A Life-Changing Trip

Five years after Hurricane Katrina, I'm taking a look back at our missions trip to New Orleans 3 years ago [see yesterday's entry].
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Originally posted June 29, 2007...

It was with great eagerness that I arrived at the Challenge Circle (think AWANA games) last Thursday evening. We'd been taught the games and trained the previous Sunday. However, when we arrived in the projects to play with the kids for the first time on Tuesday, it began raining within 10 minutes, so we had to leave. I wasn't able to attend on Wednesday night either due to being with our young friend in the ER. So when Thursday night finally arrived and we jumped out of our big grey van, I was more than a little excited to see the kids swarming us!

Our nights at the Challenge Circle included 1 hour of free play, followed by 1 hour of the organized games (which are optional). Many of the kids immediately began looking for their big "friend" from the previous night. Wow, what a joy it was to see our kids running around with these precious children on their backs! All of them...both big kids and little kids alike...had huge grins on their faces. Some of our high school students and I kicked the ball around with a few kids, but then I spotted a huddle of little girls gathering to draw with sidewalk chalk. I was immediately drawn to their little circle.

Soon a little voice rang in my ears. Yep, I heard her before I ever saw her. "Excuse me, please," she said. I looked up to see this adorable 5-year-old girl. I asked her her name. "Tessa," she replied. Together we drew on the sidewalk...you know, all those typical little girl things: rainbows, butterflies, flowers. Tessa asked me to draw a dog. Evidently she didn't know me very well! When I presented her with my work of art, she exclaimed, "That doesn't look like a dog!" She was right. Together we laughed at my elephant-looking dog.


Our lovely creations extended quite a way down the sidewalk. Pretty soon Tessa decided she wanted to color instead, so we found a coloring page from a Bible story coloring book. Tessa settled into my lap and began coloring. While she sat cradled in my lap, I sang "Jesus Loves Me" softly in her ear. It was evident she didn't know it. I scratched her back and rocked with her while telling her how much Jesus loves her.

Each night concluded with the launching of water balloons. I hoisted Tessa onto my shoulders, and we laughed and giggled as the water balloons burst all around us. Then it was time to leave and I told her I'd be back the next day.

On Friday we arrived for our final day with the kids, and I scanned the crowd for Tessa. She wasn't there. Disappointed, I found a place in the circle of sidewalk-chalkers and began visiting with them, all the while mindful that my little friend wasn't there. About half an hour before it was time to go, Tessa came running across the yard and my heart skipped a beat. She ran right up to me and threw her arms around me. Oh, what joy! Together we colored and drew, and I told her again how much Jesus loves her and wants to be her best friend.

As we prepared to go, my heart ached. I told Tessa how glad I was that I got to meet her and play with her. I told her I wouldn't be able to come back because I was going home, but I would be praying for her. Then I turned to walk back to our van...and I cried. Thankfully, this sweet little girl had rejoined her friends and was oblivious to the inner conflict going on inside of me. But as I watched her through the chain link fence she calls "home," I couldn't help but wonder about her future. What will her life be like in 10-15 years? What are her dreams and hopes? What does her future look like? Will she come to understand her need for a Savior?

Tessa is permanently etched on my heart. We serve a great and able God, and I'm praying that He captures the hearts of her and her family. I'm praying He shows them their desperate need for Jesus, and that they place their faith and trust in Him alone for salvation. I don't know whether or not you'll think about our New Orleans missions trip anymore, though I do appreciate the interest you've shown in reading my heart's ponderings over these past days. But if God should bring our trip or our team or me to remembrance, would you please pray for little Tessa and her family? Please pray for her physical, emotional, and spiritual needs; pray that the seed planted in Tessa's life will continue to be watered by all those who will be regularly interacting with and ministering to the kids in New Orleans this summer. And pray that Tessa and her family will receive Jesus as their Savior and be a light to their neighborhood.