Sweet Boga :)

Just a few pictures of my amazing trip to a little town in Louisiana called Bogalusa. My THIRD trip to this awesome little town! ... Pastor Marcus, sweet scent of the papermill (right ...), Westside Emmanuel Baptist Church, people still struggling from Hurricane Katrina, amazing team members .... a home away from home. An amazing trip! Amazing people! Amazing place! Amazing God at work!!!!

We did work projects around homes in Bogalusa every summer we were there (2006, 2007, and 2009). One year, my group had to move a pile of house ... yes, it wasn't a house; it was a PILE of house. Hurricane Katrina had completely collapsed the house 2 years earlier, and the town clean up crew won't move "trash" unless it is by the side of the road. So believe it or not, my team picked up an entire house and moved it 20 feet to the side of the road.

In 2009, our entire trip team went to the "home" of Mr. Barry ... a Bogalusa man who wandered the streets in search of whatever he could find. We were supposed to help him "tidy things up" a bit. When we arrived, we drove our vans back onto a dirt trail ... all kinds of weeds and trees growing up over everywhere and everything. We eventually parked and walked to Mr. Barry's "house." ... He lived on a concrete slab. He owned two fold out chairs - one for his clothes and one for sleeping in. He had a collection of Starbucks bottles, a plastic light saber, a bunch of tin cans, and a few other knick knacks he found during his travels around town. He wasn't home, so we picked up all the trash we saw laying around, being careful not to throw away anything that he might cherish. We took brooms and swept off his concrete slab. We set up a tent for him and left him a new pair of shoes. ... At one point during the clean up, I was overcome with emotion. I couldn't believe someone actually lived like this. No real possessions. No roof over his head, much less a house! No food. And the heat?! How unbearable! I tried to hold back the tears and keep working. But by the time, we got to the vans to head back, I was sobbing. I took away a great lesson in thankfulness that day, and I still pray for Mr. Barry every time I think about him.

Bogalusa is an incredible place, and I was so privileged to share it with such incredible people - Pastor Mike and Shelley and Jeremy and the teenagers at Calvary and Grace Fellowship and Hendricks Community Bible Church and Fellowship Church ... and Pastor Marcus and his family! Such sweet memories!