Follow up day! We went back to the Countryside Mobile Home Park to give Victoria her extra supplies. In addition to extra food, we were able to give her a large-print Bible to make Bible studying much easier. Victoria claims to know Christ as her Savior – pray for her as she is having a difficult time with her health.

This evening we visited the Faith Baptist Church of Lafayette. Some members of their church wanted us to thank those who sent us down to their city in efforts of seeing people saved. The church situation here in Lafayette is a heartbreaking one. With so many people there is a need for another healthy, gospel-preaching local church.

Today, we were able to distribute 48 boxes of food to the Countryside Mobile Home Park here in Lafayette. These people have been living in their FEMA trailers for about a month now - everyone we met welcomed the groceries and supplies!

As we handed out these food boxes we met a lady named Victoria. Victoria has her son living with her now, but more family is on the way to move in with them – 10 more family members. It will be a crowded house! Tomorrow we will go back with extra supplies to help with the extra family that will be moving in shortly.

Please pray for these contacts. While we give the food out, we are also giving the gospel to these people. We often pray with these people and challenge them with God’s Word. In addition, there is a New Testament and other literature inside each box. It is our desire to see people repent of their sins and accept Christ as their Savior.

Reading your own blog is like calling your own cell phone - you don’t do it too often. However, I did look at our blog today and recognized a serious oversight.

Pastor Felix Sellers and his family helped Anouk and I with the Thanksgiving Dinner. Their church purchased the food that we served. I wanted to say “thank you” for all of their help with this project.

On December 11, 1620 the pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. The winter that they were about to enter proved to be a brutal one. One year later, 46 of the original 102 had died. But Governor William Bradford saw God’s providential hand of blessing through an abundant harvest and declared a Thanksgiving feast.

There were several other days of Thanksgiving by those early settlers, but it wasn’t until 1789 that George Washington mandated a national holiday of Thanksgiving. Ever since, we Americans have observed a special day of thanksgiving and prayer to God.

Why the history lesson? Because just as those early pilgrims and colonists recognized God’s sovereign hand in the midst of both blessing and hardship, we too must recognized God’s work. God is always at work and always doing amazing things. Consider today for example:

Today, we drove over to the Day’s Inn in town where evacuees and relief workers are living. We had free reign of the kitchen and all of the supplies. Turkeys and hams were cooked, mashed potatoes made, and pies cut ready to be served. In all, 60-70 people were served Thanksgiving dinner – some the first holiday since they lost everything in the hurricanes. The gospel was given to them both in “preaching” form and in gospel literature. Bibles were handed out as well. Oh, and today we were able to announce that we would be starting a Bible Study this Sunday in using the Day’s Inn conference room.

How is all of this possible? Because God is at work! Anouk and I are constantly amazed at how God is working and putting all the details into place. We are thankful that we can be down here in Louisiana on Thanksgiving Day (partly because it is 75 degrees outside!). We want all of our supporters to know that we are thankful for their prayers and financial support as we serve here.

Praise be to God . . . He is good.

Today we were able to follow up on some of the families where we passed out food boxes. We went to each trailer that was occupied (some are still empty) and were able to talk to some people. We met a Christian lady who was very thankful for our help and we prayed with her. She was very thankful that we were using this opportunity (people being displaced) to share the Gospel with others. She told us that she and her church group had just started a new witnessing/visitation program every Wednesday evening about 3 weeks before Katrina hit. She related that many people seemed more open to the Gospel since the hurricanes hit.

We also met 3 men who were asking us where they could get a turkey for Thanksgiving. They wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving together because they were the only family they had around – the three of them had become an “instant family” since they were all placed in the same trailer. We invited them to come to the Thanksgiving Dinner we are hosting at the Day’s Inn. I think they’re going to come!

