I Used to Smoke Crack

So yesterday was a great first day for myself and the rest of the group. Without indulging on the stories of the rest of my group members, it sounded like everyone got to meet some great people, see important parts of the city, and learn a lot, so I am thankful for that. Yesterday was quite full, so here we go.

First, we got up and had breakfast at the hostel, which did not include feta cheese, but I think I'll survive. Next, we went downtown to a program called Limitless Vistas Inc. which provides job training to young adults ages 18-25 to prepare them for the workforce. We met the director and a few students and got to hear some more about the program before leaving a few of our group members there for the day.

After that, we drove around downtown a bit, Pastor Bruce showing us the different homeless shelters in town and where the homeless people congregate here. Again, I have been ehre before, so I have seen them, but it is still always mindboggling to really consider what it must be like to only own what you can carry, live outside all of the time, have no one you can really trust, never be able to fully relax, have no idea where your next meal will come from, and for many, also have to deal with that in the midst of a mental illness. One of the things New Orleans, and many cities, have done is make it near impossible for homeless individuals to live in many parts of the city. The benches have multiple armrests or are rounded in a way to make sleeping on them impossible. Shelters had to move and/or close after Katrina, so there are not adequate shelters for people who are homeless. At that, the shelter doesn't open until 5pm, so when we went by at 10am, people were just standing outside the door waiting. One of the odd things that I saw was a homeless white woman. In the grand scheme of homelessness, here especially, it is primarily men of color who are homeless, but not women, and not white ones. I am not sure what I have to say about that, but thought it was worth mentioning I guess.

After that, we drove to the home of a woman who lives down the street from the church, but I didn't stay. After dropping off most of the group, I rode with another student, one of our supervisors, and Deborah to see a young woman who I had met in October. She is in the middle of a custody mess, has little family support, and has been especially discouraged since the holidays. On the drive to her house, the other student and I drilled Deborah with questions about the woman's family, life, education, and more, just trying to get a fast-forward info session on who she was and what we could do for her. When we got to the house, I was nervous because I wasn't sure how she would react - would she want us there? was she going to talk to us? and when she started talking about tough stuff, would I have anything to say that could help her? But, soon after we got there, things started going really well. She actually really did want us there and really appreciated just having someone to listen. She doesn't have a lot of family support - they are far away and have stressed relationships to say the least so it meant a lot to her just to have people listen. She answered questions about what was going on in her life and talked about her frustrations for quite a while. I was really blessed to be there with the student who had come with me, because we seemed to be able to work with each other well. We got to tag-team questions and I was able to see what it looks like to genuinely encourage someone. The student who went with me is a mom, so she was able to share that with the woman and later when the woman talked about her strength coming from God, I was able to talk with her about that. Good stuff. It is always a really powerful part of being here to see the trust that people have in God despite some really challending circumstances in their lives. We are going back today, just to visit really, and I am looking forward to it. It makes you realize the power of just giving someone your time - she knew we couldn't change her custody situation, but was encouraged just to have people to listen for a bit. The other part about this awesome visit that is worth mentioning is that she has the most adorable 1 year old boy ever and we got to play with him some while we talked to the mother. Another reminder of how plyable young kids are - anything can happen.

After that, we all re-grouped at the house for a bit before making a snack run to Rouse's, the Wegmans of New Orleans. While this is not the most important part of my day, I am glad to say I found S'mores goldfish...really - great snack. After that, a few students went to make another visit, while the rest of us had some time to relax, process, and talk for a bit until dinner. During a quick dinner, we had our group talk time, and it was really good to hear about what everyone did during the day - visits to ex-gangsters, sick elderly women, a girl recovering from surgery, and more. People really just needing to be reminded that someone cares. Good stuff.

When we finished dinner, we went to "Hour of Power" at the church, and most people in the group ended up going, which was nice. Hour of Power is just a time for people to share what God is doing in their life that week. There were only 2 other church members there, but they each shared incredible stories of what their lives used to be and how God brought them from that into a better life. From both of them we heard about how they "used to smoke crack", had been abused, homeless, addicted, dealing, and more, but somehow God found them in that and brought them out of it. One of the women actually had worked with some of the Binghamton group last year and it was great to see how much her life had changed since then. Again, it's crazy the difference a year can make. It all was really encouraging, to be reminded of how great God is, of the things he can pull people from and the hope that there is for every person and situation to get better.

This is going to seem oxymoronic, but after church, we went down to the French Quarter for a bit. It never is terribly exciting, and since it was a weekday and there are no games or holidays coming up, it was kind of a small crowd, which is just as well. We did get to visit the shadow thing on a church I had heard of last January but didn't see, and it is pretty sweet.


After the cathedral, we walked through Jackson Square over to see the Mississippi River, which basically makes me want to be Tom Sawyer. Here is the student part of our group at the river.
(Our leaders joined in later for Beignets at Cafe du Monde)


Then, of course, we went to the Cafe du Monde and had beignets, which are like a cross between fried dough and donuts, covered in a generous mountain of powdered sugar. Delicious.

After that, we hopped on the streetcar, headed back to the hostel and promptly went to sleep. All in all, a good day. People got to see and learn a lot, so please keep praying for more of that this week. Thank you, yet again for reading, and see - I promised they would get longer : )