Here are two stories from the NOLA trip February 2011.
Annaliese’s story:
God
did a ton of things in my life, especially in my relationship with my
dad. We were close when I was younger. My school was near where he
worked, so I spent time with him after school. But when I went to
private school, it was farther away from his job and I never saw him.
He’s an athletic director and is out of town a lot. I felt like we’d
lost our relationship, but I didn’t talk with God about it. During a
prayer exercise, God brought it up. He said that I needed to let it go. I
started crying and wrote a note to my father. I gave it to him and now
we’re working on our relationship. He said God had put it on his heart
too! I found out things I never knew about him, like how he came to
Christ. It’s been really cool to see how God has worked through that!
I get nervous talking in front of people, but our team’s goal for the week was to go out and talk with people. I wanted
to stay in the bubble, but God was testing me. He switched my group on a
ministry day and my group had a lot of conversations with people that
day. We ended up talking with a group of homeless people and I met a man
named Osbourne. We really connected in our conversation. Osbourne said
that he’d been afraid, but God gave him peace.
Since being home, I’ve used listening prayer in my everyday life.
Nothing formal- but sometimes when I’m texting a friend I ask God what I
should say to that person. When I’ve sent the messages… it’s been
right on.
Taylor’s story:
On the way to NOLA, our group listened to the song “Freedom Reigns”. Our
Project Leader heard it during listening prayer. It became the theme of
the week. There were a lot of people in our group carrying a lot of
baggage. All felt like they were freed from chains they’d been tied down
by.
The coolest thing was making relationships and God using us to talk with
people who didn’t speak the same language, like a man we met from the
Dominican Republic. We played Uno and dominoes with him; and were able
to make a connection because we spent time with him. When we saw him a
few days later, he remembered us and talked with us again.
We
also met a man named Willie who was also homeless. He was very talented
musically- and also narcoleptic. We’d stand waiting for him to wake
whenever he fell asleep. He’d wake up, finish his sentence, and fall
back asleep again. He kept saying, “Love. Love on everyone you see.”
That’s the biggest thing I got out of the whole trip.
One day I met a kid named Eric by riverwalk. He was a homeless and shiny
purple rocks with him that he’d find and sell in order to live. He gave
me some and told me, “You can have them for free. Give them to your
friends and tell them to pray for me. I’ll find more to sell tomorrow.”
He gave everything he had to someone he didn’t know at all. I still have
the rocks- and so do the people on my team!
After coming home, some friends and I went to Dallas one weekend. There
were a lot of homeless people there. Usually I’d say, “Hi,” smile, and
walk by. But this time we stopped, introduced ourselves and talked with
them. We prayed with them and I felt like God was telling me to give two
of them a $1 each, so I did.
Also, our group has grown closer as well. There were some people on my
team I didn’t know before the trip. Now when we see each other at
school, we’re able to talk and laugh about the trip and our memories.
We’re quick to ask how the other person is doing and to encourage each
other. It’s really brought us together!
