Nola

I'm here in Southern Louisiana! Just across the lake (the BIG lake) from downtown New Orleans, that was impacted by Hurricane Katrina, Gustav and a host of other setbacks. 

It's a beautiful place: lots of water, warm, green, friendly, did I mention WARM; full of blooming flowers, palm trees and places that specialize in boiled crayfish, sweet tea and fried chicken. ;) Here, 50 degrees is cold and Mardi Gras is a bigger deal than the 4th of July.... yet there are still thousands of displaced people from the hurricane five years ago. Looking forward to seeing downtown New Orleans for the first time tomorrow and meeting some people working at Urban Impact and doing my first bit of shadowing at TouchGlobal's office and warehouse.

I am staying with the Lewis family: what awesome people. The minute I walked into their house on Wednesday night I felt welcomed and at home. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis are so kind and easy to talk to and their kids are SO much fun! They are so good-hearted, extremely friendly and down-to-earth. Love playing legos with the nine year old son, have great car conversations in the Buick on the way to friends', and tonight I have a movie night/cookie bake planned with the 11 year old daughter. :) 

Thursday and Friday were full of meetings, from 8 am 'til 5:30 on Thursday and 3:30 on Friday: my first taste of ministry. More like a MOUTH FULL of ministry!! So much to take in, people to meet, concepts, strategies and terms to learn. Most of the content had to do with team health and self evaluation and ministry assessment..... so to be honest I tuned out for some of it ;) It was good to meet all of the people though. There are several staff members that are my age and enjoy hanging out with, as are the older adults! They are so great. :)

There definitely have been ups and downs the last few days, but God is SO faithful and powerful... I so sense His presence with me. On Thursday and Friday I battled extreme fatigue. I wanted to get to know people more but it was very difficult to when all I could think about was sleep and trying to keep my eyes open. I had a bit of a breakdown mid-day Friday and then I realized I should pray. After some tears and prayer, God reminded me that I can do all things through Him who gives me strength and His joy is my strength. I was still tired but felt DETERMINED to persevere. I found out that right at that time my mother and a dear friend had been praying for me. :) Cool. That night, though I wasn't completely "un-tired", I had the best night of fellowship and building of relationships and friendships at my first Mardi Gras parade! And to think, I almost let that attack keep me from going.... God is so good to me. He's making it clear that, though I'm not entirely sure what's ahead, I am exactly where He wants me. And, boy, am I excited for where He will continue to lead me!! What an adventure.

I'll finish off with this passage we focused on the first day of meetings, and is really impacting me:

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.