Update from Our Youth in the Big Easy
Greetings from New Orleans!
It is not possible for me to describe to you all the things that have happened while in New Orleans and keep this letter to a reasonable length. So, I’ll do my best to hit some highlights and invite you to the youth mission trip presentation on August 9th to hear the rest.
We have cleared storm drains, helped pay for loads of laundry, provided free meals, and gathered to pray over the city (and more!). But those things say nothing about the people we have met, whose lives we have come to know, and who we have done our best to love and bear witness to face-to-face. To say it another way, this has been a very relational trip, where the people of New Orleans have stayed front and center. And being able to share and laugh and hope with the people we are serving has been incredibly special.
Not every mission trip gets to work this way. There are some trips where you work and sweat and don’t really get to know the people you are serving. That work is no less meaningful, of course, because sacrificing for the sake of others, even strangers, is a way to live and love like Christ. And this week, your students have done just that. You would have been so proud to witness all the ways they have been the hands and feet of Christ in New Orleans. I hope you're proud even without having witnessed it.
The trip, in a few words, has been simply great.
I invite you to pray for us as we finish out our week. We are hot and tired, and tired of being hot. Our beds at home sound really good right now. But we also have a few more precious moments on this special trip. Moments for our bonds with one another to grow stronger. Moments for us to recognize God at work in the week and in our lives. Moments to play, and worship, and laugh together.
I look forward to being back with you on Sunday. Thank you for praying.
Grace and peace,
Tim Jenkins
Youth Minister
Cleaning out storm drains
Worship and debrief at night
Serving breakfast to the unhoused
Inviting the neighborhood to a community meal