Finally, today, we also met another of the managers at the Day’s Inn. She is very compassionate and cares deeply for the evacuees that are in their care. She wants us to help these people in any way we can – especially spiritually / counseling. She goes to a Baptist Church in town and is very supportive of anything we can do to help these people. As you can tell, God is opening doors that would normally be closed! Praise the Lord for that.

We now have a Bible Study set up at 2 hotels on Sundays – one at 2:30 and one at 3:30. Please pray people would come and hear God’s Word and that their lives will be drawn to the God of the Word. We’re excited to see what He will do!

Please also pray for us as we try to pass food boxes out in other trailer parks. We met our two ladies again today (from last Wednesday) and they gave us the names of 5 more trailer parks that have and will receive families. That’s at least 100 more families to reach! And that’s just the beginning! Please keep praying for God’s name to be glorified in all that is happening down here!

Today we were able to go to a trailer park where there are 33 FEMA trailers for evacuee families. At first we thought we would be delivering food boxes to families who had moved in, but it ended up that – because of a rainstorm the night before – none of the families were in. Instead, the Lord worked it out that some ladies who work for the government opened all the doors of the trailers for us and we placed a box in each of them. Each food box said “Welcome to your new home” and contained some Gospel literature and a New Testament.

The ladies who opened the doors for us were very excited that these families were getting food and supplies. . . and were especially thrilled when we told them we had enough supplies to make 250 more boxes! We exchanged numbers and are now in contact whenever families move in to their trailers! How exciting to know that God uses even the weather to work out His purpose! If the families had moved in as planned, we would probably not have met these ladies who are now our best contacts.

We’re very thankful for Operation Renewed Hope for providing all the food to give out to these people. As their generous donation help us meet some physical needs, it enable us to also give these people the Gospel. Please pray for fruit for God’s kingdom.

(Note: for another account of today’s activities, go to Sharper Iron’s website or click here)

Praise the Lord, we have new ministry opportunities to pursue.

1. Bible Studies
Both the Day’s Inn and the Best Value Inn have agreed to allow us to use their facilities to host Bible Studies. We are praying about which day would be the best – we are leaning toward hosting both on Sunday afternoon. Pray that we have wisdom in choosing the right time.

2. FEMA Trailer sites
Anouk and I have mapped out 20 FEMA Trailer sites where evacuees are being relocated. Today we visited the Cypress trailer park where tonight or tomorrow morning, 33 evacuee families will be moving into their new homes. Anouk, Ray Mitchell and myself will be there tomorrow morning with Care Boxes to welcome them to their new homes. By God’s Providence we will be one of the first people to welcome them to their new homes and to give them the Gospel.

3. Thanksgiving
We have been considering what to do for Thanksgiving. At the Day’s Inn, there is a conference room with a full kitchen. On Thanksgiving Day, Anouk and I will prepare and host a Thanksgiving meal for the evacuees still living in the hotel. I plan to give the gospel and thank the Lord for his blessing. The staff is excited that we will be doing this; pray that we can have a ministry to them as well.

Please be praying for us as we seek to tell others about Christ and show His love to those around us.

I love children’s ministry! I am not sure why . . . maybe it is because I can be my crazy, zany self and people think that I am “just trying to relate to my audience”. Because of my love for children’s ministry, VBS is my favorite week of the year and I think Kids 4 Truth is the greatest thing since sliced-bread!

Here at the KOA campground, we host a Friday-night children’s ministry. The kids that come are mainly evacuees from other parts of the state living here until they can get a trailer from FEMA or find some other place to go. Because of the transience of these kids, the attendance is sometimes sporadic.

What has amazed Anouk and me is the fact that a lot of these kids have never heard the Bible accounts that most of us take for granted. Anouk began to teach the story of David and Goliath and none of the kids had ever heard it before! You can imagine the joy that Anouk and I share as we tell these kids things truths from God’s Word for the first time in their lives. We have given them Bibles and it is exciting to see them bring them back to follow along in a passage.

