Sunday, January 18, 2009
Smoking for Jesus Church - Sun Jan 11
Waiting for this house to be demolished...
We were invited to attend the Smoking for Jesus Ministry Church just out of Granite Falls, where we are scheduled to build a new house as soon as the old one is demolished. This church service was quite memorable as the longest church service anyone in our group had ever attended! Their motto is “On Fire for the Lord”.
Their first half hour of singing was just getting them warmed up for the praise and worship which lasted an hour and a half; and no one fell asleep during this Pastor’s excellent one hour message. The welcome was “hugs all around” and although the majority of the congregation was African American, there were white families there as well.
When these people sing of trials and tribulation, they are singing with firsthand experience. This congregation moved from New Orleans when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit. After being evacuated and learning that they had lost everything, they have had several moves, and have finally settled in this area, reconstructing their lives and enriching the community. The lady who is the person in charge of the Local Recovery Committee is a member of this congregation.
The church also runs a Real New Orleans Café in the area, which we hope to eat at before we leave...
After the service, we all went to have a look at the house that is scheduled to be demolished as soon as possible so that we can build the lady a new home. We could not believe the shape it was in, and they had lived there until very recently. It was full of mold and mildew and totally unliveable inside.
We then went to the River City Grille for an excellent lunch. We met and became acquainted with Alex Hebert, the Americorps worker who consults on our projects.
Tomorrow it's back to work...
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