Then we piled in the car and went to attack the crew Slash! We drove over and found ourselves faced with a dilemma: they weren’t done painting their house. So we settled with drenching/destroying/demolishing Parker and Tyler. We won, needless to say. And Mama Val showed great feats of strength.

After Papa John was drenched by a bucket of water, we made our way back to the church for some quick showers. Today was especially tricky to maneuver because it was Papa John’s birthday! Crew D was on assignment to keep him distracted until the surprise party was in place back at the church. Luckily, we managed to keep him confused long enough to return and celebrate with some cake. After the party we all piled in our respective vans and went down to the French Quarter for our afternoon in New Orleans!

All in all, we had an amazing time eating beignets and walking around the city with our friends. Everyone got a blast out of the trip and we enjoyed taking lots of pictures before loading in the vans and coming home for our longest and most emotional Thanksgiving Circle. It was a great night of bonding for all and the trip couldn’t have ended on a better note.

Before they left, the crews presented Mrs. Batiste with a YOAM cookbook signed by everyone and took a few picture with her. This was followed by a procession of hugs between Mrs. Batiste and everyone on the crews.

After dinner, everyone on the trip attended a mini church service for Maundy Thursday. They skyped with Pastor Matt and the Glen Mar Church for communion. There was also singing and some story telling about the story behind the dogwood tree, thanks to  a very wonderful homeowner, who shared dinner with all the crews.

Today, each crew was responsible for bringing some “earth” back from their worksite. Crew C brought back a mixture of old ceiling, drywall dust, insulation, spackle, and some dirt. Mr. Hardin gave everyone a hollow glass cross which was to be filled with the dirt samples. They were then assembled into necklaces which everyone now proudly wears. The day ended with a fantastic thanksgiving circle and then Crew C sat down to write this blog for all of you.

Good night to all from Slidell, and God Bless!

After our distraction left, we were able to crack open THE COLOR PAINT and get covered in lattes and ‘gold.’ We worked diligently to cover the walls, and each other, with the vibrant neutral shades of brown. Before we truly got down to business (to defeat the huns), we had some fun.

At the beginning of the day, we each worked in our own rooms, except for Kate because she’s special and Martha can’t spell, and we all know that JOSH IS THE BEST. By the end of the day we were all crammed into a bathroom covered in yelllowness.

In the car today we watched She’s The Man (Amanda Bynes and Channing Tatum - yum)  And Josh, the only guy on our crew, cried. It’s his new favorite movie, we’re all proud to say. He is currently writing a song for Sydney of the Kelley variety to tell her that she is the best. I don’t understand this whole shenanigan, because we ALL KNOW THAT KATE IS THE BEST.  Michelle, who is REALLY the best, laughed at the stupidity and took pictures.

Messy and soaked, in our matching bandanas, we returned safe and sound to the church and later had a wonderful dinner at  LA Pines.

CREW FORK!

Hello everyone back at home! Hopefully your first day of your break (or not) has been wonderful. Here at the end of our first day of work, we are pretty tired but very content with our work for the day.

Each of the seven crews chose their jobs for the week. Our crew has been given a job involving framing, baseboards, and hanging doors.

Most of us crews got off to a late start, hence the mosey, but everyone was pretty satisfied with their work overall. This day is also a day of learning what skills are needed specifically for each job. Fortunately, we have great teachers on our crew.

Our crew was not able to meet our home owner, but every crew that had that opportunity talked about what a blessing it is to be able to physically see the affects their work has on the people they are helping.

Our kitchen crew has been fantastic at keeping us well-fed on delicious food and for that we are forever thankful.

After arriving back to Aldersgate, many people had the opportunity to bond as a larger group and venture into the community of the local Walmart :).

Everyone is looking forward to the rest of the week and has enjoyed each experience so far!

Have a great rest of the week!

So as I sit here in the airport around 3PM in the airport waiting for the plane, running on less than two hours of sleep, trying to think of something to write for this newsletter, the only thought on my mind is about how incredible of a trip this has been for every single one of us here.

