Steph writes...

New Orleans. It's hard to describe the trip with one main thing that happened or one emotion that seemed the strongest. The thing was the whole trip was pretty much amazing and way different than what I thought it was going to be. Now I knew that we weren't supposed to assume anything because no one really knew what was going to happen. I was trying, but I think every one of us had an idea of what was going to happen. It's hard for me to describe what happened personally within my heart, but I will try.

I realized how selfish I can be. Going through a smelly, roach infested house and thinking to myself "this was someones living space, the place they called home" was hard for me. Knowing that my house is perfectly dry, the right temperature, and yet I still come up with things to complain about is dumb. My perspective on life could use some changing....but I guess at any given point in life people can look at things and complain. It's our human nature.

Anyways, getting back to what I learned and such. One of the things that I got the most out of was the afternoon sessions. It seemed like everyday I was reminded or I learned something that had to do with me personally. One of the first days I remember the speaker speaking about being bold, which I knew I needed to hear before going out and working with the different kinds of people we met throughout the week. In past experiences I would always look to stand behind someone who was older than me to do the talking/communicating, but now finding myself in the position of the oldest it was "my turn" to do the speaking up, not hiding behind. I didn't run into too many people that I had deep conversations with, but the couple of people that I did happen to talk to I found myself not being afraid to just start talking. God gave me the boldness that I was looking for in myself :)

I think a lot of us throughout the week had a hard time dealing with how God wanted to do things with us or through us. By that I mean the weather. I know in my own heart I was having a hard time missing events because of rain. Throughout the week I was reminded constantly that God was in control. I think it was Dingo who one night was praying about good weather, but instead of saying, "Lord please don't let it rain," he said, "Lord you made the rain so if you want it to rain, please let it rain." That struck me, and I've decided from now on to try to not complain about the weather.....because really, what do I have to complain about? If God wants something to happen, HE AND ONLY HE will make it happen.

That's about all of what happened with me that I can put into words, but one last thing to those of you reading this who went on the trip---I had a blast getting to know you all deeper. :)

~Steph