Day 5 and reflections

It's taken forever to come back and write about our 5th and last day in New Orleans. So much stuff going on!

Tuesday morning we headed over to the devotion time. It is so weird that we constantly have to be reminded to focus on God. Without any effort life distracts us with multiple arguments and worries. So it was really good to refocus. Shortly afterwards we left to go on the official tour of New Orleans with the church. Although we had driven down some of the streets before we learned so much with a guide. We learned that the destruction of homes was way more than we'd seen. We left Metarie and drove east at least 30 minutes. Along that path alone we saw neighorhood after neighborhood, empty. Every home in the city is supposed to have been searched, but at least two months ago, bodies where found. Sitting in LA, this didn't strike me as strange. But seeing just how much was underwater, it is very easy to imagine that some homes may have been missed.

After two hours of driving and observing the city, it was time to head to the airport.

As we started to get ready to leave, I felt like we hadn't done much. We didn't spend very much time tearing down houses. So I felt happy and sad simultaneously. It's hard to see the amount of work left to be done and feel like we could have done more. But God is super gracious. He always works in ways we don't expect. As we were saying our goodbyes to the long term volunteers, they told us how much we encouraged them. That is so important because without the long term volunteers, handling all the logistics of finding homes, and neighborhoods to set up relief centers, we short term volunteers wouldn't accomplish anything.

I think more than anything, it made me determined to return. Better prepared, and with more people. The need is still there, and I believe that God wants us to be active in showing his love and proclaiming the Good News.