SOURCE MINISTRIES

New Orleans Hurricane Relief Trip January 2006

Hurricane Relief Trip
January 2 -16, 2006

The team has returned safe and sound! The trip was an amazing experience of worship, service, and prayer.

Check out journal entries below
Some amazing photos by Jesce Walz.

Thank you to everyone who sacrificed to make this happen.
Over $1,000 was raised from benefit show & donations that was given to New Orleans organizations. Thank you to the artists, performers, & all that participated.

The team has returned safe and sound from the trip! Check out the photo gallery from the trip, and check back for individual stories from the people who went.

GOD’S PROVISION
On our first day of outreach, Jesce and I walked through the neighborhood of the Church Plant where we served food. While inviting people to lunch and filling out work orders, we met a 15 year old boy who told us he didn’t know where most of his friends were or if they were dead or alive. Leroy was sitting nearby on a stoop and told us about a house’s damage a couple blocks away. He lives there with his mother, sister, and their families until his house could be repaired. After taking a work order for his house the 3 of us prayed together. The next week a man in a distant food line called to me. It took me a second to realize it was Leroy. He was smiling and told me his house had been gutted by some of our team members that day.

HOPELESSNESS
Another day we drove around the Upper 9th Ward passing out hot meals and water left over from lunch. I met a thin, fragile man named Ronald who was wandering around in search of our truck. We sat down on a stoop . As he eat, he told me about the neighborhood before the storm, of his friends who died and/or are missing, about the state of his house and lack of water and electricity. He said his neighborhood felt like a ghost town; at night it got so dark without the street lights, and as he lay in bed he’d try to pray, because he wanted to die. I asked if I could pray for him. When he said yes I wrapped my arms around him and prayed. It was in times like this our theme verse, Zechariah 4:6 “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit" says the Lord, rang true. God’s Spirit would comfort and encourage this man more than the hot meal and hug I had to offer. I also told him about a shuttle that picks up people in his neighborhood for church and a meal on Sundays. He was excited to be able to go to church and visit with people.

REVIVAL
So much is going on in New Orleans. Despite the horror of it all, God is using the storm for good Many are coming to accept Christ and revival is coming to the city. Many of the sites are in areas that were filled with violence and drug trafficking. The church works alongside neighborhoods to build strong communities so they can fight against dealers and crime if (or when) they return to the city.

Dear friends and prayer warriors, We made it to New Orleans! The drive was long yet fun. (26 hours) We got here exhausted at 8:30am so we slept for the morning, then we helped clean our accomodations at a church gym.

2 days of working, here's what i know. we leave at 7am to go to the church, Victory Fellowship, to start with breakfast and there, all the teams that have come to help (which is quite a few people from upstate New York, Indiana, Mennonites from somewhere, and 15 of us from MN) gather for morning worship, sharing of testimonies, and the instructions for the day. The church is giving away food, clothes, and whatever other help they can, from 12-3pm, at 8 different outreach sites on most days of the week. One site is here at the church, one is at a new church plant, one is at an old church building that they just acquired and are going to begin having services there, and another is in the ninth ward (the worst affected area, and the poorest area in n'orleans anyway).

The church and where we are staying is in a suburb called Metteric. Their outreaches are in New Orleans, Holly Grove, St. Bernard Parish, and more. We have seen some pretty bad devastation, and talked to many people with completely broken lives. We will go into the ninth ward at some point, and see the most destroyed stuff. So, it is crazy to think about how much worse it will be, when we see the worst place. And we will go to the French Quarter and see the historical stuff. sometime.

Keep praying! So far it seems that there is a huge revival going on here. God is transforming the place where Christians never wanted to go and avoided, into a beacon of light. The people are all completely broken open and ready to receive hope from somewhere, and we are here to bring them Jesus, and we need more Christian workers here to bring on the harvest. i think what is known as the biggest hurricane ever, the Hurricane of 2005, will transform to become the Revival of 2006.

i have tons more notes written and i intend to write a lot more, but i wanted to give you a little picture of what's going on, so you could pray more closely. THANX! Luv, Amanda.

Our team arrived in New Orleans safe and sound and are in their second day of relief work. They get up and 6:30am for breakfast, worship and prayer with the other groups, and then they get their assignments for the day. Today they went to a busy street with lots of destruction and gave away lots of food, lots of opportunity to talk to people willing to share. They also spend time driving around, handing things out in different neighborhoods, taking work orders from people who need help with their house. As food donations come, they help unload into a temporary freezer.Mostly they spend their time talking to residents and praying for them. they said no one has refused prayer, everyone is very open and vulnerable. When they get back at night, they have small group check in time with each other and go to bed.

They've mostly been in highly destroyed neighborhoods, but yesterday they went into a neighborhood with lots of New Age and gay/lesbian residents. One thing they mentioned that was extraordinary was the unity within the body of Christ. There are so many different types of Christians working together on this huge operation. apparently the Church is the prioneering force doing anything down there.

The areas they are in are still in a state of devastation. garbage blocking the road, businesses demolished, etc. Businesses areonly open 7am-3pm, even McDonalds. Everywhere is hiring cause everyone left, not enough employees. Asbestos everywhere.

Pray for:
Different types of evangelism happening
Physical safety
Processing time, personal time
tiredness, sickness, sore throat, mold allergies
the non-Christians that they are also working with.