ARRIVAL @ THE GOOD NEWS CAMP

On Sunday morning, we lounged around a bit as we knew it would be our last time in an air conditioned environment for a while. Steve offered to wash the guys’ clothes and we all graciously accepted his offer (thanks again, Steve)! We hit the road, made a few stops for food and last minute supplies along the way, and finally got to New Orleans at about 3:00 pm that afternoon. It was a surreal experience driving into town as there were about twenty four miles of driving on highways suspended over marshy waters before you reach the city limits. We had until 5:00 pm for registration, so we drove around a bit in the French Quarter and a few other areas. We thought that the devastation was bad in the neighborhoods that we were touring. Little did we know that there was much more that we would see throughout the week. It was like a never-ending bad dream.

We arrived at the Good News Camp, our home and mission base for week, and checked in with our AIM leader, Anneli. Anneli was an incredibly good fit for our team; she was a very humble, but very passionate leader. She told us that she felt called to the mission field since she was about eight-years-old and that this was her first big missions endeavor. She will continue to serve at the Good News Camp through August. We hope to get in touch with Anneli and keep up-to-date with her travels.

That evening seemed to go pretty fast. Anneli gave us a tour of the camp, we sang a few songs with our other project teams (from Connecticut, Oklahoma, California, New York, and more), settled in our sleeping quarters, and went to Wal-mart to purchase some box fans and extension cables (smile). We spent over an hour in the line because they were so understaffed. Our “home” was a humongous “circus / missionary tent” and we slept on cots with a thin mattress and a few sheets. I splurged a bit and bought myself a small personal fan; it was well worth it!