FBC Missions

While working in New Orleans I can’t help but become distracted by what time will keep in my mind. I know as the weeks and months go by names, faces, and events will become blurred and harder to recollect…. I wonder what memories will New Orleans leave in me?

I know the memories I would like to keep…The grateful thanks of homeowners who we were able to touch through work and prayer, the haunting desolation of rows of houses… houses that were once homes, the feeling in my stomach as I threw away pictures where the faces of a homeowner’s loved ones could no longer be recognized, Dottie’s voice as she dug through a suitcase full of the rotted remnants of items so precious in their memories that no amount of mold or water damage made them easier to throw away.

There is so much I want to keep with me. I hope I will remember the sound of the first New Orleans jazz I heard under the dim lights of the Spotted Cat. I hope I will remember the way I was moved by gospel music. I hope I will remember the people. I hope I will remember the names…but most of all I hope that I will remember the change that God has put in my heart during this week.

So much has been taken away from the people that live here, but I have never seen such displays of hard work and love.

I have been distracted wondering how I will remember all I have learned in this short time; but I only need to remember one thing…God provides when we are in need and I have seen that in New Orleans.

by Alice Leach

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 17th, 2006 at 2:05 pm and is filed under New Orleans 2006. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.