Mission Lab Post # 2

We started Monday with a morning devotion time. After devotion we quickly made our way to the cafeteria for breakfast. We were served scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuits, gravy and grits. In front of me in line were some teens from Arizona, they had never tried grits before and thought they were like potatoes. It took some convincing to get them to try grits. After I got my tray I saw two men that didn’t need persuasion to eat grits, they were very happy that it wasn’t pizza again.

After breakfast our teens split into two groups, Brad’s group went to F.P. Jackson Park to lead a bible school for the local children and Anita’s group went to Schaber Park to do the same. When I get some photos from the other group, I’ll post them here also.

When we arrived at Jackson Park, we found a playground that was overgrown with grass, so Dale traveled with our NOBTS guide Cody back to the campus and picked up a lawnmower and weed eater. You can see in the photos how tall the grass was, the video of Dale running the lawnmower really emphasizes how much work we had just to get the playground ready for the Bible School.

We had five sisters in attendance on the first day of Bible School. They ranged in age from 13 – 1 year old. You can see in the photos that they enjoyed making para-cord bracelets, playing UNO, playing basketball and listening to our Bible lesson presented by Chelsea. Brad even enjoyed sliding down the slide with the youngest sister, she climbed up to the top unassisted and needed help getting down safely.

After lunch our teams recombined and walked through the French Quarter handing out backpacks that were packed with bottled water, small snacks, band aids, tape and other useful supplies for homeless people to use. They were all very grateful for the gift and thanked us multiple times.

In Jackson Square, in front of St. Louis Cathedral, Avery offered a backpack to an older man sitting on a tattered quilt under the trees. His arms were damaged by too much exposure to the sun and he had a thick gray beard. When Avery began talking to the man he sat up and started asking numerous questions about Jesus, and what it takes to get to Heaven. His first big point was that you cannot get to Heaven by works. He took a piece of paper and folded it as he spoke with us. I watched as he carefully tore off pieces of the paper and sat them under his mat. We could tell he was up to something, when he was finished he had created a cross from the paper. The scraps of paper he tore away were assembled to spell Hell. He was doing his best to witness to us! It was a great experience to find a man in the park posing as homeless so that he could share the Gospel with people that are seeking salvation through works. We handed out over 40 backpacks and plan to return after supper tonight.

We started out this day with a commissioning from our church. We had pizza in the fellowship hall, then loaded up the two white vans and Mr. Dale Parra followed pulling the trailer with his truck. We traveled via Highway 45 South and soon looked back and did not see Mr. Dale’s truck, since Dale had Randy with him we felt it would be alright to continue and proceeded along at a reasonable pace.

As we neared Macon, MS we looked ahead and there were several fire trucks and other emergency vehicles blocking our side of the highway. There had been a horrible accident at the 4 way stop ahead. As we got closer, we saw that there was a helicopter landed in the highway and it airlifted one of the victims away from the scene. We were diverted through a restaurant parking lot along with other traffic. We were reminded to be extra careful as we proceeded on our route.

In Meridian, we stopped at a service station for a rest stop and called Dale to see where they were. Dale reported that they were nearly to Greenwood. Brad just responded, “Okay”, then he turned and said, “I guess they are going the other way.” I was confused by the discussion.

We stopped again in Picayune for fuel and to clean off the windshield of the van. As we traveled over Lake Pontchartrain I snapped a couple of photos with my iPhone. If you look really close on the second one you can see the skyline of New Orleans. Our next stop was on the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary campus.

At the campus we were welcomed in through the main gate and guided to our check in area. We then picked up all our registration information, our devotion books, our lanyards with our meal passes and schedules, and T-shirts for everyone. On the way back from dinner, we posed for a photo on the grounds of the school.

As the rest of the group walked down to the worship meeting, Mr. Dale and I took a trip to the local Wal-Mart to pick up some additional supplies we needed for the VBS with the children tomorrow. Apple Maps took us through scenic areas of New Orleans, we saw many of the people that we hope to reach out to this week. I was able to snap a photo of a man sleeping on the ground under a tree, it appears that all his possessions are around him. We saw many others as we drove, but no other opportunities to make a photo without being noticed.

All the students wore T-Shirts with a series of numbers on them that represent Colossians 2:6-7 “6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”

Brian tells me it’s time to go to bed now. Happy Birthday Brian.

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