house 40 volunteers on the campus. This is impressive given the size of the church–they probably average less than 50 on Sunday morning. They’ve gone through a lot and continue to sacrifice to rebuild their community.
Tomorrow is our last day of work and we plan to go to the beach for a while tomorrow after supper and roast marshmellows over a bonfire. Should be a lot of fun and the group deserves some R and R after working so hard. We’re looking forward to finishing strong, having some fun, and leading worship at MLBC on Sunday!
Wow! Tonight was incredible! First we were treated to a shrimp boil, authentic gumbo (with sausage, shrimp, crawfish, catfish, etc.), and red beans and rice. This meal was wonderfully prepared by Todd Burke, Tracy Hall, Woody Yates and our host, Rick Shepler. Several of our students, plus a couple of sponsors, enjoyed this genuine Cajun cuisine. Following our meal, the pastor of FBC Long Beach, LaRue Stephens, his wife, and Rick shared with our group some of their experiences after Katrina and the ways in which God continues to provide. Unbelievable stories of God’s leadership and grace really made an impact on us.
We’re watching a movie, playing games, and relaxing for a few minutes prior to heading to bed. We have a full day tomorrow beginning with our work assignments and ending with concerts at Boyington Nursing Home and First Baptist Church Pearlington, MS. Please pray for our continued strength and physical endurance so that we can finish well.
Yesterday went extremely well! Our students did a great job of working with the children of the FBC Preschool, engaging them, learning their names, and building relationships. A handful of our kids (Brock, Luke, Brad, Hillary, and Erica) had the privilege of preparing topsoil for sodding. It was hot and dirty work but they didn’t complain at all–very impressive!!
As you were able to see from our itinerary, we also sang at two nursing homes. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know the activities directors at these facilities (Becky and Shawanda)–they are both believers and our students provided real encouragement for them as well as a great group of residents. In addition to the student choir singing, Todd played his saxaphone and Robbie sang–great stuff! Each of these women took some time to share their Katrina experiences as both rode out the storm in the facilities with their residences. When Shawanda was finally able to go home, she discovered that all she had left of her home was a sleeping bag and the two sets of clothes that she had brought to work. For a period of time, everyone had to survive on 1 gallon of water per day–for drinking, bathing, etc. The stories of sacrifice were incredible!
Last night, we got together in the living area of one of our lodging homes and watched a documentary of Hurricane Katrina put together by the local TV station. The footage was unbelievable and the video of the destruction was overwhelming. It’s impossible to understand how the people of S Mississippi managed to survive the storm and then begin the rebuilding and restoration process. Following that, we entered into a discussion about seeking God, His will for our lives, and the “why” each of us is on this trip. I really see many of our students “getting it.”
We’ve just completed breakfast (lots of eggs and bacon!) and we’re preparing to leave for our assignments. We’re going to have a little fun this afternoon but take it a little easy since we have a full day tomorrow. Tonight is our seafood night–we’re doing a shrimp boil, Todd is cooking gumbo, and we’re also having red beans and rice–the sponsors cannot wait!
Please continue to pray for positive attitudes, good rest, good weather, and ongoing opportunities to encourage and minister.
RCH
It’s about 7:45a.m. on Monday morning and we’re gathering for a brief rally prior to traveling to our work sites. Most of the group will be leading a camp for the First Baptist Church Preschool and a handful of our students will be working at the actual new facility site for the church. We got to sleep around 1:00 a.m. and the students are a little weary this morning but attitudes are great and we’re almost ready to leave!
Rick Shepler is the gentleman in charge of the missions volunteers for FBC and his story is amazing. He and his wife, Lynn, lived in Maryland in 2005 and when they were viewing the newscasts of the Katrina devastation, he decided that God wanted them to move to Long Beach to help. He works in home remodeling and Lynn is a nurse–they’ve spent the past 2 1/2 years repairing a couple of homes in the area simply to house missions volunteers! She works as a nurse and he raises his own support so he can direct the work of the volunteers–such a sacrifice!
More later–here we go!
We’re on our way! As I write this, we’ve hopefully made our last stop of the evening (in Magee, MS) and we anticipate arriving in Long Beach around midnight. We made great time on the road and arrived in Vicksburg around 4:30 p.m. and even had time to make an unplanned bonus stop. Years ago, when I was in choir, we went to the Vicksburg National Military Park. There are monuments to each of the states represented in that epic Civil War battle (the consensus on the vans was that Gen. Grant of the North defeated Gen. Pemberton of the South) and the Illinois monument is the largest of the monuments. It is a domed structure with a hole in the ceiling and it is an amazing sound when the choir stands in a circle inside the building and sings a cappella! The choir sounded great!
The people of Bovina Baptist Church were most gracious and fed us well also. I served there 1983-84 as Minister of Music and Youth and had one of my former youth group members in attendance (she’s 40 now and has a 16 year old daughter!). The students sang very well and we were able to take some photos and video of the concert and hope to have some pictures posted tomorrow.
In the morning, most of the group will be leading the camp for the Preschool of First Baptist Church, Long Beach but a few of us will be helping to do some prep work for the playground equipment at the new facility (this includes pulling roots, breaking up dirt clods and other high tech manual labor). Trust me, we have some students who will excel at this project!
We look forward to some great days ahead. Even though we’re spread out on three vans, the students are having a good opportunity to visit and build relationships. Here are the immediate prayer requests:
Thanks for your support! Please leave a comment to let us know that you’re keeping up with us this week!
P.S. We arrived in Long Beach around midnight and everyone is fine!
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