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Here are some photos from the trip: the sign that greeted us entering Sager-Brown, Bethany UMC in New Orleans where we all attended services before getting on the road headed for Baldwin, packing & praying over Tuesdays shipment going to Haiti, a couple of shots from the Tabasco plant on Avery Island, a boat I liked to call The Jenny (like from Forrest Gump) although it's actual name was Night Moves that sat right behind the Depot on the Bayou Teche, a cable car on the streets of New Orleans, The U.S.S. Alabama in Mobile Bay
Back (a whole week, still need to improve on blogging regularly) from Louisiana & MAN what a wonderful time we all had together! To say that we came away more blessed than the work, service or blessings we might have left in Baldwin is an understatement. It is always this way when you are doing Gods work!
Louisiana was fun, fun, fun. The people were fantastic, the work, although there was a lot of it, was made even more "joyful" by all of the people we got to know throughout the week and I don't think I'll ever forget the smell of soap as we walked into the warehouse every morning ready & willing to be God hands.
Sager-Brown was just an awesome place to be. Jerry & Marlene, out hosts, were always so helpful and they even had a treadmill in the gym, so I didnt have to miss any workouts (BIG BONUS!). Because even though we worked hard everyday & burned off most of our meals (and let me tell you we had some fabulous food, these ladies know how TO COOK at Sager-Brown) we had eaten well, breakfast, lunch & dinner, something I know most people don't do daily. Eat three square meals a day? I know I can hardly find time for that.
Louisiana was fun, fun, fun. The people were fantastic, the work, although there was a lot of it, was made even more "joyful" by all of the people we got to know throughout the week and I don't think I'll ever forget the smell of soap as we walked into the warehouse every morning ready & willing to be God hands.
Sager-Brown was just an awesome place to be. Jerry & Marlene, out hosts, were always so helpful and they even had a treadmill in the gym, so I didnt have to miss any workouts (BIG BONUS!). Because even though we worked hard everyday & burned off most of our meals (and let me tell you we had some fabulous food, these ladies know how TO COOK at Sager-Brown) we had eaten well, breakfast, lunch & dinner, something I know most people don't do daily. Eat three square meals a day? I know I can hardly find time for that.
Aside from working all week, we did have one little excursion out on Wednesday afternoon. We took a side trip to Avery Island and the Tabasco plant there. Did you know they bottle 700,000 bottles of Tabasco in 1 single day working two 12 hr shifts back to back? Amazing. They have a salt mine on the island too & according to our guide she said the salt mine is as deep as Mt Everest is high. I couldn't find the exact statistics, but that sounded pretty interesting too. We went to the jungle gardens & got about as close as I'll ever want to get to a couple of baby alligators. We finished off our day having dinner at R&M's Boiling Point where everybody had catfish & crawfish and I tried a fried alligator Po Boy with some of the best onion rings I've ever tasted.
Sager-Brown is located in Baldwin, La. off of the Bayou Teche. The UMCOR Depot that our group went to work at houses the warehouse where all of the health kits, school kits, sewing kits, layette kits and birthing kits are assembled and stored ready for shipment all around the world. I would have to say the hilight of our week was packing the huge container that was going to Haiti. All of our teams worked together from Boaz, AL, Paris,TX our St Pauls UMC team & a large group of youth from La. We prayed over the shipment & sang The Doxology before it took off from the laoding dock. It was a wonderful moment.
I look forward to going back next year. It truly was a great experience. I have to add that aside from all of the work that we did with happy hearts, it was a great oppurtunity to know my fellow brothers & sisters from St Pauls a whole lot better and to fellowship with them.
I look forward to going back next year. It truly was a great experience. I have to add that aside from all of the work that we did with happy hearts, it was a great oppurtunity to know my fellow brothers & sisters from St Pauls a whole lot better and to fellowship with them.
One additional note, I am now OFFICIALLY under 200 lbs!!!!!!!
I weighed in on Thursday for this months weigh in & I am ECSTATIC!! Back to playing tennis yesterday too. Felt so good to sweat it out on the court!
I weighed in on Thursday for this months weigh in & I am ECSTATIC!! Back to playing tennis yesterday too. Felt so good to sweat it out on the court!
