Hello Hello!! (the title provided by our dance party this morning in the kitchen!)
I'll definitely be impressed if anyone actually reads this before I tell anyone that I've updated this. I'm so bad with blogs, please dont hate me. I won't promise that I'll do better but my cell is always on if you wanna check up on me that way go ahead!
I'll start with the most recent things and work backwards! I am in the YELLOWHOUSE! IN THE CITY!! I really do love it! We had 5 teams here this week for a grand total of 44 people in the house. It felt like family! Everyone hanging out in the kitchen, working on puzzles, playing spoons with markers, it's just been wonderful! This week I've been blessed with an amazing lady named Julie! She has been cooking for the teams, laughing with me, joking with me, and just all around an answered prayer! As most of you know, my cooking abilities are few and far between so having her here has just rocked! She's from Hershey PA and considering coming back in January for 3 months! SWEET! Let's be praying she does because Lord knows with the amount of teams in the spring we'll need her!
This week has also definitely been bittersweet because a lot of people are leaving for good. Joe, a construction supervisor who's been here since mid-July, is headed back to Penn state, Alysha, my amazing roomy, is going back to MA for school, the Sherwoods are headed home to Cali, and Zack and Mary D are headed back to PA for our closed week next week. Yes I'm off work next week! Because I'm not much of a planner, I'll be chillaxing in NoLa! Hopefully meeting people in the neighborhood, working on my 4-12 month EFCA application, hanging out with Kaarin (she was on staff but now lives in the city), and doing whatever else I like! Maybe a small road trip will be in order but we'll just see what happens :)
Since coming back from the most amazing wedding ever, love you Mere and Joel!, lots of hanging out with staff and teams was had and good hillbilly memories. The guys made a slip-in-slide in the back field, a hot tub in the back of a truck, and a sled out of part of tin roof...yeah who says you can't have fun in Covington.
Well besides all the fun times, God has really been growing me and stretching me here. The initial transition was hard into the city and realizing that this next part of my NOLA experience would be totally different from the summer was hard to swallow. But I definitely know God has me here for a reason and I'm thrilled to be here and serving Him and those He loves! I've been learning how we can hold onto His peace, that He gives us His peace so our hearts don't have to be troubled or afraid (John 14:27).
Last week, I was apart of the Urban Impact Staff retreat where a guy came and spoke to us about the Poverty Mandate and one thing he said that has stuck with me is once we cross the Jordan, we will no longer be able to take part in suffering for Christ and this is our chance now to go outside our comfort zone, to go outside the norm, and actually step out for Christ, to suffer for Him (1 Peter 4:13). He also emphasized that whereever your path takes you, God has preceded you, He is ahead of you, behind you, and with you! Amen!
Like I said, I'm off next week, so oodles of free time for phone calls and playing catch-up with you folks! Oh and just so my March team knows Rock of Ages is so close to being done that it's not even funny! Hopefully they'll get their pews soon and have their first service I'd say definitely before October! :) Praise God for His faithfulness!
August 29th is the 3rd year anni of Hurricane Katrina and the ground breaking for the Urban Impact Community Center!! woot woot! I'm sure it'll be a day of mixed emotion and I just ask that everyone be in prayer for the city! It's an interesting feeling actually being able to put a face on how much Katrina has affected the community, the countless people I've met who lost everything, lost loved ones, and are still praising God all the while astounds me! It's not about me at all, its about Christ and I'm so thankful that He has allowed me to be here!
So yes this was extremely long but I hope you were able to least read one paragraph and see that you are now connected personally to life here in NoLa! Let me know how school, work, life is going with yall too!
LOVE YALL IMMENSELY!!!
-khooks
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galations 2:20
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