Friday started off with some fun. In retaliation of Crew B’s silly string prank on Thursday, Crew A saran wrapped their car. But not just the outside of the car, the inside too. Imagine walking up to your car getting ready to leave for the work-site and realizing that your car is covered in saran wrap. As soon as everything is cleaned off the outside of the car, you open the door and there’s about another roll and a half worth of stuff to clean up. The look on their face was well worth staying up late and the 13 dollars worth of saran wrap.

There are two sides to Fridays. On the one hand, it is our final workday and each crew wants to make sure that their job is completed, and completed well, but it comes at a cost because we only have a half-day of work. Everybody wants to finish their jobs, however it doesn’t always really work out as perfectly as we would like. We might not finish everything we wanted to accomplish. The thing that we have to remember is that there is always going to be more work to be done. The work is never going to be finished. And we will come back.

But on the other hand, we take a half-day in order to spend time in the city that we are here to rebuild. New Orleans has such a vibrant culture that having a few hours to walk around and enjoy the area is truly something to appreciate. Whether it is shopping for a few souvenirs to bring back home, eating beignets and drinking coffee at Cafe du Monde, seeing the bright neon lights coming from Bourbon Street, or randomly bumping into each other just in time for dinner at the Market Cafe, the city is an experience to say the least.

We ended up not even leaving the city until 9 o’clock.

By the time that we got back to the church and everyone got ready, we started the Thanksgiving circle a little after 10. I think we finished up around 12:30AM. That is the latest that the Thanksgiving circle has ever gone, but it is well worth every minute of it. Each and every person on the trip shares what he or she was thankful for during the week. There was quite a lot to be thankful for; rekindled friendships, along with new faces, new experiences, pranks (well maybe not thankful for the prank itself, but the people involved), inside jokes, crew leaders, one liners having everybody laughing hysterically, and of course the occasional sentimental tear. These are the kind of things that really make the trip special and connect everyone. No matter how long it takes, it is well worth it listening to how the trip has impacted everyone’s life.

As per tradition after the thanksgiving circle everyone is allowed to stay up, as late at they want. Some people go to bed, mostly adults, but a majority of the youth stay up…until 5AM…when we have to be up at 7.

Around lunch time we left to tour the Ninth Ward, the area impacted the most by the storm, in New Orleans. I can’t even begin to describe how powerful of a sight it is to see all of the devastation that was still there after 5 and half years. Seeing how much of the city has already been rebuilt is a true testament to how much progress has been made. But the most shocking thing was seeing a house completely redone, rebuilt, and lived in when right next door there was a house that had yet to be touched since the storm. It’s a very sobering sight.

In conclusion to our Ninth Ward tour, we visit the levy that was damaged. Some of the area around the levy has been rebuilt, a lot of them Brad Pitt houses (he teamed up with the architecture and engineering program at LSU to design and create eco-friendly homes). A lot of the area was just overgrown with weeds and trees, covering up the old foundations that were once homes. Walking around looking at the scenery everyone has their own reaction, but one thing is common, it is a reminder of exactly why we go down to New Orleans, to help serve the community after such a devastating storm.

YOAM was an amazing trip. What happened on the trip has impacted every single person that went down there. On the worksite or off, in the French Quarter or the Ninth Ward, with the homeowner or with crewmembers, YOAM was quite a memorable experience

Speaking for everyone I say that I can’t wait until I get to go on YOAM again.

Ephesians 2:8-10
For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith- and this if not from yourself, but a gift from God- not by works, so that no one may boast. For we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepares in advance

The whole YOAM group went out to dinner at Ryan’s. Several home owners including Sharron and her mother enjoyed a wonderful dinner with the group.  We are looking forward to a great day in New Orleans tomorrow.  We will work a half day then gather tools to return to the Epworth Project and then enjoy an afternoon in the French Quarter!