N'awlins

In July, Joel and I went on a missions trip with the teens at our new church. We went to New Orleans to help with the Katrina relief that is still going on. It was an amazing experience. Its been almost a year since the hurricane, but it looks as though it just happened in many parts of the city. They predict it will take ten years to rebuild the city. These are a few pictures I took through out our week there. I was shocked to see the devastion that the water did. The picture of the car with the house on it was taken in the ninth ward where the leavie broke. The devastation down there was unbelievable. Literally, houses were picked up on and thrown around. This area of the city has hardly been touched at all. I saw this sign hanging up as we were touring the ninth ward and it really hit home. We were really challenged while there about how the media has stopped covering the tragedy and people aren't aware of how bad the condition of the city is. Don't get me wrong, there has been a lot of work done. There is just so much more that needs to be done. Our last day, we decided to go down to the French Quarter before heading back. That is the main tourist area of New Orleans and that part of the city was not affected as much, because it is near the river. The only evidence of the tragedy in that area is the people. We talked with several people in the shops that said their business has suffered so much, but they have no way of making it better. The pictures of the big church and the famous Cafe Du Monde were taken in the French Quarter.
Joel and I loved our trip. It has hard work, but we felt so good doing it. Our main goal on the trip was to get to know the teens in our youth group better and we did. These teens are amazing. Joel and I just fell in love with them. We are excited to see what God has for us this year as youth group really kicks off in September.