But something else has been amazing to us: the individual stories of these kids themselves. I am not referring to the fact that they are evacuees, I am referring to the situation that these kids were in BEFORE the hurricanes came. Let me share some of their stories:

Meet Isaiah.
Isaiah is going to be eleven in January. He has twelve siblings - two are step-siblings, nine are half-siblings and only one other child has the same father. Isaiah’s thirteen year old half sister is now five months pregnant and will not tell who the father is. The mother is thrilled that her child is pregnant and is making plans to take care of the newborn while her daughter goes back to school.

Meet Brady.
Brady is a fifteen year old who was chewing tobacco when I first met him. (He said he doesn’t chew too often and when I told him what they put in it, he spit it out. I have never seen him chew since.) Brady is one of those kids that you immediately like. He is respectful, helpful and he listens during the lesson. Unfortunately, Brady cannot read (and Anouk would LOVE to teach him how to read).
Brady’s family lived next door to Isaiah’s before Rita came. He keeps telling Isaiah’s sister to let him help her raise the child. He said that they could always let the child know (when she’s old enough) that he is not her real father.

Meet Christina.
Christina (I call her Cassie to drive her nuts!) is Isaiah’s only true biological sibling. Christina is going to be ten next month and is inseparable friends with Summer.

Meet Summer.
Summer is Brady’s eleven year-old sister. She is also twelve year-old Gabe’s girlfriend.

The opportunity to minister to these kids is overwhelming and humbling. Tonight we had the lowest turnout – 6 (last week we had 14). But it was the best night so far. Halfway through my lesson on Daniel and the Lion’s Den, they started asking questions. “Where did God come from?” “Is there really a place down there?” “How could God die?” “Why are we here, what is the purpose for us being here on earth?”

Praise God for the open door! I was able to answer these questions and others from God’s Word. Isaiah and Brady seemed the most interested. I believe God is drawing them to Himself. Please be praying for these kids and their home situations. Be praying for Anouk and I as we seek to teach them and show them Christ’s love.

Today was a much awaited (and needed) day off. We’ve been wanting to go on swamp tour, so we browsed the internet and found a place that looked interesting. When we called, the man on the phone was very friendly and informative. So here we go on our Louisiana Swamp Adventure!

We thought it was a little late in the season to go on this tour, but it ended up being the perfect time to see alligators! Since the nights and days are getting cooler, they like to lay out on a log in the sun to soak up the warmth and energy. We saw about 15 alligators - some even stayed around for pictures. You can tell a young gator by his size and the yellow bands on him/her. One we saw was pretty small and was black with no bands (on tail), so we knew that was an older female. “Ya learn somethin’ new ev’ryday!”

I’m sure you’re sick of alligator pictures by now. Of course we also saw egrets, cormorants, herons, and other birds I can’t remember. Some of these birds - like the Great Blue Heron - had huge wingspans and gracefully took off flying. Butch, our guide, was very knowledgeable about the swamp and its inhabitants. It was the best science class (zoology and ecology) I’ve ever had!

It was also fascinating to see the cypress trees with their “swelling” bases and covered in Spanish Moss (which isn’t really moss). We learned so much, I can’t remember the half of it. I have to say that swamps are beautiful . . . not at all like I had in my mind’s eye. They are not slimy and yucky. They are beautiful! Yes, the water is green, but it is because there are millions of little plants with leaves on the surface of the water. You would have thought we were driving through grass, not floating through water. Well, a picture is worth a thousand words, so I’ll let them do the talking!

The couple we met on the tour, David and Alexis, were also Christians - so it was neat meeting them. We all ended up at the same restaurant at the end of the evening, and they insisted on buying us dinner. It was a nice way to end a great day.

If you’re ever down this way, I greatly recommend this tour! Butch if a great guide and knows a lot about the area. The tour lasts between 2 to 3 hours! Well worth the money. Go check out his website at Cajun Country Swamp tours.

Thanks Butch for the great tour!