Day 7 - Bethany Bremer

Here's an update from our final day in New Orleans from Bethany Bremer.

Day 7 - Breanna Evans

Here's an update from our final day in New Orleans from Breanna Evans.

Day 7 - Pastor Schellhas

Here's my update from our final day in New Orleans. It's been a pleasure sharing these brief glimpses of our trip with you. Thanks for all of your love and support!

Day 6 - Josh Eckhoff

Here's the final update from our last day of work from Josh Eckhoff.

Day 6 - Emily Heuermann

Here's another update from our final day of work from Emily Heuermann.

Day 6 - Chad Whitehead

Here's an update on our final day of work from Chad Whitehead, lovingly known as either Chief Chad, or more recently, Uncle Chad.

Chad got a little long-winded (like I have room to talk, I know! :)), so we had to split his post into two parts.

Day 5 - Alyssa Stewart

Here's the final update from our fourth day of work from Alyssa Stewart.

Day 5 - Emily Winkle

Here's an update on our fourth day of work from Emily Winkle.

Day 4 - Bryana VandeVoorde

Here's the final update for our third day of work from Bryana VandeVoorde.

Day 4 - Mike Heuermann

Here's the second update from the third day of work from Mike Heuermann.

Day 4 - Gretchen Teske

Here's an update from our third day of work from Gretchen Teske, live from a Winn Dixie.

Day 3 - Traci Price

Here's the final update from our second day of work from Traci Price.

Day 3 - Kiana Wright

Here's another update from our second day of work from Kiana Wright.

Day 3 - Mercedes Huson

Here's an update on our second day of work from Mercedes Huson.

Day 2 - Heather Lannert

Here's the final update from our first day of work from Heather Lannert.

Day 2 - Natalie Stewart

Here's another update on our first day of work from Natalie Stewart.

Day 2 - Michele Teske

Here's an update on the first date of work from Michele Teske.

First Day of Work

It's amazing how God works to set some things up, completely without our knowledge. Some might call it coincidence, other divine intervention...whatever you call it, God works things out in ways that blow our minds sometimes.

And right now, mine's blown.

There are SO many people I know here. A group of youth from my vicarage congregation that I taught in confirmation class two years ago. A friend of mine from the seminary library. Another couple that I met or got to know at the seminary. There are probably a few more that I'm not thinking of at the moment. Lutheran connections as so crazy. The degree of seperation is, like 2 or 3 to the usual 7.

And it's amazing, too, how God sets things up for our work here. One of our groups went to a nursing home today to help out there, and my group went to Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in the heart of New Orleans to help out with VBS. It was a blast, and actually, the whole trip has been a blast.

There's been just one MINOR hitch, for me: I lost my voice. Yeah, not so minor.

It's been a journey of faith for me to be without a musical instrument that's so important to me and how I do ministry, but God is good, and He makes our weaknesses in strengths...with a whole lot of comedy thrown in for good measure. God's so good.

Above all, in the midst of all of the craziness, I see people being drawn to God. In the midst of the flurry of activity that is Camp Restore, I see people developing community with a common purpose: restoring what has been destroyed in Jesus' Name. And THAT's what makes all of the hard work worth it...each drop of sweat, every hour of preparation, each ounce of energy past what you may have thought was your limit. All I can say is, wish you were here, doing this. God's peace to you and blessings on where He's placed you. ps

Day 1 - Justin Price

Here's an update on Day 1 from Justin Price.

Never Fear!

A couple of weeks ago, when we had a work day fundraiser and another portion of our training, I had mentioned to the team a few of the specifics about this video blog. A few of them seemed a little nervous about participating, but I told them they had nothing to worry about. I said, "Once you've seen the first video post that I put up, you won't have anything to be concerned about, because I don't think any of you could possibly look as silly as I think I did when I posted that first video." I really hope that the internet connection at Camp Restore is fast and that the uploading goes quickly so that you all can find out what's going on in a timely manner. Thanks again for you support...10 days and counting! WOO-HOO!!! - Pastor