written by Tambi Swiney
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Greetings from sweltering, sunny New Orleans! Wish you were here!
We departed Nashville just a bit behind schedule on Saturday, since we discovered that one of our two busses lacked air conditioning - and, boy, do we need air conditioning! We were sad that our drummer, Craig W., couldn't be with us. Craig - we're all praying for you!
The students put forth a great effort at their performance Saturday afternoon at the Jackson Meadow Retirement Residence in Jackson, Tennessee. The students interacted well with the residents after their performance, and we appreciated the lemonade and cookies the program director provided for us. After a dinner break at Wolfchase Galleria in Memphis, we drove south for several hours to reach our evening accommodations, the Comfort Suites Hotel in Ridgeland, Mississippi. If you're ever in the area, it's a great place to stay.
On Sunday morning we drove to Vicksburg, where our students helped lead worship at First Baptist Church. Once again, our students represented First Baptist Nashville well and looked snazzy in their dress uniforms. Our host church served us a delicious lunch catered by McAlister's Deli, and Stephen H. managed to score an extra gallon of sweet tea to take on the bus.
We arrived at First Baptist Ponchatoula late in the afternoon (after a brief break at a mall en route), and prepared for the evening worship service. Our host church served us pizza for dinner - always a hit. About 120 folks gathered for worship at FBC Ponchatoula Sunday night. Chapel Choir, Chapel Ringers, Prima Voce, and Visual f/x all participated in the program. Afterwards, church members thanked our students and their leaders for leading worship.
Josh had described our accommodations at Celebration Church's housing facility prior to our arrival, but sometimes you just have to see things with your own eyes. The building is a former strip mall, and the sleeping "rooms" have been sectioned off with large tarps, suspended about two thirds of the way up to the ceiling (which allows sound to carry throughout the building - especially snoring!). Each room has a New Orleans-themed name - our ladies are in the Garden Room and our guys are in the Riverboat Room - and each one of us has a military-style cot. Since we have so many ladies in the facility this week, they have provided a Disaster Relief shower trailer outside the building for our girls to use in addition to the existing bathrooms. We are grateful to Celebration Church for providing these facilities for mission groups like ours.
After having breakfast at Celebration Church on Monday morning, we drove to the Habitat site where we'll be working all week. For the second summer, our youth are working off of Alvar Street in the Musician's Village in the 9th Ward. Just a few months after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Harry Connick, Jr., Branford and Ellis Marsalis announced that they were partnering with Habitat to build a Musician's Village that will eventually consist of 70 single-family, Habitat-constructed homes for displaced New Orleans musicians and other qualifying Habitat partner families. The students who came on last year's trip were pleased to see the progress that has been made in this neighborhood, but we also noted with sadness how little many of the surrounding streets have changed. So much lingering devastation!
Our students' primary assignment on Monday was to clear away debris from houses that were nearing completion. They worked hard and had positive attitudes despite the heat.
After eating lunch on our lovely, air conditioned busses, we travelled a short distance to the park where we were slated to hold an afternoon sports camp. When neighborhood children failed to show up at 2:00 PM, we used the opportunity to do a practice run of our camp. We returned to Celebration Church early, and the students made quick use of the showers (thank goodness). After dinner, we will be heading to Clearview Mall for some downtime.
We appreciate your prayers! Pray specifically for the health and safety of our students and leaders as we work in difficult conditions this week. Pray also that our students will continue to have a positive attitude.