I really enjoyed the nature at the Hebron Center and at the old JPUSA farm, but I think what was most exciting for me was to see New Orleans for the first time. It reminded me of Europe (probably because it had a lot of old buildings which had a lot of balconies and architecture that has some French influence). And it was so nice to be somewhere light and colorful!
This might sound weird, but I also really liked visiting the cemetery in the ghetto, though I did feel a little awkward. It was my first time in a cemetery and it was interesting to see the different statues and reading all the inscriptions. The oldest inscriptions dated to the 1800s! It's interesting and creepy how the bodies need to be put in above ground tombs 'cause if they bury anything, it just comes back up! Families would all be put in mausoleums together. It was sad to see that a lot of the children died before the parents and that some of the children didn't even reach their first or second birthday! Poorer people and Protestants (I think) were put in wall vaults and didn't really have anything written on their spot (don't know what to call it)!
I think the testimony times that we had throughout the whole trip were some of my favorite moments. I love hearing people's stories and I loved getting to know my fellow Project 12ers better. I think it definitely brought us all closer, too. It was so nice to see that, even with all our differences, we were also alike. It's amazing how we are all brought together in Christ and because of Him we are all alike and all part of one family. That's so encouraging!
Other than exploring and having serious and intimate times together, we also had a lot of craziness going on, especially at the old farm/retreat center...A lot of us got ticks (I actually found mine when I got back to Chicago), we had water balloon fights, people weren't being able to sleep because of others being very loud...and yelled at them through the walls (ahem...guilty....)....
One story that has been told many times by Brach is (something like this)..."One afternoon, the girls were all in the hot tub having fun and I came near them. They immediately started attacking me with water balloons that they had been hiding. Seeing as it was my only dry pair of clothing, I wasn't too happy, so went in my room and sulked until Darren came in the room asking me if I was alright. I then said that I initially was very mad, but then decided that I couldn't be too mad, 'cause I had thrown him in the dirty pool the day before. Then Darren said, 'Yeah, after you threw me in the pool, I came in my room and sulked, too, but then I realized that I couldn't be too mad, 'cause I had put salt instead of sugar in Grits' iced tea the day before that'" haha
Oh yeah, and then there was the day that Hannah stole the guys' iPod 'cause we were tired of having to listen to the music they were playing, so they decided to run towards her room to steal something from her. However, Hannah and some of the other girls were hiding water balloons in their room and they didn't want the guys to find them, so Hannah ran after them. Grits closed the door that led to the hall way where the rooms were and locked it. Hannah, not knowing that it was locked, ran straight for the door
and put her arm into it to push it open....unfortunately, her arm just ended up going trough the glass! It was kind of scary seeing all the blood and pieces of glass in her arm, but it actually wasn't that bad once they cleaned it up! (In the picture on the right, Darren shows where Hannah went through the door)There are obviously many more stories, but I don't want to make this too long...So, I hope all of you are doing well and I'll try to get a newsletter out as soon as I can! (I'm so bad at this newsletter thing....)
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