I boarded a plane for New Orleans, LA, not sure who I would meet or what the Lord would do on this AIM youth trip. I was told we had two groups from Georgia, one from Valdosta and one from Macon, and the youth pastors were brothers, how fun! We spent the weekend preparing for them to come and were so excited to welcome the group on Sunday…as I interacted with the team I honestly felt like I had known them my whole life.

The two groups meshed into one and we had a blast working with a local church, Avondale Baptist Church. The first day my crew put together a Sports Camp/VBS for the neighborhood kids and a family block party for the neighborhood that night. We were excited that nearly two hundred people came out to blessed by the church. The next day we did a prayer walk and helped with a construction project, restoring a house that was to be used as a transition house for men coming out of jail or off the streets. It was so exciting each night to hear testimonies from the groups of what the Lord was doing in their hearts and lives. Each night we would come together in worship and fellowship, a time to rejoice in what God had done that day. People had such awesome stories especially from their ATL (ask the Lord) experiences on the streets of New Orleans. We prayed with dozens of homeless people, handed out food and water, and were able to have lots of conversations with people about the gospel. My favorite part was hearing of lives changed, not only the people we ministered to, but also the youth and leaders on the trip. They all came together in such a beautiful way. This week was full of God moments and it was so humbling to be part of such an awesome Kingdom work in New Orleans. It is a city of such spiritual darkness and brokenness but God’s light surely broke through this week!

“And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever!” –Daniel 2:44