Another day of hard work, but for some reason we got to a lot of conversation today… about church, Jesus, relationships, and church planting. I think we might have planted two new churches today. More details to follow.
Jordon is a young man from Winnipeg who we’ve been working with every day. What a fantastic example of how well a 19-year-old can turn out. He’s polite, responsible, works hard, and engages with everyone. He’s been a pleasure to work with.
The Lower 9th
We finally got to see the lower 9th ward (a bit of history here) today. It was sobering to see the devastation of entire neighborhoods washed away. Can you imagine a levy failing and all that water rushing into your street, filling up your house? This levy you’ve lived beside your entire life and trusted for your safety is suddenly giving way, betraying your trust, abandoning you. One of the more poignant things I saw in the lower 9th today was this:
Nothing left but the front porch. This scene is repeated over and over.
Here is a video of the lower 9th – five months after the storm. Imagine your neighborhood still leveled, looking like a trash dump five months after a storm. And much of the devastation is still untended, 4 YEARS after the storm. There are abandoned houses everywhere, and people living in houses that should be abandoned.
Here’s a video of the area we saw today. (Ignore the conspiracy theory… or don’t. Your choice.)
We had a guest speaker today. Dwight Webster is a Pastor in New Orleans. It was great to hear the personal story of a New Orleans native.
Going Home
We spoke with Madeleine on the phone tonight. She was brave – we could hear her fighting back tears – but we also heard those tears flow after she said goodbye. She misses us, and we miss her. Its going to be great for the 5 of us to be back together again.
We are having such a good time here, even though we are dead tired every night. The food is unbelievable! I’m in a room with Pedro Dyck, Brad Mantyka, and Billy Froese (a.k.a. Guillermo “The River” Froesen). It has been like a week-long junior high sleep over. Other than our deep voices, there is no evidence of adulthood in our room.
Back to work again tomorrow.
More From The Ascent to Truth
- The Gospel That Saves – Talking about music is like dancing about architecture…
- New Orleans 2009 – Day 6 – The Finish Line (#Orleans09) – Talking about music is like dancing about architecture…
- New Orleans 2009 – Day 3 – More Work (#Orleans09) – Talking about music is like dancing about architecture…
